Issue with programming multiple nRF52840 boards – J-Link DLL error after first programming in Programmer v4.6.2

[Tomasz Chudy]

Hello,

I am experiencing a recurring issue when programming multiple nRF52840 boards using the nRF Programmer.

• Problem description:
  When programming the first board, everything works fine.
  However, when I try to program the second and subsequent boards, after performing Reset and Erase & Write, I always get the following error:

13:04:07.646 Failed "loading core information for application core". Error: code: 1, description: Generic, message: Batch task core-info failed, Device error: Failed to read from memory address 0x10000130: Failed to write DebugPort register 0x08: Unknown Error in J-Link DLL (error code = -1) 13:04:07.663 Error: Failed with exit code 1. One or more batch tasks failed: * 801050888: Device error: Failed to read from memory address 0x10000130: Failed to write DebugPort register 0x08: Unknown Error in J-Link DLL (error code = -1)

If I press reset and run Erase & Write again, the programming works successfully.
Then on the next board, the same error appears again, and I need to repeat the reset/erase cycle.

• Additional information:
  This issue only started appearing with the current version of the software.
  In the previous version of nRF Programmer, I did not have this problem.

Could you please help me understand what is causing this error and how to fix it?

Thank you in advance.

[Maria Gilje]

Hello, 

Thank you for your patience while waiting for us to respond. 

Could you please let me know which version of the nRF Programmer which was the last version without this issue? 

Also, please let me know what your programming setup is: 

• Are you working with an nRF52840 DK as the programmer? If yes: what is the board version? 
• Are you using another device as a programmer? I.e. a dedicated J-Link programmer.

Best regards,

Maria 

[Tomasz Chudy]

Hello,

I am programming my own custom board based on the nRF52840.
I always use nRF Connect for Desktop v5.2.0 (Programmer v4.6.2) on Windows 11. On Programmer v4.6.0 I did not have this issue.

I am using J-Link v8.18. I also tried with J-Link v8.64, but the error is still the same.

Here is the error and when it appears (after programming the first board, when trying the next one):

12:08:21.843 Recovering Application core completed
12:08:21.845 Loading core information for Application core
12:08:21.845 Loading core information for Application core 0%
12:08:21.845 Update files regions according to Application core
12:08:21.845 Parse memory regions for file
12:08:21.886 Failed "loading core information for application core". Error: code: 1, description: Generic, message: Batch task core-info failed, Device error: Failed to read from memory address 0x10000130: Failed to write DebugPort register 0x08: Unknown Error in J-Link DLL (error code =-1)
12:08:21.904 Error: Failed with exit code 1. One or more batch tasks failed: * 801050888: Device error: Failed to read from memory address 0x10000130: Failed to write DebugPort register 0x08: Unknown Error in J-Link DLL (error code =-1) (Generic) Message: Batch task core-info failed, Device error: Failed to read from memory address 0x10000130: Failed to write DebugPort register 0x08: Unknown Error in J-Link DLL (error code =-1).

[Maria Gilje]

Hello,

Tomasz Chudy said:

I am using J-Link v8.18. I also tried with J-Link v8.64, but the error is still the same.

Pardon me if I misunderstand, but this is just the software and not a debugging device, right? 

I am still missing information about which device is acting as a debugger between your PC and your custom nRF52840 board. Or perhaps you have a debugger on your custom board? 

Thank you for the information you shared about your versions for nRF Connect for Desktop, the Programmer application and your Windows version. 

Best regards,

Maria

[Tomasz Chudy]

Hello Maria,

Thank you for your reply. I am using a J-Link Mini as the debugger between my PC and the custom nRF52840 board.

[Maria Gilje]

Hi Tomasz, 

Thank you for clarifying. 

My working theory is that this is related to nrfutil, as that was updated between Programmer versions. Do you see similar behaviour when using nrfutil device program from the command line? The nrfutil device version used by Programmer v4.6.0 is v2.10.2 and for v4.6.2 it's v2.12.3. You can install specific versions of commands with i.e. nrfutil install <command>=<version> --force as described here: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/nrfutil/page/guides/installing_commands.html#installing-specific-versions-of-commands.

Best regards,

Maria

[Tomasz Chudy]

Hi Maria,

I tested with versions 2.10.2 and 2.12.3, and everything works perfectly using nrfutil from the command line.
This is my batch file:

@echo off
nrfutil device --version
pause
:loop
nrfutil device recover
nrfutil device program --firmware builds/Intovoice_3_1_2.hex --family nrf52 --options chip_erase_mode=ERASE_ALL,verify=VERIFY_READ,reset=RESET_SYSTEM
echo.
pause
goto loop

And this is the result of multiple programming runs:

nrfutil-device 2.12.3 (474e1e0 2025-07-07)
commit-hash: 474e1e10297377fb713aa5b02f8dc882954f32d88
commit-date: 2025-07-07
host: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
build-timestamp: 2025-07-07T13:56:47.267083500Z
classification: nrf-external

Detected SEGGER J-Link version: JLink_V8.18
Press any key to continue . . .
v Recovered 801050888
[00:00:05] ###### 100% [4/4 801050888] Programmed
Press any key to continue . . .
v Recovered 801050888
[00:00:05] ###### 100% [4/4 801050888] Programmed
Press any key to continue . . .
v Recovered 801050888
[00:00:05] ###### 100% [4/4 801050888] Programmed
Press any key to continue . . .
v Recovered 801050888
[00:00:05] ###### 100% [4/4 801050888] Programmed
Press any key to continue . . .

Thanks for this information. Using the command line for programming produces no errors and is faster.

Best regards,
Tomasz

[Maria Gilje]

Hi Tomasz, 

Thank you for testing this. And I'm also glad that using the command line to program proved to be an improvement to your workflow.

I'll notify the team that there may be an issue with the Programmer v4.6.2. If they are not able to reproduce this, they may want logs of the issue with the "Verbose Logging" enabled to properly diagnose what is happening. I appreciate if you could share those whenever convenient for you. 

Best regards,

Maria

[Tomasz Chudy]

Hi Maria,

This is the log with "Verbose Logging" enabled and showing this error.

Best regards
Tomasz

[Maria Gilje]

Thank you! 

Could you also let me know what the Auto-read memory switch is set to?