Initialising peripheral fails NRFX_DRV_STATE_UNINITIALIZED and program hangs with Invalid State hardfault

[Gudni]

Hello, I am stuck initalising both TWIM and UARTE. I am focusing on the TWI Scanner example but using TWIM instead of TWI. No matter what I do I cannot get past the initalisation. The problem is that for both peripherals they fail the condition p_cb->state != NRFX_DRV_STATE_UNINITIALIZED.

I am seeing consistantly p_cb->state = 0x28 for UARTE and 0x10 for TWIM.

To simplify the reproduction I've now removed TWIM from my code and am only focusing on UARTE. I am really stuck at the moment and could use some advice.

My setup

• Development Software:
  
  • nRF52 SDK v17.0.2
  • No software device
  • IDE: Visual Studio Code v1.53.2
• Hardware: nRF52 DK (nRF52832) It says 2.0.0 on the sticker, I'm guessing that's the version?
• Computer Platform: Ubuntu 20.10

Code

extern "C" {
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include "boards.h"
    #include "app_util_platform.h"
    #include "app_error.h"
    #include "sdk_config.h"
    #include "nrf.h"
    #include "nrf_log.h"
    #include "nrf_log_ctrl.h"
    #include "nrf_log_default_backends.h"
}

int main() {
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(NRF_LOG_INIT(NULL));
    NRF_LOG_DEFAULT_BACKENDS_INIT(); // Hangs here

    while (true)
    {
        NRF_LOG_INFO("TWI scanner started.");
        NRF_LOG_FLUSH();
    }

    return 0;
}

Preprocessor definitions

• BOARD_PCA10040
• NRF52832_XXAA
• ENABLE_SWO
• ENABLE_TRACE
• DEBUG
• DEBUG_NRF

Screenshots

You can see on the left that state is assigned 0x28. Where does that value come from? Perhaps the variable is uninitalised and random?

SDK Source files

• /components/libraries/util/app_util_platform.c
• /components/libraries/util/app_error.c
• /components/libraries/util/app_error_handler_gcc.c
• /components/serialization/connectivity/ser_conn_error_handling.c
• /components/libraries/ringbuf/nrf_ringbuf.c
• /components/libraries/memobj/nrf_memobj.c
• /components/libraries/balloc/nrf_balloc.c
• /components/libraries/atomic/nrf_atomic.c
• /components/libraries/log/src/nrf_log_frontend.c
• /components/libraries/log/src/nrf_log_default_backends.c
• /components/libraries/log/src/nrf_log_backend_uart.c
• /components/libraries/log/src/nrf_log_backend_serial.c
• /components/libraries/log/src/nrf_log_str_formatter.c
• /external/fprintf/nrf_fprintf.c
• /external/fprintf/nrf_fprintf_format.c
• /modules/nrfx/drivers/src/nrfx_uart.c
• /modules/nrfx/drivers/src/nrfx_uarte.c
• /modules/nrfx/drivers/src/prs/nrfx_prs.c
• /integration/nrfx/legacy/nrf_drv_uart.c

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

regarding his specific point, in C all static variables are automatically initialized to zero, which includes m_log_data. So this should definitely be initialized to zero. Regarding the bigger picture it is difficult to make much suggestions as you do not use a build system we supply or test.

[Gudni]

I understand. My goal by using CMake was to prevent myself from being bounded to an IDE which I would only use with Nordic MCUs. (Similar to STCubeIDE for STM32 and Code Composer for TI). 

 

Einar Thorsrud said:

it is difficult to make much suggestions as you do not use a build system we supply or test.

Is Segger Studio the recommended IDE? I've also given Zephyr RTOS a try (only examples).

[Gudni]

I got it finally to work :D I copied the linker script used in theTWI Scanner example and now the logging library works. I am seeing the prints on my Putty terminal.

I will investigate this further to learn what the reason my custom linker script did not work. Exciting! 

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

I see.

If you want an integrated IDE to use with the nRF5 SDK, then Segger is what we typically recommend. We also support Keil and IAR. However, we also provide support for GNU ARM CC using Makefiles, and with that you can sue any editor. If you want to spend a bit of effort you can configure e.g. VS Code like an IDE handling debugging etc. Another simple approach is to use Makefiles to build, your favorite editor to edit and a stand alone debugger to debug. Segger Ozone is a user friendly and highly capable stand alone debugger that you can use free of charge with any nRF device (in the same way as Segger Embedded Studio).

[Einar Thorsrud]

Good to hear! Thank you for letting us know. If you can share your configuration that would be great, perhaps it can be useful for someone else.