nRF Sniffer on nRF52840 Version 3 installation error

[cycledude]

Hello,

I am working on a Windows 10 pc. python 3.7 is installed and the requirements.txt has been installed successfully and I have the most current pyserial installed

I have successfully installed firmware hex code on the nRF52840 dev board.

Copied the the contents of Sniffer_Software/extcap to the Wireshark extcap folder

When I run the nrf_sniffer_ble.bat --extcap-interfaces as per the pdf instructions I receive an error.

This results in the following error:

c:\Program Files\Wireshark\extcap>nrf_sniffer_ble.bat --extcap-interfaces
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "c:\Program Files\Wireshark\extcap\nrf_sniffer_ble.py", line 52, in <module>
from SnifferAPI import Sniffer, myVersion, Logger, UART, Devices
File "c:\Program Files\Wireshark\extcap\SnifferAPI\Sniffer.py", line 53, in <module>
from . import SnifferCollector
File "c:\Program Files\Wireshark\extcap\SnifferAPI\SnifferCollector.py", line 37, in <module>
from serial import SerialException
ImportError: cannot import name 'SerialException' from 'serial' (C:\Users\WORK\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\serial\__init__.py)

Can you please help?

Thanks

Rick

[Edvin]

Hello Rick,

Did you copy all of the files and folders from the downloaded extcap folder to the wiresharks extcap folder?

Can you double check that you have the correct python version in the path when you type "python --version"?

If it still doesn't work, can you please try to install python 3.8.x? I have this installed on my computer, and I just installed nRF Sniffer version 3, and I didn't experience any problems. If that works, I will report this as a bug internally (because it says that version 3.5 or later should work).

Best regards,

Edvin

[cycledude]

 Thanks Edvin!!! that worked. I am capturing BLE traffic now.

Thank you for all your assistance, you have enabled me to start developing.

Regards

Rick

[Edvin]

cycledude said:

Sorry Edvin, I should have included that I was using Python version 3.7.6

 No problem :) Thank you!

I was not aware that you were using the dongle. Unfortunately, the dongle isn't supported in the BLE sniffer. 

pca100XX is the name of the different HW that we have. pca10056 is the nRF52840 DK, while the pca10059 is the nRF52840 dongle. The reason it doesn't work to use the nRF52840 DK FW on the dongle is because the FW uses UART, via the debugger on board to translate from uart to USB. On the dongle, the UART pins aren't connected to anything, and it doesn't have a debugger to translate from UART to USB. 

The USB part on the dongle is the actual USB peripheral on the nRF52840. Although technically possible, we don't have any FW for the nRF Sniffer that does this at this point in time. I am sorry.

Best regards,

Edvin

[cycledude]

Thanks. So the Programmer recognizes that the code is invalid and disables all to install it?

Have a great weekend!

Rick

[Edvin]

cycledude said:

Thanks. So the Programmer recognizes that the code is invalid and disables all to install it?

 Not sure what you mean, but the reason you don't see the dongle in the programmer app is because you programmed it with an application that doesn't use the USB at all, and hence the USB will only be used for power source. If you press the reset button (Not the white button, but the "sideways" button next to it) while the dongle is connected to USB power, it will re-enter bootloader mode, and you can program new applications to it. However, it will still not work with the nRF Sniffer. But now you can at least use it for something else.

Best regards,
Edvin

[cycledude]

Thanks Edwin.

I have the nRF sniffer working, but all I see are advertising packets.

Is it possible to have the sniffer follow connection requests it captures?
If so how do I enable this.

Rick

[Edvin]

Yes. If you select the peripheral while it is advertising from the dropdown menu:

It will follow that device into connection. If you are using pairing or bonding with Out of Band keys, you can also enter the key in the Passkey/OOB field (right next to the dropdown menu), and it will be able to decrypt the encrypted messages as well.

BR,

Edvin