Installing the Toolchain

[MikaelB]

Hi,

I have been trying to get up and running since the first DK was released for nRF52x and I am yet to have installed a working development environment. I have tried to read forums, blogs and what not to get instructions on how to install things and in what order, to make it work but everybody seem to have different opinions and following the steps still leaves me without a working development environment.

First of all, I now run Windows 10 Enterprise. The Development Boards i try to get up and running are the nRF52-DK (Rev 0.9.0 2015.46) and also a board called BLE400 with nRF-51822 on it. I have several boards of both.

I use a clean and newly installed computer with Windows 10 Enterprise and I have also reinstalled the PC several times in between my attempts to get things working.

In my latest attempt I tried to follow some instructions on the following post to get the BLE400 up and running. I had to adopt this a bit since newer versions of software have come out and the post do not seem to have been updated: www.waveshare.com/.../BLE400

Step 1 - Install CP2102 drivers. www.silabs.com/.../usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspx

Step 2 - Install KEIL MDK-ARM www.keil.com/.../arm.htm This left me with the uVision 5.22.00:

Tool Version Numbers: Toolchain: MDK-Lite Version: 5.22 Toolchain Path: D:\Keil_v5\ARM\ARMCC\Bin C Compiler: Armcc.exe V5.06 update 4 (build 422) Assembler: Armasm.exe V5.06 update 4 (build 422) Linker/Locator: ArmLink.exe V5.06 update 4 (build 422) Library Manager: ArmAr.exe V5.06 update 4 (build 422) Hex Converter: FromElf.exe V5.06 update 4 (build 422) CPU DLL:
Dialog DLL:
Target DLL: Segger\JL2CM3.dll V2.99.23.0 Dialog DLL: TCM.DLL V1.21.0.0

Step 3 - Install nRF5-SDK www.nordicsemi.com/.../nRF51822 nRF5_SDK_12.2.0_f012efa.zip Unzip and run nRF5x_MDK_8_11_1_Keil4.msi.

Step 4 - Install nRFgo Studio www.nordicsemi.com/.../nRF51822 nRFgo Studio 1.21.2.10 - 64-bit

According to the blogpost that I followed, this should allow me to open up the nRFgo Studio and move on to the next step, to erase the chip by selecting "nRF51 programming" and then Erase All.

The problem I have right now is that "nRF5x programming" is grayed out in the nRFgo Studio and I can not move forward.

The COM port is COM3 and I can see that it´s identified as 210x USB to UART bridge in devices in my computer. I do not see any references in devices for the BLE400 board. I can not see in nRFgo Studio that any board is connected.

After trying with the BLE400 board, i moved on and tried to get the nRF52-DK to show up as a connected board in the nRFgo Studio, also that without any success.

I have tried several boards, several USB ports and several USB cables.

I also have issues with the KEIL install, but first I would just like to boards to show up in the nRFgo Studio so I can move forward with the trying to get KEIL up and running.

Help! Can anyone point me to where I have taken the wrong steps?

Regards, Mikael

[Wojtek]

I don't know what CP2102 drivers are needed for (bootloader over uart maybe? it has to be programmed on the board though), but for normal programming of nRF52-DK you have to install J-Link Software and Documentation Pack

[Hung Bui]

Hi Mikael,

Sorry to hear that you had trouble to get started with our Development Kit.

You should follow this guide when you get started with our DK and the SDK.

As Wojtek already pointed out, you should install the Jlink Software from Segger (it's already included in our MDK but not the latest version).

You should make sure when you plug the DK into your PC, it shown up in our nRFGo Studio. If not try to remove any other USB driver you installed for it before.

[MikaelB]

Downloading the latest J-Link Software seems to have done the trick when it comes to accessing the nRF52-DK. I have managed to get the board to show up in the nRFGo Studio and also, with some tweaking of dependencies got some example files to work in KEIL.

Thank you both! :)

The CP2102 drivers are for the BLE400 and I need to get those boards working also. I did however just receive an e-mail from the seller. He claims that the "Debugger" in mention is just an UART and that I need to buy an external J-Link debugger. I have ordered one and I am sure things will work out fine when it arrives.

[Wojtek]

Just to let you know - if you have nRF52-DK, you are able to debug external nrf5x chips using debug output port available on DK and its on-board J-Link OB ... just need to wire cables properly.

[MikaelB]

That´s good news. I will look into that also.