bootloader_dfu_start() ASSERTS when uploading firmware

[ptigas]

Hi,

I'm facing the following issue when trying to use the DFU bootloader. Below you can find the code of the bootloader, which I flash after I erase everything, flash S110 soft device and then the bootloader.

I start nrf toolbox in iOS and I choose my firmware, I see my device advertising as DfuTarg, I select, upload, and then I get a vague error "DFU - operation failed".

I then enabled RTT to see what's going on and I observed that I enter bootloader_dfu_start(), but then, when I try to upload the firmware the function ASSERTS (you can see app_error_handler getting triggered) and reboots.

I've tried different firmwares (custom and the ones provided as examples) and I always see the same behaviour.

Question is, how do I investigate further? Any clues will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

Details Softdevice: S110 DFU botloader: Single bank BLE

Source code

#if BUTTONS_NUMBER < 1
#error "Not enough buttons on board"
#endif

#if LEDS_NUMBER < 1
#error "Not enough LEDs on board"
#endif

#define IS_SRVC_CHANGED_CHARACT_PRESENT 1                                                       /**< Include the service_changed characteristic. For DFU this should normally be the case. */

#define BOOTLOADER_BUTTON               BSP_BUTTON_3                                            /**< Button used to enter SW update mode. */
#define UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS_LED          BSP_LED_2                                               /**< Led used to indicate that DFU is active. */

#define APP_TIMER_PRESCALER             0                                                       /**< Value of the RTC1 PRESCALER register. */
#define APP_TIMER_OP_QUEUE_SIZE         4                                                       /**< Size of timer operation queues. */

#define SCHED_MAX_EVENT_DATA_SIZE       MAX(APP_TIMER_SCHED_EVT_SIZE, 0)                        /**< Maximum size of scheduler events. */

#define SCHED_QUEUE_SIZE                20                                                      /**< Maximum number of events in the scheduler queue. */

void assert_nrf_callback(uint16_t line_num, const uint8_t * p_file_name)
{
    app_error_handler(0xDEADBEEF, line_num, p_file_name);
}


/**@brief Function for initialization of LEDs.
 */
static void leds_init(void)
{
    nrf_gpio_range_cfg_output(LED_START, LED_STOP);
    nrf_gpio_pins_set(LEDS_MASK);
}


/**@brief Function for initializing the timer handler module (app_timer).
 */
static void timers_init(void)
{
    // Initialize timer module, making it use the scheduler.
    APP_TIMER_APPSH_INIT(APP_TIMER_PRESCALER, APP_TIMER_OP_QUEUE_SIZE, true);
}

static void buttons_init(void)
{
    nrf_gpio_cfg_sense_input(BOOTLOADER_BUTTON,
                             BUTTON_PULL, 
                             NRF_GPIO_PIN_SENSE_LOW);

}

static void sys_evt_dispatch(uint32_t event)
{
    pstorage_sys_event_handler(event);
}

static void ble_stack_init(bool init_softdevice)
{
    uint32_t         err_code;
    sd_mbr_command_t com = {SD_MBR_COMMAND_INIT_SD, };

    if (init_softdevice)
    {
        err_code = sd_mbr_command(&com);
        APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
    }
    
    SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "ble_stack_init: A\n");

    err_code = sd_softdevice_vector_table_base_set(BOOTLOADER_REGION_START);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
    SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "ble_stack_init: B\n");

    //SOFTDEVICE_HANDLER_APPSH_INIT(NRF_CLOCK_LFCLKSRC_XTAL_20_PPM, true);
    SOFTDEVICE_HANDLER_INIT(NRF_CLOCK_LFCLKSRC_RC_250_PPM_4000MS_CALIBRATION, false);

    SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "ble_stack_init: C\n");

    // Enable BLE stack 
    ble_enable_params_t ble_enable_params;
    memset(&ble_enable_params, 0, sizeof(ble_enable_params));

    // Below code line is needed for s130. For s110 is inrrelevant - but executable
    // can run with both s130 and s110.
    ble_enable_params.gatts_enable_params.attr_tab_size   = BLE_GATTS_ATTR_TAB_SIZE_DEFAULT;

    ble_enable_params.gatts_enable_params.service_changed = IS_SRVC_CHANGED_CHARACT_PRESENT;
    err_code = sd_ble_enable(&ble_enable_params);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

    err_code = softdevice_sys_evt_handler_set(sys_evt_dispatch);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
}

static void scheduler_init(void)
{
    APP_SCHED_INIT(SCHED_MAX_EVENT_DATA_SIZE, SCHED_QUEUE_SIZE);
}

void app_error_handler(uint32_t error_code, uint32_t line_num, const uint8_t * p_file_name) {
    SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "ERROR....\n");
}

int main(void)
{
    uint32_t err_code;
    bool     dfu_start = false;
    bool     app_reset = (NRF_POWER->GPREGRET == BOOTLOADER_DFU_START);

    if (app_reset)
    {
        NRF_POWER->GPREGRET = 0;
    }
    
    leds_init();

