NRFSniffer python tools does not recognize NRF51422 dongle. No capture possible.

Hi,

As a university we bought several NRF51422 dongles to sniff BLE traffic

Following the installation instruction here: https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fug_sniffer_ble%2FUG%2Fsniffer_ble%2Fintro.html

We installed NRF COnnect & uploaded the sniffer_nrf51dongle_nrf51422_4.0.0.hex using NRF Programmer

We then installed the NRF sniffer in the appropriated wireshark location

When we try to use the NRF sniffer python script (with the Dongle In) to check the interface this seems working well

PS C:\Temp\todel\extcap> python.exe .\nrf_sniffer_ble.py --extcap-interfaces
extcap {version=4.0.0}{display=nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE}{help=www.nordicsemi.com/.../nRF-Sniffer-for-Bluetooth-LE}
interface {value=COM5-None}{display=nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE COM5}
control {number=0}{type=selector}{display=Device}{tooltip=Device list}
control {number=1}{type=selector}{display=Key}{tooltip=}
control {number=2}{type=string}{display=Value}{tooltip=6 digit passkey or 16 or 32 bytes encryption key in hexadecimal starting with '0x', big endian format.If the entered key is shorter than 16 or 32 bytes, it will be zero-padded in front'}{validation=\b^(([0-9]{6})|(0x[0-9a-fA-F]{1,64})|([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}) (public|random))$\b}
control {number=3}{type=string}{display=Adv Hop}{default=37,38,39}{tooltip=Advertising channel hop sequence. Change the order in which the siffer switches advertising channels. Valid channels are 37, 38 and 39 separated by comma.}{validation=^\s*((37|38|39)\s*,\s*){0,2}(37|38|39){1}\s*$}{required=true}
control {number=7}{type=button}{display=Clear}{tooltop=Clear or remove device from Device list}
control {number=4}{type=button}{role=help}{display=Help}{tooltip=Access user guide (launches browser)}
control {number=5}{type=button}{role=restore}{display=Defaults}{tooltip=Resets the user interface and clears the log file}
control {number=6}{type=button}{role=logger}{display=Log}{tooltip=Log per interface}
value {control=0}{value= }{display=All advertising devices}{default=true}
value {control=1}{value=0}{display=Legacy Passkey}{default=yes}
value {control=1}{value=1}{display=Legacy OOB data}
value {control=1}{value=2}{display=Legacy LTK}
value {control=1}{value=3}{display=SC LTK}
value {control=1}{value=4}{display=SC Private Key}
value {control=1}{value=5}{display=LE address}

But when we try to capture some traffic this does not work

PS C:\Temp\todel\extcap> python.exe .\nrf_sniffer_ble.py --capture
An interface must be provided or the selection must be displayed

In Wireshark the Nrf is not recognized

 We tried on wondows 10 & windows 7 Pro both 64 bits

On windows-10 python is 3.9.1, on windows 7 python is 3.8.10

pyserial was installed successfully

We don't understand how to troubleshoot this issue

We will appreciate a quick support to solve this problem and deliver the lab to the students

Best regards

Vincent Planat

Parents
  • Hi

    Thanks a lot for your answer.

    This helped us a lot. In particular the nrf_sniffer command below which helped us qualifying that the dongles were working correctly.

    Once we saw that the FIFO file was containing a pcap format that we could opened with Wireskark we understood that the pb was on wireshark

    In fact, the test PC that we used was configured by the IT department to prevent any cmd.exe to be executed ... Certainly for security reasons (we could run the nrf_sniffer.py from a powershell)

    We tested the wireshark on other PC without this restriction and we were able to see the Nrf interface in wireshark !!

    Thanks a lot for your help & support

    Regards

    Vincent

  • Hi Vincent,

    Great to hear that you are able to run the sniffer now. I am happy to help.

    Good luck with the lab, and I hope the students will find looking at the sniffer logs to be both interesting and educational!

    Best regards,

    Marte

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