Debugger connection lost. Shutting down... monitor flash mass_erase didnt help

[TKebi.1]

Hello,

Im just starting with the nucleo board STM32L476RG using mac (10.13.6) and cube IDE 1.6.1. I also updated the firmware on the ST-link to the newest one when prompted.

For the very first program I just wanted to make it blink to see if it works, so I created a project according to the tutorials, added:

HAL_GPIO_TogglePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_5);

  HAL_Delay(1000);

to the while (1) loop (user code begin 3) in the main and set LD2 pin as output in the pinout view.

Building is without a problem:

12:11:40 **** Incremental Build of configuration Debug for project first_blinking_LED ****

make -j3 all 

arm-none-eabi-size  first_blinking_LED.elf 

  text  data   bss   dec   hex filename

 12036   20  1700  13756  35bc first_blinking_LED.elf

Finished building: default.size.stdout

12:11:41 Build Finished. 0 errors, 0 warnings. (took 221ms)

But when I hit Run main I get (onboard LD1 blinking red and green):

STMicroelectronics ST-LINK GDB server. Version 5.8.0

Copyright (c) 2020, STMicroelectronics. All rights reserved.

Starting server with the following options:

    Persistent Mode      : Disabled

    Logging Level       : 1

    Listen Port Number     : 61234

    Status Refresh Delay    : 15s

    Verbose Mode        : Disabled

    SWD Debug         : Enabled

    InitWhile         : Enabled

Waiting for debugger connection...

Debugger connected

Debugger connection lost.

Shutting down...

I tried adding "monitor flash mass_erase" to the initialization commands, but it didnt help. Also what is really strange, every time I try to Run or Debug, I have aprox. 1,28 GB less free space on my HDD! And I cant find from where this space was taken as neither the repository, neither the workspace_1.6.1 folder, neither the app increased in size.

Anny suggestions on how to get it unstucked? Would be much appreciated. Thanks

[mattias norlander]

Hi @TKebi.1​,

TKebi.1: "But when I hit Run main I get (onboard LD1 blinking red and green):"

So, you are trying to flash the application to the target without debugging?

Looking at the log output the launch configuration (used to launch debugger or only to flash, which is your use case) is setup relying on the default ST-LINK GDB-server.

With ST-LINK GDB-server the flash related operations are carried out by invoking STM32CubeProgrammer_CLI. Here is where things seem to fail.

Your log output looks broken:

"Waiting for debugger connection...

Debugger connected

Debugger connection lost.

Shutting down..."

It should look like this:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...

"Waiting for debugger connection...

Debugger connected

   -------------------------------------------------------------------

            STM32CubeProgrammer v2.7.0-RC1          

   -------------------------------------------------------------------

ST-LINK SN : 49FF6A064983515137361187

ST-LINK FW : V2J38S0

Board    : --

Voltage   : 2.92V

SWD freq  : 4000 KHz

Connect mode: Under Reset

Reset mode : Hardware reset

Device ID  : 0x413

Revision ID : Rev Z

Device name : STM32F405xx/F407xx/F415xx/F417xx

Flash size : 1 MBytes (default)

Device type : MCU

Device CPU : Cortex-M4

Memory Programming ...

Opening and parsing file: ST-LINK_GDB_server_a11132.srec

 File     : ST-LINK_GDB_server_a11132.srec

 Size     : 36016 Bytes

 Address    : 0x08000000 

Erasing memory corresponding to segment 0:

Erasing internal memory sectors [0 2]

Download in Progress:

File download complete

Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:01.178

Verifying ...

Download verified successfully 

Debugger connection lost.

Shutting down..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the output in bold is missing in your log-output. This is the full output from the implicit CubeProg invocation...

Try enabling the log-file in the debug configuration. It will get you some extra log level info.

Look for the lines looking similar to:

[2.057] spawnCubeProgrammer():  ------ Switching to STM32CubeProgrammer ----- 

[2.057] file_utils_spawn(): Spawning "C:\ST\STM32CubeIDE_1.6.0\STM32CubeIDE\plugins\com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.cubeprogrammer.win32_1.6.0.202101291314\tools\bin\STM32_Programmer_CLI.exe --connect port=SWD mode=UR reset=hwRst --erase all --log C:\Users\norlandm\AppData\Local\Temp\STM32CubeProgrammer_a22632.log"

[9.436] file_utils_spawn(): Return code 0

[9.439] spawnCubeProgrammer(): 12:10:09:056    -------------------------------------------------------------------

[9.439] spawnCubeProgrammer(): 12:10:09:059            STM32CubeProgrammer v2.7.0-RC1          

[9.439] spawnCubeProgrammer(): 12:10:09:059    -------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try his:

• Read the log-file, does CubeProg fail to spawn for any specific reason?
• Can you browse to the folder where CubeProg is bundled inside CubeIDE plugin folder structure? Can you launch it from command-line?

Kind regards, Mattias

[TKebi.1]

Hi @mattias norlander​ 

thank you for your reply

I was trying both running and debugging, but sure, I want to debug first

I enabled the "Log to file", now the (full) output is:

STMicroelectronics ST-LINK GDB server. Version 5.8.0

Copyright (c) 2020, STMicroelectronics. All rights reserved.

Starting server with the following options:

    Persistent Mode      : Disabled

    LogFile Name        : /Users/tobias92k/STM32CubeIDE/workspace_1.6.1/first_LED_blinking/Debug/st-link_gdbserver_log.txt

    Logging Level       : 31

    Listen Port Number     : 61234

    Status Refresh Delay    : 15s

    Verbose Mode        : Enabled

    SWD Debug         : Enabled

    InitWhile         : Enabled

Target connection mode: Under reset

Reading ROM table for AP 0 @0xe00fffd0

Hardware watchpoint supported by the target 

COM frequency = 4000 kHz

ST-LINK Firmware version : V2J38M27

Device ID: 0x415

PC: 0x800294c

ST-LINK device status: HALT_MODE

ST-LINK detects target voltage = 3.26 V

ST-LINK device status: HALT_MODE

ST-LINK device initialization OK

Waiting for debugger connection...

