nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

sidney-carton — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 23:09:13 GMT

Installing the nrf-udev package worked, thank you Hung!

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

Hung Bui — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 14:15:13 GMT

Hi again,
I got the suggestion from the developer, could you please try the following:

Install nrf-udev from here https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/nrf-udev/releases
Call the following command and reboot the PC
sudo usermod -a -G dialout <username>
Try to select the device again

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

Hung Bui — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 09:58:43 GMT

Thanks Sidney,
I will forward the issue to our app team and get back to you.
I saw a similar report on github here and the customer mentioned that he uninstall and install the app again and it helped him. Could you try ?

https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-nrfconnect-programmer/issues/160

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

sidney-carton — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 19:20:20 GMT

Hi Hung,

Thank you for the suggestion, I tried it running nRF Connect on Mac and I can successfully flash the Dongle. This can only be a temporary solution for me though, since my main/only computers run Linux. I would like to get nRF Connect working on Ubuntu. I think that it is hanging during "Using USB SDFU protocol to communicate with target". Is there a library I am missing on Ubuntu to use USB SDFU?

Note: I can use nRF Connect to flash the Dev Kit on Ubuntu, but it reads the memory using nrfjprog, not USB SDFU.

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

Hung Bui — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 08:50:56 GMT

Hi Sidney,

I don't think using arm-none-eabi-objcopy to shift the hex is a good idea. There could be a call in the code that use absolute address (for example the vector table) and shifting the hex would cause the issue.

The way you do it is in the project setting of the source code you change the flash start address (IROM1) to 0x1000 and recompile the code. I have flashed many dongles to use as OpenThread node by doing so.

nrfjprog is not capable of programming the dongle because by default it's programmed by DFU process, not by using SWD programming.

It seems that it's the issue with the communication between the dongle and the PC. Could you try on another PC (preferably running Windows) just to confirm that it's not the dongles issue.

To be able to flash the dongle directly (not using the DFU/bootloader) you would need to solder the 10 pins header on port P1 of the dongle. It's the same header on the Debug In and Debug Out port on the PCA10056. If you don't have one You can de-solder the header on port Debug In of the PCA10059 (most of the time not used) to solder it on the dongle P1. Then you just need the 10pin cable to program the dongle from the PCA10056. You can just program it like a normal DK. And make sure you erase the bootloader if you want it to operate like a DK.

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

sidney-carton — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 20:44:03 GMT

Hi Hung Bui,

Thank you for your reply, and sorry for taking a few days to get back to you. I can confirm that:

1) I am using the PCA10059 dongle
2) The red led is blinking at about 1Hz when it is plugged into the computer

I have three followup questions after your response:

1. My understanding is that nRF Connect will account for the MBR (following this guide) but my problem is that nRF Connect will not read the memory layout on the Dongle. The screenshot I attached in the original posting shows diagonal lines in the memory layout BUT the guide I am following, nRF Connect shows the MBR in the memory layout. I cannot get nRF Connect to achieve "Firmware: Bootloader found". I have tried this with 3 brand new Dongles with the same problem, so I believe that my nRF Connect instance is at fault.

2. You suggest flashing the dongle from the Dev Kit. Is there a guide to do this?

3. Can you confirm that I would only need to set the start address to 0x1000 if I were using nrfjprog to flash the Dongle, and not when using nRF Connect? And if so, would you do this when converting the binary to hex:

arm-none-eabi-objcopy -O ihex --change-start 0x1000 <BINARY_FILE> <OUTPUT_HEX_FILE>

To give you more context I would like to build a very simple OpenThread network as a proof of concept. I have one 52840 Dev Kit (pca10056) that I have set up as the NCP for an otbr Docker container. I have several Dongles (pca10059) that I want to run a very simple program to periodically send messages to the base station. My goal is to monitor the network topology and test OpenThread.

RE: nRF Connect Won't Load 52840 Dongle Memory Layout

Hung Bui — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 12:13:20 GMT

Hi Sidney,
Could you please clarify that you were testing with a PCA10059 dongle ?
Have you switched the dongle to bootloader mode ? (press the reset switch, there should be a red LED breathing light)
Please be aware that the dongle is not a development platform but rather to be used as backend for other tool, such as nRF Connect BLE. If you plan to use it for development, I would strongly suggest you to solder the SWD header and then use a DK/a programmer to program it (via the Debug out port)

The OpenThread firmware should be modified so that it start at address 0x1000 (to cope with the MBR) otherwise the bootloader will no longer work.