SOLVED: Intermittent ''No ST-Link detected'' message

[David Brooks]

Posted on August 04, 2015 at 22:44

So, I'm having the same problem with the ST-Link driver as those in the past. Sometimes the driver works and I am able to connect via the ST-Link Utility and IAR Workbench. When it does not work, I cannot connect to either. I have not come up with an exact sequence of events that brings the system back to life, but rebooting appears to be required. I'm not trying to run my code. I'm just trying to download various Examples code. When LD1 on the ST_LINK front end of the Discovery Board is flashing slow, nothing works. I can generally reboot and LD1 will flash a little faster. In those cases, I can usually connect. If I then get the IAR debugger up and running, it crashes within a few hours because the connection to ST-LINK was lost.  Here is my environment:

Windows 7 STM32F4Discovery ST-LINK Utility v3.7.0 STLinkUSBDriver.dll v4.4.0.0 IAR Workbench v7.40.3.8938

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on August 05, 2015 at 02:07

Can't say I see these kinds of problems. Certainly nothing that's not remedied with a quick disconnect/reconnect, or a BOOT0 High / Connect Under Reset for problematic STM32 side code.

If you have to reset the PC to get things working it's more indicative of an issue with the PC, the motherboard chipset, and drivers (USB Stack ones). If there's any trend it's Dell's with USB 3.0 ports. Make sure you have a good quality USB cable. There's honestly a lot of crap out there, either due to the lack of shielding, thin wiring, or poor connectors. Make sure you have the most current ST-LINK firmware, update via the current ST-LINK Utilities.

[David Brooks]

Posted on August 14, 2015 at 20:49

OMG, it was the cable. I just hate that.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on August 14, 2015 at 22:26

Yeah, I feel you pain, we normally get the wire cutters out and cut those cables into many pieces and throw them in the trash so no else fishes it out or puts it in a pile for use later.

We had a policy with defective transformers (wall-warts), the Chinese vendor insisted we shipped back defective product for credit, fine whatever you want, we would ALWAYS cut the cables off so the content of the box would never be shipped back to us in any form/fashion.