nRF52832 not starting after successful transfer using secure_dfu_ble_s132_pca10040 example

[Olivier]

Hi,

I tried to make a software update (I tried application, bootloader, SoftDevice and any combinations) over BLE using the secure_dfu_ble_s132_pca10040 example but after the successful transfer the nRF52832 does not start any more.

In order to debug the error, I tried to enable the logs and therefor changed the following in sdk_config:

• NRF_BALLOC_ENABLED 1
• NRF_LOG_ENABLED 1
• NRF_LOG_BUFSIZE 128

In order to compile the project, I had to include the following files in the project:

• nrf_log_backend_uart
• nrf_log_default_backends
• nrf_log_fronted
• nrf_log_str_formatter
• nrf_balloc
• nrf_memobj
• nrf_fprintf
• nrf_fprintf_format

I tried this example using nRF5_SDK_14.2.0_17b948a with IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM 7.70.2.11710 + IAR Embedded Workbench shared components 7.5.2.4549 and nRF5_SDK_14.1.0_1dda907 with IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM 8.11.1.13272 + IAR Embedded Workbench shared components 8.0.6.4851. I compiled the micro_ecc_lib using the nRF52 iar Makefile. I change the public key in the corresponding file and signed the zip file using the corresponding private key.

In both cases the nRF52832 does not start after the update and seems to stay in dfu mode without booting the application. If I press the button during the boot the previous firmware is starting. The versions are set properly and the debug version didn't work neither.

In both cases the example bootloader_secure_ble cannot be compiled with the LOGs enabled, so debugging is quite difficult. The error is: "unable to allocate space for sections/blocks with a total estimated minimum size of 0x73f5 bytes (max align 0x10) in <[0x00078000-0x0007dfff]> (total uncommitted space 0x5e00)."

My questions:

1. How can I get the update working?
2. How can I activate some debug function in order to find the problem?

Thank you for your help.

Best regards

[Hung Bui]

Hi Olivier,

Have you tried to update only the application ?

You mentioned "If I press the button during the boot the previous firmware is starting." what does that mean ? How did you flash the previous firmware ?

The error you have "unable to allocate space" meant the size of the bootloader exceed that configured size and location of the bootloader. In order to increase the allocated size for the bootloader, you need to move down the start address in the flash (because it's located at the top of the flag) in the project option in IAR (->Linker->Config ->Edit). Make sure you erase the chip after you change bootloader's start address.