Flashing multi-core application over terminal

Question

Hello,
I 'm trying to flash my multi-core application to the NRF5340DK using a terminal but having issues.
The application uses both network and application CPUs. After building the application I end up with multiple .hex files inside `./build/zephyr` and `./build/hci_rpmsg` folders.
So far I m using NRF Connect SDK v2.2.0 and I have tried to flash the hex files using a batch script from terminal using the following commands:
For network CPU:

set hex_file=".\bin\cpu_net\zephyr.hex"
echo Unlock and erase network cpu...
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --recover
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --eraseall
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_APPLICATION --eraseall
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --recover
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --program %hex_file% --sectorerase --verify
echo Network cpu flash finished.

For application CPU:

set hex_file=".\bin\cpu_app\zephyr.hex"
echo Unlock and erase cpu
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --recover
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_APPLICATION --eraseall
echo Flash application cpu...
nrfjprog.exe -f nrf53 --coprocessor CP_APPLICATION --program %hex_file% --sectorerase --verify
echo Application cpu flash finished.

I have tried to replace the `zephyr.hex` files with `merged_CPUNET.hex` for network CPU and `merged.hex` for application CPU buth that did not work either.
The output I m getting is something like this:

...
[00:00:01.870,513] <err> bt_hci_driver: Endpoint binding failed with -11
[00:00:01.870,544] <err> bt_hci_core: HCI driver open failed (-11)
...

The application code seems to run fine if we exclude the BLE functionality.

If I try to flash the board using the vs code plugin then all runs smoothly and I notice that it splits the `merged_domains`.hex file into `GENERATED_CP_APPLICATION_merged_domains.hex` and `GENERATED_CP_NETWORK_merged_domains.hex` files and flash those to the board.
Question is how can I generate those files from the command line?
What files should I flash to network and application CPUs?
I would like to avoid the `west flash` command and make use of nrfjprog utility if possible.

Best regards,
Alex

noskillz88 · Accepted Answer

For anyone else trying to figure out how to split the "merged_domains.hex" into "app.hex" and "net.hex" ones, here is a python script I did and then integrated it into my flashing scripts: import os from pathlib import Path import getopt, sys from intelhex import IntelHex def hex_refers_region(hex, region_start, region_end): for segment_start, _ in hex.segments(): if region_start <= segment_start <= region_end: return True return False def split_hex(hexPath): try: file_path = Path(hexPath) hex_dir, hex_name = file_path.parent, file_path.name hex_orig = os.fspath(hex_dir / hex_name) hex = IntelHex(hex_orig) net_flash_start = 0x01000000 net_flash_end = 0x0103FFFF net_hex, app_hex = IntelHex(), IntelHex() if not hex_refers_region(hex, net_flash_start, net_flash_end): return -1 elif ( hex.minaddr() < net_flash_start or hex.maxaddr() > net_flash_end ): net_hex, app_hex = IntelHex(), IntelHex() for start, end in hex.segments(): if net_flash_start <= start <= net_flash_end: net_hex.merge(hex[start:end]) else: app_hex.merge(hex[start:end]) hex_path = Path(hexPath) hex_dir, hex_name = hex_path.parent, hex_path.name net_hex_file = os.fspath(hex_dir / f"net.hex") app_hex_file = os.fspath(hex_dir / f"app.hex") #net_hex_file = os.fspath(hex_dir / f"CP_NETWORK_{hex_name}") #app_hex_file = os.fspath(hex_dir / f"CP_APPLICATION_{hex_name}") print( f"hex targets both nRF53 coprocessors; " f"splitting it into: {net_hex_file} {app_hex_file}" ) net_hex.write_hex_file(net_hex_file) app_hex.write_hex_file(app_hex_file) return 0 else: return 0 except Exception as inst: print(type(inst)) # the exception type print(inst.args) # arguments stored in .args print(inst) # __str__ allows args to be printed directly, # but may be overridden in exception subclasses # Remove 1st argument from the # list of command line arguments argumentList = sys.argv[1:] # Options options = "f:" # Long options long_options = ["file"] try: # Parsing argument arguments, values = getopt.getopt(argumentList, options, long_options) # checking each argument for currentArgument, currentValue in arguments: if currentArgument in ("-f", "--file"): split_hex(currentValue) else: print("Error: argument to hex file not found, re-run the script using -f / --file ") except getopt.error as err: # output error, and return with an error code print(str(err)) you will need to "pip install intelhex" package. To run it just call the script from a terminal window, passing to it the path to your "merged_domains.hex" file: python hexSplitter -f Cheers, Alex

Flashing multi-core application over terminal

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