PCA10059 programming problems.

[egross]

Hi,

Just got four 52840 USB dongles, with the intent to evaluate the Nordic BT Mesh.  But I've been  unable to get even a simple Blinky example programmed on the dongle.  I've tried both Windows and Mac, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, any pointers are appreciated.  I found this info the forum, but my errors are somewhat different:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/36844/nrf-connect-programming-pca10059-issue?ReplySortBy=Votes&ReplySortOrder=Descending

When using nRF Connect v2.4.0, I can see the device and connect to it.  But it will not let me write or erase the device, I get a box under the recover button that says "Only single writable region is supported", and both the "Write all to devkit" and "Recover" buttons are disabled.  See attached image

I also tried nrfutil on both Windows and Mac OS, and both report a similar problem while attempting to generate a zip file.   Tried with both python2 and python3:

nrfutil pkg generate --debug-mode --application ble_app_blinky_pca10059_s140.hex blinky_package.zip --hw-version 52 --sd-req 0xa9

produces the following:

$ nrfutil pkg generate --debug-mode --application ble_app_blinky_pca10059_s140.hex blinky_package.zip --hw-version 52 --sd-req 0xa9

|===============================================================|
|## ## ### ######## ## ## #### ## ## ###### |
|## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ## ## ### ## ## ## |
|## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## #### ## ## |
|## ## ## ## ## ######## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ####|
|## ## ## ######### ## ## ## #### ## ## #### ## ## |
|## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ## ## ### ## ## |
| ### ### ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## ###### |
|===============================================================|
|You are generating a package with the debug bit enabled in the |
|init packet. This is only compatible with a debug bootloader |
|and is not suitable for production. |
|===============================================================|

|===============================================================|
|## ## ### ######## ## ## #### ## ## ###### |
|## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ## ## ### ## ## ## |
|## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## #### ## ## |
|## ## ## ## ## ######## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ####|
|## ## ## ######### ## ## ## #### ## ## #### ## ## |
|## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ## ## ### ## ## |
| ### ### ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## ###### |
|===============================================================|
|You are not providing a signature key, which means the DFU |
|files will not be signed, and are vulnerable to tampering. |
|This is only compatible with a signature-less bootloader and is|
|not suitable for production environments. |
|===============================================================|

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\egross\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\Scripts\nrfutil-script.py", line 11, in <module>
load_entry_point('nrfutil==3.5.1', 'console_scripts', 'nrfutil')()
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 722, in __call__
return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 697, in main
rv = self.invoke(ctx)
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1066, in invoke
return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1066, in invoke
return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 895, in invoke
return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 535, in invoke
return callback(*args, **kwargs)
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\__main__.py", line 632, in generate
package.generate_package(zipfile_path)
File "c:\users\egross\appdata\local\programs\python\python36-32\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\dfu\package.py", line 344, in generate_package
for key, firmware_data in self.firmwares_data.iteritems():
AttributeError: 'dict' object has no attribute 'iteritems'

Any ideas or pointers are appreciated.   The various commands and GUI don't quite match the documentation, so I'm hoping its just something simple that I'm missing.

Ed

[Mahesh Venkitachalam]

I am seeing a similar issue.

Please see:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/36381/nrf52840-dongle-write-problem

Not sure if it's the official response, but one user says:

"for the time being loading projects to the dongle using a softdevice is not supported by the nRF Connect for Desktop app. "


UPDATE 1:

You can program the dongle via SWD if you have a DK. Just power it from the DK so VTG is detected correctly.

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

This is correct. The nRF Programmer app for nRF Connect for Desktop does not currently support programming the SoftDevice to the dongle, but this will most likely be supported in the next release. The only option at this point is to use nrfutil, which is part of nRF5x-Command-Line-Tools.

[egross]

Thanks, --sd-req 0x00 made it work.  Note that some of your documentation says that 0xffee is the "any" softdevice version key, but this doesn't work.

Also, the pre-built BLE Blinky hex file did not work on the pca10059.  I had to build the app.  Here's what I did to install the softdevice and my compiled app from the hex directory in ble_app_blinky.  I used 0xa9 for --sd-id, it didn't seem to like 0x00:

nrfutil pkg generate --debug-mode --softdevice ../../../../components/softdevice/s140/hex/s140_nrf52_6.0.0_softdevice.hex --application ../pca10059/s140/ses/Output/Release/Exe/ble_app_blinky_pca10059_s140.hex app_and_sd_package.zip --hw-version 52 --sd-req 0x00 --sd-id 0xa9

 nrfutil -vvv dfu usb_serial -pkg app_and_sd_package.zip -p COM17

I can confirm that nRF Connect does appear to show the valid firmware layout on the device, even though you can't program the device with nRF Connect.

Ed

[Einar Thorsrud]

The precompiled hex is merged with the SoftDevice, so you cannot use it directly. You could modify the .hex file to strip away the SoftDevice before you make the DFU .zip file, but it is much easier to just build the example yourself like you have done.

[egross]

Thanks Einar, that makes sense.  My next task is to modify our application to run with extended advertising.  I found that the ble_app_rscs does not have a version for the PCA10059, and a quick check confirmed it does not run (i.e  modified defines for PCA10059).  Do you know if this app can be easily made to run on the PCA10059?  Or is there some other app that will utilize extended advertising on the PCA10059?

Ed

[Esteban]

Hey, thank you for your answer. I can confirm the app loads with this command but the blinky project does not work for some reason. Does ble_app_blinky_pca10059_s140.hex come with the soft device already or do you have to merge this hex file with the provided SD found in the SDK before flashing to the dongle?

[Esteban]

This was very helpful! Thank you