DFU to nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart Beacon?

[bluetooth_mdw]

Hi

what's the best way to update the application on a nRF51822 beacon? I tried using the nRF Beacon Android application but wherever I put my hex file from Keil it was shown as greyed out (e.g. in Drive) until eventually I copied it to the internal storage Nordic Semiconductors folder when it became selectable. Selecting it from there requires me then to have an init file. So I looked into how to create this and I'm not clear whether I have to create this manually (surely not!) or whether one of the Nordic tools will do it for me.

I installed Master Control Panel for Windows on my machine but the DFU button is always greyed out (disabled) even though I have the beacon in DFU mode and it is advertising with name "DFUTarg".

Surely there must be an easier way to do this? :-)

Appreciate help getting me over this please.

Update: found this post - devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

Ran through the process with the example HRS file. It seemed to work but the beacon is still advertising as a beacon.... I expected (incorrectly?) that to change. I pulled the battery but no evident change.

The post I referred to is good but I guess I'm slightly surprised (and so questioning whether I have this right or now) that I have to manually create the init packet dat file with all the splendid things the Nordic tools do. I would have thought this file could be automatically generated. Have I missed something?

[Vidar Berg]

Additional safety-checking of FW images was added in SDK version 7 and later and therefore requiring the a distribution packet(.zip) including the init file.

Generic command for creating a distribution packet (no version checks):

nrfutil dfu genpkg .zip --application .hex --application-version 0xFFFFFFFF --dev-revision 0xFFFF --dev-type 0xFFFF --sd-req 0xFFFE.

[bluetooth_mdw]

Hey Vidar, that was really quick, thank you! So maybe I have been reading old documentation..... thanks for this. I'll give it a try right now :-)

[bluetooth_mdw]

I got "DFU Invalid CRC Error" from the nRF Beacon application.

My command to generate the zip file was:

C:\nRF51_SDK_9.0.0_2e23562\examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_altbeacon>nrfutil dfu genpkg altbeacon.zip --application nrf51422_xxac_s110.hex --application-version 0xFFFFFFFF --dev-revision 0xFFFF --dev-type 0xFFFF --sd-req 0xFFFE

Any ideas? Getting closer I think!

[Vidar Berg]

Have you re-programmed the beacon kit or is it the same FW that it was shipped with? The first revision of the beacon kit was shipped with the bootlaoder from SDK 6.1.0 which didn't have the init file. Should be a sticker on the back of the kit saying what board number it is. If it's later 1.1 or later it will use the bootlaoder from SDK 7.1.0. That could explain the CRC error, and you should only provide the .hex in your app.

In case you have a newer board revision you can try to upload the pre-compiled application .hex found in the Beacon FW

[bluetooth_mdw]

I got sent a couple of these beacons by someone at Nordic quite a long time ago so they're probably very early versions. They have no sticker on the back. On the front it says 400059 and 0138RUBR. Is there anything else you can think of?

[Vidar Berg]

Then it's likely the old version with FW that only supports application update. You can verify this by uploading the pre-comiled application .hex from beacon FW v.1.0. In the app, browse the .hex file and select application, and say no when your are prompted for the init file.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to update to later version without updating the bootloader and softdevice using an external programmer first (https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/blogs/686/programming-the-nrf51822-beacon-kit-with-the-nrf51/.