[SOLVED] J-Link Base and flash IDE

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  • [SOLVED] J-Link Base and flash IDE

    Hi! I just purchased a J-Link Base, and the product description says that it can download into flash, using an IDE. I am developing using Ubuntu 16.04. I am working on U-Boot on a Boundary Devices Nitrogen7 (NXP/Freescale i.MX7) board. The board seems to be recognized correctly by the J-Link Base.

    I found an Eclipse tutorial that indicated entering "monitor loadbin /absolute/filename/to/binary/image" in the Run/Restart Commands section would load the flash, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

    What IDEs support flashing through the J-Link Base?

    Thanks!
  • Hi,

    a list of IDEs which support J-Link can be found here:
    Supported IDEs

    For eclipse, we recommend using the GNU ARM Eclipse project.


    Best regards,
    Niklas
    Please read the forum rules before posting.

    Keep in mind, this is *not* a support forum.
    Our engineers will try to answer your questions between their projects if possible but this can be delayed by longer periods of time.
    Should you be entitled to support you can contact us via our support system: segger.com/ticket/

    Or you can contact us via e-mail.
  • Thanks, I already have Eclipse set up with the Segger JTAG debugging. I didn't see a button indicating "download to device flash" or similar, and initiating the debug session didn't seem to load data to the device. There was no error message indicating a download failure.

    The reason I mention the exact processor is because of the J-Link support for QSPI. (link) According to that table, Segger J-Link doesn't support QSPI on the i.MX7D. The exact chip on the Boundary Devices Nitrogen7 board is the Winbond SST25VF016B-50-4C-S2AF, which is a SPI chip.

    If the chip is SPI instead of QSPI, should the J-Link support flashing it?
  • Hi,

    there are two ways to program SPI-Flashes using J-Link:
    a) direct (J-Link communicates directly via SPI interface with the SPI device)
    b) indirect (J-Link communicates with a MCU which is connected to a SPI flash. The SPI flash memory is programmed via the MCU's (SPI) flash controller)

    a)
    The device is not listed on the list of the supported SPI flashes:
    segger.com/products/debug-prob…es/supported-spi-flashes/
    However, there is a decent chance that it works either via auto-detection or by specifying the correct instructions manually.

    b)
    Probably what you want / need, since most there is most likely no SPI interface available, correct?
    Support for indirect programming is independent of the actual SPI device part number most of the time, but needs the be implemented depending on the MCU, hence e.g. indirect QSPI flash programming is supported for iMX7ULP series devices, but not for iMX7D series devices (yet)

    Can you please get in touch with support@segger.com regarding your request for (Q)SPI flash programming support for iMX7D series devices?

    Best regards,
    Niklas
    Please read the forum rules before posting.

    Keep in mind, this is *not* a support forum.
    Our engineers will try to answer your questions between their projects if possible but this can be delayed by longer periods of time.
    Should you be entitled to support you can contact us via our support system: segger.com/ticket/

    Or you can contact us via e-mail.