Whisper Ware (nRf9160)

[John]

Without doubt there is a new variation of software emerging:

We are all familiar with Firmware and Software, however I really feel the need to coin the term "Whisper Ware" when it comes to the nRF9160 which I must add we are absolutely committed to making work.

I have personally spent the last 12 hours, uninstalling, changing branches, reinstalling, and trying my best to follow every "whisper" in this forum to make any of the sample applications work.

Even more frustrating is that for a brief time they did seem to function.

Now whatever I do, AT commands time out as follows:

Error: 'AT+CFUN? ' timed out

If someone would be kind enough to give detailed instruction on how I may be able to start "from scratch" and therefore remove any legacy that may exist, I would be very grateful.

I'm using Windows 10 and clearly very very frustrated.

On the ever positive side, I'm thrilled to bits that the implementation currently is such a mess, as most will or already have simply given up as they will not have the sincere patience that I have.

[John]

Hi Martin.

I erased all then flashed the merged hex using:nrfjprog

C:\Users\jcris\Desktop\AWS Stuff>nrfjprog.exe --program jan_merged.hex -f nrf91 --sectorerase --verify
Parsing hex file.
Erasing page at address 0x0.
Erasing page at address 0x1000.
Erasing page at address 0x2000.
Erasing page at address 0x3000.
Erasing page at address 0x8000.
Erasing page at address 0x9000.
Erasing page at address 0xA000.
Erasing page at address 0xB000.
Erasing page at address 0xC000.
Erasing page at address 0xD000.
Erasing page at address 0xE000.
Erasing page at address 0xF000.
Erasing page at address 0x10000.
Erasing page at address 0x11000.
Erasing page at address 0x12000.
Erasing page at address 0x13000.
Erasing page at address 0x14000.
Erasing page at address 0x15000.
Erasing page at address 0x16000.
Erasing page at address 0x17000.
Erasing page at address 0x18000.
Erasing page at address 0x19000.
Erasing page at address 0x1A000.
Erasing page at address 0x1B000.
Erasing page at address 0x1C000.
Erasing page at address 0x1D000.
Erasing page at address 0x1E000.
Erasing page at address 0x1F000.
Erasing page at address 0x20000.
Erasing page at address 0x21000.
Erasing page at address 0x22000.
Erasing page at address 0x23000.
Erasing page at address 0x24000.
Erasing page at address 0x25000.
Erasing page at address 0x26000.
Erasing page at address 0x27000.
Erasing page at address 0x28000.
Erasing page at address 0x29000.
Erasing page at address 0x2A000.
Erasing page at address 0x2B000.
Erasing page at address 0x2C000.
Erasing page at address 0x2D000.
Erasing page at address 0x2E000.
Erasing page at address 0x2F000.
Erasing page at address 0x30000.
Erasing page at address 0x31000.
Erasing page at address 0x32000.
Applying system reset.
Checking that the area to write is not protected.
Programming device.
Verifying programming.
Verified OK.

C:\Users\jcris\Desktop\Modem>nrf9160_mdm_dfu --update
Configure APP IPC as non-secure
Configure IPC HW for DFU
Configure APP RAM as non-secure
Store DFU indication into shared memory
Power up / reset modem
Start polling IPC.MODEM_CTRL_EVENT to receive root key digest
Modem responded with a5000001
Modem root key digest received: 72b3d7c13e549acf08bbc48cb936b9b861e4cbae28a7537c9859a6d945ee9489
Store IPC DFU executable into shared memory
Send IPC.APP_CTRL_TASK
Start polling IPC.MODEM_CTRL_EVENT To receive 'Started' indication from DFU executable
ERROR: Time out, no event received after 10 sec.

C:\Users\jcris\Desktop\Modem>

I tried the same process using Segger, same result.

However if I load SPM using the secure 10090 board and download the .elf

I can then DFU the modem software.

[CWallach]

One of the problems with making a working nRF9160 sample project is that the software tools, modem firmware, and SDK version all have bugs where only specific combinations work. After considerable anguish I got the Asset Tracker example project to build
and run.

This version of tools worked:

Segger Embedded Studio for ARM Relese 4.16
Note this is different from Segger Embedded Studio for BLE development.

C:\Users\cwallach\cgnuarmemb\7 2018-q2-update

C:\Users\CWallach>cmake --version
cmake version 3.14.1

C:\Users\CWallach>git version
git version 2.21.0.windows.1

C:\Users\CWallach>python -V
Python 3.7.3

C:\Users\CWallach>ninja --version
1.9.0

C:\Users\CWallach>gperf --version
GNU gperf 3.1

Modem firmware mfwnrf916007029alpha.zip

SDK branch v0.4.0-rc2

Load project SPM (/ncs2/nrf/samples/nrf9160/spm) using the PCA10090 board selection
Make sure the GNU library is set correctly and that you are pointing to the nCS2/zephyr base directory
Build the file (F7)
Load Asset Tracker application (/ncs2/nrf/application/asset_tracker) using the PCA10090ns board selection
Build Solution
/target (Select J-link)
/target download File (Intel Hex) (/ncs2/nrf/application/asset_tracker/build_PCA10090/zephyr/merge.hex
Monitor the output in the Link Monitor when you reset the board.

Hope this helps!

[John]

Thanks very much for your response.

Quick question, are you able to program your board with the merged hex asset tracker here:

0535.jan_merged.hex

I'd be really interested if it works for you...

[CWallach]

Flashed but doesn't work and reboots every minute or so.

[John]

Thanks very much for doing that.

Mine doesn't reboot, but only does this:

SPM: NS image at 0x8000

SPM: NS MSP at 0x2002a4a8

SPM: NS reset vector at 0xfd6d

SPM: prepare to jump to Non-Secure image.

***** Booting Zephyr OS v1.14.99-ncs1 *****

Application started

LTE LC config ...