PPK2 keeps disconnecting on its own

[ttran]

I've been using PPK2 to test our work for maybe around 3 years.  it's always been steady and stable and can run for several days without problem.  Mostly I'm using the PPK2 as power source so that I can change the voltage and monitor the current draw.  Usually for long term run I'm running on a Ubuntu 20.04 machine.

About half year ago, I upgraded to nrfConnect 4.1.1 which in turn upgraded both the PPK2 firmware and the Power Profiler software (Windows 10), I started noticing that the PPK2 often disconnecting itself from the PC and from the PowerProfiler software and turn off power to our test device completely.  I'm clueless as why the PPK decides to disconnect from the USB host PC. This happens on both Windows and Linux host PC.    On LInux PC the PPK would disconnect itself as often as every half an hour to 1.5 hours.

Any idea / suggestion on how to debug and solve this problem?    Looking at Ubuntu log, it just simply says that device got disconnected (just like when we unplug a USB device)

[Mon Feb  5 23:20:13 2024] usb 1-1: Product: PPK2
[Mon Feb  5 23:20:13 2024] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Nordic Semiconductor
[Mon Feb  5 23:20:13 2024] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: D6241721B5FB
[Mon Feb  5 23:20:13 2024] cdc_acm 1-1:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:23 2024] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 7
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1915, idProduct=c00a, bcdDevice= 1.00
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] usb 1-1: Product: PPK2
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Nordic Semiconductor
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: D6241721B5FB
[Tue Feb  6 16:24:24 2024] cdc_acm 1-1:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
user@

From the PPK Power Profiler app, this is seen in the log:

14:52:14.790    Using nrfutil-device version: 2.0.3
14:52:14.791    Using nrf-device-lib version: 0.17.3
14:52:14.791    Unable to detect version of nrfjprog DLL.
14:52:14.791    Unable to detect version of JLink.
14:52:14.792    JLink is not installed. Please install JLink from: www.segger.com/.../jlink
14:52:14.841    Device Connected SN:D6241721B5FB
14:52:14.842    Getting serialport options from persistent store D6241721B5FB.pc-nrfconnect-ppk
14:52:18.758    Validating firmware for device with s/n D6241721B5FB
14:52:18.760    Opening device with s/n D6241721B5FB
14:52:18.943    PPK started
14:52:18.943    PPK opened
14:52:53.662    DUT ON
16:24:25.831    Deselecting device
16:24:25.833    Device Disconnected SN:D6241721B5FB
16:24:25.835    PPK closed
16:24:27.003    Device Connected SN:D6241721B5FB
16:24:27.004    Getting serialport options from persistent store D6241721B5FB.pc-nrfconnect-ppk
16:24:27.005    Getting serialport options from persistent store D6241721B5FB.pc-nrfconnect-ppk
16:35:33.924    Validating firmware for device with s/n D6241721B5FB
16:35:33.928    Opening device with s/n D6241721B5FB
16:35:34.135    PPK started
16:35:34.136    PPK opened

The Power Profiler log statement at the time of disconnection is simply "Deselecting device" followed by "Device Disconnected", and "PPK closed"

I also would like to try to flash one of the older firmware to the PPK to see if it's the cause. I use the Programmer in the nrfConnect for Desktop 4.3.0 and select the PPK2 and the firmware here:

https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-nrfconnect-ppk/tree/main/firmware

But then I have no idea what to input into the dialog that asks for "Please select the SoftDevice required by the application firmware".  

Any suggestion?

Thanks so much for any help.

-Thanh

[Menon]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing some more details on this. I have reported this internally to get a better idea of it. I will get back to you as soon as I have an update from the internal team.

 

Kind Regards,

Abhijith

[ttran]

Thanks so much for your support, Abhijith

I hope to hear back from you soon.

Thanks

-Thanh

[Oliver King]

I am having the same issue. I am running nrfconnect-4.4.1 on Pop OS 22.04 (Linux) and Power Profiler 4.0.0 with a PPK2 V1.0.1 dated 2021.25. When looking at the output of dmesg, it looks like the PPK2 hardware disconnects and then reconnects from the USB bus. It looks like a firmware issue on the PPK2 hardware to me.

[146119.516028] usb 1-1.3: new full-speed USB device number 21 using xhci_hcd
[146119.642487] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=1915, idProduct=c00a, bcdDevice= 1.00
[146119.642494] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[146119.642498] usb 1-1.3: Product: PPK2
[146119.642500] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Nordic Semiconductor
[146119.642502] usb 1-1.3: SerialNumber: C7C06128BBFC
[146119.650890] cdc_acm 1-1.3:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
...
[155585.111526] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 21
[155585.868228] usb 1-1.3: new full-speed USB device number 22 using xhci_hcd
[155585.994562] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=1915, idProduct=c00a, bcdDevice= 1.00
[155585.994569] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[155585.994572] usb 1-1.3: Product: PPK2
[155585.994574] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Nordic Semiconductor
[155585.994576] usb 1-1.3: SerialNumber: C7C06128BBFC
[155586.002974] cdc_acm 1-1.3:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

[ttran]

Just another piece of info if it helps: I managed to get the PPK 3.3.0 running with nrfConnect 3.9.1. Once PPK 3.3.0 runs, it programs the PPK2 with an older firmware. After that, all 3 of my PPK2 run perfectly without any disconnect for days.  So I'm 100% sure it's the firmware inside the PPK that causes the disconnect.

Now to Install the PPK3.3.0, I had to run the latest nrfConnect (I was using nrfConnect 4.3.6) to install the PPK 3.3.0 into the PC first. Then I run the nrfConnect 3.9.1, and would see the PPK 3.3.0 and able to run it.

[Oliver King]

The same combination of nrfConnect and PPK versions also works for me. It's definitely an issue in the latest firmware / software.