Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

David Smoot — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 16:37:22 GMT

That worked. Both the Hex file and building from source. Thank you. I will examine the source and makefile and find my mistake.

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

Vidar Berg — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 13:40:40 GMT

Hi David,

I looks like you have already performed the necessary steps to convert the project to run on an actual 52810 target with the internal RC clock. Other things that might potentially cause issues is the pinout used by the example as it is configured to run on a Nordic dev kit by default.

Attached below is a modified example I made that you can test if you have time. I disabled all GPIO configurations in this project, including configuration of the reset pin and UART pins.

Pre-programmed hex file of application + Softdevice. Command if programming it with nrfjprog : nrfjprog --program nrf52810_xxaa_with_softdevice.hex --chiperase -r

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../nrf52810_5F00_xxaa_5F00_with_5F00_softdevice.hex

Makefile project. Extract and move to nRF5_SDK_17.0.2_d674dde\examples\ble_peripheral\ before building.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../ble_5F00_app_5F00_blinky_5F00_fanstel.zip

Best regards,

Vidar

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

David Smoot — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:10:10 GMT

I attempted the steps outlined by HMolesworth without success. Of course I am not confident that I am starting the clock correctly.

I still would like an answer to this if possible but this task has become a much lower priority. Nordic feel free to close this ticket unanswered if you need to and I will post a revised version when I get bandwidth again.

That said, if anyone has a recipe for a simple BLE example running on the Fanstel BM832a, I would be most grateful.

David

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

hmolesworth — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 17:14:33 GMT

First I see that you didn't mention an Erase All followed by a power-on reset step; did you do that before programming the softdevice followed by the application? This is necessary for all these modules (and the uBlox/Rigado modules) to completely clear the delivered settings otherwise BLE does not work. If you need to keep the delivered MAC address then read that out first. Both Segger SES (Target->Connect, Target->Erase All) and nRFGo Studio (even though the latter is now depreciated) work fine for this. I repeat; without an erase all BLE will not work on a newly delivered module. If protection is enabled, a recover may be necessary first. The nRFConnect and command line tools may also be used, but I use the above

I had a look at the development board for that module, but it is confusing as the schematic shows an nRF52840 module. Some of their development boards provide an external 32kHz crystal I see, but the module should work fine without, using the settings I gave. I have tested this on the uBlox/Rigado BMD350 module, which is identical in terms of functionality and MCU and is also delivered with pre-loaded software which causes BLE to not work when using the normal SD/app project build-and-debug cycle.

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

David Smoot — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 00:42:00 GMT

So starting to see the big picture I think but still not working...

It appears to me that Fanstel intends this module to be used a BLE transceiver for another microcontroller. They ship it with a default image loaded and documentation for interfacing their module to another microcontroller over SPI or UART using AT commands.

So I'm not saying what I want to do (run custom code) is impossible, it is just not documented or supported by Fanstel. I have scoured their website and Google and to the best of my abilities there is no source code provided at all for this module.

It is an NRF52810 module with no external oscillator. So that means (I think) I have 3 basic tasks at least to port a PCA100040e example

The porting steps listed in the SDK at https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/sdk_nrf5_v17.0.2/nrf52810_user_guide.html?cp=7_1_5_0
Change the sdk_config.h as outlined by hmolesworth
Somehow start / enable the RC oscillator in code. I tried a blind paste of hmolesworth code into my source but it did not work.

I think I am doing steps 1 and 2 right but don't know how yet to do step 3 or if I am missing anything else.

David

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

hmolesworth — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 22:57:33 GMT

I use this code in sdk_config.h when no 32kHz crystal is available; it's on a nRF52832 module but I think the same applies for the nRF52810:

#if 1//defined(FEATURE_NO_32_KHZ_CRYSTAL_FITTED)
#define NRFX_CLOCK_CONFIG_LF_SRC         0
#define CLOCK_CONFIG_LF_SRC              0
#define NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_SRC             0
#define NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_RC_CTIV        16
#define NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_RC_TEMP_CTIV    2
#define NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_ACCURACY        1 // <1=> NRF_CLOCK_LF_ACCURACY_500_PPM
#endif

This must be placed at the start of sdk_config.h. I also have this code called at startup:

static void init_bsp(void)
{
   APP_ERROR_CHECK(nrf_drv_clock_init());
   nrf_drv_clock_lfclk_request(NULL);
#if defined(FEATURE_NO_32_KHZ_CRYSTAL_FITTED)
//   while (NRF_CLOCK->EVENTS_LFCLKSTARTED == 0) ;
//   for (volatile uint32_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) ;
#endif
   APP_ERROR_CHECK(app_timer_init());
}

This function must be invoked before ble init stuff

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

David Smoot — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 22:23:17 GMT

Still searching for an answer. Found https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/40247/can-t-change-clock-source-from-nrf_lf_src_xtal-to-nrf_lf_src_rc/156345#156345 which led me to tweak the sdk_config.h again

Put NRFX_CLOCK_CONFIG_LF_SRC and CLOCK_CONFIG_LF_SRC back to their default values of 1.

Changed NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_RC_CTIV from 0 to 16

Changed NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_RC_TEMP_CTIV from 0 to 2.

But still not seeing anything on BLE.

So to refine my question, does anyone have a list of changes for GCC (or SES for that matter) to go from a working example PCA10040e to a BM832A?

Thanks in advance...

David

RE: Unable to run "BLE Blinky" on an Fanstel BM832A but can run non-BLE examples

David Smoot — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 00:42:49 GMT

Found another post that sounded promising: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/37013/fanstel-bc832---cant-run-any-of-the-ble-examples.

It appears I lack the low frequency crystal as well so I modified the config_sdk.h as follows:

NRFX_CLOCK_CONFIG_LF_SRC from 1 to 0
CLOCK_CONFIG_LF_SRC from 1 to 0
NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_SRC from 1 to 0
NRF_SDH_CLOCK_LF_ACCURACY from 7 to 1

But still no joy. Still looking