Supercharge Your STM32 Nucleo Projects with Segger J-Link

How to connect Segger J-Link debugger to ST Nucleoboard and create a "Hello World" blinky program.
I will take my Segger J-Link connect it to a STM32C031 Nucleo board and connect both with jumper cables.
www.segger.com...
www.segger.com...
wiki.segger.co...
#howto
#tutorial
#J-Link

[@MadroEurope]

very useful, thank you for sharing. I will be trying this very soon, so comes in very handy

[@windward2818]

In main stream product design there is usually the requirement to preserve the JTAG/SWD 10 pin connection. Why? There are many reasons, among the most important are diagnostic coverage for issues found in the field prompted by company liability and regulatory compliance, with also the need to program the parts in production (using a flashing probe). There can be other uC resources reserved for ARM Cortex M like a UART, usually UART0 and a 4 bit digital I/O port (1/2 an 8 bit port) usually SPI0 (also called SSI, which can provide a microSD interface if needed). This is not really a problem with a part pin count of 64 and higher. BGAs are popular for designs that are very compact and have a very high signal count for their size. But, as you can see on the STM32 eval boards there is clearly no space constraint, yet BGAs are still used even if very high pin count TQFPs are available. Depending on the specific part, many times the BGA medium pitch part has the best price point of all the parts in a family. However, medium and fine pitch BGA signal breakout requirements increase the complexity and cost of the PCB. Many times requiring the use of microvias and 4 or 6 layer boards. For the JTAG/SWD 10 pin connection it should be pointed out that JTAG access is just as important as SWD for analyzing a part without taking it off the board, or in preserving the PCB to part connection in order to not defeat a possible failure mode, especially important with a BGA part. It is better to leave the part on the board and send the complete board to the silicon vendor for analysis. First with the part on the board and then with it removed if need be. The part will most likely be xray examined as to the solder joint integrity. Many designers use the TAG CONNECT TC2050-IDC-NLFP mini bed of nails connector for the 10 pin JTAG/SWD connection with a 20 pin probe adaptor cable and board to connect to a J-Link probe or similar. The PCB footprint is very small using tinned circular pads (on one side only) and holes ( three non plated used to guide the connector). You will see the footprint on many evaluation boards from different vendors to support the JTAG/SWD 10 pin connection. You can go beyond 10 pins to 20 pins which basically adds full trace capability, but greatly depends on the specific part, and you would need a probe to support it like J-Trace. I don't usually see a requirement for full trace until you get to ARM A family. For the silicon vendors IDEs the Segger J-Link probe seems to be universally supported. Mainly because Segger makes tools and not silicon. But, most of the silicon vendors have their own probe types for ARM but there always seems to be the option to use the J-Link.

[@prtechtalk416]

Thanks WindWard2818 for your input and thoughts.

[@incxxxx]

Why the orange cable of J-Link needs feeding by 3.3V from nucleo boards when it has its own 3.3V as I noticed ? That is why not connect it to white cable on CN4 pins socket on nucleo board ?

[@ulysses_grant]

Hello Sir, thanks for your video. I followed it strictly but unfortunately I couldn't get it to work for me. The ST-Link attached to my Nucleo Board stopped working (at all) and I was looking for some solutions. Your video came to the rescue but I am sure there is something wrong with my board as well and not just the ST-Link. I tried connecting the JLink pins to their respective pins on CN11 as well but it still didn't work. Thanks for the information anyway.

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi, Pls note make sure that your Nucleo board is supported. If you have bricked the ST-link then one advanced option is to connect SWD directly to the ST-Link MCU and download new firmware using STMCubeProgrammer. and pls note that i am talking about the ST-Link Mcu not the target MCU. Good Luck /PR TechTalk

[@ScottKruegel]

I tried to connect my Nucleo144 but when I downloaded to flash, there were 100% verify errors. My board is a Nucleo-F429ZI. I connected the Vdd to a 3.3 pin on the CN8 header. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi , Sorry but hard to say could be many things and i can only guess and a guess is not worth much, /PR TechTalk

[@MykolaInc]

I believe there is a possibility to flash on-board st-link with j-link firmware, so no external j-link required in that case.

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi you are right and i even made an video on how to do this.

[@amarobarbosa8483]

is the segger's usb port disconnected?

[@prtechtalk416]

No ??

[@sugiyartosugiyarto1587]

Sir make lookuptable video..input adc value ..

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi. Im not sure what you mean, can you pls elaborate this a bit more. /PR TechTalk

[@sugiyartosugiyarto1587]

@@prtechtalk416 i use input adc with stm32cube ide( 0-1024). If x100 &&200 &&300 &&400 &&500 &&600 &&700 &&800 &&900 &&

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi. Firstly i need to state that i am not a c programmer so pls look at my response with this in mind. But for this code i would write something like this: #include int main() { int x; printf("Enter the value of x: "); scanf("%d", &x); if (x < 100) { printf("Output: 10 "); } else if (x >= 100 && x < 200) { printf("Output: 12 "); } else if (x >= 200 && x < 300) { printf("Output: 15 "); } else if (x >= 300 && x < 400) { printf("Output: 17 "); } else if (x >= 400 && x < 500) { printf("Output: 20 "); } else if (x >= 500 && x < 600) { printf("Output: 25 "); } else if (x >= 600 && x < 700) { printf("Output: 17 "); } else if (x >= 700 && x < 800) { printf("Output: 12 "); } else if (x >= 800 && x < 900) { printf("Output: 10 "); } else if (x >= 900 && x < 1024) { printf("Output: 10 "); } else { printf("Value of x is out of the specified range "); } return 0; } /PR TechTalk

[@rgorazd]

What are the benefits? For STM i use STLink V3 (35€), never had a need to use a a700€ JTAG probe. You may flash a STLINK with Segger firmware. But still, what can Segger do better than STlink?

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi. If you are fine using the tool you have on hand then that is the best tool and cheapest :-) . But if you are using several MCUs you might want one tool to work with all. Then Segger is one alternative. Also remember that ST sell their tools at a discounted price to get their money on the MCU’s. Segger dont sell any MCU’s and need to get money for their HW and SW. Hence they are more expensive to purchase. I just think it’s great that we have alternative to choose from. /PR TechTalk

[@rgorazd]

@@prtechtalk416 Thank you, for your comment. I was thinking STM32 wise. J-link is a universal tool. One tool being cheap and universal is also CMSIS-DAP, often mounted on LPC demo boards. A little bit more expensive than nucleo boards, but CMSIS-DAP is also a universal tool. I was able to program some other ARM vendor MCUs. Just for information.

[@prtechtalk416]

Hi i was not aware that NXP’s LPC evalboard could be used as universal tool. I wonder if their new mcu family MCX also will have this option. If you are interested my next video will be on Stlink-V3PWR. /PR TechTalk