1176 Programming With Link2

[lfost]

Trying to program a custom board with an 1176 processor using an NXP Link2.  What we see is inconsistent programming where some boards will program and some will not.  We have determined ribbon cable length and adding a 3.3 pf capacitor on the TCK line helps but does not work for all of the boards.   Thanks in advance.   

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

To troubleshoot, I got some questions.

Are you able to share a bit from your RT1170 schematic? I want to check if the JTAG connections meet the recommendations we list on our RT11xx hardware development guide. 

As far I know our LPC-Lnk 2 programmers come with a very short cable (about 10 cm), what is the length  of your cable?

Do you have an RT1170 EVK to compare against? For JTAG we need to remove R187, R208, R195, and R78, because some JTAG signals are multiplexed with other functions.

Lastly, if you could add an screenshot of the programming failure could be handy.

All the best ,

Diego

[lfost]

Hi Diego - Attached is the schematic and the programming error I see.

I am using the standard link2 programming cable.  So it is short.  

I do have an 1170 evk but have not tried the link2 with it.  

I will be trying a segger programmer on Monday to see what it does.  

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Thanks for letting me know!

The boards that fail to be programmed , remaim this way? Or after re-trying they can be programed?

Also,Where they being  running fw before? 

Try also to update to the latest firmware of LPC-link2 too. You can also flash J-link to this probe. Let me know if you need more details on this.

Diego

[lfost]

They can not be programmed unless I add a capacitor or change the length of the cable.  

No FW on the boards.

Yes already updated the link2 fw.  That is what I have been using.  

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Thanks again!

Could you detail further about the length of the cable?

What is the termination on the JTAG_MOD pin? So far everything else looks good the other pins from the schematic. 

Diego

[lfost]

The length of the cable is 4 in.  Standard cable from the link2.

Not sure what you mean about jtag_mod.  There is no mod pin in our schematic.  The true jtag on the 1170evk is J1 on page 27.  It does not have a jtag_mod pin.  We are using the 10-pin version.  The evk has a 20-pin.  Neither has a jtag_mod.  There are 2 reset pins.  trst and  srst

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Thanks for your reply and for the additional information. 

I am sorry for not providing further details there. 

What I mean is that we recommend pulling down with a 4.7K ohm resistor the JTAG_MOD pin, this pin helps to configure JTAG interface in common software debug mode.  

See this excerpt from our MIMXRT1170HDUG. 

On our EVK we have this pin tied to ground. To narrow down the issue, I suggest you to try to pull down this pin to ground, using a 4.7 K ohm resistor.

See the below image from the EVK schematic. 

On a side note. You may see that the value of the RT1170 pull down resistor is 10 K,  this is because  when the board was designed we probably did not have the MIMXRT1170HDUG yet. The values recommended on that guide are the best in terms in design robustness.

All the best, 

Diego

[lfost]

We did find the jtag_mod pin and put a 4.7k on it as shown.  It did not help.  Still will not program.  

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Thanks for letting me know! 

Let's check the following, 

Please with our J-Link firmware loaded into your probe open the GDB server and quickly try to read target voltage. Voltage reading is shown  automatically, after establishing connection.

I will stay tuned to your reply.

Diego.

[lfost]

Here is what I tried.  I don't have a segger debugger ( I did just get one but the cable is wrong).   I put the segger code in the link2.  This came from the lpcscrypt tool.  Did not do anything.  Probe still a cmsis-dap.   Would not connect.  Is that what you wanted.  It will be a day or so for the real segger debugger cable to be made. 

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Thanks!

After successfully programming the LPC-Link2, make sure to remove JP1  and power cycle. If you where using MCUXpresso, and  leave JP1 , the IDE will soft load  CMSIS DAP automatically.

With Segger what I want to see are two things:

1 Verify that you can connect using this alternative.

2 See if the probe can read target voltage.

Many thanks, 

Diego

[lfost]

I got the segger j-link plus compact debugger in today.  I tried to connect.  Using the shift +click debug I could see mcuxpresso could see the segger debugger.  I then used the quick start>j-link icon and selected program the board.  The console showed could not connect to the device just like the link2.  I tried both the swd and jtag options.  Neither one could connect. 

Are there specific instructions I need to use the segger j-link and mcuxpresso.    

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Regarding , are there specific instructions I need to use the Segger j-link and mcuxpresso?

As far as I know,  you should be able to debug with J-Link probe out of the box. Just make sure to delete the .launch file associated to the LPC-Link at the bottom of your project.

@lfost  adding more to this comment.

Either way, you should be able to test with the GDB console debugger, as I shown early. 

Additionally, there is an alternative to try to get  debug access ( if you have the needed interfaces)  we can try: 

1 Set the MCU into serial downloader mode, changing boot mode pins to 0001.

2 Reset or power cycle the MCU. 

3 Try one more time to access SWD.

4 if you are still failing by SWD,  try to see if the chip is alive, try use the MCU Secure Provisioning Tool or the MCU Boot Utility to connect with the bootloader. If you success, we can go further and try to  flash a blinky or hello world application. This way we can be able to troubleshoot further. 

5 Put MCU back into internal boot mode, changing boot mode pins to 0010.

All the best, 

Diego

Diego

[lfost · Accepted solution]

Here is what we found that works.

We got a segger j-link plus compact debugger.  

We installed the patch board so it will work on a 10 pin small pitch header.

The patch board comes with a bunch of wire cables.  Make sure you install the patch board cables to get the 10 pin header to work.  It was hard to find the document on what to do with the cables.

With this in place the segger j-link works great.

Do not use the nxp link2.  

[diego_charles]

Hi @lfost 

Thanks for letting us know!

I am glad that you where now able to program your boards.

As far as I know, In contrast to CMSIS DAP, Segger does use a different programming algorithm.

All the best, 

Diego