Programmer 2.0 is broken in nRF Connect for Desktop v3.8.0

Programmer 2.0 is broken in nRF Connect for Desktop v3.8.0

Very often it does not detect connected devices, even if I disconnect and reconnect the nRF9160DK which is also used as a programmer. When I click the SELECT DEVICE button I see a link to find Nordic devices, even though I have both nRF9160dk and Thingy:91 attached over USB. Reconnecting the devices does not help. Sometimes with no devices connected, I see Unknown as a listed device. The Programmer also stops responding often on a white screen, at the same time, nRF Connect for Desktop v3.8.0 and the Toolchain Manager v0.10.0 may also freeze on a white screen. Restarting the tools sometimes helps, sometimes it doesn't and I have to do it several times, disconnecting the USB cables until it eventually works. Once a device is selected and erased, if I click the Eject button, then program the device using Segger Embedded Studio, then stop the debugging session, switch the key on the board which toggles between nRF9160 and nRF52840, then connect the Programmer again, it shows the previously selected CPU. I need to restart all tools until the correct CPU is shown. The broken behaviour is consistent between Windows 10 21H1 and macOS Big Sur 11.6.1. With the previous version of Programmer, which had the controls on the right side, I have never experienced any of these issues.

  • Hi,

    Our apps and other releases are all tested before they are released. However, some bugs were not discovered for this release. Our developers are doing their best to fix this, and hopefully this will not be an issue in the future.

    Georgi Valkov said:
    I reproduce the issue every time

    Could you please share what steps you are performing to reproduce this issue?

    Best regards,

    Marte

  • I also have issues with the programmer 2.0.0. When I plug in a nrf52840 dongle (in bootloader mode) it appears in the device list, but is labelled "unknown". If I select it, I get "Error when fetching device versions: readFwInfo error" in the console of the programmer.

    Downgrading manually to 1.4.11 fixes the problem.

  • Could you please share what steps you are performing to reproduce this issue?

    Sure:

    1. Start Programmer, and erase a CPU on nRF9160dk
    2. Disconnect Programmer
    3. Move the switch the other CPU
    4. Connect Programmer again it shows the first CPU
  • Step by step in screenshots on a fresh Windows 11 install with JLink_Windows_V756d_x86_64

    Install nRF Connect 3.8.0, connect Thingy:91 and nRF9160dk, install and then try to open Programmer

    Restart nRF Connect 3.8.0 and open programmer, Unknown is shown, it should not be. Is this COM1? This computer has a COM port on the mainboard. If yes, it should at least indicate that this is COM1. The old version of Programmer had a much better user interface, because a toolbar on the right side is more productive, it happens to be closer to the mouse and there is a rule that a good interfaces reduces the amount you need to move the mouse to perform tasks.

    Select nRF9160 DK, the switch is in position nRF52840

    Press the Eject button, switch to nRF9160 and try to reconnect. Programmer still shows nRF52840.

    Restart Programmer, it froze on a white screen

    Restart Programmer again. It does not detect any devices

    Update to nRF Connect 3.9.0

    Then the issue where switch changes are not detected remains.

  • Hi,

    Thank you for providing the steps, and for clarifying that you are still having these issues in nRF Connect for Desktop v3.9.0. I have reported this to our developers.

    The developers have found that the JLink version that is bundled with the latest version of nRF Command Line Tools causes errors in nRF Connect for Desktop. They are working on a fix for this as well, but a temporary workaround is to downgrade JLink to a known working version, v6.88a, from https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink.

    Best regards,

    Marte

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