Why can STN32CubeIDE not find the ST-Link but STM32CubeProgrammer can?

[David Annett]

I am trying to debug some proof of concept code on a STM32F746 Discovery but STM32CubeIDE throws a "No ST-LINK detected" error. However the STM32CubeProgrammer can access it fine after the firmware on the ST-Link part of the board was updated.

I have also tried using stlink-server. Again STM32CubeProgrammer works fine but STM32CubeIDE then shows a "Failed to start GDB server" error and at the same time stlink-server shows:

Info : STLINKV2-1 v2J40M27, PID 0x374B

Error: ERROR: recv failed. error = 104

I'm running out of ideas and most stuff I am finding about issues seem to be to do with Windows drivers whereas I am running Linux Mint.

[Semer CHERNI]

Hello @David Annett​ 

First le me thank you for having reported.

To be able of analyzing the issue I will need a verbose log of the GDB server.

To get this log lunch the ST-LINK_gdbserver from the command lines in the repertory where it is installed.

In my case under "ST\STM32CubeIDE_1.10.1\STM32CubeIDE\plugins\com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.stlink-gdb-server.win32_2.0.300.202203231527\tools\bin"

Also you can check the "config.txt" to have an idea about how to lunch the tool.

I will be waiting for the log to be able to continue the analysis.

Kind regards,

Semer.

[David Annett]

Hi, thanks for that. I spent a lot of time trying to figure this out before asking so I am at a loss as to why I have never come across mention of ST-LINK_gdbserver. I have stlink-server on path so had naturally assumed that was the program to share it.

Armed with the info you have given I went digging. Someone at ST is a Douglas Adams' "Beware the Leopard" fan as I found it 6 levels deep in a hidden folder:

~/.eclipse/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.rcp.product_1.4.0_941520327_linux_gtk_x86_64/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.stlink-gdb-server.linux64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin

I modified the last line of the config.txt file to be:

-cp /home/david/bin/STMicroelectronics/STM32Cube/STM32CubeProgrammer/bin

However it throws an error:

david@kobo:~/.eclipse/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.rcp.product_1.4.0_941520327_linux_gtk_x86_64/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.stlink-gdb-server.linux64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin$ ./ST-LINK_gdbserver

ERROR: Couldn't locate STM32CubeProgrammer in '../STM32CubeProgrammer/bin/', use -cp <path>

That directory contains:

david@kobo:~/.eclipse/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.rcp.product_1.4.0_941520327_linux_gtk_x86_64/plugins/com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.stlink-gdb-server.linux64_1.6.0.202101291314/tools/bin$ ls -lh /home/david/bin/STMicroelectronics/STM32Cube/STM32CubeProgrammer/bin

total 17M

drwxrwxrwx 6 david david 4.0K Feb 8 2021 ExternalLoader

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 280 Aug 25 21:36 FirmwareUpdate

drwxrwxrwx 2 david david 4.0K Feb 8 2021 FlashLoader

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david 138K Aug 5 2021 hs_err_pid31594.log

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david 144K Mar 17 2021 hs_err_pid3457367.log

drwxrwxrwx 3 david david 4.0K Feb 8 2021 HSM

drwxr-xr-x 4 david david 4.0K Feb 8 2021 jre

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david 2.6M Jul 22 2020 libcrypto.so

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david 537K Jul 22 2020 libssl.so

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david 374K Sep 12 2019 libstp11_SAM.so

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david 366 Feb 8 2021 libstp11_SAM.so.conf

drwxrwxrwx 5 david david 4.0K Feb 8 2021 RSSe

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 171 Aug 14 2020 STM32CubeProgrammer

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 8.9M Nov 18 2020 STM32CubeProgrammerLauncher

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 940K Jul 22 2020 STM32MP_KeyGen_CLI

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 967K Jul 22 2020 STM32MP_SigningTool_CLI

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 2.1M Nov 18 2020 STM32_Programmer_CLI

-rwxrwxrwx 1 david david 147 Apr 18 2018 STM32_Programmer.sh

drwxrwxrwx 2 david david 4.0K Feb 8 2021 STM32WLScripts

-rw-rw-rw- 1 david david   5 Nov 16 2020 version

What should I try next?

[David Annett]

An update:

It is working now. It was ST-LINK_gdbserver.sh I should have been running. It was basically that one last step of actually using the config.txt file I had missed.