nRF52840 DONGLE debugging

[Eduardo Carletti]

Hi,

I am developing a project using the nRF52840 DONGLE. As part of the process, I need to be able to debug my code, so I am using IAR and a J-TRACE PRO for that. The problem is, when I download any program that uses BLE, I just cant debug, as the firmware never reaches main on startup. When I download any example that doesn't uses BLE, such as the USB Generic HID, it works fine. So, what could possibly be the error? I have already tried the sugestions on this tutorial, but got no results. Another curious thing is that I can't download the SOFTDEVICE via nRFGO, becouse it says that "No device detected, or readback protection may be set". When using nRF Connect, I can read the device memory and program the softdevice.

The example I am trying tho download to my dongle is the ble_app_uart_c. I did change the board define to PCA10059 and commented the UART initialization for bypassing the pins definition error.

[hmolesworth]

Are you including the softdevice in the IAR build? These are the steps we use, in particular the using Flash Loader was not an option:

Options->Debugger->Images:

  Download Extra Image [Checked]

  Path: blah\blah\s132_nrf52_6.1.0_softdevice.hex

  Offset: 0

  Options->Debugger->Download:

  Verify Download [Checked]

  Use Flash Loader: [Un-Checked]

  This works as-is with the vanilla linker icf file and standard SoftDevice settings (Nordic Uart example based) which doesn't need editing:

Debugging code with softdevice interrupts running using stepping is another issue, but at least the above lets the code run to main() and beyond with the ability to break on a breakpoint once pretty much anywhere. There are a few posts on debugging with running code beyond the first breakpoint.

[awneil]

This is why it's recommended to use a Development Kit for developing on!

By default, the Dongle comes programmed  with a bootloader.

Have you done a full chip erase to get rid of the bootloader?

Note that nRFGO is way out of date. It predates the nRF52840 - so won't handle it properly. nRF Connect is the one to use

[awneil]

hmolesworth said:

Debugging code with softdevice interrupts running using stepping is another issue

Indeed - See Monitor Mode Debugging:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/44100/nrf52832-ble_app_uart-as-central/173442#173442

[Eduardo Carletti]

I am aware of the recomendation of the DK for the development, but I don't have one on hand right now. I did a full erase previously, but it didn't solved the problem alone. The solution given by hmolesworth did the trick.

About nRFGO, if it is so outdated, why is this istill available as a active tool for nRF family? I think it should be, at least, advised on the software page this non recomendation.

[Eduardo Carletti]

I was already including the Softdevice in the IAR Build, the diference was that I was using the newest version, not the 6.1.0 as you suggested. Using this older version solved the problem.