nRF51822 Prepare HEX file for Mass Production (Softdevice / Application / Bootloader) and start it into the Application

[MaxRPEng]

Hello,

i have a very easy goal, i want to generate a hex file which combines all parts and flash it via nrfutil or something like that onto the device.

I followed a few threads with the same topic , but none of them helped me.

I use the following configuration:

nRF51822
SDK 12.3 (IAR)
Softdevice 130 2.0.1
Bootloader from DFU Example Project
Application based on ble_app_template

I tried to generate the DFU Settings file with the following commandline code:

nrfutil settings generate --family NRF51 --application app.hex --application-version 3 --bootloader-version 1 --bl-settings-version 1 settings.hex

Then i used mergehex to merge it with the bootloader hex.

mergehex -m settings.hex bootloader.hex -o output_file.hex

Then i got the following error!

So i am not able to get it running, this is very frustrating!

Any ideas? Documentation?

Thanks a lot

[Vidar Berg]

Hello, 

Can you upload bootloader.hex and settings.hex? I want to see where the conflict is. The bootloader should not have any data overlapping with the settings page.

[MaxRPEng]

6038.bootloader.hexsettings.hex

[Vidar Berg]

Thanks. But I'm not getting any merge conflicts when I try to merge your files:

mergehex.exe -m settings.hex 6038.bootloader.hex -o bl_settings.hex
Parsing input hex files.
Merging files.
Storing merged file. 

Do you get the error with these two files? 

[MaxRPEng]

6204.bootloader.hex7571.settings.hex

Sorry it was my manipulated bootloader file. i tried to delete the overlapping area,. but then the application was not working problery.

Please see my attached file

[Vidar Berg]

I get the same result with the new files you uploaded. 

MaxRPEng said:

i tried to delete the overlapping area

 Where did it the overlap?

[MaxRPEng]

Hi sorry for the late answer. A few other projects blocked this one.
I found out that i missed the --no backup option to generate the settings file.
So now i am able to mege the files without any error.

But i still have the problem that the applications will not start proberly when i try to flash all three files at once (softdecive, bootloader, app)

Is there any part missing?

[Vidar Berg]

Just to make sure, you mean Softdevice + bootloader + app + bl settings, so 4 files? Also, does the application boot at all? 

[MaxRPEng]

Ok i did it in the following way:
Created the settings.hex and merged it with the bootloader.
Then i used IDAPnRFProg to flash softdevice, application and bootloader at one time.

The following ways are already working:

1. Flash Softdevice and Bootloader via nRF51DK and Application via DFU (Smartphone)
2. Flash Softdevice and Application via nRF51DK (of course than the bootloader is not present)

So my bootloader and application seems to work standalone but not together.

[MaxRPEng]

So, after a few hours i get it running.

It seems to be a bug in the bootloader project.
I had some wrong pin numbers in the bsp.

It is only working with nrfjprog not with the IDAPnRFProg Software.

Sorry for the trouble and so many thanks for the help!