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

[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

[susenka]

I don't even know if I'm just doing something wrong in general or if the whole thing is just cursed. It seems I cannot flash the binary you provided. I tried on 2 different machines, even with CLI and it failed. In the nRF programmer application the button to flash the project is not clicakble as you can see on the picture provided.

OK, if I were to change hardware, what would you recommend for my use case? I am creating a Bluetooth mesh gateway. The first idea was to use the dongle as it has a much better sdk for mesh in general along with the raspberry pi and communicate between the two using uart. (just to note, i need more fine-grained control over the whole program, so the built-in meshctl utility in most linux distros is unsuitable for my use case).

Thanks for your patience and help so far.

Regards,
Viktor

[AHaug]

Hi Viktor,

susenka said:

Thanks for your patience and help so far.

Happy to help

Within the zip there is an application hex at the path "flasherase_nrf52840_dongle_sdk16.zip/flasherase/hex/flasherace_pca10059.hex"

If you extract the zip and try to program the flasherace_pca10059.hex you should be successful (I just tested and verified that I were able to do it in the programmer application)! :) 

susenka said:

OK, if I were to change hardware, what would you recommend for my use case? I am creating a Bluetooth mesh gateway. The first idea was to use the dongle as it has a much better sdk for mesh in general along with the raspberry pi and communicate between the two using uart. (just to note, i need more fine-grained control over the whole program, so the built-in meshctl utility in most linux distros is unsuitable for my use case).

It is fine to use the nRF52840dongle, but I personally find it much easier to use the nRF52840 Development Kit, due to it's onboard debugger, for development and prototyping and then when you have a working product I would simply port it, or in most cases just build it, for the nRF52840 Dongle. 

But as mentioned, you can stick with the Dongle if you wish, I just wanted you to know that there might be an option with a less steep curve to use

Kind regards,
Andreas

[susenka]

Hello,

Even after flashing the firmware you provided, I still have the same problem as before.

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

I thought that the dongle would be sufficient for my case, but unfortunately it seems that either my device is broken or there is something wrong with the SDK. I would consider buying the full SDK board, but that would not help me in this case as I cannot perform the tasks on the dongle. Do you have any other ideas on how to solve this problem? Thanks.

Kind regards,

Vitkor

[susenka]

Hello,

Any update on this problem? I decided to order the nRF52 DK myself to see if it would fix the issue, but that does not solve the dongle problem. Do you have any more insights on this? Thanks

Kind regards,

Viktor

[AHaug]

Hi Viktor,

Unfortunately I don't have anything new to add to this and apologies for the long wait.

I see that you have had some activity in any other cases and I hope you've been able to pass the current roadblock while waiting.

Kind regards,
Andreas