Unable to Program Modem Firmware onto Custom NRF9160 Board

[Samuel Pell]

Hi all,

We are bringing up our custom board and we are having some trouble programming the modem firmware. Whenever we try to flash it using a JLink programmer and the Programming tool in the nRF Connect for Desktop application we get either: "NOT_AVAILABLE_BECAUSE_TRUST_ZONE", or "JLINKARM_DLL_ERROR". We can sucessfully program the same modem firmware onto a Thingy91 board we have using the same JLink programmer. We are using Window10 (x64), nRF Connect for Desktop v3.10.0, Programmer v2.3.1, MFW v1.3.1, and a V2 silicon nRF9160. Any advice on how to program the modem firmware?

Additionally, when we try to program our normal software blinky to test the hardware we can program the board, but it refuses to transfer to the main function after starting the Zephyr kernel. Since we can talk to the board and program plus partially run normal software I don't think there is a issue with the hardware on the custom board.

 

[rct42]

Ironically I encountered this problem today (NOT_AVAILABLE_BECAUSE_TRUST_ZONE). In my case I was able to overcome this by making sure my nRF9160 on custom hardware was adequately powered. I suspect it was browning out when I was trying to update the modem firmware without having the lipo battery connected.

[Samuel Pell]

Thank you! This was the problem, I was powering the board from the charger without the battery attached. Now everything works as expected.