NRF52832 custom board not detected after flashing zephyr program

[xproto]

Hi, I have the same issue with 

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/59096/nrf52832-module-can-t-connect-j-link-anymore-after-flashing-zephyr-program-onto-it

but the question is a year old and author didn't answer the reply so I decided to post a new one.

Code is working on a nRF-52DK.

So I created a PCB with e73-2g4m04s1b module in it. Device can be detected with nrfjprog. 

Next is maybe there is wrong with my module so I tested all contacts and all connections are good. So I assembled a second board so I can rule out that maybe the module is defective, nrfjprog detects it , device and recover all good. After flash again the board is not detected.

So last try I soldered another board leaving just the module and header connector and same scenario , now I got three non detected boards.

Normally I don't create custom board profile, I just adapt the pin numbering of DK on my custom board. I have made different projects with this module with arduino and visual studio code with platformio plugin, with board selected as nrf52dk even though real target is a custom board with e73-2g4m04s1b. So now I want to apply more advance features so I tried zephyr and after uploading the code the board is not detected. I only discovered that zephyr is causing the issue after the third board is bricked.

I went through the e73-2g4m04s1b and found out that the xtal is 24mhz, versus the DK has 32mhz xtal. But why this has work before with arduino environment with nrf52dk set as board. Or is there anything I must do with the zephyr code/configurations?

Can I still recover my e73-2g4m04s1b modules? RST pin shows 0v, tried pulling it at VDD but with the same result not detected.

[xproto]

So I found this thread on github.

https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/issues/25379

And check the arduino nrf5 cores and by default DCDC is disabled,  but on zephyr it is enabled. so I edited the kconfig > default from y to n

config BOARD_ENABLE_DCDC
	bool "Enable DCDC mode"
	select SOC_DCDC_NRF52X
	default n
	depends on BOARD_NRF52DK_NRF52832

Feeling confident I went to the 4th board. Now it is not detected again after upload. I got one last module left to try with 4 non detected boards.  

Btw here is my last upload log on vscode with platformio and zephyr framework

> Executing task: platformio run --target upload --environment nrf52_dk <

Processing nrf52_dk (platform: nordicnrf52; board: nrf52_dk; framework: zephyr)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verbose mode can be enabled via `-v, --verbose` option
CONFIGURATION: https://docs.platformio.org/page/boards/nordicnrf52/nrf52_dk.html
PLATFORM: Nordic nRF52 (7.0.0) > Nordic nRF52-DK
HARDWARE: NRF52832 64MHz, 64KB RAM, 512KB Flash
DEBUG: Current (jlink) On-board (cmsis-dap, jlink) External (blackmagic, stlink)
PACKAGES: 
 - framework-zephyr 2.20500.210226 (2.5.0) 
 - framework-zephyr-canopennode 0.0.0-alpha+sha.468d350028 
 - framework-zephyr-civetweb 0.0.0-alpha+sha.e6903b80c0 
 - framework-zephyr-cmsis 0.0.0-alpha+sha.c3bd2094f9 
 - framework-zephyr-fatfs 0.0.0-alpha+sha.1d1fcc725a 
 - framework-zephyr-hal-nordic 0.0.0-alpha+sha.f0d54d8449 
 - framework-zephyr-hal-st 0.0.0-alpha+sha.b52fdbf4b6 
 - framework-zephyr-libmetal 0.0.0-alpha+sha.9d4ee2c3cf 
 - framework-zephyr-littlefs 0.0.0-alpha+sha.9e4498d1c7 
 - framework-zephyr-loramac-node 0.0.0-alpha+sha.3f545d76a2 
 - framework-zephyr-lvgl 0.0.0-alpha+sha.31acbaa36e 
 - framework-zephyr-mbedtls 0.0.0-alpha+sha.24d84ecff1 
 - framework-zephyr-mcuboot 0.0.0-alpha+sha.3fc59410b6 
 - framework-zephyr-mcumgr 0.0.0-alpha+sha.43845e883f 
 - framework-zephyr-mipi-sys-t 0.0.0-alpha+sha.75e671550a 
 - framework-zephyr-open-amp 0.0.0-alpha+sha.de1b85a130 
 - framework-zephyr-openthread 0.0.0-alpha+sha.1d668284a0 
 - framework-zephyr-segger 0.0.0-alpha+sha.38c79a447e 
 - framework-zephyr-sof 0.0.0-alpha+sha.b5b772dd61 
 - framework-zephyr-tfm-mcuboot 1.7.0-rc1 
 - framework-zephyr-tinycbor 0.0.0-alpha+sha.40daca97b4 
 - framework-zephyr-tinycrypt 0.0.0-alpha+sha.3e9a49d267 
 - framework-zephyr-trusted-firmware-m 0.0.0-alpha+sha.96340fb6c0 
 - tool-bossac-nordicnrf52 1.10901.201022 (1.9.1) 
 - tool-cmake 3.16.4 
 - tool-dtc 1.4.7 
 - tool-gperf 3.0.4 
 - tool-jlink 1.68801.0 (6.88.1) 
 - tool-ninja 1.7.1 
 - tool-openocd 2.1000.200630 (10.0) 
 - tool-sreccat 1.164.0 (1.64) 
 - toolchain-gccarmnoneeabi 1.80201.181220 (8.2.1)
LDF: Library Dependency Finder -> http://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
LDF Modes: Finder ~ chain, Compatibility ~ soft
Found 1 compatible libraries
Scanning dependencies...
Dependency Graph
|-- <analogIn>
Building in release mode
Checking size .pio/build/nrf52_dk/firmware.elf
Advanced Memory Usage is available via "PlatformIO Home > Project Inspect"
RAM:   [====      ]  35.9% (used 23521 bytes from 65536 bytes)
Flash: [===       ]  29.8% (used 156256 bytes from 524288 bytes)
Configuring upload protocol...
AVAILABLE: blackmagic, cmsis-dap, jlink, mbed, nrfjprog, stlink
CURRENT: upload_protocol = jlink
Uploading .pio/build/nrf52_dk/firmware.hex
SEGGER J-Link Commander V6.88b (Compiled Nov 27 2020 16:43:11)
DLL version V6.88a, compiled Nov 18 2020 16:08:10


J-Link Command File read successfully.
Processing script file...

