Can't program sparkfun breakout

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

leonidye — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 18:59:08 GMT

Hi folks,

Finally I have figured out how to make a sparkFun's nrf52832 breakout board to work with Nordic's nRF5_SDK_15.3.0_59ac345

example applications. Using Segger's Embedded Studio application (btw, it is free of any license charges for those using Nordic Semi chips) , before programming the target with one's application, 'Erase All' and then ' Download <your-app>'.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 22:45:31 GMT

I didn't encounter the same issue on a custom PCB. No idea what's going wrong on the sparkfun.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 23:14:06 GMT

I couldn’t get any example to run so you got further than me! I gave up and used the dev kit. Going to custom pcb now so hopefully won’t encounter the same issue :/

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

dmhummel — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 22:59:13 GMT

Hi Nick,

I am having an identical experience. LED turns on and debugger is not connected to running software. Programs succesfully, and can even get the simple blinky example to run. However, if i remove power and return power, it goes back to the LED stuck on state.

Have you made any progress since the last update?

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

Martin Lesund — Thu, 31 May 2018 13:11:47 GMT

Did you follow the documentation, especially the configuration?

I am a little confused about your setup, could you elaborate how and what you are trying to do?

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Fri, 25 May 2018 11:48:49 GMT

Hi Martin,

I'm still unable to get it working, I've been using the dev kit in the mean time which works fine. I can't get any output on UART – I enabled the UART log backend and changed the TX pin to 27. It appears to be locked up and won't start running the firmware after programming.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

Martin Lesund — Thu, 24 May 2018 12:43:35 GMT

Hi Nick,

Have you had any progress with this?

Have you done any modifications to the blinky code?

can you manage to get out some uart debug messages in your code?

(are you able to run any code in main, or debug)

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Sun, 13 May 2018 11:34:06 GMT

Hi Martin, still struggling with this, would really appreciate further help. Thanks

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Tue, 08 May 2018 15:24:14 GMT

Martin Lesund I hadn't seen that custom_board.h before, but if you look at the content it is largely the same as the one I shared, except written for an older SDK and with LEDs listed that don't exist. For anyone else reading this, I've attached an updated file.devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../4278.sparkfun.h

The board definitely gets programmed – the LED is constant on afterwards after successful programming, where it was flashing with the original bootloader. It's like the program is paused. Could it be waiting for some event? Perhaps I need to configure the RTC Crystal? When debugging I can pause, but I think this is pausing the nrf52832 on the DK.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

Martin Lesund — Fri, 04 May 2018 09:31:27 GMT

Hi Nick,

Change what you have in the "sparksfun.h" file to the correct definitions for the breakout board since you are not using the pca10040 board.

You should change it to this, then the correct pins should fit with the blinky example.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Wed, 02 May 2018 23:13:57 GMT

Thanks, but the cortext connector does connect ground I think. It appears the firmware download is successful anyway, which is what is so strange (and it's not going to the nrf52832 on the DK). I'll connect ground externally anyway to make sure.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

hmolesworth — Wed, 02 May 2018 23:09:21 GMT

Maybe you have an issue with Gnd Detect, which is different from Gnd. If your Sparkfun breakout is only connected to Gnd Detect (which is a there is a board connected sense line) with no separate connection to the nRF52 DK Gnd then the board cannot be programmed as it is never detected. I expect Sparkfun had a separate Gnd connection via power supplies or something which they don't mention.

Fix in this scenario is to just connect together the two board Gnds - and keep the Gnd Dtect connection as well.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Wed, 02 May 2018 22:22:59 GMT

Hi, I'm struggling with this and really need help – any ideas?

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:55:20 GMT

Ok, it's still not working. I'm using SDK 15.0.0. In the blinky SES solution,

in sdk_config.h I disabled NRF_LOG_BACKEND_UART_ENABLED and enabled NRF_LOG_BACKEND_RTT_ENABLED
duplicated the project, edited the common configuration to change BOARD_PCA10040 to "CUSTOM_BOARD_INC=sparkfun"
copied components/boards/pca10040.h to ../sparkfun.h
modified the header (attached)
in project common config I changed the user includes to add ../../../../../../../
selected the new project as active, then debug

Builds fine (I confirmed it's picking up the definitions from sparkfun.h), downloads to board, then nothing.

Target output:

Preparing target for download
Executing script TargetInterface.resetAndStop()
Reset: Halt core after reset via DEMCR.VC_CORERESET.
Reset: Reset device via AIRCR.SYSRESETREQ.
Downloading ‘s132_nrf52_6.0.0_softdevice.hex’ to J-Link
Programming 2.3 KB of addresses 00000000 — 00000967
Programming 142.5 KB of addresses 00001000 — 00024a23
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: Skipped. Contents already match
Download successful
Downloading ‘ble_app_blinky_sparkfun_s132.elf’ to J-Link
Programming 15.8 KB of addresses 00026000 — 00029f5b
Programming 0.0 KB of addresses 00029f5c — 00029f8f
Programming 3.2 KB of .rodata addresses 00029f90 — 0002acbb
Programming 0.0 KB of addresses 0002acbc — 0002acfb
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: 1 range affected (12288 bytes)
J-Link: Flash download: Total time needed: 0.511s (Prepare: 0.090s, Compare: 0.077s, Erase: 0.042s, Program: 0.240s, Verify: 0.001s, Restore: 0.060s)
Download successful

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../sparkfun.h

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

Martin Lesund — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 13:29:05 GMT

Hi Nick,

You do not need to manually flash the softdevice if you are running SES projects with Softdevices from the SDK.

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

nrbrook — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:38:43 GMT

Thanks, I hadn't seen that first link. I'll give that a go. I'm using the blinky example (also tried others). Do I need to manually flash the softdevice when using SES projects?

RE: Can't program sparkfun breakout

Martin Lesund — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:36:09 GMT

Hi Nick,

What SDK version are you running?

Have you read this?

Also which Example are you trying out?

You speak about ble advertising, have you remembered to flash the softdevice?

Could you maybe test out the regular Blinky example ?