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nrfConnect for Desktop (Bluetooth Low Energy App) ALWAYS results in blank/white application window after some time of use

rodims

nRFConnect for Desktop v3.3.0 
App: Bluetooth Low Energy v2.3.2 
Windows 10 x64 ( 19.04,  19.09), using Dual Monitor. 
Device: PCA10059 or PCA10056

I can start, connect, and use the nRFConnect / Bluetooth Low Energy App without problems for some time. For a certain time it works fine and simply as expected. 
The device attached to my PC usually is a nRF52840 Dongle ( PCA10059 ), but I also verified the problem with a nRF52840 DK  (PCA10056)

But after some time the window becomes completely blank/white. 

I have seen some complaints about a white window in the forum, but none of them seems to have the problem that it first works and then turns white after some time. 
The typical scenario is: 

- Start nrfConnect for Desktop
- Start the Bluetooth Low Energy App from the list of apps
- Select the BTLE device (usually PCA10059) 
- Select "Start Scan" to discover my BTLE devices
- Connect to some BTLE device and communicate with it. 
From now on it is only a question of time (seconds to several minutes) when the client area of the Bluetoot Low Energy app window turns completely white.
May be important to mention: when the window turns white, I usually do nothing in this window.  So the problem appears without any obvious reason. 

I can close the window through the Windows captions close box, but clicking into the white window at different locations does nothing. So it's not just a simple Windows Refresh problem, minimizing and restoring the window does not help. 
What is possible is to press Ctrl-R, then the windows content will appear again, but all connections are lost. So thats not more helpful than restarting the Bluetooth Low Energy App. 

So I cannot work with this longer than 5 minutes in average until I have to restart everything. 
This problem is around since I use the nrfConnect for Windows (1 year approx) , so it was also present with previous versions and never worked for me. 

I investigated the log file, which looks ok, but the final problem is not logged there in any way. 

Is this a known problem ?
How can I get rid of this annoying problem in nrfConnect for Desktop ?

# nRFConnect System Report - 2019-12-06T20-02-51.791Z

- System:     System manufacturer System Product Name
- BIOS:       American Megatrends Inc. ALASKA - 1072009
- CPU:        1 x Intel® Core™ i7-6700 3.40 GHz 8 cores (4 physical)
- Memory:     20.6 GB free of 31.9 GB total
- Filesystem: C: (NTFS) 475.9 GB 62.8% used

- OS:         Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (10.0.18363) win32 ia32

- Versions
    - kernel: 10.0.18363
    - git: 2.12.0.windows.1
    - node: 12.0.0
    - python: 
    - python3:

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  • 0

    Hi

    Thank you so much for this thorough report I'm sorry that we haven't been able to give you an update on what is happening here, but the devs are struggling to find the reason for these crashes as well. Hopefully, the information you've provided will help them and hurry up the process so that you'll be able to run the nRFConnect apps as intended.

    Best regards,

    Simon

  • 0 in reply to Simonr

    After a long time of pain I found out, what caused the problem in the first place. 
    In  previous tests last year I already removed all other USB devices from the USB bus (with the exception of the mouse), including external hubs. Now it turns out that my the Logitech mouse (10 years old) is irregularly causing this problem. Not using an external hub.  I replaced it with a simple Microsoft Mouse and the problem has not been seen again since several days now. 

    Lets assume that the mouse (or in combinations with its driver) has some damage which causes some non-standard usb packets in the usb system. The mouse likely was not on the same internal or external hub as the devices which I used for nRF Connect "Bluetooth Low Energy" app  in all my tests. 

    So it's still some problem with the nrfConnect tools, which likely listen to all (USB Bluetooth) devices attaching and detaching from the bus, and which crash in these special (non-reproducible) situations. The result of this crash then was the empty white client area of the window. That's what I analyzed so far last year.  

    I didn't have to touch or move the old mouse for the problem to occur, but it also happened occasionally when I moved the mouse. 

    So while this (assumed) bug is still present in the nrfConnect framework, this case can be closed, at least for me. 

Reply
  • 0 in reply to Simonr

    After a long time of pain I found out, what caused the problem in the first place. 
    In  previous tests last year I already removed all other USB devices from the USB bus (with the exception of the mouse), including external hubs. Now it turns out that my the Logitech mouse (10 years old) is irregularly causing this problem. Not using an external hub.  I replaced it with a simple Microsoft Mouse and the problem has not been seen again since several days now. 

    Lets assume that the mouse (or in combinations with its driver) has some damage which causes some non-standard usb packets in the usb system. The mouse likely was not on the same internal or external hub as the devices which I used for nRF Connect "Bluetooth Low Energy" app  in all my tests. 

    So it's still some problem with the nrfConnect tools, which likely listen to all (USB Bluetooth) devices attaching and detaching from the bus, and which crash in these special (non-reproducible) situations. The result of this crash then was the empty white client area of the window. That's what I analyzed so far last year.  

    I didn't have to touch or move the old mouse for the problem to occur, but it also happened occasionally when I moved the mouse. 

    So while this (assumed) bug is still present in the nrfConnect framework, this case can be closed, at least for me. 

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