Unable to detect BLE output from nRF52-dk

[robertz]

Hello,

I am currently using nRF52-dk with SES V5.42a, SDK 16.0.0, and J-link V7.88b. I'm trying to run the image transfer demo code, and am receiving with a Galaxy S20+ on android 13.

I'm not sure how much of this is actually relevant to the problem, but I'll include it for completeness:

Initially I was able to "connect" to the image transfer demo app, but all the buttons were greyed out. I assumed this was an issue with the image transmission, so I doublechecked a few things until I got a popup from SES asking to update J-link. I accepted the popup and shortly after my computer crashed.

Upon restart, I was no longer able to connect to the image transfer demo app. I tried to flash a different app (HRM), and was able to successfully get an output on the nRF toolbox app. I assumed that if I just did a clean reinstall of SES and j-link and used a slightly earlier version then I should be able to get the image demo running again.

This morning I uninstalled everything I could find related to SES or J-link, including drivers. I did have two separate versions of J-link/associated drivers installed, so I was hoping this was causing the conflict. I have restarted my computer multiple times and have tried recloning the source code, but I am still experiencing the same symptoms. Running any existing app from the examples folder will show a nordic-xxx option in my phones Bluetooth options, but the image transfer demo does not work for whatever reason.

To check for bluetooth connection I am looking in the bluetooth menu under my phones connection settings. I have also opened the demo apk to check there as well.

Thanks

[Kenneth]

Hello,

The image transfer demo is not a official supported example, but based on the description I think the first priority should be to get the normal sdk examples running again. For new development you should be using the nRF Connect SDK, since the nRF5 SDK is no longer recommeded for new development (unless you already have developed with it or have experience in developing with it).

If you still want to use the nRF5 SDK you can find some online tutorials useful in SES:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_tBuQ_KSqGHmzdEL2GWEOeix-S5rgTV 

Sometimes it may make sense to do a full erase of the nRF52840-DK by for intance: nrfjprog --recover or nrfjprog --eraseall

It may also be a good idea to remove the device from Android and turn Bluetooth OFF&ON again on the phone to clear any cache.

Kenneth

[robertz]

Hello,

I know that it isn't officially supported, but many people have gotten it to work in the past, so I was hoping I could as well. In terms of nRF connect-SDK, I did actually try using that at first, but nothing was even compiling, and the documentation for the image transfer demo requires nRF5 SDK. I have also made another post on this forum in the past where I was advised to use the nRF5 SDK.

I powered on my device this morning just for a sanity check, and after doing a full erase/recover and restarting my phones Bluetooth I'm still experiencing the connection issues.

I do think I may have been a bit unclear in my original post- I am able to get the normal SDK examples running on the companion app. I don't know exactly what they are supposed to be showing, but it definitely is connecting and looks like a reasonable data output. The problem is specifically with the image transfer demo. Based on the symptoms I was assuming it was a JLink version issue, but I don't really know what I'm doing.