Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 07:53:59 GMT

I see the ticket is closed, but it is not solved, or?

How is that JLINK-bugfix going for the SES?

My collegue still experience the SES-problem, having to turn on and off the DK to be able to flash it repeatedly.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 11:10:20 GMT

Good!

JLINK to be fixed then.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 10:09:15 GMT

Sorry, my bad. I was under the impression nrfjprog was being used on SES, but it seems the bug has not yet been fixed in the newest version of JLINK, which is used directly by SES. I will report this internally. I noticed the same undocumented error issue if I erased via nrfjprog -e first, then programmed asset tracker via SES & then programmed at client via SES.

However, it does seem to work fine via command line now, so it's one step forward in the right direction:

$ nrfjprog --program at.hex -f nrf91 --verify --sectorerase
Parsing hex file.
Erasing page at address 0x0.
Erasing page at address 0x1000.
Erasing page at address 0x2000.
Erasing page at address 0x3000.
Erasing page at address 0x4000.
Erasing page at address 0x5000.
Erasing page at address 0x6000.
Erasing page at address 0x7000.
Erasing page at address 0xC000.
Erasing page at address 0xD000.
Erasing page at address 0xE000.
Erasing page at address 0xF000.
Erasing page at address 0x10000.
Erasing page at address 0x11000.
Erasing page at address 0x12000.
Erasing page at address 0x13000.
Erasing page at address 0x14000.
Erasing page at address 0x15000.
Erasing page at address 0x16000.
Erasing page at address 0x17000.
Erasing page at address 0x18000.
Erasing page at address 0x19000.
Erasing page at address 0x1A000.
Erasing page at address 0x1B000.
Erasing page at address 0x1C000.
Erasing page at address 0x1D000.
Erasing page at address 0x1E000.
Erasing page at address 0x1F000.
Erasing page at address 0x20000.
Erasing page at address 0x21000.
Erasing page at address 0x22000.
Erasing page at address 0x23000.
Erasing page at address 0x24000.
Erasing page at address 0x25000.
Erasing page at address 0x26000.
Erasing page at address 0x27000.
Applying system reset.
Checking that the area to write is not protected.
Programming device.
Verifying programming.
Verified OK.

$ nrfjprog --program asset.hex -f nrf91 --verify --sectorerase
Parsing hex file.
Erasing page at address 0x0.
Erasing page at address 0x1000.
Erasing page at address 0x2000.
Erasing page at address 0x3000.
Erasing page at address 0x4000.
Erasing page at address 0x5000.
Erasing page at address 0x6000.
Erasing page at address 0x7000.
Erasing page at address 0xC000.
Erasing page at address 0xD000.
Erasing page at address 0xE000.
Erasing page at address 0xF000.
Erasing page at address 0x10000.
Erasing page at address 0x11000.
Erasing page at address 0x12000.
Erasing page at address 0x13000.
Erasing page at address 0x14000.
Erasing page at address 0x15000.
Erasing page at address 0x16000.
Erasing page at address 0x17000.
Erasing page at address 0x18000.
Erasing page at address 0x19000.
Erasing page at address 0x1A000.
Erasing page at address 0x1B000.
Erasing page at address 0x1C000.
Erasing page at address 0x1D000.
Erasing page at address 0x1E000.
Erasing page at address 0x1F000.
Erasing page at address 0x20000.
Erasing page at address 0x21000.
Erasing page at address 0x22000.
Erasing page at address 0x23000.
Erasing page at address 0x24000.
Erasing page at address 0x25000.
Erasing page at address 0x26000.
Erasing page at address 0x27000.
Erasing page at address 0x28000.
Erasing page at address 0x29000.
Erasing page at address 0x2A000.
Erasing page at address 0x2B000.
Erasing page at address 0x2C000.
Erasing page at address 0x2D000.
Erasing page at address 0x2E000.
Erasing page at address 0x2F000.
Erasing page at address 0x30000.
Erasing page at address 0x31000.
Erasing page at address 0x32000.
Erasing page at address 0x33000.
Erasing page at address 0x34000.
Erasing page at address 0x35000.
Erasing page at address 0x36000.
Erasing page at address 0x37000.
Erasing page at address 0x38000.
Applying system reset.
Checking that the area to write is not protected.
Programming device.
Verifying programming.
Verified OK.

