A BAD TRACE PACKET indication means that TRACE32 has detected corrupted or invalid trace data. In most cases, this indicates that the trace data received from the target is incomplete or contains transmission errors.

Possible causes include:

• Incorrect trace sampling point or voltage threshold settings.

• A trace clock frequency that is too high for the target or trace interface.

• Signal integrity issues, such as crosstalk, reflections, excessive trace length, or insufficient termination.

• Electrical noise or unstable power supply.

• Incorrect trace hardware configuration.

• A malfunction or erratum in the target device's trace logic.

Since BAD TRACE PACKET indicates corrupted trace data, TRACE32 can no longer reliably decode the recorded instruction stream. The trace should therefore be considered invalid until the underlying hardware or signal integrity issue has been resolved.