Bluetooth Mesh - No cdb entry for subnet 0x000

[susenka]

Hi,
I recently purchased a nRF52840 dongle with the intention of creating a Bluetooth mesh provisioner with it. The first thing I tried was flashing the mesh_shell example. The flash was successful, but once I started the provisioning process described in https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/connectivity/bluetooth/api/mesh/shell.html, the application threw some errors that I do not seem to understand. Has anyone faced the same problem? Thanks.

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v4.0.0-2778-g1b70bfa14e28 ***
Initializing...
[00:00:00.326,110] <inf> fs_nvs: 4 Sectors of 4096 bytes
[00:00:00.326,110] <inf> fs_nvs: alloc wra: 0, e70
[00:00:00.326,141] <inf> fs_nvs: data wra: 0, 2d8
[00:00:00.330,902] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,024] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,146] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,268] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,390] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,481] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,604] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,726] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,848] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.331,970] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq
[00:00:00.332,061] <inf> bt_hci_core: HW Platform: Nordic Semiconductor (0x0002)
[00:00:00.332,092] <inf> bt_hci_core: HW Variant: nRF52x (0x0002)
[00:00:00.332,122] <inf> bt_hci_core: Firmware: Standard Bluetooth controller (0x00) Version 4.0 Build 99
uart:~$ > mesh init
mesh init
Mesh shell initialized
uart:~$ > mesh prov local 0 0x0001
mesh prov local 0 0x0001
No cdb entry for subnet 0x000

[AHaug]

Hi,

It seems to be coming from https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/zephyr-apis-latest/page/group_net_buf.html#ga534366f3b5c7f41a28372c12149ca005. Could you verify the following:

1. Which version of nRF Connect SDK are you using? 
   1. If you're running it from the Zephyr RTOS, do you see the same thing when using nRF Connect SDK? 
2. If you have one available, do you see the same behavior on a nRF52840DK as well (no worries if you don't have one available, I will use that board to see if I can recreate it)
3. Is the result you're describing coming from an unmodified shell sample from the SDK?

Kind regards,
Andreas

[susenka]

Hi

AHaug said:

Which version of nRF Connect SDK are you using? 

I don't think, this question is applicable to my problem since I'm using the stock Zephyr RTOS sample, but correct me if I'm wrong. I cannot seem to find a sample that does the same thing in the nRF Connect SDK. From what I understand, nRF Connect sdk does not include a sample application of mesh provisioner. Most of the samples are provisioned by the mobile application.

AHaug said:

If you have one available, do you see the same behavior on a nRF52840DK as well (no worries if you don't have one available, I will use that board to see if I can recreate it)

Unfortunately I have only one dongle development kit by me.

AHaug said:

Is the result you're describing coming from an unmodified shell sample from the SDK?

Yes, I haven't modified any of sample code. Also to add to this, I also tried to flash a mesh provisioner sample from the Zephyr RTOS repository, but ended up getting the same error messages - 

[00:00:00.330,902] <wrn> net_buf: Timeout discarded. No blocking in syswq

Thanks for your assistance,

Viktor

[AHaug]

susenka said:

I don't think, this question is applicable to my problem since I'm using the stock Zephyr RTOS sample, but correct me if I'm wrong. I cannot seem to find a sample that does the same thing in the nRF Connect SDK. From what I understand, nRF Connect sdk does not include a sample application of mesh provisioner. Most of the samples are provisioned by the mobile application.

To angle it the other way: Is there a difference if you follow the steps in the downstream version of Zephyr that is present within nRF Connect SDK or if you use the upstream Zephyr RTOS version

susenka said:

Unfortunately I have only one dongle development kit by me.

No worries

susenka said:

Yes, I haven't modified any of sample code. Also to add to this, I also tried to flash a mesh provisioner sample from the Zephyr RTOS repository, but ended up getting the same error messages - 

Thank you for verifying. I'll try to set the shell sample (from NCS, i.e zephyr downstream) and provision some devices to see if I see the same thing

Kind regards,
Andreas

[susenka]

Hello,

First of all I would like to thank you for your help so far. I installed the nRF connect sdk on a clean windows installation and tried flashing the dongle using the sample program. Unfortunately the whole process failed, the device will not communicate via the built in UART and just becomes unresponsive. This also happens with the default mesh_provisioner sample. Just to note, the blinky sample works as intended without any problems. Have you tried flashing it to find the problem?

Regards,

Viktor

[AHaug]

Hi,

mesh init
Mesh shell initialized
uart:~$ > mesh prov local 0 0x0001
mesh prov local 0 0x0001
No cdb entry for subnet 0x000

I believe I've found the reason. The reason for why you don't get any cdb entry for subnet 0x000 is because you haven't created a CDB yet. Use 'mesh cdb create <NetKey>' to create one.

Let me know if you're able to provision the device after creating the CDB (worked for me at least)

Kind regards,
Andreas

[susenka]

Hi,

I did so, but unfortunately, the command exited with an error. Here is my output:

uart:~$ mesh cdb create 0
Failed to create CDB (err -120)

Kind regards,

Viktor

[AHaug]

Hi Viktor,

Could you try to clear the memory and try again

Kind regards,
andreas

[susenka]

Hi,

stupid question maybe, but how exactly I´m I supposed to do that? Thanks

Kind regards,

Viktor

[AHaug]

No worries, my bad for not stating how!..

I was referring to reprograming the device after erasing the contents on the flash. You can do either nrfutil device erase, nrfjprog -e or to erase and flash with a recover within VS Code extension if you're working graphically

Kind regards,
Andreas

[susenka]

Thanks for clarification, it appears, that the program once again failed. Any ideas on how to continue?

(.venv) PS C:\Users\pepa\zephyrproject> nrfutil device erase --traits nordicDfu
❌ Failed to erase FA9F265DF8D4, No matching plugin found for operations to execute
Error: One or more erase tasks failed:
 * FA9F265DF8D4: No matching plugin found for operations to execute, code: UnsupportedDevice

Kind regards,

Viktor

[AHaug]

You're right. This is the trouble of working with the nRF52840 dongle which does not have an onboard debugger. It's hard to delete stored network data since the way you program it is over SDFU, and this way just overwrites the with the previous firmware.

But here's a zip that my colleague wrote a few years ago that "fixes" this problem. What this does is basically to replace everything except the bootloader, MBR and this new "flasherase application" with nothing.

Steps:

1. Program the hex within this zip through the steps mentioned in  https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/support-private/support/251146#permalink=568907 
2. Retrace the steps you've done to get the Mesh shell up and running
3. Create the keys as previously suggested
   
   
   7382.flasherase_nrf52840_dongle_sdk16.zip

If this doesn't work, I would like to recommend you to use a nRF52840DK for prototyping and developing, since it has an onboard debugger and is much easier to use than the Dongle.

Kind regards,
Andreas