J-Link connection not established yet but required for command.
Connecting to J-Link via USB...O.K.
Firmware: J-Link V9 compiled Jun  2 2222 22:22:22
Hardware version: V9.40
S/N: 59401308
License(s): GDB, RDI, FlashBP, FlashDL, JFlash, RDDI
VTref=3.301V
Target connection not established yet but required for command.
Device "NRF52832_XXAA" selected.


Connecting to target via SWD
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
Found SW-DP with ID 0x2BA01477
Unknown DP version. Assuming DPv0
Scanning AP map to find all available APs
AP[2]: Stopped AP scan as end of AP map has been reached
AP[0]: AHB-AP (IDR: 0x24770011)
AP[1]: JTAG-AP (IDR: 0x02880000)
Iterating through AP map to find AHB-AP to use
AP[0]: Core found
AP[0]: AHB-AP ROM base: 0xE00FF000
CPUID register: 0x410FC241. Implementer code: 0x41 (ARM)
Found Cortex-M4 r0p1, Little endian.
FPUnit: 6 code (BP) slots and 2 literal slots
CoreSight components:
ROMTbl[0] @ E00FF000
ROMTbl[0][0]: E000E000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 000BB00C SCS-M7
ROMTbl[0][1]: E0001000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 003BB002 DWT
ROMTbl[0][2]: E0002000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 002BB003 FPB
ROMTbl[0][3]: E0000000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 003BB001 ITM
ROMTbl[0][4]: E0040000, CID: B105900D, PID: 000BB9A1 TPIU
ROMTbl[0][5]: E0041000, CID: B105900D, PID: 000BB925 ETM
Cortex-M4 identified.
PC = FFFFFFFE, CycleCnt = 00000008
R0 = 00000000, R1 = 00000000, R2 = 00000000, R3 = 00000000
R4 = 00000000, R5 = 00000000, R6 = 00000000, R7 = 00000000
R8 = 00000000, R9 = 00000000, R10= 00000000, R11= 00000000
R12= 00000000
SP(R13)= FFFFFFD8, MSP= FFFFFFD8, PSP= 00000000, R14(LR) = FFFFFFF9
XPSR = 01000003: APSR = nzcvq, EPSR = 01000000, IPSR = 003 (HardFaultMemManage)
CFBP = 00000000, CONTROL = 00, FAULTMASK = 00, BASEPRI = 00, PRIMASK = 00

FPS0 = 00000000, FPS1 = 00000000, FPS2 = 00000000, FPS3 = 00000000
FPS4 = 00000000, FPS5 = 00000000, FPS6 = 00000000, FPS7 = 00000000
FPS8 = 00000000, FPS9 = 00000000, FPS10= 00000000, FPS11= 00000000
FPS12= 00000000, FPS13= 00000000, FPS14= 00000000, FPS15= 00000000
FPS16= 00000000, FPS17= 00000000, FPS18= 00000000, FPS19= 00000000
FPS20= 00000000, FPS21= 00000000, FPS22= 00000000, FPS23= 00000000
FPS24= 00000000, FPS25= 00000000, FPS26= 00000000, FPS27= 00000000
FPS28= 00000000, FPS29= 00000000, FPS30= 00000000, FPS31= 00000000
FPSCR= 00000000

Downloading file [.pio/build/nrf52_dk/firmware.hex]...
Comparing flash   [100%] Done.
Erasing flash     [100%] Done.
Programming flash [100%] Done.
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: 1 range affected (163840 bytes)
J-Link: Flash download: Total: 2.912s (Prepare: 0.018s, Compare: 0.012s, Erase: 0.000s, Program & Verify: 2.877s, Restore: 0.003s)
J-Link: Flash download: Program & Verify speed: 55 KB/s
O.K.

Reset delay: 0 ms
Reset type NORMAL: Resets core & peripherals via SYSRESETREQ & VECTRESET bit.
Reset: Halt core after reset via DEMCR.VC_CORERESET.
Reset: Reset device via AIRCR.SYSRESETREQ.


Script processing completed.

========================================================================== [SUCCESS] Took 4.70 seconds ==========================================================================

Environment    Status    Duration
-------------  --------  ------------
nrf52_dk       SUCCESS   00:00:04.704
========================================================================== 1 succeeded in 00:00:04.704 ==========================================================================

And here are the schematic for reference.

[xproto]

I don't know what is causing it but I made it work using the vbluno52 (as indicated on zephyr github issue ) instead of nrf52dk_52832 on platform.ini and pulling the reset on VDD. Successfully recovered the boards :) Yey!

I'll investigate more after I finished this project. 

[env:vbluno52]
platform = nordicnrf52
board = vbluno52
framework = zephyr
monitor_speed = 115200