SES bricking NRF52840DK

[Isaia F]

Greetings,

during test of a device, we have tried uploading a shell sample in a nrf52840dk board. However for some reason this caused the board, or at least the installed JLINK, to stop working.

Trying to connect via SES gives us a Error Reported popup saying "Failed to connect to target. No idcode detected. Please check connection and Target Interface Type"

The target output gives us the following:

Connecting 'J-Link' using 'USB'
Connecting to target using SWD
Loaded /home/fante/zigbee/arm_segger_embedded_studio_v568_linux_x64_nordic/bin/libjlinkarm.so
Firmware Version: J-Link OB-SAM3U128-V2-NordicSemi compiled Feb 2 2021 16:47:20
DLL Version: 7.58b
Hardware Version: V1.00
Target Voltage: 3.300
Device "NRF52840_XXAA" selected.
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
connect failed
Failed to connect to target.
No idcode detected.
Please check connection and Target Interface Type

Trying with nrfjprog --recover -f NRF52 the output is
ERROR: Unable to connect to a debugger.
ERROR: JLinkARM DLL reported an error. Try again. If error condition
ERROR: persists, run the same command again with argument --log, contact Nordic
ERROR: Semiconductor and provide the generated log.log file to them.
NOTE: For additional output, try running again with logging enabled (--log).
NOTE: Any generated log error messages will be displayed.

The --log option doesn't really help

ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
Recovering device. This operation might take 30s.
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: [SeggerBackend] - JLinkARM.dll reported "-1", "An unknown error.".
ERROR: Recover failed. Please make sure that the correct device family is given
ERROR: and try again.

JLink proved similarly unsuccessful

SEGGER J-Link Commander V7.58b (Compiled Nov 16 2021 15:04:43)
DLL version V7.58b, compiled Nov 16 2021 15:04:27

Connecting to J-Link via USB...O.K.
Firmware: J-Link OB-SAM3U128-V2-NordicSemi compiled Feb  2 2021 16:47:20
Hardware version: V1.00
S/N: 683691886
License(s): RDI, FlashBP, FlashDL, JFlash, GDB
VTref=3.300V


Type "connect" to establish a target connection, '?' for help
J-Link>connect
Please specify device / core. <Default>: NRF52
Type '?' for selection dialog
Device>NRF52
Please specify target interface:
  J) JTAG (Default)
  S) SWD
  T) cJTAG
TIF>S
Specify target interface speed [kHz]. <Default>: 4000 kHz
Speed>4000
Device "NRF52" selected.


Connecting to target via SWD
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
InitTarget() start
InitTarget() end
Cannot connect to target.
J-Link>q

Starting the DK in bootloader mode shows us only the following:
.fseventsd/no_log
System Volume Information/IndexerVolumeGuid
.metadata_never_index
.Thrashes
bootload.htm

Apparently no DLL to be found, though downloading and copying the j-link-ob-sam3u128-v2-nordicsemi-170724.bin file in the BOOTLOADER folder hasn't helped

Is it even possible to restore the board to a working state at this point? And what can we do to avoid SES killing further boards in the future?

OS: Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
Using NRF Connnect SDK (1.9.1)

Thanks in advance

[Priyanka]

Hi,

Are you able to see your DK as a connected device? Is the DK being detected?

-Priyanka

[Isaia F]

Hi,

When connected normally (ie: without keeping the RESET button pressed) we do see it as JLINK on our file explorer, however we cannot actually connect to it, as described in the opening post
When connected in bootloader mode, we do see it as BOOTLOADER on our file explorer

[Priyanka]

Hi Isaia,

Are you able to get the log? That would be really helpful.

-Priyanka

[Isaia F]

Hi Priyanka,

May i ask exactly which log are you referring to (and where/how to recover it)? If you refer to the recovery attempt via nrfjprog --recover with the --log option then i have already posted it.

If you instead mean the .fseventsd/no_log then i'm afraid it's empty (or at least, opening it with vs code shows absolutely nothing inside it)


Thanks in advance

[Priyanka]

Hi Isaia,

Please press the IF BOOT/RESET button while power cycling the kit. It will show up as a Removable Storage Device named "BOOTLOADER". You can then drag-and-drop the J-LINK interface MCU firmware found here (v170724) onto the storage device to reprogram the JLINK firmware.

-Priyanka

[Isaia F]

Hi,

I did that already and it did not work as you may see from the original post.

In any case i tried again and this is what followed:
I first started the device in BOOTLOADER mode and copied the firmware, once copied the BOOTLOADER device automatically closed/was expelled.
Then i tried to connect using SES (target->connect j-link), when asked if i wanted to upgrade the firmware i selected "no", SES could not connect because of no idcode detected.

I then repeated the above, in BOOTLOADER the jlink mcu firmware was nowhere to be found so i uploaded it again, the device again automatically disconnected. Then i connected using SES and selected "yes" to the request of firmware upgrade, again the same error occurred.

[Priyanka]

Hi Isaia,

I have contacted the experts regarding this and will get back to you as soon as I get a reply.

-Priyanka

[Priyanka]

Hi,

Is it possible to send a picture of your DK? Just to verify the switch positions etc.

-Priyanka

[Isaia F]

[Priyanka]

Hi Isaia,

Have you checked the current measurement headers and also the "nRF Only" switch? Could you check the current consumption with the nRF Only switch?

-Priyanka

[Isaia F]

While following the instruction for setting the DK for measurement, we found that the solder bridge SB40 had already been cut. Restoring the solder bridge also restored functionality.