Bonding randomly loss after DFU

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 05:59:28 GMT

Amanda Hsieh When I disable partition manager, I get build errors as

SB_CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY needs the partition manager to be enabled. FYI I am storing dfu image in an external flash.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 19:21:47 GMT

You can try to disable it by setting CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER_ENABLED=n in the prj.conf (for v2.6.0); SB_CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER=n in the sysbuild.conf (for v3.1.0).

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:17:01 GMT

Hi Amanda Hsieh , I just check and it is enabled

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:51:07 GMT

You can check:

CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER_ENABLED in the .config under build/zephyr (for v2.6.0) /
SB_CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER in the .config under build/zephyr (for sysbuild, v3.1.0)

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 21:00:23 GMT

How I can confirm if partition manager is enabled? I have already attached pm_static.yml and dts file with flash partition defined in my first post.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 17:59:10 GMT

Could you check if the Partition Manager is enabled for your application? In that case, the storage partitions might have been moved to a different location when they performed the DFU, making it appear as if they were erased.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 16:40:21 GMT

Hi Amanda Hsieh I am using exact same configuration apart from privacy disabled. Does this cause the bonding to loose after DFU? I don't see anything special in overlay file

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 16:29:04 GMT

The modifications is not only in the overlay and .conf file also in the code.

Are you able to reproduce the issue with this https://github.com/NordicDeveloperAcademy/bt-fund/tree/main/l5/l5_e2_sol?

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 15:13:44 GMT

Hi Amanda Hsieh Thibaud , I am calling settings_load upon power up. My question is how I can store ble bonding info to ble stack as currently it is automatically stored to stack when App (gateway) request it

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 15:08:19 GMT

Hi Amanda Hsieh

I already followed this lesson. I am calling settings_load() since it is reconnecting after a reset.

Have you been able to reproduce the issue with the hid keyboard sample ? I've sent you overlay and .conf file to add in the build so you cand do DFU of this sample.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:45:26 GMT

[quote user="Thibaud"] I do understand but in my firmware I do not choose where I store boudings. It is just done when my pairing is completed but I am not calling any functions[/quote]

Please refer to https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/bluetooth-low-energy-fundamentals/lessons/lesson-5-bluetooth-le-security-fundamentals/topic/blefund-lesson-5-exercise-2/ to enable CONFIG_BT_SETTINGS and call the API function settings_load() manually to be able to store the pairing keys and configuration persistently.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:43:38 GMT

Yes. I stil cannot reconnect after a DFU

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:42:59 GMT

Hi Moh so you stil cannot reconnect after a DFU ?

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:39:03 GMT

Hi Thibaud , its not quite a solution since storing the bonding info in nvs partition won't help as I still need to store it to BLE stack. Issue is that when I update DFU, bonding info are lost from BLE stack. Keeping copy of last bonding won't help as I still need to find a way to restore it in ble stack by reading the nvs partition upon power up and if bonding is lost in the stack, rewrite to it so that App side doesn't complain.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:36:11 GMT

HI Moh how did you managed to change the storation use for settings in your firmware ? I am personnaly not calling any function from settings library so I don't know where I should change anything

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:34:40 GMT

Hi I don't know I am just trying to found a solution.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Amanda Hsieh — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:53:28 GMT

Why would you want to use that config? It usually goes with the single bank setting, which is not supported by BLE DFU.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 08:01:19 GMT

HI Moh I do understand but in my firmware I do not choose where I store boudings. It is just done when my pairing is completed but I am not calling any functions

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:58:35 GMT

Hi Thibaud just to clarify again, there are two dedicated partitions (one for app_storage and settings_storage). By default, bondings are stored in the settings partition, but I was seeing issues where bondings would be lost after DFU, and this was happening randomly for me.
Then I decided to update my firmware to store bondings into the app-storage partition, and now I am not seeing any bonding lost issue

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:50:29 GMT

HI Amanda Hsieh do you think kconfig PM_SINGLE_IMAGE should be enable ?

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:35:26 GMT

How did you change that ? I don't see any difference between the screen in this message :

[quote userid="132438" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/123969/bonding-randomly-loss-after-dfu/547781"]Hi Amanda Hsieh Thibaud what I mean is that when I stored bonding info in app_storage_partition instead of default location of storage_partition, I don't see bonding lost after DFU. I tried on latest SDK 3.1.0 and seems to be fine.
Kind Regards, M[/quote]

and your initial overlay.

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:32:12 GMT

Yes

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:31:21 GMT

yes but you are stil using CONFIG_SETTINGS option in kconfig ?

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Moh — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:30:12 GMT

Correct. I am no longer using settings partition

RE: Bonding randomly loss after DFU

Thibaud — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:28:56 GMT

Hi Moh, you are no longer using settings feature ?