RUNTIME STALLS in nrf_sdh_enable_request() for nrf52832 - softdevice S132.

[kjhuebner]

I have two custom pcbs containing the nrf52832 chip with the EXACT same hardware and software.

When I program and run the old pcb,

The old pcb runs OK.  It returns from the call nrf_sdh_enable_request() without issues.

But when I program and run my new pcb,

The new pcb FAILS during runtime.  The nrf52832 fails to return from the call the nrf_sdh_enable_request() shown below.

The RTT debugger only prints out the "PRE" text, and does not show the "POST" print out.  It seems to be stalling in the call or doing some kind of low-level interrupt to perhaps a handler.

Source code:

      debugPrint("cpu_ble_softdevice_init() PRE nrf_sdh_enable_request");
      err_code = nrf_sdh_enable_request();
      debugPrint("cpu_ble_softdevice_init() POST nrf_sdh_enable_request");

Why is this happening?  I am using the same hardware and software and compiler.  Yet different behavior for both pcbs.

Any help is appreciated.

Ken Huebner

Software Developer

SEGGER IDE COMPILER SHOWS EXACT SAME COMPILE SIZE AND ADDRESSING FOR BOTH OLD AND NEW PCB...

Here's my Segger compiler notes for compiling and running both pcbs:

OLD PCB - MTAG1_0A

Connecting ‘J-Link’ using ‘USB’
Connecting to target using SWD
Loaded C:/Program Files (x86)/SEGGER/SEGGER Embedded Studio for ARM 4.12/bin/JLinkARM.dll
Firmware Version: J-Link V10 compiled May 17 2019 09:51:10
DLL Version: 6.44i
Hardware Version: V10.10
Target Voltage: 3.380
Device "NRF52832_XXAA" selected.
Found SW-DP with ID 0x2BA01477
Found SW-DP with ID 0x2BA01477
Scanning AP map to find all available APs
AP[2]: Stopped AP scan as end of AP map has been reached
AP[0]: AHB-AP (IDR: 0x24770011)
AP[1]: JTAG-AP (IDR: 0x02880000)
Iterating through AP map to find AHB-AP to use
AP[0]: Core found
AP[0]: AHB-AP ROM base: 0xE00FF000
CPUID register: 0x410FC241. Implementer code: 0x41 (ARM)
Found Cortex-M4 r0p1, Little endian.
FPUnit: 6 code (BP) slots and 2 literal slots
CoreSight components:
ROMTbl[0] @ E00FF000
ROMTbl[0][0]: E000E000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 000BB00C SCS-M7
ROMTbl[0][1]: E0001000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 003BB002 DWT
ROMTbl[0][2]: E0002000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 002BB003 FPB
ROMTbl[0][3]: E0000000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 003BB001 ITM
ROMTbl[0][4]: E0040000, CID: B105900D, PID: 000BB9A1 TPIU
ROMTbl[0][5]: E0041000, CID: B105900D, PID: 000BB925 ETM
Preparing target for download
Executing script TargetInterface.resetAndStop()
Reset: Halt core after reset via DEMCR.VC_CORERESET.
Reset: Reset device via AIRCR.SYSRESETREQ.
Downloading ‘s132_nrf52_6.1.0_softdevice.hex’ to J-Link
Programming 2.3 KB of addresses 00000000 — 00000967
Programming 144.8 KB of addresses 00001000 — 0002536b
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: Skipped. Contents already match
Download successful
Downloading ‘ble_app_beacon_pca10040_s132.elf’ to J-Link
Programming 38.7 KB of addresses 00026000 — 0002fae7
Programming 0.1 KB of addresses 0002fae8 — 0002fb9b
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: Skipped. Contents already match
Download successful

NEW PCB - mtag1_2a

Connecting ‘J-Link’ using ‘USB’
Connecting to target using SWD
Loaded C:/Program Files (x86)/SEGGER/SEGGER Embedded Studio for ARM 4.12/bin/JLinkARM.dll
Firmware Version: J-Link V10 compiled May 17 2019 09:51:10
DLL Version: 6.44i
Hardware Version: V10.10
Target Voltage: 3.386
Device "NRF52832_XXAA" selected.
Found SW-DP with ID 0x2BA01477
Found SW-DP with ID 0x2BA01477
Scanning AP map to find all available APs
AP[2]: Stopped AP scan as end of AP map has been reached
AP[0]: AHB-AP (IDR: 0x24770011)
AP[1]: JTAG-AP (IDR: 0x02880000)
Iterating through AP map to find AHB-AP to use
AP[0]: Core found
AP[0]: AHB-AP ROM base: 0xE00FF000
CPUID register: 0x410FC241. Implementer code: 0x41 (ARM)
Found Cortex-M4 r0p1, Little endian.
FPUnit: 6 code (BP) slots and 2 literal slots
CoreSight components:
ROMTbl[0] @ E00FF000
ROMTbl[0][0]: E000E000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 000BB00C SCS-M7
ROMTbl[0][1]: E0001000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 003BB002 DWT
ROMTbl[0][2]: E0002000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 002BB003 FPB
ROMTbl[0][3]: E0000000, CID: B105E00D, PID: 003BB001 ITM
ROMTbl[0][4]: E0040000, CID: B105900D, PID: 000BB9A1 TPIU
ROMTbl[0][5]: E0041000, CID: B105900D, PID: 000BB925 ETM
Preparing target for download
Executing script TargetInterface.resetAndStop()
Reset: Halt core after reset via DEMCR.VC_CORERESET.
Reset: Reset device via AIRCR.SYSRESETREQ.
Downloading ‘s132_nrf52_6.1.0_softdevice.hex’ to J-Link
Programming 2.3 KB of addresses 00000000 — 00000967
Programming 144.8 KB of addresses 00001000 — 0002536b
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: Skipped. Contents already match
Download successful
Downloading ‘ble_app_beacon_pca10040_s132.elf’ to J-Link
Programming 38.7 KB of addresses 00026000 — 0002fae7
Programming 0.1 KB of addresses 0002fae8 — 0002fb9b
J-Link: Flash download: Bank 0 @ 0x00000000: Skipped. Contents already match
Download successful

[kjhuebner]

SOLUTION FOUND!!  All pcbs are now working OK.

IMPORTANT: I found the solution is to do a full erase of the Laird BL652-SA-01 module (which contains NRF52832) BEFORE using the Segger IDE to program the module.

I needed to use the NRFJPROG command line tool to do this full erase.

nrfjprog --eraseall

My guess is there is some data in a flash table within the chip that needs to be cleared out.  Segger IDE does not clear this out when it programs the chip.  But the NRFJPROG tool does clear out all data.

 

If anyone has more insight in this matter, I'd love to hear your thoughts to help me better understand the solution.

Ken Huebner

Product Developer

[Hung Bui]

Hi Ken, 
I'm glad that it worked for you now. Note that Segger IDE when flashing an application by default only erase the sectors that occupied by the application (or softdevice if you include the softdevice to flash). In addition nrfjprog --eraseall will also delete data in UICR area. 
However I'm not sure why that would cause an issue with nrf_sdh_enable_request()