Modem DFU fails on nRF9160 using nRF Connect

[Fredrik]

Hi,

I'm trying to update the modem firmware on my nRF9160. I believe the current firmware is mfw-m1_nrf9160_0.6.8-30.alpha. I followed Martin's suggestions here, but nRF Connect fails with a DLL error. Below if the output:

2019-10-06T13:09:59.819Z INFO Application data folder: /home/fredrik/.config/nrfconnect/pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2019-10-06T13:09:59.891Z DEBUG App pc-nrfconnect-programmer v1.2.3 official
2019-10-06T13:09:59.891Z DEBUG App path: /home/fredrik/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2019-10-06T13:09:59.892Z DEBUG nRFConnect 3.2.0 is supported by the app (^3.2.0)
2019-10-06T13:09:59.892Z DEBUG nRFConnect path: /tmp/.mount_nrfcon8ZSu9x/resources/app.asar
2019-10-06T13:09:59.892Z DEBUG HomeDir: /home/fredrik
2019-10-06T13:09:59.892Z DEBUG TmpDir: /tmp
2019-10-06T13:09:59.907Z INFO Using nrfjprog library 10.3.0, pc-nrfjprog-js 1.5.8
2019-10-06T13:10:03.194Z INFO Using nrfjprog to communicate with target
2019-10-06T13:10:06.405Z INFO Using J-Link Software version 6.44
2019-10-06T13:10:08.555Z INFO Segger serial:  960010299
2019-10-06T13:10:08.555Z INFO Segger speed:  2000  kHz
2019-10-06T13:10:08.555Z INFO Segger version:  J-Link OB-K22-NordicSemi compiled Feb 14 2019 14:03:18
2019-10-06T13:10:08.559Z INFO Probed: 960010299.
2019-10-06T13:10:08.559Z INFO Model: Unknown model.
2019-10-06T13:10:08.559Z INFO RAM: 256KiB.
2019-10-06T13:10:08.559Z INFO Flash: 1024KiB in pages of 4KiB.
2019-10-06T13:10:09.294Z INFO Device type is unknown. It may be a new version of product from Nordic Semiconductor.
2019-10-06T13:10:09.294Z INFO Please check device list supported by nrfjprog.
2019-10-06T13:10:11.386Z INFO Reading device non-volatile memory. This may take a few seconds.
2019-10-06T13:10:21.416Z INFO Modem DFU starts to write...
2019-10-06T13:10:21.416Z INFO Writing to device with serial number: 960010299
2019-10-06T13:10:21.416Z INFO Writing to device with file: /home/fredrik/Downloads/mfw_nrf9160_1.0.0.zip
2019-10-06T13:10:22.872Z ERROR Modem DFU failed with error: Error: Error occured when program. Errorcode: CouldNotOpenDevice (0x4)
Lowlevel error: NRFJPROG_SUB_DLL_COULD_NOT_BE_OPENED (ffffff69)

This is my environment:

• Ubuntu 16.04
• nRF Connect v3.2.0
• Programmer app v1.2.3
• nrfjprog version: 10.3.0
• JLinkARM.dll version: 6.44e
• SiP marking: nRF9160-SICA BAA-E2.1.5 11S7V

Any ideas?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi Fredrik, 

Is it a custom board or a DK?

If it's a DK, what version of the DK are you using?

You could try to erase the chip (nrfjprog -e) before programming modem fw 1.0.1.

-Amanda H.

[Fredrik]

Hi Amanda,

It's a DK. This is the information from the back of the DK:

PCA10090
0.8.2
2018.49
960010299

I tried erasing the chip, but the problem persists.

[Sigurd]

Hi,

Does it work if you run nRF-Connect for Desktop as sudo ?

Fredrik said:

Are there any CLI tools I can use instead?

You could try to do the modem DFU using this python script

from pynrfjprog import HighLevelapi = HighLevel.API()
api.open()
snr = api.get_connected_probes()
for s in snr:
    probe = HighLevel.IPCDFUProbe(api, s, HighLevel.CoProcessor.CP_MODEM)
    probe.program("mfw-nrf_9160-1.0.0.zip")
    probe.verify("mfw-nrf_9160-1.0.0.zip")
 
api.close()

 

[Fredrik]

I am unable to run the latest nRF Connect AppImage as root. It returns immediately with exit code 0 without launching anything. I can run version <= 3.0.0 as root, but the Programmer application does not launch from these versions of nRF Connect.

Your python script fails with the same error (even when running it as sudo):

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dfu.py", line 6, in <module>
    probe = HighLevel.IPCDFUProbe(api, s, HighLevel.CoProcessor.CP_MODEM)
  File "/home/fredrik/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pynrfjprog/HighLevel.py", line 558, in __init__
    raise APIError(result, log=self._logger.error)
pynrfjprog.APIError.APIError: An error was reported by NRFJPROG DLL: -151 NRFJPROG_SUB_DLL_COULD_NOT_BE_OPENED.

I tried downgrading pynrfjprog to version 10.3.0 (the same as my current nrfjprog installation) and running the script again. This time it fails here:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dfu.py", line 13, in <module>
    probe.program("mfw-nrf_9160-1.0.1.zip")
  File "/home/fredrik/miniconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pynrfjprog/HighLevel.py", line 307, in program
    raise APIError(result, log=self._logger.error)
pynrfjprog.APIError.APIError: An error was reported by NRFJPROG DLL: -3 INVALID_PARAMETER.

I can see the LED blinking on the nRF91 DK just before it crashes though, so there is at least some communication.

For the record, I am using Python 3.7.3.

[Sigurd]

Do you have multiple versions of nrfjprog installed? Could you check that $PATH only points to one installation?

Just to be 100% sure that this is a ubuntu environment issue, and not an issue with the board itself, could you try to use e.g a windows computer and try to use that to update the modem fw on the board?

[troylanes]

FWIW, I have this issue, too.  Using Python 3.6 on Ubuntu 18.04 -- managed to get it to work in a VM -- and AFAIK all installed versions are correct.  Cannot get it to work, again, on any different machines.

[Fredrik]

Hi,

I only have one version of nrfjprog installed, located in /usr/bin after installing though the .deb package.

I ran Windows 10 in Virtualbox on the same machine and passed the USB device through, and I was able to update the modem firmware with no issues from Windows 10.