Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

endnode — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 16:07:40 GMT

(2/2)

...
...
...
... (I hate some auto-editing functions of this forum engine;)
(continue) ...which isn't your case as you are waiting for your Dev Kit. So unless your lovely Chinese vendor delivers some supposedly working examples in binary form (like HEX files) you seems to be out of luck on this point. Sorry.
ST-Link should be able to flash any ARM Cortex-M chip but I do agree that theory is one thing and torture to make it work another. If you are in Central Europe I can borrow you some of mine, otherwise I hope your DK board(s) will arrive soon.

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

endnode — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 16:03:30 GMT

(1/2):

Sorry I misunderstood. If you ask about this specific module I have nothing to add.
If you dump it then you compare the memory areas with all Soft Device versions in question. It must match 100% otherwise its not that particular SD version. Easy and clear as black and white.
Solved.
Solved.
You asked about SD only and the answer is no, you cannot verify Soft Device functionally because it does nothing! Yes, you should flash it with some application and then you can verify whatever application allows you: LED blinking, buzzer beeping, UART printing some strings, radio shining to the universe... the problem is that all ready-made examples are delivered only for Nordic Dev Kits (which is logical, they cannot cover all obscure Chinese modules), so the proper sequence would be a) develop something with PIN and LFCLK settings on nRF5x DK and b) try it on target.

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

suricat — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 15:56:32 GMT

In my question I mean concrete module (e77-2g4m04s by cdebyte.com). There was some doubts about modules from China and some chance to receive a fake. But I was took off rf shield from module and looks like all is ok inside. There is NRF51822 QFAAH1 inside.
Yes, a know about dump. But I mean, is there exist something way to get know something about contained firmware. E.g. is there places softdevice or not. And what is version of softdevce there if it is.
Thanks. This explanation is very usfull for my undestanding of this case.
Got it. Thanks.
Yes. It is possible to verify written code right after flashing. But my question was about the way to check workability of written firmware. E.g. through UART/SWD/smth else debug interface thats would provide command line interface with softdevice or something else. It seems that this is not so.
As I was wrote above, my nRF52-DK is late. And my st-link isn't allow fully-featured work with nordic chips. So, seems to simples way is wait for original development kit and continue learning after receiving it.

Thanks for answers. Although the problem did not dare, I clarified some theoretical aspects.

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

endnode — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 21:29:42 GMT

Then let's take it one by one:

[1].Have someone know something about it? - yes, as many ST-Link and nRF5x posts as many you find through search function on this forum.
[2]. Is it possible to figure out what is contains by default into ROM of that's module? - yes, as lon as flash (NVM) isn't read-back protected you can "dump" it (or "read" if you want) by any SWD programmer which has that feature (ST-Link should be one of them).
[3]. Into what ROM address a must flash softdevice (for example s130). - as you can read in all documentation and tutorials flash (NVM) of all nRF5x chips strts at address 0x00000000, there you need to flash the soft device. But because Soft Device comes in HEX format which already contains addressing you typically never care about this. Then depending on Soft Device type and version you need to link your application FW on right address. Again it's the best to generate HEX file which takes care about addresses but if you insist on pure BIN output then you need to look to particular Soft Device release notes to get the right address.
[4]. Is it bootloader (or something else) must be placed before softdevice? - no, bootloader isn't necessary as all ARM Cortex-M chips are typically programmable by SWD/JTAG interface. You can develop your own bootloader (e.g. to upgrade stack and application code later in the field over radio or wired interface such as UART/USB/etc. without SWD programmer such as J-Link or ST-Link) or adopt some of Nordic bootloader examples. However that is typically loaded to higher memory address (ten study some of these examples and blog posts).
[5]. Is it possible to get know that softdevice had written (flashed) ok? - every SWD programmer (including ST-Link) can verify written code right after flashing so you should use that way. Soft Device contains just radio stack implementation and other auxiliary features but without application code running on top it does absolutely nothing.
[6]. I've got message "Programming Failed! Error: Flash Download failed - "Cortex-M0"" - there are several things which might be done by bloody Keil on the background. You will need to try the whole flashing procedure (preferably of some HEX binaries delivered with nRF5 SDK by Nordic which are known to be 100% working) by some utility which allows debug logging (ST provides flashing SW of the same name as ST-Link if I'm correct, but you can face issues with chip identification and memory layout, also OpenOCD should work with ST-Link and nRF5x chips).

Good luck

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

suricat — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 20:59:34 GMT

Sorry, but you don't answer neither of my questions.

Of course, I've already seen that's post about using st-link. And I was following it when I've tried flash my modules. But I faced the concrete issues and ask about them in this post.

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

endnode — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 17:27:38 GMT

(yes, as per mon's answer: every basic question like this one was already asked on this forum so search box is your friend!)

RE: Getting started with nrf51822 modules and st-link.

mon2 — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 16:01:05 GMT

For your nRF51 series:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

Sorry - for nRF52:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

should be suitable for your mapping to the Nordic device.