    // This check ensures that the defined fields in the bootloader corresponds with actual
    // setting in the nRF51 chip.
    APP_ERROR_CHECK_BOOL(*((uint32_t *)NRF_UICR_BOOT_START_ADDRESS) == BOOTLOADER_REGION_START);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK_BOOL(NRF_FICR->CODEPAGESIZE == CODE_PAGE_SIZE);

    // Initialize.
    timers_init();
    buttons_init();

    (void)bootloader_init();

    if (bootloader_dfu_sd_in_progress())
    {
        nrf_gpio_pin_clear(UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS_LED);

        err_code = bootloader_dfu_sd_update_continue();
        APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

        ble_stack_init(!app_reset);
        scheduler_init();

        err_code = bootloader_dfu_sd_update_finalize();
        APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

        nrf_gpio_pin_set(UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS_LED);
    }
    else
    {
        // If stack is present then continue initialization of bootloader.
        ble_stack_init(!app_reset);
        scheduler_init();
    }

    if (bootloader_app_is_valid(DFU_BANK_0_REGION_START))
    {
        SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "Application found....\n");
    } else {
        SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "Application not found....\n");
    }

    dfu_start  = app_reset;
    dfu_start |= ((nrf_gpio_pin_read(BOOTLOADER_BUTTON) == 0) ? true: false);
    
    SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "Yow ...\n");

    if (dfu_start || (!bootloader_app_is_valid(DFU_BANK_0_REGION_START)))
    {
        SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "DFU A ...\n");
        // Initiate an update of the firmware.
        SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "DFU B ...\n");
        err_code = bootloader_dfu_start();
        SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "DFU C ...\n");
        if (err_code != NRF_SUCCESS) SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "DFU error ...\n");
        APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

        SEGGER_RTT_WriteString(0, "DFU D ...\n");
    }

    if (bootloader_app_is_valid(DFU_BANK_0_REGION_START) && !bootloader_dfu_sd_in_progress())
    {
        // Select a bank region to use as application region.
        // @note: Only applications running from DFU_BANK_0_REGION_START is supported.
        bootloader_app_start(DFU_BANK_0_REGION_START);
    }
    
    NVIC_SystemReset();    
}

Output

ble_stack_init: A
ble_stack_init: B
ble_stack_init: C
Application not found....
Yow ...
DFU A ...
DFU B ...
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ERROR....
ble_stack_init: A
ble_stack_init: B
ble_stack_init: C
Application not found....
Yow ...
DFU A ...
DFU B ...

[Vidar Berg]

Hi,

Please check that hci_mem_pool_internal.h have the following configuration:

#define TX_BUF_SIZE       4u    /**< TX buffer size in bytes. */
#define RX_BUF_SIZE       32u   /**< RX buffer size in bytes. */

#define RX_BUF_QUEUE_SIZE 8u    /**< RX buffer element size. */

and not thesethat are for the serial bootloader:

#define RX_BUF_SIZE       600u   /**< RX buffer size in bytes. */
#define RX_BUF_QUEUE_SIZE 4u    /**< RX buffer element size. */

Wrong settings here can cause the RX buffer to overflow and therefore assert.

[ptigas]

Hi Vidar,

Thank you for the response. I've been using the hci_mem_pool_internal.h which is in pca10028/dual_bank_ble_s110 folder inside the dfu/bootloader example, which already contains the lines you mentioned.

[Vidar Berg]

good, we can rule that out then. Some additional questions:

• are you testing with a nRF51 DK kit?
• Which SDK version is it based on ?
• Would it be possible for you to attach your project so I can try it here?

[ptigas]

I'm using our custom PCB. The example I'm using is the vanilla dfu/bootloader example, and the only change that I see is this

//SOFTDEVICE_HANDLER_APPSH_INIT(NRF_CLOCK_LFCLKSRC_XTAL_20_PPM, true);
SOFTDEVICE_HANDLER_INIT(NRF_CLOCK_LFCLKSRC_RC_250_PPM_4000MS_CALIBRATION, false);

However I just tested with a PCA10028 DK and noticed that the original dfu/bootloader works as expected, but then when I make the same change it fails with the same failure.

[ptigas]

I changed it to SOFTDEVICE_HANDLER_APPSH_INIT(NRF_CLOCK_LFCLKSRC_RC_250_PPM_4000MS_CALIBRATION, true); and it seems to work (at least on the PCA10028 DK). I'll confirm the thread when I test on the custom PCB too.