Hi,

I get this error when attempting to debug:

"Unable to start debugging. Unable to establish a connection to GDB. Debug out may contain more information"

Originally i was getting a "Can't find ... arduino_zero.cfg" error. I was able to address that by creating a board.txt based on the instructions in a this post https://www.visualmicro.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1589097101/3 ;

That worked once, in that I was able to start debugging and hit a breakpoint, but only one time. The next time I tried to start debugging Visual Studio stopped responding during the upload. Eventually I killed it from Task Manager then rebooted my PC. Since then I always get the Unable to start debugging error.

I've attached the Micro Build output and board.buildinfo.

Debug Output:
Starting: arduino7\bin/openocd.exe" -d2 -s arduino7/share/openocd/scripts/" -f "interface/jlink.cfg" -c "transport select swd" -f "target/atsame5x.cfg" -c "init; reset halt"
Starting: gcc\9-2019q4/bin\arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe" --interpreter=mi
arduino7\bin/openocd.exe" exited with code 1 (0x1).

board.txt:
tools.jlink.server.targetCmd=-c "transport select swd" -f "target/atsame5x.cfg"
tools.jlink.program.targetCmd=-c "transport select swd"  -f "target/atsame5x.cfg"

Zadig shows that my Jlink is using the WinUSB driver.

thanks,
steve

Thanks for the report, and the detail.

It appears to be incorrectly picking up the OpenOCD from the Adafruit package.

If you add the below to the board.txt in your project does this allow the target.cfg to be found?

tools.openocd.path={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0.20200213.path}
runtime.tools.openocd.path={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0.20200213.path} 

Thanks for the detail.

This may be due to the flashing process of this board being more complex than most, (like the DUE) it may need additional NVM bits setting as part of the flash process, to ensure the board flashes correctly, and runs your program afterwards.

Can you confirm the debugging works if the sketch is uploaded via Serial/FileSystem? 
If you reset the board after debugging has stopped, does the flash process work?

Thanks for the detail around this.

Does adding the below line to the board.txt allow the board to re-connect after debugging, without the manual reset?

tools.jlink.midebugger.stop.commands=reset run; 

(This can also be entered manually during debugging to see the effect as shown in this video) 

Thanks for the detail and perseverance.

If you change the board.txt command / run the below commands via Debug.MIDebugExec does it improve? (I had incorrectly given OpenOCD Commands instead of GDB commands previously).

tools.jlink.midebugger.stop.commands=monitor reset run;kill 

Also if you find VS locks up when working in VS Console, killing the arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe via Task Manager often unlocks it without a full VS Restart.

Thanks for the detail, and measured responses are better than rushing when problem solving... just like driving the Rover...

We will look into adding an option to "Break All" before it begins running the stop commands, to ensure this works as expected when the code is running and stop is pressed, and update when there is movement on this element.

Works great! 

It took me a bit to realize the version i needed wasn't available from Extensions and Updates inside of VS yet. Once I got that sorted out I tested it a half dozen times. It worked every time and  I didn't experience the "brief error" you mentioned might happen.

Thanks for the all help.


Recapping for other viewers, this is what is working for me:

Visual Micro Version 2021.106.2 with the following modifications to board.txt.

tools.jlink.server.targetCmd=-c "transport select swd" -f "target/atsame5x.cfg"
tools.jlink.program.targetCmd=-c "transport select swd"  -f "target/atsame5x.cfg"

# Force "Break All" [||] to be pressed before running the stop commands
tools.jlink.midebugger.stop.break=true
# Run these GDB commands instead of just stopping immediately
tools.jlink.midebugger.stop.commands=monitor reset run;kill 

tools.openocd.path={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0.20200213.path}
runtime.tools.openocd.path={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0.20200213.path}
tools.openocd.scriptPath=-s "{runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0.20200213.path}/scripts/"