nrf51822 debug HardFault Blinky project with openocd

[manuwind]

Hi, I am trying to debug the blinky project with Eclipse, openocd and st-link. No softdevice. This is the output I am using. nrf51822_xxaa.out

I am finally able to see the leds blinking in a custom board but if I try to debug the application I always get hardfault.

So, the application runs without debugging but I get hardfault when debugging. 

This is my .cfg

source [find interface/stlink-v2.cfg]
set WORKAREASIZE 0x4000
transport select "hla_swd"
source [find target/nrf51.cfg]

These are some screenshots of the debug output.

I am able to step until this point:

Then...

I think that's all from my side. Thank you very much in advance.

Regards

[Susheel Nuguru]

What is your application? is it using some RTOS ? I am not expert in OpenOCD, but I think based on the hardfault address we should be able to figure out what is going on inside your application.

Normally when you see signal handler at 0xffffff9, then it means that your PC tried to execute some code from the end of the stack. Normally happens when

• you have a stack overflow 
• or when you are trying to derefer some pointers that are not properly initialized.

[manuwind]

Thank you for your reply. As I mentioned, it is the blinky project from the SDK 11. I am using the Board 20006 for the nrf51822.

[manuwind]

Hi, Any clue of why the application runs without debugging but crashes when I launch the debugger?

[Susheel Nuguru]

I do not know why OpenOCD debugger connected makes the chip hardfault. 

Trying to look around in the devzone for similar old issues shows that many of them got this problem solved after a mass erase.

Normally I would not suggest to do a mass erase on production chips, but, if yours is a development kit then you can try the solutions mentioned here

[manuwind]

I will try and let you know, thank you!