nRF9160 Custom Board won't jump to application correctly.

[Jack Panetta]

Hi,

I've been developing an application with the nRF9160 dev kit. We have just received the first rev of our custom hardware with an nRF9160 on it. I am trying to program the "secure_boot" application as well as our main application onto the custom board.

I can successfully program the "secure_boot" sample app and am getting the correct debug outputs. I can also successfully program my custom application. However, the bootloader can't successfully jump to my application. After setting some breakpoints I can see that it's throwing an error when calling this line of the "secure_boot" application:

Line 407 (main.c):        reset_ns()

My Target Output in SES displays: "Stopped by vector catch"

My application stops at line 97 of fault_s.S:   eors.n r0, r0

When I click "Attach Debugger" in my main application's solution I get this debug output:

***** HARD FAULT *****
Fault escalation (see below)
***** BUS FAULT *****
Precise data bus error
BFAR Address: 0x50008120
***** Hardware exception *****
Current thread ID = 0x200205f4
Faulting instruction address = 0x0
Fatal fault in ISR! Spinning...

Here are the steps I am taking:

(It works fine on the dev board but breaks on my custom board)

1. Erase all from the target

2. Program secure_boot

3. Program my application

Thanks,

Jack

[Jack Panetta]

Programmed the Modem FW and now it works!

[jlienau03]

I'm actually getting a very similar error with my custom board and followed similar steps.  Programmed secure boot and then programmed a modified at_client application,.  I then power cycled the unit and I get virtually the same error.  I'm using a terminal program with a USB->serial bridge on the UART ports, this is what's output over the UART:

Secure Boot: SPU: set SRAM region 30 as Non-Secure                             
Secure Boot: SPU: set SRAM region 31 as Non-Secure                             
Secure Boot: configure peripherals                                             
Secure Boot: MSP_NS 200265f0                                                   
Secure Boot: prepare to jump to Non-Secure image                               
***** HARD FAULT *****                                                         
  Fault escalation (see below)                                                 
***** BUS FAULT *****                                                          
  Precise data bus error                                                       
  BFAR Address: 0x50008120                                                     
***** Hardware exception *****                                                 
Current thread ID = 0x20023130                                                 
Faulting instruction address = 0x0                                             
Fatal fault in ISR! Spinning... 

Any ideas?

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

jlienau03 said:

I'm actually getting a very similar error with my custom board and followed similar steps.  Programmed secure boot and then programmed a modified at_client application,.  I then power cycled the unit and I get virtually the same error.  I'm using a terminal program with a USB->serial bridge on the UART ports, this is what's output over the UART:

How did you modify the at_client?

If you are using another UART instance, it must be enabled in your prj.conf file. Here's an example for UART1:

CONFIG_UART_1_NRF_UARTE=y

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

 

[jlienau03]

All I did was reassign the UART ports to different pins so I can use a USB to serial bridge. I modified it as described in this thread: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/44114/continuous-wave-for-nrf9160

It worked fine on the development board (and for that I did not modify the prj.conf file), but then loading it onto my prototype board I get the error above.

After reading your response I did go back and update the prj.conf file but that did not make a difference.  I still get the same error.

[jlienau03]

Actually, I just solved the issue.  I needed to update the modem FW.  

It wasn't clear to me earlier that 'Modem FW' was the dfu and not the application or secure boot firmware.