Secure Provisioning Tool UART connection failed on custom i.MX RT1176AVMA8 board - Failed to start f

[Harisha]

Hello NXP team,

I am working on a custom board (ST05) that is based on the i.MX RT1176AVMA8 MCU and follows the RT1170 EVK reference design.

I am trying to connect and flash the board using the Secure Provisioning Tool (SPT) over UART1, but I am unable to establish a connection. When I click on "Test Connection", I get the following errors:

Failed to start flashloader, the processor was not verified.
Cannot verify the processor, failed to load unsigned flashloader.

Current setup:

MCU: i.MX RT1176AVMA8

Board: Custom board based on RT1170 EVK

Tool: Secure Provisioning Tool v3.x (latest)

Connection: UART1 via USB–TTL adapter

Boot Mode: Serial Downloader Mode (boot pins set accordingly)

HAB: Not enabled (device is non-secure)

OS: Windows 10

What I tried:

Tested with both signed and unsigned flashloader options in SPT

Verified serial downloader boot mode configuration

Confirmed no fuses are programmed yet (HAB disabled)

Tried different baud rates and COM ports, same issue

Questions:

How can I make the Secure Provisioning Tool load an unsigned flashloader when HAB is not yet enabled?

Is there a way to bypass the processor verification step for initial UART flashing on a blank RT1176 device?

Should I use MCUBootUtility or blhost first to initialize the device before using SPT?

Are any fuse or boot configuration settings required to allow unsigned UART flashloader loading?

It seems the Secure Provisioning Tool is trying to verify a signed flashloader, but the processor is in a non-secure state (HAB disabled). From other discussions, this looks like a secure boot or provisioning conflict, but I am not sure how to start correctly with a fresh RT1176 device over UART.

Please suggest the correct procedure or settings to connect successfully in this scenario.

Thank you,
Harisha

[mayliu1]

Hi @Harisha ,

Thank you so much for your interest in our products and for using our community.

Please double check the following points:

1: Please use an oscilloscope to check if the chip's power-up sequence is correct.

2：when you use Secure Provisioning Tool (SPT),do you set RT1176 chip as serial downloader mode?

3: Please check the BOOT_CFG[0-11] pins setting. You can refer to MIMXRT1170-EVKB board design.

4:Please check the Tool version "Tool: Secure Provisioning Tool v3.x (latest)", it should be 25.0X version.

https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/software/development-software/mcuxpresso-software-and-tools...

Wish it helps you.
If you still have question about it, please kindly let me know.

Best Regards
MayLiu

[marek-trmac]

Hi Harisha.

Secure Provisioning Tool uses flashloader application from MCUXpresso SDK. It is distributed in binary form here: 

c:\nxp\MCUX_Provi_25.06\bin\_internal\data\targets\MIMXRT1176\flashloader_cm7.srec

There might be needed modifications for you custom board. Use the flashloader example to verify, whether flashloader ir running on your custom board (simply run the flashloader application in the debugger and try to connect from Secure Provisioning Tool via Connection dialog). In case you need any modification, simply re-build the flashloader, override the version in Secure Provisioning Tool.