nRF connect programmer erase button always disabled?

[Eisenheim]

Hi,

I am using nRF52840 dongle. To program this dongle an nRF connect programmer is used. Unfortunately erase button of nRF connect programmer is always disabled?Is it possible to enable it? Thanks for your time?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

Please click "Write" to write the firmware to the dongle.

You cannot do an erase all via nRF Connect for the Desktop programmer app when using the dongle. The reason for doing this is that if someone erases the bootloader, it would not be possible to program any new applications on the dongle anymore. The reason that nrfjprog does not work with the dongle is that there is no built-in J-Link on the 52840 dongle. I would recommend reading this blog post in detail.

-Amanda H.

[RayFoulkes]

What the blog post that you refer to fails to mention at all is RE-programming the dongle during development.
The "nRF Connect Programmer" version 1.4.2 user guide version 1.2 updated in April of this year,
clearly says "Erase & write clears the written memory and programs the files added to the File Memory Layout" with no statement as "with the exception of the dongle".
Furthermore in answer 43636 "The erase button in nRF Connect Programmer will always keep UICR,
MBR and the Bootloader, and is whited out when there is nothing else to erase." is written which, from what you are writing above, is totally incorrect.

We were under the impression that, in order to write anything into nvram, it had to be block erased to all ones. Just having a button saying "write" as opposed to "erase and write" implies that it will try to write over anything that is already there, without erasing.
The manual does not tell us that you can "write" new hex files onto an already programmed dongle in the same address space and it actually work.

Can you confirm that "write" actually means "erase then write" for the bits that you are trying to write OR "once a dongle has been programmed nrf connect is useless for any further action with the dongle and you will have to use the probe or wires to re-program it"

We also believed that we could read the content of the memory and, according to the user manual:
"Additionally, after you read the memory, 'Save as file' allows you to save the memory as a HEX file"
which, since it seems to be permanently greyed out, is also untrue.

It does waste a lot of time when the manual is so far away from what the application actually does - both for users
and for you answering questions about why the program fails to correspond to the user manual. Since it was only
updated this month, surely someone could have added something more accurate about programming the dongle OR change the application to correspond to what the manual says and implement what answer 43636 claims is true.

Ray Foulkes, still struggling with nrf connect.