Adding a 3rd BLE characteristic to BLE service causes fatal error in Release mode

[Nicholas_Nuti]

Hello,

I'm trying to add a third characteristic to my BLE service and when I add it, my device "fatally" crashes in Release mode with no meaningful error information (because it's in release mode). The device works perfectly in DEBUG mode.

In debug mode: Enter a static passkey, bond, and connect with no problems

In release mode: enter a static passkey, bond, connect, and crash

Here is a short log from my latest attempt:

<info> app_timer: RTC: initialized.
<info> app: startup event = 0
<info> app: started.
<info> app: DELETE BONDS
<info> app: Erase bonds!
<info> app: pm_evt_handler: 12
<info> app: Fast advertising.
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 16
<info> app: Attempting Connection...
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 85
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 35
<info> app: pm_evt_handler: 1
<info> app: pm_evt_handler: 5
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 19
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 36
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 21
<info> app: on_write: called
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 80
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 18
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 26
<info> app: pm_evt_handler: 2
<info> app: Connection secured: role: 1, conn_handle: 0x0, procedure: 1.
<info> app: ble_evt_handler: 25
<info> app: Connected.
<error> app: Fatal error
<warning> app: System reset
<info> app_timer: RTC: initialized.
<info> app: startup event = 0
<info> app: started.
<info> app: DELETE BONDS
<info> app: Erase bonds!
<info> app: pm_evt_handler: 12
<info> app: Fast advertising.

So, it seems to fail somewhere in here:

case BLE_GAP_EVT_AUTH_STATUS:
if(p_ble_evt->evt.gap_evt.params.auth_status.auth_status == BLE_GAP_SEC_STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
NRF_LOG_INFO("Connected.");
err_code = bsp_indication_set(BSP_INDICATE_CONNECTED);
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
err_code = nrf_ble_qwr_conn_handle_assign(&m_qwr, m_conn_handle);
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
}

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Nick

[Kenneth]

Very odd. Have you tried to simply modify app_error_fault_handler() such that you can get the actual file name, line number and error code causing the assert instead of NRF_LOG_ERROR("Fatal error"); 

To swap the logging output behavior simply replace: #ifndef DEBUG with #ifdef DEBUG two places in app_error_fault_handler().

Best regards,
Kenneth

[Nicholas_Nuti]

Hello Kenneth, I didn't know where that was so thank you! I printed out the fault and it's not very descriptive:

<error> app: ERROR 8 [NRF_ERROR_INVALID_STATE] at :0
PC at: 0x00000000

I'm going to continue to look into it.

Thank you!

[Nicholas_Nuti]

Nicholas_Nuti said:

<error> app: ERROR 8 [NRF_ERROR_INVALID_STATE] at :0
PC at: 0x00000000

Sadly, it's the same error as this one. It's odd, the problem is very specific to JUST this characteristic. I've disabled all other characteristics in this service and still get the same exact crash. I've remade the characteristic to just be a shell and not contain anything and the device still crashes.

[Nicholas_Nuti]

Oddly enough... if I create a third character handle in my service.h as such:

ble_gatts_char_handles_t    ver_char_handle;

and use it in the following function inside of the service.c file:

sd_ble_gatts_characteristic_add();

the program crashes. But if I reuse a preexisting character handle... it doesn't seem to crash. This is weird. Am I supposed to have a separate handle for each characteristic?

[Kenneth]

There should be a unique handle for each characteristic yes. You are not writing what the UUID is of the characteristics you are adding, is it 16-bit BLE UUID or your own 128-bit vendor-specific UUID?

Best regards,
Kenneth

[Nicholas_Nuti]

I followed this tutorial: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../ble-characteristics-a-beginners-tutorial

To add more than one characteristic, I followed Vasiliy's comment in that post (the top one). When I try to add more than two, this error occurs.

It is the 16 bit BLE UUID that is being added. I refrained from adding it for it is company sensitive material.

Thank you,

Nick

[Kenneth]

I assume you are init services and characteristics before you start advertisement?

Also from the error code:
https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/com.nordic.infocenter.s140.api.v6.0.0/group___b_l_e___g_a_t_t_s___f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_s.html#ga9ee07ea4b96dcca1537b01ff9a7692ba

NRF_ERROR_INVALID_STATE

Invalid state to perform operation, a service context is required.

Can it be that the specific characteristic you try to add need to be placed in a (new) service? What is service_handle?

Also check out the Note(s) in the function description.

Best regards,
Kenneth

[Nicholas_Nuti]

Thank you Kenneth for your help but I solved my problem. So, I have my files service.c and service.h inside of my project directory. After compilation, these files got copied over into my Output directory and Segger Studio actually changed the reference directory of service.h to the file in the output directory. So, whenever I compiled in Release mode, it would take the files directly in the Output directory (the edited service.h would get replaced with the original unedited file in my main project directory) and provide me with no bluetooth characteristic handle for my 3rd characteristic.

I was able to come to this conclusion by having my service.h file up, and I right-clicked and opened something in my main that references the service.h file. After opening the reference, I found that Segger Studio opened another service.h next to the preexisting service.h file I had open in the application.