Problems burning firmware into nrf52840-mdk USB Dongle

[purvisb]

opened nRF connect and attempted to open the dongle with this. When I plug the dongle in without holding the button, i get this error

2021-02-14T20:18:30.648Z INFO Using USB SDFU protocol to communicate with target
2021-02-14T20:18:35.656Z ERROR Error when calling version command: Error: Error message: Timeout while reading from serial transport. See github.com/.../serial-timeout-troubleshoot.md
2021-02-14T20:18:35.658Z ERROR Error when fetching device versions: TypeError: Cannot read property 'part' of undefined
2021-02-14T20:18:38.276Z INFO Target device closed.

I get this error when I plug in the dongle while holding the button:

2021-02-14T20:18:42.839Z ERROR Unsupported device. The detected device could not be recognized as neither JLink device nor Nordic USB device.
2021-02-14T20:23:42.896Z INFO Target device closed.

I presume holding the button down before plugging it in puts it into bootloader mode. But the red LED pulses once. Is it supposed to pulse continuously to indicate its in bootloader mode? Or am I reading incorrect information?

How do I resolve these errors?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

Does your nrf52840-mdk USB Dongle looks like this nRF52840-Dongle? If so, press the reset button to put the Dongle in DFU mode. This is not needed if the currently running application uses the DFU trigger library. Note that the reset button is the sideways button right next to the more obvious SW1 button on the Dongle:

Also, refer to this nrf52840-dongle-programming-tutorial for the detail.

-Amanda H.

[purvisb]

Our dongle does not look like that. It looks like this:

wiki.makerdiary.com/.../

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

According to this guide https://wiki.makerdiary.com/nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle/programming/:

To program the Dongle, it must be in DFU mode.

While holding the dongle's RESET/USR button, connect it to your computer. When the Dongle has entered the DFU mode, the RGB LED pulses RED. The Dongle is now ready for programming.

Launch Programmer app from nRF Connect, you can find the dongle and select it to start programming.

--

Is it supposed to pulse continuously to indicate its in bootloader mode? Or am I reading incorrect information?

Do you see the RGB LED pulses RED? I don't have the nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle, but I guess it's supposed to pulse continuously. Will the RGB LED pulse RED continuously if you press the RESET button again? If you still have the issue, you might create-an-issue for their support.  

-Amanda H.

[purvisb]

I held down the button and plugged it in via USB. The RGB LED pulse red once, then turns green, and stays green. When I open nRF Connect and attempt to interface with the chip, I get this error:

2021-02-14T20:18:42.839Z ERROR Unsupported device. The detected device could not be recognized as neither JLink device nor Nordic USB device.
2021-02-14T20:23:42.896Z INFO Target device closed.

In my experience, MakerDiary is not very responsive to support request. Do you have any other suggestions?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi,

purvisb said:

I held down the button and plugged it in via USB. The RGB LED pulse red once, then turns green, and stays green.

It seems it was in boot mode very shortly and jumped to the application, then you could not program it and saw those errors. Maybe you could try holding the dongle's RESET/USR button, plug it into the PC, and keep holding the button until RGB LED pulse red continuously after you connect it to your computer. 

-Amanda H.

[purvisb]

I tried holding it down after it is plugged in. It didn't work. The LED just remains Green.

[Amanda Hsieh]

Then, I have no idea about their product. You might ask MakerDiary for help. 

-Amanda H.

[GerardB]

It looks like you have the "UF2" bootloader installed (LED remains green after pressing reset & power on).

To use the nrf Connect tools you need to install the Open Bootloader. See:
https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle/tree/master/firmware/open_bootloader

and then read the section:
"Change to Open Bootloader from UF2 Bootloader"

On my Mac I used the following command to install it:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package nrf52840_mdk_usb_dongle_open_bootloader_v1.2.0.uf2.zip -p /dev/tty.usbmodem14201  -b 115200 --singlebank

After you install it, the LED will be RED and pulse CONTINUOUSLY after you insert dongle while you hold the Reset button. That should indicate that you have the "open bootloader" installed.