MIMXRT1176 ADP – SEGGER J-Link debugging issue

[HasanIqbalKhan]

Hi everyone,

I am currently working with the MIMXRT1176 / i.MX RT1170 platform. I initially used the MIMXRT1170-EVKB for development, but have now shifted to the MIMXRT1176-ADP for interfacing a parallel RGB panel.

I am facing an issue with SEGGER J-Link debugging on the ADP board.

Environment:

• Board: MIMXRT1176-ADP
• Board revision: 700-51950 REV A1
• Schematic revision: SCH-51950 REV B1
• MCUXpresso IDE: v25.6.136
• MCUXpresso SDK: v25.09.00
• SEGGER J-Link: latest version

On the EVKB, both J-Link and LinkServer worked without any issues. However, on the ADP:

• Firmware flashes successfully.
• Debugger reaches the first line of main().
• If I Step Over once, it stops at:

Break at address "0xdeadbeee" with no debug information available, or outside of program code.

• Breakpoints at other locations work and are hit correctly.
• However, Resume/Continue from a breakpoint again results in 0xDEADBEEE.

Could someone please confirm whether J-Link is fully supported with MCUXpresso IDE on the MIMXRT1176-ADP, and whether there is any specific J-Link script, reset/debug configuration, or ADP-specific initialization required?

Could this be related to the memory configuration, external flash/SDRAM, or startup code on the ADP?

Any guidance or working J-Link configuration for the ADP would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[db16122]

https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors/Memory-edit-leads-to-debug-break-at-0xdeadbeee/m-p/1495...

[Gavin_Jia]

Hi @HasanIqbalKhan ,

Thanks for your questions!

As far as I know, when using JLink with the RT1170-ADP in MCUXpresso IDE, only "attach" is supported while direct debugging is not supported. This is likely a support issue with the JLink flashloader. In IAR, this issue has been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Best regards,
Gavin

[HasanIqbalKhan]

Is it possible to use debug via USB (J33) ?

[HasanIqbalKhan]

One more thing I tried, I connected an external MCU-Link and then tried debugging via the LinkServer in MCUXpresso IDE.

The Execution reached main, I am able to step through from there, but when I try to resume execution it gives "Break at address "0x0" with no debug information available, or outside of program code.", and sometimes when I try to restart execution, it gives "Break at address "0x2230c8" with no debug information available, or outside of program code."

For reference I am trying to run the "MIMXRT1176_dashboard_bt_ble_multiprofile" project, SW1 on the board is set to 01 and SW5 on the board is set to 000000000000.

I tried to test with MCU-Link because the EVKB board uses the same and works fine.

Also I do not think we can use Jlink, as it is clearly mentioned on their website that there is no support for octal flash, which the ADP board uses.

Thanks.

[Gavin_Jia]

Hi @HasanIqbalKhan ,

1. J33 is USB-OTG1 and cannot be used for debugging. 

2. It’s not that JLink doesn’t support Octal Flash; it’s just that by default, it only recognizes the flash found on the EVK/EVKB. As for IAR, this is because a corresponding download algorithm is provided. If you’re interested in this topic, you can refer to the RT-UFL project.

3. For information on current debugger/IDE support, please refer to: AN14387: https://docs.nxp.com/bundle/AN14378/page/topics/download_images_to_ADP_board.html

Best regards,
Gavin