Probe driver mismatch

The selected probe driver does not match the connected hardware.

PROBE_DRIVER_MISMATCH

Symptoms

  • Connecting fails and the message is about the probe, not the target — SWD not supported, or a frequency it will not take.
  • The probe enumerates fine and appears in the device list.
  • The same target connects from another tool that talks JTAG instead of SWD.

Likely causes

  • The probe cannot speak SWD. Older JTAG-only adapters and some parallel-port era hardware only ever did JTAG, and MCUHex talks SWD.
  • The probe rejected the debug clock it was asked for. ST-Link firmware accepts a fixed set of frequencies and refuses anything else outright.
  • The probe runs alternative firmware — an ST-Link reflashed as J-Link, or DAPLink on an on-board probe — so what it accepts no longer matches the label on it.

How to fix it

  1. Identify the probe you actually have

    Check the USB descriptor: lsusb (Linux), system_profiler SPUSBDataType (macOS) or Device Manager (Windows). 0483 is ST, 1366 is SEGGER, DAPLink appears as a CMSIS-DAP device.

  2. Confirm it does SWD

    Any ST-Link/V2 or later, J-Link, and any CMSIS-DAP/DAPLink probe does. A JTAG-only adapter will not work with MCUHex regardless of settings.

  3. Update the probe firmware

    A refused frequency on an ST-Link is usually an old firmware with a short list of accepted clocks. ST’s STSW-LINK007 updater fixes it.

  4. If the probe was converted

    Probes reflashed between ST-Link and J-Link firmware behave as their current firmware, not as the sticker. Reflash back if you need the original behaviour.

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