Thingy91 wont boot merged.hex, works on nRF9160 DK

[Thomas]

Hello,

When i build a project to the nRF9160 DK, the terminal shows output of the program. Everything works.

When downloading the merged.hex file to thingy91, then the terminal shows nothing, and any AT commands to the thingy returns with a timeout.

Though while downloading the pre-buildt asset tracker hex file, then everything works.

But when i build the asset tracker myself, nothing shows up. But the debugger still works.

We have also tried the latest modem, but that wont work either.

And we have tried turning off Auto device/port filter and testing both dev's.

There is a workaround, to flash with a precompiled hex file, and then use MCUboot to overwrite with app_signed.hex file.

nRF9160 DK: 0.8.5
Thingy:91: 1.0.0.
Firmware Version (Both): 1.1.0.
Nrf commit: 68277a75d8f600e5f42556ab0bafc8fa84b08c1b (and tried on master)

merged asset tracker.hex

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

Are you re-configuring the asset_tracker application to use "nrf9160_pca20035ns" when flashing the thingy:91 board?

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Thomas]

No, we are using nrf9160_pca10090ns

Edit: Just tried with nrf9160_pca20035ns (did not know that existed), and it did not work either.

[Thomas]

I have done that many times before whilst finding a solution to the problem, so no that wouldnt help.

[Håkon Alseth]

You're using the nRF9160 to externally program the thingy:91, right? Are you 100 % certain that the thingy:91 is connected as per the user guide?

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/ug_thingy91/UG/thingy91/firmware_update/updating_app_fw_nRF9160_debugprobe.html?cp=12_0_4_1_0_1

 

It is extremely important that the thingy is powered sufficiently, and that the nRF9160-DK "VDD_IO" is set to 1.8V position.

If not, the debugger interface isn't able to successfully switch over to the "Debug out" port, and you'll instead program the nRF on the DK.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Thomas]

Thomas said:

Though while downloading the pre-buildt asset tracker hex file, then everything works.

Hi, i said this at the issue, that using the pre-buildt asset tracker hex file works perfectly fine. And yes, it is set to 1.8V. That when im building my own hex, instead of the prebuildt one, and then uploading it, then then it wont work.

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

Here's a unmodified asset_tracker merged.hex file, based on ncs v1.2.0.

Could you try programming it and see if this one gives you any uart output?

merged.hex

 

Note that the asset_tracker application uses multi build, where it takes in the secure region (spm) and the bootloader (mcuboot) in addition to the application, so its important that you flash the merged.hex file, and not the zephyr.hex file (as this one doesn't include the other two projects).

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Thomas]

Hi, the merged.hex file you gave me works perfectly. AT command returns OK, and i get log info.
But uploading my own buldt merged.hex does not do any of those.

Here is the merged.hex file which i buildt myself which does not work: 7384.merged.hex

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

I cannot your .hex running properly at my end either.

Could you try to checkout ncs v1.2.0?

cd path/to/ncs/nrf

git pull

git checkout v1.2.0

west update

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Thomas]

Hi, i think we tested that before. But since we now just pulled git from 68277a75d8f600e5f42556ab0bafc8fa84b08c1b to 5f655fff295f443952e7ea586d05b4829b573266 on the master branch, did west update and updated the python requirements, just to be sure. It somehow managed to fix itself now... I think thats a case closed?

[Håkon Alseth]

I'm glad to hear its working! I'd recommend that you use the tags instead of running on master, unless there's a specific feature you want that isn't included in the latest tagged version.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon