Setting up Keil MDK for nRF52832 example

[SantuReddy]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a beginner for nRF52 and my aim is to learn and develop system on nRF52. I have bought nRF52 development board and installed Keil MDK on my system.

First Goal:

• To setup Keil MDK.
• To test and debug example codes ( starting LED blinky)

I have followed below link for setting up Keil MDK: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

Example which I'm trying : .....examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_uart\pca10040\s132\arm5_no_packs

• I have updated all the required Software pack as well.
• I have complied the code ( Rebuild ), and its shows 0 errors, 0 warnings.

Where I'm stuck:

• After complying the code, I tried Download option. There is no errors such displayed but I cant see the code working on the development board( i.e blinking of LED1)
• I think I have not setup the Target files properly. I'm attaching the screenshot of my target setup.

These are the setting in Keil MDK.

Even after loading the code, the default code is running which dimming of LEDx.

Please help me to understand the issue here.

Thanks & Regards Santu

[Sigurd]

Please download nRFgo Studio(Win32 / Win64), and use it to flash SoftDevice S132 v3 on the chip. You can find the SoftDevice in

SDK_INSTALL_FOLDER/components/softdevice/s132/hex/

After you have done that, use Keil to flash the example application.

[SantuReddy]

Thank you it is working now. Please help me to understand the need of doing the above process (i.e. is it necessary to Flash SoftDevice first and what does it do and why can't I load example code before these steps.

Thank you.

[Sigurd]

The SoftDevice is a precompiled protocol stack implementing the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol. It’s a kind of Bluetooth “API” for the user application (your code in Keil). The SoftDevice is placed in the lower region of the flash, while the rest of the upper region of flash is available for the user application. When the SoftDevice is flashed to the chip, the SoftDevice region is write protected. So in order to update and flash a new SoftDevice, the flash needs to be erased. You can of course erase the chip, flash the application code, and then flash the SoftDevice, but it’s common practice to erase the chip, flash the SoftDevice and then flash the application code.