STM32CubeIDE debugger not working

[AlexCloned]

I am using STM32CubeIDE V 1.9.0, with an Nucleo board with STM32F401, and STLink integrated. Debugger just stopped working.

I have spent hours trying to change debugging configurations, upgrading STLink firmware, but nothing.

When I press Debug I see a progress bar down in the right in the IDE, it launches debug perspective, but never starts, programs, runs, or enables debug buttons such as Step-into, step over, pause, etc.

I am missing something or It must be a known issue. Did someone experiment this issue recently?

Thanks.

[Markus GIRDLAND · Accepted solution]

If the log file never even gets created then my guess is that it could be some sort of anti-virus or firewall that's blocking the ST-Link gdb server.

Could you try to start the ST-Link gdb server through command line to see if it still gets blocked? You can find the manual here where you can get information on how to launch it remotely.

[AlexCloned]

I could not find ST-Link gdb server in my system. I searched for "ST-LINK_gdbserver.exe" through all the system.

So my next step would be to try to find a download and install ST-Link gdb server manually. I will post an update.

Some context information:

I have to PC computers being affected by this issue. One with Win7 and the other running Win 10. Both of them present the same symptom of debugger not working.

On Win7 machine we could never install ST-Link drivers propperly. It failed. This computer has a lot of software for programming different legacy micros. OS can not be updated.

Then I installed STM32Cube PROGRAMMER wich has an ST link drivers pack included, and that worked fine on Win7 to program Nucleo 64 board, as an external tool.

In the other hand. Originally integrated debugger used to run properly in Win10 pc with STM32Cube Ide 1.8.

I installed STM32Cube Programmer program in Win 10 also. Just to have both systems updated and syncronized, and to have a quick external tool for programming. As it has a look and feel pretty similar to ST newest software I thought this was fine for programming while trying to solve the not-debugging issue in Win7.

Later I would prove that integrated debugging in Win10 pc under STM32CubeIDE did not work anymore. Now I cannot find ST-LINK_gdbserver.exe my guess is STM32Cube Programmer installation might have originated the issue.

[AlexCloned]

Update: Solved.

I downloaded and tried to instal stlink server v2.1.0. Windows 10 prompted that an older version of stlink server was already installed and advised to uninstall it first. Remember I was not able to find ST-LINK_gdbserver.exe (file name taken from its manual. What is the real file name to look for?) However I found a version of st link server via control panel and uninstalled it. I think it was 1.9.x. (Note It's curious that having upgraded STM32CubeIde 1.8 to 1.9 four days ago, it did not update stlink server neither changed STM32CubeIde 1.8 folder name to 1.9.).

I finally installed stlink server v2.1.0. Ran STM32CubeIde and its debugger, but nothing happened. Log file did not update either.

Then I uninstalled ALL ST software from the computer and installed the sole brand new downloaded STM32CubeIde 1.9.

Ran debugger and Windows Defender Firewall prompted an alert saying stlink server was blocked. I checked "alow access" for public networks and private networks.

Then debugger run normally!!

ST team must know I am feeling a bit dumb. That is a fact. I assume and accept my skills with ST products and Win 10 may be poor. However I have a profound sensation that something among all this ST software bundle is not mature enough. May I feel relieved thinking that you will continue working and improving on that?

Thank you @Markus GIRDLAND​ for your advise.

[Markus GIRDLAND]

I'm glad to hear that it worked out and you were able to get started with debugging!

We're aware that some software can get blocked by anti-virus, firewalls and companies' IT-departments so we always sign our software and try to make it as legitimate as possible as to not trigger any of these blockers. It's also further complicated by STM32CubeIDE integrating other tools such as CubeMX, ST-Link GDB server, CubeProgrammer etc.

At the end of the day we in the CubeIDE team try to bundle and sign everything as well as we can, but we can't control all the variables so some cases like this might still pop up on the community.