"No idcode detected" error on PCA10056 V1.0.0

[Vitaly]

Hi,

During evaluation of both nRF52840 Dev Kit and Dongle somehow the Dev Kit bootloader was erased. We were able to flash MCU firmware, but now J-Link is not able to connect to the target device - reporting "No idcode detected". We tried both from Segger Studio on Mac, JLink Commander on Win10 and nrfjprog on both Windows and Mac.

"nrfjprog --recover" doesn't help.

It looks like nRF52840 bootloader was erased as well and now the target is not able to communicate with MCU/J-Link. Is there any way to fix it? For example, is it possible to install the target bootloader thru nRF52840 own USB?

Thanks,

Vitaly

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

Hi,

Did you try to reflash the J-Link Interface MCU firmware? Hold the IF BOOT/RESET button while powering the board and drag the BIN file to the BOOTLOADER removable drive.

Best regards,
Jørgen

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

Have you modified the DK in any way (for instance for current measurement)? What position are all the switches on the DK in?

[Vitaly]

As far as I know, no modifications. Developer burned some example intended for dongle.

Switches:

LiPo/VDD/USB - VDD

nRF only/ default - default

Are there any jumpers to check?

Thanks!

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

Have you tried a different USB cable or flashing from another PC?

[Vitaly]

Mac and Win computers, different cables - same result. We have no problem flashing MCU firmware.

The main question what is the factory reset procedure for the board?

On the nRF52840 dongle pressing reset button always switches to the DFU mode. Is there a way to do it on the DK board?

Thanks! 

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

There is no default bootloader on the nRF52 ICs. The dongle comes with a bootloader to allow the application to be programmed without a debugger (using serial DFU method). nrfjprog --recover should be able to recover the chip.

Could you try the suggestion by Håkon in this post?

[Vitaly]

What suggestion? nrfjprog --recover -f nrf52? I tried it multiple times both on Mac and Win.

C:\Users\vsirota>nrfjprog --recover -f nrf52
Recovering device. This operation might take 30s.
ERROR: Recover failed. Please make sure that the correct device family is given
ERROR: and try again.

The post you mention covers using an external programmer.

So what is the factory reset procedure for nRF52840? What do we need to implement in hardware to make sure we can always recover a bricked device? This failed DK board just a sample case for nRF recovery for me - and I don't see any solution so far. 

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

Specifically "make a script that loops over the shell-call "nrfjprog -e" or "nrfjprog --recover" to try to recover it, or try on different computers (windows based) to see if that helps." Trying an external debugger could also be useful. I'm not aware of any other factory reset procedure, 'nrfjprog --recover' and/or '--eraseall' should solve this kind of issue. "Bricked" devices are normally not an issue with nRF5 series ICs.