Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Mike — Mon, 13 May 2019 19:21:49 GMT

Hi Hung -

Actually, it looks like the bootloader and merging was actually working correctly. It turns out I needed to give a bunch more RAM to the SD by modifying my application's linker directive file.

Sorry for the wild goose chase.

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Hung Bui — Mon, 13 May 2019 17:24:46 GMT

Hi Mike,

It could be a bug with the ble_app_buttonless_dfu_without_bonds_s140_with_setting_page.hex file, maybe we didn't update the file.

I as asking if you can test doing DFU and mergehex with an SDK example so that we can reproduce here and can rule out any issue that may related to your application.
I was testing here with HRS example and can create the setting and merged everything together. The merged hex file worked fine for me here. Attached are the files.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../S140.zip

If you still having problem, please try to test with HRS example and send us the files (sd, bl, setting, app, and the merged one)

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Mike — Mon, 13 May 2019 14:17:19 GMT

Also, weirdly, I took a look at the example S140 SDFU images, and they appear to be using boot settings = 1. This is from ble_app_buttonless_dfu_without_bonds_s140_with_setting_page.hex in the nrf52840 directory:

:02000004000FEB
:10E00000564ADC4D01000000010000000100000044
:10E010000000000000000000ECC90000B14A0BAE97
:10E0200001000000000000000000000000000000EF
:10E0300000000000000000000000000000000000E0
:10E0400000000000000000000000000000000000D0
:0CE05000000000000000000000000000C4
:10F00000564ADC4D01000000010000000100000034
:10F010000000000000000000ECC90000B14A0BAE87
:10F0200001000000000000000000000000000000DF
:10F0300000000000000000000000000000000000D0
:10F0400000000000000000000000000000000000C0
:0CF05000000000000000000000000000B4
:00000001FF

Whereas the one I generated using settigns = 2 looks like this:

:02000004000FEB
:10E00000F4B7F598020000000000000000000000D6
:10E01000000000000000000008280100374FC8156C
:10E0200001000000000000000000000000000000EF
:10E0300000000000000000000000000000000000E0
:10E0400000000000000000000000000000000000D0
:10E0500000000000000000000000000000000000C0
:10E0600000000000000000000000000000000000B0
:10E0700000000000000000000000000000000000A0
:10E080000000000000000000000000000000000090
:10E090000000000000000000000000000000000080
:10E0A0000000000000000000000000000000000070
:10E0B0000000000000000000000000000000000060
:10E0C0000000000000000000000000000000000050
:10E0D0000000000000000000000000000000000040
:10E0E0000000000000000000000000000000000030
:10E0F0000000000000000000000000000000000020
:10E10000000000000000000000000000000000000F
:10E1100000000000000000000000000000000000FF
:10E1200000000000000000000000000000000000EF
:10E1300000000000000000000000000000000000DF
:10E1400000000000000000000000000000000000CF
:10E1500000000000000000000000000000000000BF
:10E1600000000000000000000000000000000000AF
:10E17000000000000000000000000000000000009F
:10E18000000000000000000000000000000000008F
:10E19000000000000000000000000000000000007F
:10E1A000000000000000000000000000000000006F
:10E1B000000000000000000000000000000000005F
:10E1C000000000000000000000000000000000004F
:10E1D000000000000000000000000000000000003F
:10E1E000000000000000000000000000000000002F
:10E1F000000000000000000000000000000000001F
:10E20000000000000000000000000000000000000E
:10E2100000000000000000000000000000000000FE
:10E2200000000000000000000000000000000000EE
:10E2300000000000000000000000000000000000DE
:10E2400000000000000000000000000000000000CE
:10E2500000000000000000000000000099ECD5FE66
:10E2600000000000000000000000000000000000AE
:10E27000000000000000000000000000000000009E
:10E28000000000000000000000000000000000008E
:10E29000000000000000000000000000000000007E
:10E2A0000001374FC815000000000000000000000A
:10E2B000000000000000000000000000000000005E
:10E2C000000000000000000000000000000000004E
:10E2D000000000000000000000000000000000003E
:10E2E000000000000000000000000000000000002E
:10E2F000000000000000000000000000000000001E
:10E30000000000000000000000000000000000000D
:10E3100000000000000000000000000000000000FD
:03E32000000000FA
:10F00000F4B7F598020000000000000000000000C6
:10F01000000000000000000008280100374FC8155C
:10F0200001000000000000000000000000000000DF
:10F0300000000000000000000000000000000000D0
:10F0400000000000000000000000000000000000C0
:10F0500000000000000000000000000000000000B0
:10F0600000000000000000000000000000000000A0
:10F070000000000000000000000000000000000090
:10F080000000000000000000000000000000000080
:10F090000000000000000000000000000000000070
:10F0A0000000000000000000000000000000000060
:10F0B0000000000000000000000000000000000050
:10F0C0000000000000000000000000000000000040
:10F0D0000000000000000000000000000000000030
:10F0E0000000000000000000000000000000000020
:10F0F0000000000000000000000000000000000010
:10F1000000000000000000000000000000000000FF
:10F1100000000000000000000000000000000000EF
:10F1200000000000000000000000000000000000DF
:10F1300000000000000000000000000000000000CF
:10F1400000000000000000000000000000000000BF
:10F1500000000000000000000000000000000000AF
:10F16000000000000000000000000000000000009F
:10F17000000000000000000000000000000000008F
:10F18000000000000000000000000000000000007F
:10F19000000000000000000000000000000000006F
:10F1A000000000000000000000000000000000005F
:10F1B000000000000000000000000000000000004F
:10F1C000000000000000000000000000000000003F
:10F1D000000000000000000000000000000000002F
:10F1E000000000000000000000000000000000001F
:10F1F000000000000000000000000000000000000F
:10F2000000000000000000000000000000000000FE
:10F2100000000000000000000000000000000000EE
:10F2200000000000000000000000000000000000DE
:10F2300000000000000000000000000000000000CE
:10F2400000000000000000000000000000000000BE
:10F2500000000000000000000000000099ECD5FE56
:10F26000000000000000000000000000000000009E
:10F27000000000000000000000000000000000008E
:10F28000000000000000000000000000000000007E
:10F29000000000000000000000000000000000006E
:10F2A0000001374FC81500000000000000000000FA
:10F2B000000000000000000000000000000000004E
:10F2C000000000000000000000000000000000003E
:10F2D000000000000000000000000000000000002E
:10F2E000000000000000000000000000000000001E
:10F2F000000000000000000000000000000000000E
:10F3000000000000000000000000000000000000FD
:10F3100000000000000000000000000000000000ED
:03F32000000000EA
:00000001FF

