nRF9160 Custom PCB Programming - Using NRF91DK

Question

Hey Nordic team , 
 
 We are having some issues with programming a custom NRF9160 PCB board. I am trying to use the NRF91 DK to program the bareboard PCB just like a typical nRF51/52 (Image Attached). The nRF Connect Desktop Application is not able to detect a external IC (It is perpetually trying to communicate with the target without success) any feedback on things to check/improve ?

Thanks and regards, 
 Gurbir Singh

GBSingh · Answer

I am powering the Custom PCB with the NRF91DK VDD Voltage , both are supposed to be operating at the same voltage levels . 
 A Few Updates 
 1. Removed a short in the Custom PCB due to poor soldering by PCBA (Multimeter didnt show a short , but the resistance between VDD and GND was really small ) 
 2. Now IC responds when programming (nRF Connect Desktop 3.0.0) with SW11 turned to 3V (Doesn't respond in 1V8) 
 2020-01-02T17:30:42.011Z INFO Using nrfjprog to communicate with target 2020-01-02T17:30:44.238Z INFO Using J-Link Software version 6.54 2020-01-02T17:30:47.407Z INFO Segger serial: 960091668 2020-01-02T17:30:47.407Z INFO Segger speed: 2000 kHz 2020-01-02T17:30:47.407Z INFO Segger version: J-Link OB-K22-NordicSemi compiled Nov 7 2019 16:11:45 2020-01-02T17:30:47.410Z INFO Core probed: 960091668. 2020-01-02T17:30:47.411Z INFO Core RAM: 256KiB. 2020-01-02T17:30:47.411Z INFO Core ROM: 1024KiB in pages of 4KiB. 2020-01-02T17:30:47.683Z INFO Model: NRF9160_xxAA_FUTURE. 2020-01-02T17:30:47.688Z ERROR Error when getting device info: TypeError: First argument must be a unsigned integer 2020-01-02T17:30:47.688Z DEBUG getDeviceMemMap: First argument must be a unsigned integer 
 3. Checked (nRF Connect Desktop 3.3.0) SW turned to 3V -> Works !! 
 Using nrfjprog to communicate with target 2020-01-02T18:00:04.057Z INFO Using J-Link Software version 6.54 2020-01-02T18:00:06.134Z INFO Segger serial: 960091668 2020-01-02T18:00:06.135Z INFO Segger speed: 2000 kHz 2020-01-02T18:00:06.135Z INFO Segger version: J-Link OB-K22-NordicSemi compiled Nov 7 2019 16:11:45 2020-01-02T18:00:06.138Z INFO Core probed: 960091668. 2020-01-02T18:00:06.138Z INFO Core RAM: 256KiB. 2020-01-02T18:00:06.138Z INFO Core ROM: 1024KiB in pages of 4KiB. 2020-01-02T18:00:06.405Z INFO Model: NRF9160_xxAA_FUTURE. 2020-01-02T18:00:07.330Z INFO Core0: Reading device non-volatile memory. This may take a few seconds. 2020-01-02T18:00:16.734Z INFO Core0: Non-volatile memory has been read. 3 non-empty memory blocks identified 
 
 Thanks, 
 Gurbir Singh