Custom board programming failed

[Sylvain]

Hello,

I'm trying to program my custom board with a PCA10056 following this scheme (Note that my custom board is powered by the PCA10056) :

VDD (PCA10056)          ---> VTG(PCA10056)
VDD (PCA10056)          ---> VDD (CustomBoard)
GND (PCA10056)          ---> GND (CustomBoard)
GND (PCA10056)          ---> GND Detect (PCA100056)
SWD IO (PCA10056)     ---> SWD IO (CustomBoard)
SWD CLK (PCA10056)  ---> SWD CLK (CustomBoard)

I'm able to erase my custom board and connect to it but I can't program the flash ... When I try to program the softdevice the I got a ''verification fail''. But after that my flash memory seems to have 2 region like that:

The voltage on my custom board is good (2.96V, the same as the PCA10056) and I have already done a recover but no effect. Here's the result:

nrfjprog --recover -f nrf52
Recovering device. This operation might take 30s.
Erasing user code and UICR flash areas.

I don't know what I can test now ... Could anyone help me ?

Kind regards,
Sylvain.

[bjorn-spockeli]

The connections look good and since you're able to erase and flash, but not verify, then I do not think this is a connection issue. 

Could you try to program the SoftDevice using nrfjprog and not nRFGo Studio using the following command:

nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program <name of softdevice hex>.hex --chiperase --verify 

[Sylvain]

Here're the results :

C:\Users\Sylvain>nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program s140_nrf52_6.0.0_softdevice.hex --chiperase --verify
Parsing hex file.
Erasing user available code and UICR flash areas.
Applying system reset.
Checking that the area to write is not protected.
Programing device.
Verifying programming.
ERROR: Write verify failed.

It is the same problem as previous...

[bjorn-spockeli]

Yes, I think that we can rule out any driver issue then, since you're able to flash and verify another nRF52840 device. 

Are you able to check if code actually runs on the device if you omit the --verify option? E.g. flash one of the precompiled peripheral examples that blinks a led or one of the ble examples and see if the board advertises. You could also try to compile an example yourself and see if your're able to flash and debug it for instance. 

All our ICs are production tested so faulty devices should be screened out, but the chip might have been damaged during soldering to the PCB or it could be ESD damage. Hard to say with out examining the IC. 

[Sylvain]

I'll try to solder a new PCB on Monday. I'll keep you in touch.

[bjorn-spockeli]

Yes, please let me know if see the same behaviour on the new PCB or not.

[Sylvain]

Hi Bjorn,

The new PCB works well.

Thanks for the support.

Sylvain.

[bjorn-spockeli]

Sylvain: Happy to hear that the new PCB is working as it should. I guess we can assume that the IC was damaged somehow or nor properly soldered to the PCB.