$ nrfjprog --program at.hex -f nrf91 --verify --sectorerase
Parsing hex file.
Erasing page at address 0x0.
Erasing page at address 0x1000.
Erasing page at address 0x2000.
Erasing page at address 0x3000.
Erasing page at address 0x4000.
Erasing page at address 0x5000.
Erasing page at address 0x6000.
Erasing page at address 0x7000.
Erasing page at address 0xC000.
Erasing page at address 0xD000.
Erasing page at address 0xE000.
Erasing page at address 0xF000.
Erasing page at address 0x10000.
Erasing page at address 0x11000.
Erasing page at address 0x12000.
Erasing page at address 0x13000.
Erasing page at address 0x14000.
Erasing page at address 0x15000.
Erasing page at address 0x16000.
Erasing page at address 0x17000.
Erasing page at address 0x18000.
Erasing page at address 0x19000.
Erasing page at address 0x1A000.
Erasing page at address 0x1B000.
Erasing page at address 0x1C000.
Erasing page at address 0x1D000.
Erasing page at address 0x1E000.
Erasing page at address 0x1F000.
Erasing page at address 0x20000.
Erasing page at address 0x21000.
Erasing page at address 0x22000.
Erasing page at address 0x23000.
Erasing page at address 0x24000.
Erasing page at address 0x25000.
Erasing page at address 0x26000.
Erasing page at address 0x27000.
Applying system reset.
Checking that the area to write is not protected.
Programming device.
Verifying programming.
Verified OK.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 09:31:22 GMT

I'm trying your suggestions.

Newer Segger version:
To download a version newer than 4.20a isn't possible. From using your nRF Connect V3.2.0-tool to download the nordic-version of segger, it only gives me 4.20a. On the segger homepage there is a version 4.22, but using that one, just forces me to request a valid license through email from nordic, and putting that licence in, doesnt open up segger to nordic projects. The "Open nRF connect...SDK"-menu option under "File" isn't there. And every time I restart the segger 4.22 it asks for a valid licence over and over again. It doesn't work.

And your solution above, worked 1 time.
I erased all via commandline.
I flashed another hex via commandline.
I built my SES application vid RUN and it flashed.
Looked good and it starts and the change in printk message is different.
I try it again in SES, modify the printk message and press run.
Now it hangs on the Erase operation like before.

The bug isn't fixed. Sorry Nordic. More debugging to do.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 09:02:30 GMT

This happened the first time. Try to do an eraseall via command line first (nrfjprog -e), then program a separate hex file via command line & then program your application via SES again. You can then program the first hex file via command line:

nrfjprog --program merged.hex -f nrf91 --sectorerase --verify

& then program via SES again. You can continue this loop a few times. After the first error, I never saw this error again.

If you still see the error, you may want to try to use the latest version of SES.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 08:45:35 GMT

My feedback:

1) cmdline flashing works 1st try every time. Good, it has improved from twice to single flashing.

2) Running from Segger Embedded Studio (V4.20a) still fails and locks up like before. I was expecting this to be solved in this fix. Why wasn't it? It's verifiable. It hangs after compare, then fails after 15-20 secs - "undocumented error"

Choosing to manually "erase all" in the menu, allows pressing the "run"-button and that makes it flash and start the application, correctly.

So there are still bugs to fix. Will you feedback these to the team?

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 06:59:44 GMT

Great! I will download it and test it!

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 10:18:25 GMT

Johan, the new release of nrfjprog v10.4.0 just came out today. I have tested myself & have not been able to reproduce the error anymore. Seems everything is fixed!

