nRF52840 DK board developed off Hardware files v3.0.3 would like to get the on-board SEGGER J-Link debugger flashed on the board

Hi,

We had a nRF52840 DK board developed off Hardware files v3.0.3 build.  The manufacturer didn't have any of the MCU or SEGGER J-Link debugger files on the device.  We are using SDK 3.0.2.

The board built is exactly like the nRF52840. 

What has been tried

  • Is the j-link-ob-sam3u128-v2-nordicsemi-170724.bin the file to put on the board.
    • Tried to do the hold reset and turn on the board power , hold reset and over usb a storage device will show up and the above .bin needed to be moved to the storage devicer and the MCU would program.   The LED only blinked and turned off and the storage device didn't show up.
      docs.nordicsemi.com/.../if_mcu.html
  • Connected the nordic nRF52840 DK Debug out (10 pin) to the nRF52840 DK build board Debug in.  The board didn't show up . (had previously done with a Fanstel and it worked)

So which steps need to be done to get the MCU / SEGGER J-Link debugger flashed / programmed onto the nRF52840 board .  Do we need to purchase a J-Link SEGGER programmer? 

  • If so which model of J-Link SEGGER programmer ?
  • How would the J-Link SEGGER be connected to the board?

Can the nRF52840 DK (nordic) be used to Flash the MCU / SEGGER J-Link debugger onto the nRF52840 DK (build) ?

Would prefer the simplest and reproducible method as will need to use in production.

The basic question is have build an nRF53840 board and need to get the MCU and the SEGGER J-Link debugger on the boards.

Input appreciated

  • You made a counterfeit board, tried putting firmware for the wrong MCU (Hardware 3.0.3 has NRF5340 and not an ST SAM3U) on it and expected it to just work? WTF?

    Newsflash: There is SEGGER licensing stuff on the commercially sold boards that is not public. You will need to contac both Nordic and SEGGER for licensing.

    Best you could do with publicly available information would be writing your own firmware (I've used VSLink in the past) for OpenOCD. This way you can't use any Nordic or JLink Software though.

  • Looks like the initial answer is possibly not from Nordic.  Will await an offical Nordic response.

    Hi,  

    Thank-you for the quick response. (that is much appreciated!)

    Question 1.
    if we use a board like the nRF54L15 and purchased from nordic could we include it in a product as is.  Or is there another additional license.   The limitation on the nRF54L15 board is that it didn't have the sniffer integration with wireshark?

    Question 2.

    https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-hardware/nRF52840-DK/Download#infotabs

    I did not see the licensing information for the board design.  Please provide that information on licensing, in the past the reference designs were present to use as a reference we made one sight modification on the J1 connector as the one on the nRF52849 didn't work with our antennas. Please provide a link the the licensing the intent was not to violate any licensing.   

    Appreciate the information on the MCU , so Hardware 3.0.3 has NRF5340 .

    If we went the VSLink route,  could you give some insight on how the flash the board.

  • The SEGGER OBD code is not available for external use. If you want access to this then you will need to buy the SW and license from SEGGER. 

    All the Nordic DKs are sold as development kits and also certified as this.Development kits have different rules than end products so if you plan to include it in an end product then you will need to certify it yourself.

    All of the restrictions on use of the Nordic DKs are in licensing agreements. 

    Second option for you is as Turbo J said, use an open source alternative instead. No guarantees that this will work with Nordic SW tools as these are built around SEGGER JLINK support.

  • There looks to be issues  with our approach (please correct me if I am wrong)

    1.  Need to buy the SW and license from SEGGER

    2. Need to have ability to licence and flash Nordic fw so as to be able to load the SEGGER SW

    3. Need to license the hardware design from Nordic

    4. Need to license the Nordic Firmware (which Nordic does not provide the firmware).

    Also is there a link to the Nordic DKs licensing agreements?

  • The HW design for the Nordic DK has a permissive license and you are allowed to copy the design without anything more than attribution.

    The FW used on the DKs are under SEGGER license and what you need to negotiate with SEGGER.

    You can find the Nordic licenses used in the blog section here on Devzone, search for blogs.

    To make a short answer: trying to go down the SEGGER path is very unlikely to succeed. Recommend to either buy the DKs/programmers or go the open source route.

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