System halting when running Lesson 4 Exercise 2 from BLE Fundamentals Course

[mosantos]

Hi,

I'm trying to run the Lesson 4 Exercise 2 solution from the Nordic DevAcademy BLE Fudamentals course (origin/v2.9.0-v2.7.0) run on a nRF54L15PDK board. 

I'm currently using the nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0 where I can build and flash the firmware but it seems that the SoC is not working after flashing it. The outputs from LOG_INF function are not being shown and when running it using debugger it seems it can't even run the first lines inside the main function, suggesting that the SoC is halted. Between compiling, flashing and running the debugger there is no major fail or error. 

I've try to compile, flash and debug using the nRF Connect SDK v2.6.1 and it seems to works. Is this something to be with sysbuild(SDK v 2.8.0) and non-sysbuild(SDK v2.6.1) applications? Is there any missing configuration that I should have in order to run this example with SDK v2.8.0?

More info:
I've monitored the Rx and Tx UART lines between nRF54L15 and the nRF5340 debugger using a oscilloscope and these lines were not being controlled

Firmware: l4_e2_sol
Repo: https://github.com/NordicDeveloperAcademy/bt-fund/tree/v2.9.0-v2.7.0?tab=readme-ov-file
Branch: v2.9.0-v2.7.0
Board: nRF54L15PDK PCA10156 0.7.0
nRF Connect SDK: v2.8.0 (doesn't work) -> west build -b nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp . --pristine
nRF Connect SDK: v2.6.1 (it does work) -> west build -b nrf54l15pdk_nrf54l15_cpuapp . --pristine

I also created a very simple hello world program (literally a LOG_INF("Hello World") on the main loop) and noticed that just having the CONFIG_BT=y line inside the prj.conf file is enough to halt the firmware even tough I'm not using bluetooth at all.

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi,

The PDK is a Preview DK that is intended for use until the DK is released. I would not expect the PDK to work with newer versions of the SDK.
I recommend getting a DK.

PS: There is a silkscreen error on some versions of the DK where it says "PDK" on the silkscreen. Check the DK version to be sure. 0.8.1  and up should be DKs. Below is PDKs.

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[mosantos]

Hi! Thanks for replying

"I would not expect the PDK to work with newer versions of the SDK."

That said, why exactly is this the case? If the schematics of the PDK and the DK are 99.9% identical, why shouldn't SDK v2.8.0 work with the PDK? Are there tricky constraints in the build system designed to prevent the newer SDK from running on PDK boards? Given that the .dts files for the PDK are nearly identical to those for the DK, what would prevent firmware built for the DK from running on the PDK if flashed manually?

Instead of using the command:  

$ west build --build-dir builds/nrf54l15pdk -b nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp --pristine

What happens if I build for the DK and then flash the firmware to a PDK board?  

$ west build --build-dir builds/nrf54l15dk -b nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp --pristine


$ west flash -d build/ builds/nrf54l15dk --erase 

Best regards