Update: This fixes the "could not verify programming" issue when using command line to program, but does not fix the issue in SES yet unfortunately. This is because SES uses JLINK directly & the bug is still present there it seems. I will report this internally.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 08:48:24 GMT

Johan, I will update this thread as soon as the new nrfjprog is out.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 11:35:20 GMT

Thanks Bjorn!

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 09:09:45 GMT

I have sent an email to your local RSM, who should be able to give you a timeline regarding this fix. The newest nrfjprog will fix this issue.

Update: The newest release of nrfjprog just came out today.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 13:18:01 GMT

Thanks.

Is Nordic actively pursuing to complete this fix soon if I don't keep asking about progress?
I feel like I'm babysitting the progress on this task currently, and I would not like that.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:46:07 GMT

The fix is unfortunately not done yet. I will update this post as soon as I have heard of a fix. I fully agree that it is not a very elegant solution. You could erase the flash first via nrfjprog -e & then flash. Then, you will only need to flash one time. Please ask your local Regional Sales Manager for more info.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 12:58:12 GMT

Ok it's been a weekend, I forgot that ;-)

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 12:54:23 GMT

Ping! The 24h promise in Nordic's PDF (from meeting with them) doesn't seem to apply in reality...

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 12:39:38 GMT

How is the fix going?

I still have to flash twice before it works (through shell).

But I WANT to get rid of this dual flashing, time wasting procedure.

When is the fix done?

What is stopping you from finishing it?

Do you need help?

Bjørn Kvaale

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 13:15:14 GMT

Done

Funny how the upvote becomes red...as in warning...it should be green haha

Red for downvotes arrow.. 😛🤦🏼

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 13:11:23 GMT

Sorry, I should have been more specific in the comment before that. I had mentioned it quickly in passing, but was not specific enough. Would you mind upvoting any of the comments you thought were useful? 🙂

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:51:43 GMT

Works like a magic spell, perfect every time! THANKS Bjørn!!!

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:45:07 GMT

I agree with you completely. SES does take quite a while to build & program right now, etc, but we are making progress luckily! We have figured out a few potential issues today & are looking at potential fixes. I cannot go into any details unfortunately. We are also in direct communication with Segger & like I mentioned before, we want to get a fix out ASAP. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

What about just going to the build folder (i.e. ncs_1_0_0\nrf\samples\nrf9160\at_client\build11\zephyr), opening a command prompt & programming via nrfjprog?

Just run:

nrfjprog --program merged.hex --sectorerase --verify -f nrf91

The first time will most likely show an Error: Write verify failed. Try it one more time & then the verification should be successful. A lot quicker than SES atm.

Remember to use the latest command line tools! Right now, nrfjprog --version should return 10.3.0.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 14:06:19 GMT

How is the resolution of this problem going at Nordic? Or who is on it, segger people?

It's wasting precious time in my project every time I have to:
1) connect
2) erase ALL - see it fail
3) power off DK
4) connect
5) erase - now it works
6) download the file.

Instead of
1) connect and erase what is needed (not all) and download in one step automatically by segger studio.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 13:59:30 GMT

Thanks for the update! The issue is not related to the 52840, but to nrfjprog & Segger on the 9160.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 11:11:42 GMT

I dont see the problem when using the DK and switch is set to the nrf52840 cpu instead.

Only with the nrf9160.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Johan — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 09:20:13 GMT

Good that you are working on a solution.

Now it's a waste of time to disconnect several times to be able to erase from Segger Em Studio.

Then program it.

RE: Since Nordic SDK release v1.0.0 our nRF9160 start having issues flashing and erasing. Coincidence?

Bjørn Kvaale — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 08:58:47 GMT

There is still no fix for this unfortunately. It is slightly more difficult to fix, but Segger & Nordic are working on a fix to be released sometime soon (hopefully). Have you tried via command line with nrfjprog & --sectorerase?