Looking through nrf_dfu_types.h, which defines nrf_dfu_settings_t, clearly settings = 1 wouldn't work with a SDK 15.3 based SDFU bootloader.

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Mike — Mon, 13 May 2019 13:29:07 GMT

Yeah, flashing the example images works fine.

What I noticed now is that if I merge the bootloader_settings file in at all it doesn't work (ie nothing comes out the RTT). If I merge the BL, SD, and app and run it, it runs fine (of course with the invalid app problem). If I merge in the bootlaoder settings, or manually flash it, nothing comes out RTT.

I do use application-setting = 0. Here is the line I'm using to generate the bootloader settings:

nrfutil settings generate --family NRF52840 --application $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/nrf52840_xxaa.hex --application-version 0 --bootloader-version 0 --bl-settings-version 2 $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/bootloader_settings.hex

I'm concerned that this is GCC related, as discussed in this post. Do I need to manually hack the settings file? Look in the accepted answer.

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Hung Bui — Mon, 13 May 2019 13:00:19 GMT

Hi Medved,

Please test using one of our example image, just to be sure the issue can be reproduced with any image.

Could you provide the script you used to generate bootloader setting ? Do you use application-version = 0 ?

Have you tried to compare the hex you have after you merged everything with the hex of the bootloader setting to check if the bootloader setting was merged without any modification ?

The log "<info> app: Boot validation failed. No valid app to boot." saying that the bootloader setting has not marked the application as valid on bank 1.

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Nguyen Hoan Hoang — Mon, 13 May 2019 11:50:21 GMT

No problem, I created it because I needed it and it could be useful for other as well. Just recently that you are allow to use the DK to flash external board. It wasn't the case before. The IDAP was created initially for that purpose and also allows parallel flashing for production and it is not limited to nRF. I am not forcing you to use it, just give you an alternative. The choice is yours to make.

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Mike — Mon, 13 May 2019 11:07:40 GMT

Nguyen - you should probably say something like "full disclosure, I'm the creator of IDAP...."

This isn't really a good solution for me, I can't just tell my board vendors "use this special chip to program the board". I need to have my project correctly set up, and using the Nordic tools correctly.

RE: Combining app + bootloader + sd + settings page on v15.3

Nguyen Hoan Hoang — Sat, 11 May 2019 05:12:44 GMT

Alternatively, you can use the IDAP-Link CMSIS-DAP JTAG to flash the whole thing without any merging or generating setting page. The IDAPnRFProg command line program provided is specifically made to flash SD + App + DFU directly and automatically sets all require settings. Nothing to merge, just give it the 3 hex files that's it. The software is avail for Linux, Windows, OSX & RPI.