Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 14:52:06 GMT

Does the custom application on thingy53 work without issues before adding the OTA function? Can It advertise and be scanned/connected by other devices or phones? If not, it needs to connect a debug probe or nRF53DK to debug the issue.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 20:15:58 GMT

I am testing it with a custom application. What exactly do you mean by debugging it? I'm not sure I understand, do you want me to flash the thingy with a debug probe? I have also tried flashing the Bluetooth Peripheral LBS code, and it works. All precompiled applications work,

Thingy:53 sensor output to another board using BLE I opened this question as well, this is what I want to do. Requesting assistance for the same.

Regards

Karthik Lakshmanan

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 15:36:33 GMT

Hi,

What is your application? Are you testing with a sample or custom application?

Could you make sure the application can work without issue before adding the OTA feature? If not, I would suggest debugging it with the nRF5340DK.

You can take a look at the Bluetooth: Peripheral LBS sample which supports thingy53 OTA.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 11:24:23 GMT

I tried enabling both, nothing changed. Right after flashing is successful, the board disconnects from my laptop (assuming a reboot sequence was initiated), but it doesn't seem to be able to boot. I try powercycling after this, but that does not work either.

If I flash the precompiled zip file for an applike Edge Impulse though, it works as expected. The flashing completes, and the board reboots and the LED glows. Not sure what I'm missing.

Regards,
Karthik Lakshmanan

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 13:33:33 GMT

Do you add CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y and CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLE_MCUMGR_BT_OTA_DFU in the prj.conf? If not, please do that and let me know if it helps or not.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 11:59:21 GMT

I am confused, what exactly is this for? None of the DFU zip files that have been generated seem to run on the board, so I'm not sure about how to proceed.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 14:32:18 GMT

Hi,

Sorry. My previous reply might not be suitable for thingy53.

Please see FOTA over Bluetooth Low Energy for thingy53 for the details.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 11:15:40 GMT

Hi,

I will try testing Central SMP client, however, on building, there is no DFU application file generated. I will have to add the MCUMGR configs for this I assume?.

These are the configs I added:

CONFIG_FLASH=y
CONFIG_FLASH_PAGE_LAYOUT=y
CONFIG_STREAM_FLASH=y
CONFIG_IMG_MANAGER=y
CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y
CONFIG_MCUBOOT_IMG_MANAGER=y
CONFIG_NET_BUF=y
CONFIG_MCUMGR=y
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

Expected behaviour: After successfully writing the dfu_application.zip file, the board resets and reboots, and is recognised as "Application Thingy 53".

Observed behaviour: Successful flash, but board does not boot after. Only boots when in bootloader mode.

Meanwhile, I wanted to explain my requirement to you, and wanted to hear your insights. I want to sample raw data from all the sensors on the Thingy 53 and print the output to UART over the USB-C port. Is there a prebuilt application that I can use for this? Or is there anything I need to look out for?

Thanking you

Regards,

Karthik Lakshmanan

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 13:24:22 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="Karthik Lakshmanan"]Make project for central_uart -> Add configs for DFU application in proj.conf[/quote]

What configs do you add? Add DFU support to your application - Software - nRF Connect SDK guides is for peripheral application.

Please check out the Central SMP Client example for the central applications and add it to your central application.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Sat, 09 Sep 2023 12:25:54 GMT

Hello,

Thank you so much! That fixed my issue. However, now when after I flash an application (like Central UART) after just adding the required configs in the proj.conf file for dfu_aplication.zip to be generated, the flash succeeds but the board refuses to boot up after that on power cycling. I only seem to be able to access the Bootloader mode.

The steps are: Make project for central_uart -> Add configs for DFU application in proj.conf -> Build -> Flash -> (Board disconnects after the flash automatically and does not reconnect) -> Power cycle but board does not boot up (not recognised by my computer)

Why might this be happening?

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 21:13:24 GMT

What nRF Connect for desk version are you using?

Another user reported the same issue with nRF Connect 4.1.2, and reverting back to v4.1.1 with Programmer v3.0.9 can fix the issue. Take it a try.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 19:16:40 GMT

Hi,

Yes, I made sure to do that, that is why the programmer recognises it as bootloader.and not application. What else could the problem be? I am unable to flash the precompiled applications too.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 19:12:32 GMT

Please make sure to Press SW2 while moving the power switch SW1 to the ON position.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 14:28:58 GMT

Hi,

I followed the steps given in the guide for both: my application as well as the prebuilt applications in the Thingy:53 downloads page. Both of them are not being written to the board, and I get an error saying please make sure the board is in the MCUBoot mode. The bootloader thingy:53 device is recognised by the programmer though, so I am not very sure where the issue is.

I've tried flashing the Peripheral LBS application as well as the Edge Impulse application.

This is the error I get. I am not sure how to go about fixing this to flash an application using MCUBoot.

Regards,

Karthik Lakshmanan

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 14:55:35 GMT

Hi,

See the Updating through USB section in the Getting started with Thingy:53 guide for the detailed procedures on how to program the Thingy:53 using nRF Connect Programmer.

-Amanda H.

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Karthik Lakshmanan — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 14:27:03 GMT

Hi,

Thank you for responding! I am using the hello world sample, but have changed the configs and added an overlay to allow me to access the bme680 module. I have been trying to use the MCUBoot bootloader with the programmer application, it says this

15:28:23.586	MCUboot DFU failed with error: async task failure for id: 295980358996 msg: [mcuBoot] Error when programming through MCUBoot: Unable to program multi image file from file 'C:\Users\karth\OneDrive\Desktop\NThingy53\bme68x\build\zephyr\dfu_application.zip'. Error code: 603 (Timeout). (Origin: "Error when running device operation program")
15:28:23.586	Please make sure that the device is in MCUboot mode and try again.

And I am not sure how to fix this. Any idea why this is happening?

Regards,

Karthik Lakshmanan

RE: Flash application to Nordic Thingy:53 using USB

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 14:10:37 GMT

Hi,

What sample are you using to add DFU for thingy53? I would suggest you take a look at MCUboot bootloader, FOTA over Bluetooth Low Energy, and start from Bluetooth: Peripheral LBS.

[quote user=""]Do i require a debug probe to be able to flash?[/quote]

Since Thingy53 doesn't have an on-board debugger, you would need an external debug probe and 10-pin JTAG cable, as described in Building and programming from the source code, using either Visual Studio Code or command line. See the Updating firmware image doc.

[quote user=""]can I just flash with USB-C as I have been trying, but need to enable a few more configs?[/quote]

Without an external debug probe, you could Firmware update using MCUboot bootloader.

Also, check out the Getting started with Thingy:53 and Developing with Thingy:53 documentations.

Regards,
Amanda H.