Issue flashing soft device on nRF52832 module - Error: Could not find MEM-AP to control the core

[EmikVayts]

Hello,

I am facing an issue with flashing S132 soft device to a nRF52832 module. I am using a J-Link EDU Mini to flash.

The specific error shown is: "Error: Could not find MEM-AP to control the core". Here is the screenshot from Arduino IDE:

I did not find this same error in any issues of this project (which is why I am starting a new issue on this) - but I did find this same error mentioned in this blog post: https://limitedresults.com/2020/06/nrf52-debug-resurrection-approtect-bypass/

The blog post says that this error is due to APPROTECT register, which seems to protect the board from being programmed or debugged with the J-Link.

The blog post offered two methods for removing APPROTECT - one method using OpenOCD to modify the register - and the other method to use 'nrfjprog' utility to 'recover' the module. The OpenOCD method didn't work for me, but looks like I was able to recover the board using 'nrfjprog' method:

After resetting the board using nrfjprog, I used 'Zadig' utility to switch my J Link back to WinUSB, and at this point I was able to successfuly flash the S132 soft device to my nRF52832 module.

TLDR - I was able to find a workaround to this issue but it required resetting my module using external 'nrfjprog' utility. I am wondering if there is a more efficient way to reset the board from Arduino IDE, thanks!