What does "DFU REMOTE OPERATION FAILED (6)" from DFU in nRF toolbox mean?

[Anthony Ambuehl]

I'm testing with Soft Device 8.0.0, ble dfu operation with single bank, nRF toolbox on Android version 1.13.1 (installed on 5/11/2015). I generated a zip distribution file with nrf.exe command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\Master Control Panel\3.8.0.7\nrf\nrf.exe" dfu genpkg --application "$H/Preppad2_rev_K_ble_app.hex" "$H/PrepPad2_rev_k_ble_app.zip"

The update proceeds for a few seconds and then quits with an error flashed briefly on the screen. The error message says

Upload failed: REMOTE DFU OPERATION FAILED (6)

1. What does this error mean?
2. Where can I see a log of the dfu progress?
3. How do I fix this problem?

[shibshab]

What version of the SDK are you using? When performing DFU it is important that all the latest versions are used (nRF Toolbox, SDK ((softdevice)) ).

[Anthony Ambuehl]

I am using the nrf tool in master control panel 3.8.0, which btw can be inferred from the path to the tool shown in my original message. The nRF toolbox is also the latest version since as I mentioned I installed it on 5/11/2015. The SDK is 8.0.0 and various source code is pulled from the PACK files in Keil.

Luckily, I discovered a solution to the problem!

For anyone else hitting this problem...the documention for nrf.exe is very limited. I realized through debugging the dfu bootloader the init packet was not in the correct format. After experimenting with the nrf.exe I discovered it requires additional optional arguments on the command line to generate the extended format init packet. Also the soft device firmware ID code used for the 8.0.0 softdevice is 0x64.

The command that I used to generate a good "extended format" init packet:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\Master Control Panel\3.8.0.7\nrf\nrf.exe" dfu genpkg --application "$H/ble_app.hex" --application-version 0xffffffff --dev-type 0xffff --dev-revision 0xffff --sd-req 0x64 "$H/ble_app.zip"

NORDIC: It would still be very helpful to have descriptive error messages from the DFU tools and a log of all the progress for debugging.

[Hung Bui]

@Anthony: thanks for updating the solution. To have the log of DFU progress on Android you can try to use Master Control Panel and save the log (swipe right or open nRFLogger (can be downloaded from Googleplay))

It's true that we need better debug support for bootloader. Currently we focused on release version which need to be as small in code size as possible.

I will have a blog post on some topics including how to debug with bootloader, how to use nrf.exe, etc soon.

[pkarc]

This save me a long night and a headache! thank you so much

[Hung Bui]

For more information on debugging with DFU bootloader, nrf.exe tools, etc please have a look at this blog.