Not able to use Programmer to update modem firmware

[marin338]

Disclosure. I am new to firmware develoment. My experience is in cloud development.

I just bought a Thingy91. I registered online using nRF Cloud. The modem communicates find and I can see the sensor data such as air pressure and temperature. I see this in the updates section:

Your device is currently set for "FOTA_V1". We have upgraded the plaform to "FOTA_V2". To use the new FOTA update mechanism, use the latest version of NCS.

I have installed the nRF Connect and the SDK. I have installed Programmer and have followed the instructions to update the modem. Here is the log messages:

2021-03-18T22:43:12.600Z INFO Application data folder: /Users/bwhitney/Library/Application Support/nrfconnect/pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2021-03-18T22:43:12.647Z INFO Using nrfjprog library 10.12.1, pc-nrfjprog-js 1.7.6
2021-03-18T22:43:12.828Z DEBUG App pc-nrfconnect-programmer v1.4.8 official
2021-03-18T22:43:12.828Z DEBUG App path: /Users/bwhitney/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2021-03-18T22:43:12.828Z DEBUG nRFConnect 3.6.1 is supported by the app (^3.6.0)
2021-03-18T22:43:12.828Z DEBUG nRFConnect path: /Applications/nRF Connect.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar
2021-03-18T22:43:12.828Z DEBUG HomeDir: /Users/bwhitney
2021-03-18T22:43:12.828Z DEBUG TmpDir: /var/folders/4_/b6hwghnj0m9510p7kymznfpr0000gn/T/
2021-03-18T22:43:13.644Z VERBOSE Could not fetch serial number for serial port at /dev/tty.BrentsiPhone-WirelessiAP
2021-03-18T22:43:13.644Z VERBOSE Could not fetch serial number for serial port at /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
2021-03-18T22:43:13.644Z VERBOSE Could not fetch serial number for serial port at /dev/tty.BrentsiPhone-WirelessiAP-1
2021-03-18T22:44:06.060Z INFO Target device closed.
2021-03-18T22:46:07.832Z INFO Modem DFU starts to write...
2021-03-18T22:46:07.833Z INFO Writing /Users/bwhitney/Downloads/thingy91_fw_2021-03-04_8e8c6089/mfwnrf9160123.zip to device
2021-03-18T22:46:20.302Z ERROR MCUboot DFU failed. Please make sure that the device is in MCUboot mode and try again.

I made sure to have pressed SW3 when powering on the Thingy91 to put it into MCUBoot mode, and confirmed the blue light didn't start flashing. 

Not sure what to try. I don't have a debug probe which some articles point to me needing to resolve this issue.

[Øyvind]

Hello, 

Looking through the steps of "Programming the Thingy:91 modem", did you do step number 5 - Make sure that you have ticked Enable MCUboot in the Device pane on the right ?

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[marin338]

Hi Øyvind,

Yes. I checked the box to enable MCUboot in the Device pane. I've tried multiple times to make sure I do everything correctly. 

Brent

[Øyvind]

Hi Brent, thanks for verifying. 

What version of Thingy:91 are you using? The version number is found next to the IMEI number. 

Have you tried to update the connectivity bridge on the nRF52, this is what controls the communication between the computer and the Thingy:91. This is available under img_fota_dfu_hex\thingy91_nrf52_connectivity_bridge_2021-03-04_8e8c6089.hex. 

Similar to updating the nRF91, you need to put the device in MCUBoot mode. For the nRF52840 you need to use SW4 (recovery button)

After updating the the nRF52840, please retry to update the modem by putting the nRF9160 in MCUboot mode using SW3 again.

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[marin338]

Thanks, the issue was that it didn't work on my Mac OSX Catalina 10.15.7. I tried on a Windows machine and it worked fine.