NRF Connect: PKT_SEND_MAX_RETRIES_REACHED using PCA10031

[sauci]

Hello Community!

I've recently switched from Master Control Panel to NRF Connect.
I want to use my NRF51 Dongle (PCA10031) with NRF Connect.
Therfore I deleted the existing connectivity FW on the Chip and replaced it with the new one for NRF Connect.

Initially I could use the NRF51 Dongle without any problems, however after borrowing the chip to a collegue of mine (who is still using MCP) and reflashing with NRF Connect I constantly run into following issue:

2022-01-25T14:33:00.382Z INFO Application data folder: C:\Users\SiSo\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\pc-nrfconnect-ble
2022-01-25T14:33:00.547Z DEBUG App pc-nrfconnect-ble v3.0.0 official
2022-01-25T14:33:00.547Z DEBUG App path: C:\Users\SiSo\.nrfconnect-apps\node_modules\pc-nrfconnect-ble
2022-01-25T14:33:00.547Z DEBUG nRFConnect 3.9.3, required by the app is (^3.8.0)
2022-01-25T14:33:00.547Z DEBUG nRFConnect path: C:\Users\SiSo\AppData\Local\Programs\nrfconnect\resources\app.asar
2022-01-25T14:33:00.547Z DEBUG HomeDir: C:\Users\SiSo
2022-01-25T14:33:00.547Z DEBUG TmpDir: C:\Users\SiSo\AppData\Local\Temp
2022-01-25T14:33:00.549Z INFO Updated list of uuids with data from https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/bluetooth-numbers-database/tree/master/v1
2022-01-25T14:33:02.807Z INFO Selected device with s/n 000680895900
2022-01-25T14:33:02.815Z DEBUG Found matching firmware definition nrf51
2022-01-25T14:33:05.266Z INFO Device setup completed
2022-01-25T14:33:05.267Z INFO Getting information from J-Link debugger...
2022-01-25T14:33:05.267Z INFO Found device type: nRF51. J-Link firmware: J-Link OB-SAM3U128-V2-NordicSemi compiled Dec  3 2021 15:41:28.
2022-01-25T14:33:07.737Z INFO Connectivity firmware version: 4.1.4. SoftDevice API version: 2.
2022-01-25T14:33:07.739Z INFO Opening adapter connected to COM3
2022-01-25T14:33:08.706Z INFO Successfully opened COM3. Baud rate: 1000000. Flow control: none. Parity: none.
2022-01-25T14:33:08.706Z DEBUG State change: STATE_START -> STATE_RESET
2022-01-25T14:33:08.706Z DEBUG        1 ->  [N/A] type:          RESERVED_5 reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:0 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0
2022-01-25T14:33:08.706Z DEBUG     1/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:08.707Z INFO Reset performed on adapter COM3
2022-01-25T14:33:08.793Z DEBUG     2/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:08.993Z DEBUG     3/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.013Z DEBUG State change: STATE_RESET -> STATE_UNINITIALIZED
2022-01-25T14:33:09.013Z DEBUG        2 ->  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.277Z DEBUG        3 ->  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.468Z DEBUG     4/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.469Z DEBUG        4 ->  [02 7d ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC_RESP]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.540Z DEBUG        5 ->  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.670Z DEBUG     5/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.670Z DEBUG        6 ->  [02 7d ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC_RESP]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.803Z DEBUG        7 ->  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.871Z DEBUG     6/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:09.871Z DEBUG        8 ->  [02 7d ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC_RESP]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.067Z DEBUG        9 ->  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.072Z DEBUG     7/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.072Z DEBUG       10 ->  [02 7d ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC_RESP]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.273Z DEBUG     8/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.273Z DEBUG       11 ->  [02 7d ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC_RESP]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.329Z DEBUG       12 ->  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.473Z DEBUG     9/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.474Z DEBUG       13 ->  [02 7d ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC_RESP]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.593Z ERROR Received status with code 0 PKT_SEND_MAX_RETRIES_REACHED, message: 'No response from device. Tried to send packet 6 times.'
2022-01-25T14:33:10.593Z DEBUG State change: STATE_UNINITIALIZED -> STATE_NO_RESPONSE
2022-01-25T14:33:10.674Z DEBUG    10/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:10.881Z DEBUG    11/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:11.077Z DEBUG    12/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:11.278Z DEBUG    13/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:11.478Z DEBUG    14/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:11.678Z DEBUG    15/ 0 <-  [01 7e ] type: LINK_CONTROL_PACKET reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:0 payload_length:2 data_integrity:0 err_code:0x0 [SYNC]
2022-01-25T14:33:11.710Z DEBUG serial port read on port COM3 aborted.
2022-01-25T14:33:11.711Z INFO serial port COM3 closed.
2022-01-25T14:33:11.718Z ERROR Error occured when opening port. Errorcode: NRF_ERROR_TIMEOUT (0xd)

2022-01-25T14:41:18.149Z INFO Device closed.

It seems that the communication always times out.

To get around this issue I've already tried the following:
1. reflash the NRF51 dongle via the programmer tool with the FW provided in the nrf-ble-drive-4.1.4 release. as well as
2. reflash the NRF51 dongle via J-Link.

None of which seems to make any difference. The issue still presists.

Any help greatly appriciated.

Cheers
Sauci

[Vidar Berg]

Hi Sauci,

Please try to disable the mass storage class on your dongle as described here:  https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.8.0/zephyr/guides/tools/nordic_segger.html#disabling-the-mass-storage-device-functionality (you must unplug the dongle and re-insert it at the end for the change to take effect)

I possible explanation is that the FW on the Jlink got updated to a newer version when it was used with your colleague's computer.

Cheers

Vidar

[sauci]

Hi Vidar,

I disabled the mass storage class as you suggested. I have unplugged an re-inserted the dongle and no mass storage device is showing up in the windows explorer.

Sadly this hasn't changed anything, the same issue still presists.

Cheers

[sauci]

Update: I updated my local J-Link installation from V7.58b to V7.60f. After updating the J-Link FW on the Dongle and re-flashing the connectivity FW via nrf connect the timeout issues are now gone!

I can now use the dongle again