Flashing Blinky Sample to nRF52840 Dongle?

[Andreas Schurz]

Hi,

I tried to flash the blinky example to an nRF52840 Dongle as described here:

https://academy.nordicsemi.com/flash-instructions-for-nrf52840-dongle/

Console output is:

C:\Users\andre\blinky\build_2\zephyr>nrfutil pkg generate --hw-version 52 --sd-req=0x00 --application zephyr.hex --application-version 1 app.zip

|===============================================================|
< Some Warning banner in #>
|===============================================================|
|You are not providing a signature key, which means the DFU |
|files will not be signed, and are vulnerable to tampering. |
|This is only compatible with a signature-less bootloader and is|
|not suitable for production environments. |
|===============================================================|

Zip created at app.zip

C:\Users\andre\blinky\build_2\zephyr>nrfutil device program --firmware app.zip --traits nordicDfu
[00:00:01] ###### 100% [2/2 FBFBA52BE6C1] Programmed

The problem is:

Programming LED (which was blinking) turns then off and Blinky does not seem to come up, i. e. LED is NOT blinking.

Same program works on my Thingy:53 like a charm.

Question:

What am I doing wrong here?

Many thanks in advance.

Regards, Andreas

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

Are you using samples/basic/blinky?

Check out https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/zephyr/boards/nordic/nrf52840dongle/doc/index.html#option-1-using-the-built-in-bootloader-only 

Regards,
Amanda H.

[Andreas Schurz]

Hi Amanda,

thanks for the quick response.

I am using the VS Code Blinky Sample from https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/nrf-connect-sdk-fundamentals/

Regarding the possible solution nRF52840 Dongle — Zephyr Project documentation (nRF Connect SDK) (nordicsemi.com):

I installed the environment using the VS Code plugins so "west" cannot be used on my machine - won't be found. Could you point me to installation instructions how to configure my Windows machine to use "west" in the console?

Regards, Andreas

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

You can Open VS Code, then open the nRF Connect terminal as shown below.

Note. It is important to use the nRF Connect terminal as this is the terminal where the build toolchain, such as west , are sourced and available for use. If you use the other terminals, you will get an error saying that the command is not recognized.

You also can open bash/command prompt via ToolChain Manager to use the "west" command:

 

-Amanda H.

[Andreas Schurz]

Hi Amanda,

VS Code integration has no longer a specific nRFConnect Terminal instead tells to you default terminal which is not capable of using "'west". However the second method with the toolchain manager works.

Build calls needs to be the following in this case - documentation is wrong:

west build -b nrf52840dongle_nrf52840 zephyr/samples/basic/blinky

nrfutil pkg generate --hw-version 52 --sd-req=0x00 --application build/zephyr/zephyr.hex --application-version 1 blinky.zip

nrfutil dfu usb-serial -pkg blinky.zip -p COM7

Nevertheless:

Now my green LED is blinking which seems to be fine.

Many thanks for the help. We may close this issue.

Regards, Andreas