BLE startup with SD troubles

RE: BLE startup with SD troubles

rexxdad — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:15:54 GMT

some additional code changes for different tasking model.

RE: BLE startup with SD troubles

rexxdad — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 04:48:55 GMT

interestingly, if for Ozone I use the same setupTarget

void _SetupTarget(void) {
  unsigned int SP;
  unsigned int PC;
  unsigned int VectorTableAddr;

  VectorTableAddr = 0; //Elf.GetBaseAddr(); //0 ; // 0x27000;

  if (VectorTableAddr == 0xFFFFFFFF) {
    Util.Log("Project file error: failed to get program base");
  } else {
    SP = Target.ReadU32(VectorTableAddr);
    Target.SetReg("SP", SP);

    PC = Target.ReadU32(VectorTableAddr + 4);
    Target.SetReg("PC", PC);
  }
}

my ble init code runs fine..

the elf entrypoint is not in the SD code

ENTRY(Reset_Handler)

Qorvo provides another package with SD 113, which uses the same c sourcefile/ld/entrypoint for loading the sd hex code.

and it runs ok.. (but I haven't tried it with Ozone)

RE: BLE startup with SD troubles

rexxdad — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 04:19:22 GMT

no, line 42 of the .ld is in a comment.. mergehex may be useful, but cannot be used with the elf, which I want to use for source debugging.. i had an Ozone script that load the elf (with free space for SD) and then loaded the SD hex over it..
this worked great...

this is the Ozone function I had been using, but don't need it now.

void TargetDownload (void) {
   Util.Log("Downloading Program.");
   Exec.Download("/home/sam/Downloads/DW3_QM33_SDK_1.0.2.new/SDK/Firmware/BuildOutput/DW3_QM33_SDK_UCI/FreeRTOS/Type2AB_EVB/Type2AB_EVB-DW3_QM33_SDK_UCI-FreeRTOS.elf");
   Target.LoadMemory("/home/sam/Downloads/DW3_QM33_SDK_1.0.2.new/SDK/Firmware/SDK_BSP/Nordic/NORDIC_SDK_17_1_0/components/softdevice/s14hex/s140_nrf52_7.2.0_softdevice.hex",0x0);
}

void _SetupTarget(void) {
  unsigned int SP;
  unsigned int PC;
  unsigned int VectorTableAddr;

  VectorTableAddr = 0; //Elf.GetBaseAddr(); //0 ; // 0x27000;

  if (VectorTableAddr == 0xFFFFFFFF) {
    Util.Log("Project file error: failed to get program base");
  } else {
    SP = Target.ReadU32(VectorTableAddr);
    Target.SetReg("SP", SP);

    PC = Target.ReadU32(VectorTableAddr + 4);
    Target.SetReg("PC", PC);
  }
}

the ld file, c source and map file sections to show it works properly

 /*   __HeapBase
 *   __HeapLimit  ---- line 42
 *   __StackLimit
 *   __StackTop
 *   __stack
 */
ENTRY(Reset_Handler)

flash_page_min_align = 4096;

MEMORY
{
    RAM (rwx)      : ORIGIN = 0x20013000, LENGTH = 0x2D000  /* 0x20000000 to 0x200026FF RAM section is dedicated to SoftDevice */
    FLASH (rx)     : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 1M - 4K - 4K /* 1M minus calib_sha/calib sections. */
    CALIB_SHA (rw) : ORIGIN = 0x000FE000, LENGTH = 4K
    CALIB (rw)     : ORIGIN = 0x000FF000, LENGTH = 4K
}

SECTIONS
{
    .soft_device (0x00000000) :
    {
        KEEP(*(.soft_device_prog))
    } > FLASH

    /* start with interrupt vectors - s140 softdevice is ~154KB, so start application at 0x27000 */
    .isr_vectors (0x27000) :
    
and the map output  shows it in the right place. 

Memory Configuration

Name             Origin             Length             Attributes
RAM              0x20013000         0x0002d000         xrw
FLASH            0x00000000         0x000fe000         xr
CALIB_SHA        0x000fe000         0x00001000         rw
CALIB            0x000ff000         0x00001000         rw
*default*        0x00000000         0xffffffff

Linker script and memory map

LOAD /Applications/ArmGNUToolchain/15.2.rel1/arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/15.2.1/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/crti.o
LOAD /Applications/ArmGNUToolchain/15.2.rel1/arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/15.2.1/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/crtbegin.o
LOAD /Applications/ArmGNUToolchain/15.2.rel1/arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/15.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/crt0.o
                0x00001000                        flash_page_min_align = 0x1000

.soft_device    0x00000000    0x26634
 *(.soft_device_prog)
 .soft_device_prog
                0x00000000    0x26634 SoftDeviceNrfx/libSoftDeviceNrfx.a(s140_nrf52_7.2.0_softdevice.c.obj)
                0x00000000                soft_device_prog

.isr_vectors    0x00027000    0x4b9ec
                0x00027000                        . = ALIGN (0x4)

The Qorvo sdk is in the old Nordic SDK 17.1 format.. nothing I can do about that

RE: BLE startup with SD troubles

rexxdad — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 04:10:20 GMT

the ble_stack_init() function from the examples SDK_17_1_0/examples/ble_central_and_peripheral/experimental/ble_app_interactive/ble_m fail same rc=8,

these are the first calls to SD

from the example

static void ble_stack_init(void)
{
    ret_code_t err_code;

    err_code = nrf_sdh_enable_request();
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

    // Configure the BLE stack using the default settings.
    // Fetch the start address of the application RAM.
    uint32_t ram_start = 0;
    err_code = nrf_sdh_ble_default_cfg_set(APP_BLE_CONN_CFG_TAG, &ram_start);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

    // Enable BLE stack.
    err_code = nrf_sdh_ble_enable(&ram_start);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

    // Register a handler for BLE events.
    NRF_SDH_BLE_OBSERVER(m_ble_observer, APP_BLE_OBSERVER_PRIO, ble_evt_handler, NULL);
}

RE: BLE startup with SD troubles

Turbo J — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 17:33:38 GMT

Error is in line 42 of your linker script.

On a more serious note: The SD only works when flashed into its intended position and nowhere else. VERY difficult to do in a normal LD linker script. Mergehex is a lot simpler to use.

Note that the old SDKs should not be used for new development. Look at the NCS SDK, which already uses the linker for the nordic BTLE stuff.