btattach command hanging when using HCI UART sample nrf52840

[samanthacho]

When flashing the chip with a build from the samples/bluetooth/hci_uart via west build -b nrf52840dk/nrf52840 samples/bluetooth/hci_uart --pristine and west flash off the current main of sdk-zephyr, a btattach command from a linux host connected to the Zephyr device over UART hangs indefinitely:

btattach -B /dev/ttyMSM` -S 1000000 -P h4

Attaching Primary controller to /dev/ttyMSM2
Switched line discipline from 0 to 15
= New Index: 00:00:00:00:00:00 (Primary,UART,hci1) #0 [hci1] 4311.006931
= Open Index: 00:00:00:00:00:00 [hci1] 4311.007519
< HCI Command: Reset (0x03|0x0003) plen 0 #1 [hci1] 4311.007671
Device index 1 attached

The bluez version is 5.54, zephyr-sdk is the latest.

Looking at the backtrace on the device via gdb shows the CPU as idle, and no attempts to access the UART are seen.

When attempting to disable the config value CONFIG_BT_CTLR as suggested here, the build fails with the below error. What must be done to enable HCI UART support on the Zephyr device?

-- Zephyr version: 4.0.0-rc2 (/Users/samantha.cho/clones/zephyrproject/zephyr), build: v4.0.0-rc2-53-gb9fc4cc4151f
[139/144] Linking C executable zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf
FAILED: zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map /Users/samantha.cho/clones/zephyrproject/build/zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map
: && ccache /Users/samantha.cho/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/arm-zephyr-eabi-gcc  -gdwarf-4 -gdwarf-4 zephyr/CMakeFiles/zephyr_pre0.dir/misc/empty_file.c.obj -o zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf  zephyr/CMakeFiles/offsets.dir/./arch/arm/core/offsets/offsets.c.obj  -T  zephyr/linker_zephyr_pre0.cmd  -Wl,-Map=/Users/samantha.cho/clones/zephyrproject/build/zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map  -Wl,--whole-archive  app/libapp.a  zephyr/libzephyr.a  zephyr/arch/common/libarch__common.a  zephyr/arch/arch/arm/core/libarch__arm__core.a  zephyr/arch/arch/arm/core/cortex_m/libarch__arm__core__cortex_m.a  zephyr/arch/arch/arm/core/mpu/libarch__arm__core__mpu.a  zephyr/lib/libc/picolibc/liblib__libc__picolibc.a  zephyr/lib/libc/common/liblib__libc__common.a  zephyr/lib/net_buf/liblib__net_buf.a  zephyr/soc/soc/nrf52840/libsoc__nordic.a  zephyr/subsys/bluetooth/common/libsubsys__bluetooth__common.a  zephyr/subsys/bluetooth/host/libsubsys__bluetooth__host.a  zephyr/drivers/clock_control/libdrivers__clock_control.a  zephyr/drivers/gpio/libdrivers__gpio.a  zephyr/drivers/pinctrl/libdrivers__pinctrl.a  zephyr/drivers/serial/libdrivers__serial.a  zephyr/drivers/timer/libdrivers__timer.a  modules/hal_nordic/nrfx/libmodules__hal_nordic__nrfx.a  modules/segger/libmodules__segger.a  -Wl,--no-whole-archive  zephyr/kernel/libkernel.a  -L/Users/samantha.cho/clones/zephyrproject/build/zephyr  zephyr/arch/common/libisr_tables.a  -mcpu=cortex-m4  -mthumb  -mabi=aapcs  -mfp16-format=ieee  -mtp=soft  -fuse-ld=bfd  -Wl,--gc-sections  -Wl,--build-id=none  -Wl,--sort-common=descending  -Wl,--sort-section=alignment  -Wl,-u,_OffsetAbsSyms  -Wl,-u,_ConfigAbsSyms  -nostdlib  -static  -Wl,-X  -Wl,-N  -Wl,--orphan-handling=warn  -Wl,-no-pie  -specs=picolibc.specs  -DPICOLIBC_LONG_LONG_PRINTF_SCANF -L"/Users/samantha.cho/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.2.0/thumb/v7e-m/nofp" -lc -lgcc && cd /Users/samantha.cho/clones/zephyrproject/build/zephyr && /opt/homebrew/Cellar/cmake/3.30.5/bin/cmake -E true
/Users/samantha.cho/zephyr-sdk-0.17.0/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.2.0/../../../../arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.bfd: zephyr/subsys/bluetooth/host/libsubsys__bluetooth__host.a(hci_raw.c.obj):/Users/samantha.cho/clones/zephyrproject/zephyr/subsys/bluetooth/host/hci_raw.c:60: undefined reference to `__device_dts_ord_133'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

[samanthacho]

By commenting out `z_nrf_clock_control_lf_on` in `zephyr/drivers/timer/nrf_rtc_timer.c`, the device moves into the application stage, and I see the uart init function being called. However, the device is still down and cannot be communicated with.

```

 btattach -B /dev/ttyMSM2 -S 1000000 -P h4 &

```

```

root@7f0311c2-29f3-400f-89ff-27f9b285608a:~# hciconfig
hci0: Type: Primary Bus: UART
BD Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00 ACL MTU: 0:0 SCO MTU: 0:0
DOWN
RX bytes:0 acl:0 sco:0 events:0 errors:0
TX bytes:4 acl:0 sco:0 commands:1 errors:0

```

When I initiate from the host device (running bluez) the `btattach` command, or an `hciconfig hci0 up`, I see `bt_uart_isr` being called on the device, but the host device eventually reports the command times out 
```

root:~# hciconfig hci0 up
Can't init device hci0: Connection timed out (110)

```

[Vidar Berg]

It looks like you’re not using the 52840 DK board with the optional 32 kHz crystal mounted. In that case, you need to change the low frequency clock source from the crystal oscillator to the internal RC oscillator (LFCLK controller. To do this, add CONFIG_CLOCK_CONTROL_NRF_K32SRC_RC=y to your project configuration file. 

I would also recommend you consider using the nRF Connect SDK (west init -m https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf  --mr v2.7.0) which includes a qualified Bluetooth controller (Bluetooth QDIDs, ). 

[samanthacho]

Yes I am not using the 32kHz crystal, I have made the suggested change. Thank you!

I rebuilt with with the suggested SDK -- what I am seeing is that the chip seems to be receiving messages over UART from the host device (I can see the interrupt RX commands being called), and I can see the TX interrupt being called, but the host device does not seem to be receiving any of the transmitted data over UART, thus all the commands to bring up the UART interface are timing out.

[samanthacho]

To confirm is the baudrate correct at `1000000` for the btattach command?

[Vidar Berg]

Yes, the baudrate should be 1M if you build for the nrf52840dk/nrf52840 because of the Devicetree overlay in https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-zephyr/blob/main/samples/bluetooth/hci_uart/boards/nrf52840dk_nrf52840.overlay. The overlay also sets the 'hw-flow-control' property which enables the CTS and RTS handshake signals. Are those connected to your Linux host?

EDIT: I tested this sample on an nRF52840 DK using the default build configuration in SDK 2.7.0 with an Ubuntu 22.04 host, but was not able to reproduce the issue.