Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

Simonr — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 06:56:46 GMT

If you haven't created your own board file based on your design, there might be differences in what pins do and if the application starts up correctly. Could you upload the schematics of your custom board so we could take a look and possibly give you some pointers? Things I suspect include, the external HF crystal isn't mounted or is loaded incorrectly, or some missing vital components. Also we'll get an idea of what you need to change in your custom board file.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

xcess — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 14:37:32 GMT

Thanks for replying and have got that PCB according to reference design as far as antenna matching is concerned and copied antenna of nRF52840 DK. Yes, I am able to flash the app but on central I don't see advertisement of peripheral. I am flashing Zephyr/samples/Bluetooth/Beacon app on my custom board and used the "nrf52840dk_nrf52840" board provided in the app. I haven't created my own board yet.

Regards

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

Simonr — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 14:16:26 GMT

Have you had anyone take a look at your custom board design files and schematics to make sure that it looks okay in terms of antenna tuning? By "still not able to run Bluetooth/ Beacon sample app", I assume you're able to flash it onto the board, but that you don't see any Bluetooth activity on a central device?

From the nRF Connect SDK it should take care of flashing the Bluetooth controller onto the application as well. What app are you trying to run, and have you made a custom board file that fits your design? Please check out the documentation for more info on that.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

xcess — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 09:26:57 GMT

Thanks for replying.

I am able to run blinky on my custom board now but still not able to run Bluetooth/ Beacon sample app. Do I need to upload Softdevice or NCS uploads it? Please guide in running BLE app also.

Thank you very much.

Regards

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

Simonr — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 07:00:46 GMT

Okay, then you must make sure you have configured the internal LF RC oscillator to be used instead of the LF XTAL that is set by default. You can do this by setting CONFIG_CLOCK_CONTROL_NRF_K32SRC_RC is set in your prj.conf file. Note that this is dependent on the clock control config: CONFIG_CLOCK_CONTROL_NRF_SOURCE

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

xcess — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:30:24 GMT

Thanks for responding.

The VDD of nRF52840 DK is connected with VDD of my custom board and VDDH is not connected. This works with debug mode but not in normal mode though I connected 5V to VDDH. Is this something to do with oscillators? I am using only HF ext oscillator.

Regards

RE: Custom nRF52840 board works in debug mode only.

Simonr — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 15:15:46 GMT

I'll need to get back to you tomorrow with a thorough reply as I didn't get time to look at it today. My preliminary guess is that your custom board has too low voltage in the normal VDD mode, as 1.6V sounds too low, and that would be why you're not able to make it work correctly. What power source are you using to power your board?

Best regards,

Simon