Cannot debug blinky and hello_world zephyr sample apps. Failed to launch GDB

[ClarkS]

I am learning about the MCXN947 and Zephyr development using MCUXpresso for VSCode. I have little experience with VS Code, MCUXpresso for VS Code, and Zephyr. 

Here is my development setup:

• Build machine MacOS Ventura 13.7.6 (latest)
• VSCode version 1.100 (latest)
• MCUXpresso for VS Code 25.3.72 (latest)

I've installed the following components using MCUXpresso Installer v.24.12

• MCUXpresso SDK Developer
• Zephyr Developer
• Matter Developer - installed with SDK Developer
• ARM GNU toolchain
• Standalone toolchain addons
• LinkServer
• Segger J-Link
• MCUXpresso Configuration Tools 
• MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool - future use with MCUBoot
• GUI Guider

Then I followed the excellent guide https://github.com/nxp-mcuxpresso/vscode-for-mcux/wiki/Training-Zephyr-Getting-Started-MCXN947

The board is connected via USB-C cable (J17 MCU-LINK) to the PC (USB Port) and detected as MCU-LINK FRDM-MCXN947

I am able to build both blinky and hello_world Zephyr sample apps. I cannot debug either.

I was able to flash and debug them before I installed the MCUXpresso SDK Developer. I am unsure whether this action was the cause of the failure or whether I did something else. I installed the SDK because I wanted the ability to use both the SDK and Zephyr development tools in order to learn this MCU.  

Now, when I try to debug, I get popup message showing "Failed to launch GDB: Error finishing flash operation (from target-download)"

The message then asks to open launch.json

{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "mcuxpresso-debug",
      "name": "Debug",
      "request": "launch",
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
    
      "executable": "",
      "stopAtSymbol": "main",
      "probeSerialNumber": "HJ4V5VZN2TGEA",
      "isAttach": false,
      "probeType": "",
      "skipBuildBeforeDebug": false,
      "skipPreFlashActions": true,
    
      "gdbInitCommands": [
        "set remotetimeout 600",
        "set debug-file-directory",
        "set non-stop off"
      ],
    
      "gdbServerConfigs": {
        "linkserver": {},
    		"segger": {},
    		"pemicro": {}
      },
    
      "showDevDebugOutput": "none"
    }
  ]
}

Here is the terminal after a pristine build

 *  Executing task: CMake: configure 

Config task started...
Loading Zephyr default modules (Zephyr base (cached)).
-- Application: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky
-- CMake version: 3.27.0
-- Found Python3: /Users/clark/.mcuxpressotools/.venv/bin/python (found suitable version "3.13.3", minimum required is "3.10") found components: Interpreter 
-- Cache files will be written to: /Users/clark/Library/Caches/zephyr
-- Zephyr version: 4.1.0 (/Users/clark/Zephyr_Repository/zephyr_v4_1_0/zephyr)
-- Found west (found suitable version "1.3.0", minimum required is "0.14.0")
-- Board: frdm_mcxn947, qualifiers: mcxn947/cpu0/qspi
-- ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT not set, trying to locate Zephyr SDK
-- Found host-tools: zephyr 0.17.0 (/Users/clark/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0)
-- Found toolchain: zephyr 0.17.0 (/Users/clark/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0)
-- Could NOT find Dtc (missing: DTC) (Required is at least version "1.4.6")
-- Found BOARD.dts: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Repository/zephyr_v4_1_0/zephyr/boards/nxp/frdm_mcxn947/frdm_mcxn947_mcxn947_cpu0_qspi.dts
-- Generated zephyr.dts: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/zephyr.dts
-- Generated pickled edt: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/edt.pickle
-- Generated devicetree_generated.h: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/include/generated/zephyr/devicetree_generated.h
-- Including generated dts.cmake file: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/dts.cmake
Parsing /Users/clark/Zephyr_Repository/zephyr_v4_1_0/zephyr/Kconfig
Loaded configuration '/Users/clark/Zephyr_Repository/zephyr_v4_1_0/zephyr/boards/nxp/frdm_mcxn947/frdm_mcxn947_mcxn947_cpu0_qspi_defconfig'
Merged configuration '/Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/prj.conf'
Configuration saved to '/Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/.config'
Kconfig header saved to '/Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/include/generated/zephyr/autoconf.h'
-- Found GnuLd: /Users/clark/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0/arm-zephyr-eabi/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.bfd (found version "2.38") 
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 12.2.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 12.2.0
-- The ASM compiler identification is GNU
-- Found assembler: /Users/clark/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/arm-zephyr-eabi-gcc
Load components for MCXN947_cm33_core0:
driver_common component is included.
driver_reset component is included.
device_CMSIS component is included.
CMSIS_Include_core_cm component is included.
device_system component is included.
driver_lpflexcomm component is included.
driver_lpuart component is included.
driver_mcx_spc component is included.
driver_port component is included.
driver_cache_cache64 component is included.
-- Using ccache: /usr/local/bin/ccache
-- Configuring done (6.8s)
-- Generating done (0.2s)
CMake Warning:
  Manually-specified variables were not used by the project:

    APP_DIR


-- Build files have been written to: /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build
Configure finished with return code 0
 *  Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it. 

