Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 15:41:02 GMT

Did you manage to get hold of a debug cable to debug this? I have not been able to reproduce the issue, which makes it hard to debug the issue. Exact details about environment and steps to make the issue appear could be helpful in order to reproduce it.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 10:14:42 GMT

I'm sorry for the long wait for feedback on this case. I have not yet been able to reproduce the issue on my PC, but I will try some more.

I would strongly recommend getting a debugger to use with the dongle if you are writing applications for it. Developing without possibility to debug is very hard. You can use a nRF5x DK as the debugger if you solder a pin header to the back of the dongle and connect a SWD debug cable between it and the "debug out" port of the DK.

Header: https://www.adafruit.com/product/752

Cable: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1675

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 17:23:04 GMT

By "application was terminated through editor" I mean application was forcefully terminated before the port closing was handled.

I can not pin point anything specific in runs where issue occurred. The application could successfully run several times before Dongle issue occurs.

Thank You for taking time to review this case. If I get more information about causes of the issue, I will post again.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 15:15:51 GMT

What do you mean by this?

[quote user="Mike Mazowski"]application was terminated through editor[/quote]

Do you do anything specific to make the issue appear? I ran the application and restarted the computer, but I'm still not able to reproduce it.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:52:19 GMT

Forgot to mention, that I do not have a debugger to see error codes.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 16:13:03 GMT

The application is attached.

In file FirmwareDistibutionManager.cpp change otiOpenCOMPort("\\\\.\\COM3"); to whichever COM port Dongle is referring to.

The issue occurred when program did not exit the loop below opened COMPort and application was terminated through editor.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 14:02:28 GMT

Ok, please provide PC application. Do you have the possibility to connect a debugger to the dongle, to check if any error codes are reported in the firmware?

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 14:02:28 GMT

Ok, please provide PC application. Do you have the possibility to connect a debugger to the dongle, to check if any error codes are reported in the firmware?

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 10:20:19 GMT

Yes, application is flashed via nRF connect. No modification to UICR registers were made. LEDs are dim as in have very low duty cycle. They blink approximately once a second, which looks like the program is restarting.

On my observation the issue has only occurred once the PC application came in.

If You are interested in looking through application (it is very short), I can submit visual studio solution or just source files.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 09:45:13 GMT

I'm still not able to reproduce the issue with your hex-file. Did you flash the application with nRF Connect programmer app? Did you make any modifications to UICR registers on the dongle? If the LEDs are lit but very dim, it sounds like a power issue, or you could have modified the UICR to output lower GPIO voltage (this tutorial is great for detailed information about the dongle).

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:59:03 GMT

Hex file with which the issue occurred is attached.

The PC application has DTR and RTS flow control enabled.

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:49:08 GMT

I'm not able to reproduce this issue. Can you upload a precompiled hex-file that I can test with?

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 13:43:44 GMT

No, after the issue occurs for the first time I was not able to get it to successfully run the application again.

The application for Dongle is attached as archive.

Project located under "examples\thread\cli\usb_bootloader - OG\pca10056\blank\ses".

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 12:50:05 GMT

It could be related. Are you able to get the application working again by plugging the dongle out and in again?

Can you provide the application that you are running for us to try to reproduce the issue?

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Mike Mazowski — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 12:37:28 GMT

Hi,

Yes, I tried it on multiple PCs, it is not working on multiple PCs in a similar manner. I am running windows 10.

Could this be caused by PC application not having closed the COM port before plugging out/restarting?

RE: Dongles getting bricked after PC restart

Jørgen Holmefjord — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 12:15:39 GMT

Hi,

If you are able to flash the dongle, it's not "bricked". Sounds like there is some issue with enumerating the device on the PC. Have you tested it on multiple PCs?

Which OS are you running?

The application might detect an error and put the device in error handler (which again would reset the device if DEBUG flag is not set).

Best regards,
Jørgen