nRF Programmer v2+ not detecting Segger J-Link Debuggers

[Arif@Lynxemi]

Potentially related to : nRF Connect v3.9.3 does not detect external j Link programmer - Nordic Q&A - Nordic DevZone - Nordic DevZone (nordicsemi.com), but I don't see the same logs.

Since I updated nRF Programmer to version 2 and above, the software fails to detect my debuggers unless they are plugged into the debug port of an nRF device on program startup. Plugging them into the debug port after Programmer starts up does not result in detection. As a result, I either have to plug in my debuggers before starting Programmer OR attach the debugger to the nRF debug port then unplug and plug it back into the computer, which is a two handed operation in many instances and is a general hassle. In versions 1.9 and below, Programmer had no issue detecting the debuggers without the attached nRF devices. Is this new behavior intentional? If so, I would like an option to revert to the previous detection scheme.

Here is my system report. It detects my J-Link Pro which is hard-wired into a debug port but not my J-Link PLUS Compact which is not:

# nRFConnect System Report - 2022-01-20T03-36-31.552Z

- System:     Microsoft Corporation Surface Book 3
- BIOS:       Microsoft Corporation MSFT   - 2
- CPU:        1 x Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7 1.3 GHz 8 cores (4 physical)
- Memory:     20.6 GB free of 31.6 GB total
- Filesystem: C: (NTFS) 475.8 GB 49.3% used

- OS:         Microsoft Windows 11 Home (10.0.22000) Windows ia32

- Versions
    - kernel: 10.0.22000
    - git: 2.28.0.windows.1
    - node: 14.16.0
    - python: 2.7.16
    - python3: 3.9.1
    - nrfjprog: 10.15.1
    - jlink: 6.88a

- Connected devices:
    - 000174505796 Unknown: 

Here is the log from Programmer:

2022-01-20T04:00:50.881Z INFO Application data folder: C:\Users\Halo3\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-20T04:00:51.384Z DEBUG App pc-nrfconnect-programmer v2.2.0 official
2022-01-20T04:00:51.384Z DEBUG App path: C:\Users\Halo3\.nrfconnect-apps\node_modules\pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-20T04:00:51.384Z DEBUG nRFConnect 3.9.3, required by the app is (^3.9.2)
2022-01-20T04:00:51.384Z DEBUG nRFConnect path: C:\Users\Halo3\AppData\Local\Programs\nrfconnect\resources\app.asar
2022-01-20T04:00:51.385Z DEBUG HomeDir: C:\Users\Halo3
2022-01-20T04:00:51.385Z DEBUG TmpDir: C:\Users\Halo3\AppData\Local\Temp
2022-01-20T04:00:53.072Z DEBUG iface: WiFi
2022-01-20T04:00:53.072Z DEBUG IP4: 192.168.16.144
2022-01-20T04:00:53.072Z DEBUG IP6: fe80::8873:4b02:50ca:f56b
2022-01-20T04:00:53.072Z DEBUG MAC: cc:f9:e4:b9:b4:a0
2022-01-20T04:00:53.073Z DEBUG Client Id: 19715118c58c7bbf12727887b31822a89e1a4252
2022-01-20T04:00:53.074Z DEBUG Google Analytics for category pc-nrfconnect-programmer has initialized

[Priyanka]

Hi,

Have you tried with the Programmer v2.1.1? Does the issue still persist?

Regards,

Priyanka

[adrewery]

I am working with a client and it appears we are having a similar issue. I have a similar setup to them (the only real differences are different dev kits, computers, and target hardware).

We are trying to utilize Programmer v2.2.0, and they have J-Link v7.60 installed. We are trying to use a nRF52840 DK to program one of the nRF52840 Featherwing Express from Adafruit.

Sometimes when they plug their device in, the programmer recognizes the name as "J-Link". This leads to an error, "Unsupported device. The detected device could not be recognized as either Jlink device nor Nordic USB device."

Other times the programmer recognizes it as a "nRF52840 DK". In the second instance, they receive an error "Failed to load readback protection status: INTERNAL_ERROR". This appears to happen whether the device is plugged into a target or not.

The debug log for the second error is included below:

2022-01-26T21:38:28.194Z DEBUG Label: J-Link OB-SAM3U128-V2-NordicSemi compiled Mar 17 2020 14:43:00
2022-01-26T21:38:28.194Z DEBUG Usage data has not been sent. isSendingUsageData is set to false.
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z INFO Device family NRF52
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z DEBUG Sending usage data...
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z DEBUG Category: pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z DEBUG Action: Open jlink device family
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z DEBUG Label: NRF52
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z DEBUG Usage data has not been sent. isSendingUsageData is set to false.
2022-01-26T21:38:28.195Z INFO Device version NRF52840_xxAA_REV2
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Sending usage data...
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Category: pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Action: Open jlink device version
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Label: NRF52840_xxAA_REV2
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Usage data has not been sent. isSendingUsageData is set to false.
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z INFO Board version PCA10056
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Sending usage data...
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Category: pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-26T21:38:28.196Z DEBUG Action: Open jlink device board version
2022-01-26T21:38:28.197Z DEBUG Label: PCA10056
2022-01-26T21:38:28.197Z DEBUG Usage data has not been sent. isSendingUsageData is set to false.
2022-01-26T21:38:28.198Z INFO Loading readback protection status for Application core
2022-01-26T21:38:28.199Z DEBUG Sending usage data...
2022-01-26T21:38:28.199Z DEBUG Category: pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-26T21:38:28.199Z DEBUG Action: Open device
2022-01-26T21:38:28.199Z DEBUG Label: jlink
2022-01-26T21:38:28.199Z DEBUG Usage data has not been sent. isSendingUsageData is set to false.
2022-01-26T21:38:31.587Z ERROR Failed to load readback protection status: INTERNAL_ERROR
2022-01-26T21:38:31.587Z DEBUG Sending usage data...
2022-01-26T21:38:31.588Z DEBUG Category: pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2022-01-26T21:38:31.588Z DEBUG Action: Report error
2022-01-26T21:38:31.588Z DEBUG Label: win32; ia32; v2.2.0; Failed to load readback protection status: INTERNAL_ERROR
2022-01-26T21:38:31.588Z DEBUG Usage data has not been sent. isSendingUsageData is set to false.