Copied PCB design & Assembled SparkFun nRF52832 Breakout Board. But it is not programmable!

[Gun Park]

Hello, 

I purchased a nRF52 DK  board and sparkfun nrf52832 breakout board, and was successful with blinking the LED on the breakout board. 

In order to test if I would manipulate the PCB, I needed to see if I could successfully assemble the PCB. Thus, I  copied the PCB design of Sparkfun nRF52832 Breakout Board from the open source, sent them to manufacturer, and assembled them. All the component values are correct, because I copied them exactly from the Sparkfun Opern source.    

However, after I assembled the board and tried to program it with nRFgo Studio, there is a error saying "No Device connected, or readback protection may be set". In order to make sure it is not a soldering problem, I assembled multiple boards, but they all ran into the same error. It looks like nRFgo Studio cannot recognize the board. 

All the components are exactly the same. Copied the schematic, BOM, and made sure they are properly soldered. The only difference is that on the MCU it says," N52832 QFAAE1" while on the breakout board it says "QFAAB0" but I don't think this makes a difference. 

Do I have to boot the mcu with something? or is there a step I need to take before programming the chip? How can I make nRFgo studio recognize this "custom" board? (well, "copied" to be exact". 

It would be a huge help if this problem can be solved..... Thank you!

included a picture just for a reference. 

[RK]

Well if none of your boards work then you 99.9% have a hardware error. So post the schematic you used and post the gerbers too. 

[RK]

.. and take a close up picture of the board showing the chip so we can ensure you put it the right way around. 

Is that picture above your copy board or the original? If it's your copy it is rather suspicious that you put 'Sparkfun' on it. Just wondering if I'll log into Aliexpress in a few months and see Sparkfun nrf52832 boards for $10. 

[awneil]

RK said:

If it's your copy it is rather suspicious that you put 'Sparkfun' on it

That's Open Source for you?!

RK said:

Just wondering if I'll log into Aliexpress in a few months and see Sparkfun nrf52832 boards for $10.

The genuine ones are under $20 direct from Sparkfun!

[RK]

which is why I suggested $10, I believe Sparkfun sells them for $19.99. 

If the picture really was of one of his boards and not the Sparkfun he copied, it's hard to come up with a good reason it has a perfect copy of the Sparkfun logo on it apart from the obvious.