 *  Executing task: CMake: build 

build task started....
/usr/local/bin/cmake --build /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build --target all --
[1/144] Preparing syscall dependency handling

[2/144] Generating misc/generated/syscalls_subdirs.trigger
[3/144] Generating include/generated/zephyr/version.h
-- Zephyr version: 4.1.0 (/Users/clark/Zephyr_Repository/zephyr_v4_1_0/zephyr), build: v4.1.0
[4/144] Generating misc/generated/syscalls.json, misc/generated/struct_tags.json
[5/144] Generating include/generated/device-api-sections.ld, include/generated/device-api-sections.cmake
[6/144] Generating include/generated/zephyr/syscall_dispatch.c, include/generated/zephyr/syscall_exports_llext.c, syscall_weakdefs_llext.c, include/generated/zephyr/syscall_list.h
[7/144] Generating include/generated/zephyr/driver-validation.h
[8/144] Generating include/generated/zephyr/kobj-types-enum.h, include/generated/zephyr/otype-to-str.h, include/generated/zephyr/otype-to-size.h
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Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Used
           FLASH:       24250 B         8 MB      0.29%
             RAM:        4408 B       320 KB      1.35%
           SRAM1:          0 GB        96 KB      0.00%
        IDT_LIST:          0 GB        32 KB      0.00%
Generating files from /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build/zephyr/zephyr.elf for board: frdm_mcxn947
build finished successfully.
 *  Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it. 

Here is the terminal after attempting to debug. The app was already built. 

 *  Executing task: CMake: build 

build task started....
/usr/local/bin/cmake --build /Users/clark/Zephyr_Projects/blinky/build --target all --
ninja: no work to do.
build finished successfully.
 *  Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it. 

Here is the Debug Console after attempting to build.

Launching GDB: /Users/clark/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/arm-zephyr-eabi-gdb -q --interpreter=mi2
    IMPORTANT: Set "showDevDebugOutput": "raw" in "launch.json" to see all GDB transactions.
Launching GDB server: /Applications/LinkServer_25.3.31/LinkServer -l5 gdbserver "MCXN947:FRDM-MCXN947" --probe HJ4V5VZN2TGEA --gdb-port 2348 --no-boot --redlink-port 2440 --core cm33_core0 --override /device/memory/1/flash-driver=MCXN9xx_S.cfx --override /device/memory/1/location=0x10000000 --override "/device/memory/-={\\\"location\\\":\\\"0x30000000\\\",                               \\\"size\\\":\\\"0x00060000\\\",\\\"type\\\":\\\"RAM\\\"}" --override "/device/memory/-={\\\"location\\\":\\\"0x30060000\\\",                               \\\"size\\\":\\\"0x00008000\\\",\\\"type\\\":\\\"RAM\\\"}" --override "/device/memory/-={\\\"location\\\":\\\"0x50000000\\\",                               \\\"size\\\":\\\"0x00140000\\\",\\\"type\\\":\\\"RAM\\\"}"
    Please check TERMINAL tab (GDB server console) for output from "/Applications/LinkServer_25.3.31/LinkServer"
Output radix now set to decimal 10, hex a, octal 12.
Input radix now set to decimal 10, hex a, octal 12.
0x1302eec8 in ?? ()
Program stopped, probably due to a reset and/or halt issued by the debugger.
Error 103: Failed to launch GDB: Error finishing flash operation (from target-download)

At times I have seen a lot more information scrolling by in the Debug Console. At the end it is replaced by the above messages. I do not know why the other massive amount of information sometimes appears nor do I know how to capture it. 

I can successfully Erase Flash. That does not let me debug.

I've reinstalled the newest VS Code, MCUXpresso extension but these actions have not helped. I have not downloaded new repos because I have a slow internet connection and it takes a very long time to do that. 

Please advise me how to proceed. As I am pretty new with the MCU, VSCode, and Zephyr. I may need more detailed instructions. HA!

I have a couple more minor issues:

Every time I startup VSCode and the extension, it forgets my project list. I then have to reimport them. Is there a way to cause VSCode and the extension to remember them. I have a suspicion I need to do something with workspace files but I don't know what. 

How can I delete the Segger debug probe. I think LinkServer is all I need. 

FRDM-MCXN947 

[ClarkS · Accepted solution]

I have reinstalled vs code, MCUxpresso extension, and the repos. It is now working well. 

[ClarkS]

Anyone have any ideas?

Out of desperation Im reinstalling on another computer to see if the problem goes away.