Unable to flash PCA10031 dongle with master emulator image

[Andy]

TLDR: My dongle has stopped functioning. I think something was corrupted during a j-link update. I'm trying to restore functionality to the device by reflashing the master emulator firmware. When trying to flash the MEFW_nrf51822_0.11.0_firmware_1M.hex image, I receive the error "Failed during parse". I have another dongle which still works fine.

• J-Link v5.12
• Master Control Panel 3.10.0.14
• The dongle is correctly identified in Windows Device Manager (JLink CDC UART Port)
• nRFgo Studio correctly finds the device. I used the "Erase All" command to erase the dongle
• Master Control panel only displays the device's COM port if "File > Options > Show all serial ports" is selected
• I'm using "File > Flash Programming..." in MCP to flash the device
• I've tried all available MEFW firmware images in the /firmware/pca10000/ directory. They all fail with the following message:

nrf6310_cli.exe -p "C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\Master Control Panel\3.10.0.14\firmware\pca10000\MEFW_nRF51822_0.11.0_firmware_1M.hex" -snr COM40

Programming started.

Failed during parse

UPDATE (SOLVED):

Following a suggestion below, I ran the following commands, one of which failed:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nrf5x\bin>nrfjprog --memrd 0 -f nrf51

0x00000000: 20003140 |@1. |

followed by

C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nrf5x\bin>nrfjprog --memwr 0 --val 0 -f nrf51

Parsing parameters.

ERROR: The area to write is not erased.

I tried programming via MCP again and received the same error, "Failed during parse". However, I then programmed the device with nrfjprog and, like previous attempts, it reported success, but this time the device was successfully recognized by MCP. I can't say for certain what exactly fixed the problem, but there it is.

nrfjprog --eraseall

nrfjprog --family NRF51 --program MEFW_nrf51822_0.11.0_firmware_1M.hex --verify

nrfjprog --pinreset

Output:

Erasing code and UICR flash areas.

Applying system reset.

Parsing hex file.

Reading flash area to program to guarantee it is erased.

Checking that the area to write is not protected.

Programing device.

Verifying programming.

Verified OK.

Applying pin reset.

[Bjørn Inge]

If the error occured during JLink firmware update you might try to run this nrfjprog command, it sometimes helps to get the jlink-ob device out of a hanging state:

nrfjprog --memrd 0 -f nrf51

or

nrfjprog --memwr 0 --val 0 -f nrf51

[Andy]

See my updated original post. I ran your commands. The first gave some strange output, the second failed with error. I tried to then program with MCP, but it failed as per usual. I then tried to program with nrfjprog, and it completed as per usual, but now the device is detected successfully by MCP. I'm marking this as solved.

Note that the dongle was always detectable by J-Link Configurator, and I'd even used the "Replace firmware" command to reflash the J-link device. I'm not sure what your command did, or if it was even directly responsible for the fix.