Waiting for connection on port 61234...

Accepted connection on port 61234...

Debugger connected

Debugger connection lost.

Shutting down...

and the log file is in the attachment. I was going through it, but I didnt find the lines you were refering to and as Im not familiar with this logs, I dont know if there is something odd, but it doesnt look like on the first sight.

I have found terminal app document "STM32CubeProgrammer" in the plugins folder, with output when I run it:

Last login: Sun May 23 11:04:49 on ttys000

/Applications/STM32CubeIDE.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.cubeprogrammer.macos64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin/STM32CubeProgrammer ; exit;

somebody-2:~ tobias92k$ /Applications/STM32CubeIDE.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.cubeprogrammer.macos64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin/STM32CubeProgrammer ; exit;

/Applications/STM32CubeIDE.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.cubeprogrammer.macos64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin/STM32CubeProgrammer

x@

chdir /Applications/STM32CubeIDE.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.cubeprogrammer.macos64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin

current dir /Applications/STM32CubeIDE.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.cubeprogrammer.macos64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin

Exec error: No such file or directory

logout

Saving session...

...copying shared history...

...saving history...truncating history files...

...completed.

[Process completed]

After I tried to run debugging again, but with the same result.

[mattias norlander]

Ahh, the STM32CubeProgrammer is not the right file. Instead try to call STM32_Programmer_CLI --version from the terminal.

Does it exist in the same folder and does it print the version number when called?

[mattias norlander]

If you are blocked you can probably switch which probe you rely on for debug from

ST-LINK (ST-LINK GDB server) --> ST-LINK (OpenOCD)

OpenOCD does not use CubeProgrammer for flashing. Could be worth trying as a quick work-around.

[TKebi.1]

yes, its in the same folder, when I run it, the version number is: STM32CubeProgrammer v2.7.0-RC1 (full output in attachment), but it didnt help. debugging has still the same problem.

OK, I tried ST-LINK (OpenOCD), (with changing 8MHz to 4MHz in Configuration script) but now different errors appear, all in red:

Open On-Chip Debugger 0.11.0-rc2+dev-00037-g4c4dbd9 (2021-02-09-13:43)

Licensed under GNU GPL v2

For bug reports, read

http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html

Info : Listening on port 6666 for tcl connections

Info : Listening on port 4444 for telnet connections

Info : STLINK V2J38M27 (API v2) VID:PID 0483:374B

Info : Target voltage: 3.263559

Info : clock speed 4000 kHz

Info : stlink_dap_op_connect(connect)

Info : SWD DPIDR 0x2ba01477

Info : STM32L476RGTx.cpu: hardware has 6 breakpoints, 4 watchpoints

Info : STM32L476RGTx.cpu: external reset detected

Info : starting gdb server for STM32L476RGTx.cpu on 3333

Info : Listening on port 3333 for gdb connections

Info : accepting 'gdb' connection on tcp/3333

target halted due to debug-request, current mode: Thread 

xPSR: 0x01000000 pc: 0x0800294c msp: 0x20000520

Info : device idcode = 0x10076415 (STM32L47/L48xx - Rev 4 : 0x1007)

Info : RDP level 0 (0xAA)

Info : flash size = 1024kbytes

Info : flash mode : dual-bank

Info : accepting 'gdb' connection on tcp/3333

target halted due to debug-request, current mode: Thread 

xPSR: 0x01000000 pc: 0x0800294c msp: 0x20000520

shutdown command invoked

Info : dropped 'gdb' connection

shutdown command invoked

[mattias norlander]

I don't see anything weird in the OpenOCD output. The color of the output is always red. The weird part is this:

shutdown command invoked

Info : dropped 'gdb' connection

shutdown command invoked

• Did you modify the debug configuration in anyway else then adding the monitor flash mass_erase?
• Could you try to create a new debug configuration? Maybe this one is corrupted?
• Are you able to connect to the device with the stand-alone CubeProgrammer and successfully flash the elf-file and just execute your application on target?
  • If so, can you connect with the debugger in attach mode without loading the binary?
• Do you have another PC with CubeIDE installed where you could try to flash/debug some project on this particular board to rule out board issues? Or if you have another board to test with your Mac+CubeIDE...

At this point I can only ask questions, don't have any firm suspicion of what that is wrong.

[LaurentL]

Hi, did you try "Connect under reset" mode with OpenOcd ?

Can you try to debug an empty project.

If not working, can you install STM32CubeProgrammer and mass erase the device's flash.

Then, disconnect STM32CubeProgrammer and try debug again the empty prj.

Rgds,

Laurent

[TKebi.1 · Accepted solution]

@mattias norlander​ 

• no just, the monitor flash mass_erase? and log to file
• I actually already tried reinstalling the whole IDE :)
• uff, Im just a beginner, this sounds a bit too complex
• good idea, but I dont have at the moment

@LaurentL​  I have "connect under reset" selected by default.

interestingly, I tried selecting the "Shared ST-LINK" in the Debugger configuration (just to see what it does) and suddenly it worked. Now its working even without the shared st-linked checked and without the monitor flash mass_erase. I dont know what exactly does the option do (in the manual I see the communication should go via server?) and whether it solved the problem correctly, but I can upload the program and the LED is blinking as expected.

[LaurentL]

Hello,

STlink Shared mode is used when you have several ST boards connected or debugging a dual core device.

Do you have another STLink connected on your PC or another ST board ?