Build and Run with SEGGER Embedded Studio (SES) v6.20a on nRF5 SDK 17.1.0 and S140 7.2.0 on nRF52840

[Casper Kronborg Pedersen]

Hi DevZone,

I have recently updated:

• nRF5 SDK to 17.1.0 from 15.3.0
• S140 to 7.2.0 from 6.1.1
• SES to v6.20a from 4.16

The SoftDevice now fails to initialize when using the "Build and Run" option with SES.

The code initializes without issue if I:

• Use Programmer v2.3.3 from nRF Connect for Desktop v3.10.0
• If I Power Cycle the hardware after each flash of the .hex files
• If I "Build and Debug" with SES

Is this a known issue, and could it potentially be a timing issue?

Code that fails:

void ble_stack_init(void)
{
    ret_code_t err_code;

    err_code = nrf_sdh_enable_request();
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

    // Configure the BLE stack using the default settings.
    // Fetch the start address of the application RAM.
    uint32_t ram_start = 0;
    err_code = nrf_sdh_ble_default_cfg_set(BLE_CONN_CFG_TAG, &ram_start);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

    // Enable BLE stack.
    err_code = nrf_sdh_ble_enable(&ram_start);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

//    // NO OBSERVERS AT THIS POINT 
//    // Register a handler for BLE events.
//    NRF_SDH_BLE_OBSERVER(m_ble_observer, APP_BLE_OBSERVER_PRIO, ble_evt_handler, NULL);
}

Specifically the call to nrf_sdh_enable_request() returns with error code NRF_ERROR_INVALID_STATE (0x00000008).

This should mean that the SoftDevice is already initialized when reading the documentation. However, preceding the nrf_sdh_enable_request() call with a nrf_sdh_is_enabled()

tells me that it is not.

Comparing with example projects:

I have compared to the example projects given in SDK 17.1.0, and the initialization code for the BLE stack seems unchanged between versions 17.1.0 and 15.3.0. 

Also, I have tried building and running the peripheral example from SDK 17.1.0 "usbd_ble_uart_freertos" both on our hardware and an nRF52840-DK, which fails with the same error code.

So, even with code directly from the SDK and on multiple hardware the issue is the same.

Thanks in advance.

Br. Casper

[Casper Kronborg Pedersen]

Hi Edvin,

I looks like the SDK function nrf_sdh_ble_default_cfg_set(), which I am calling, calls sd_ble_cfg_set() 5 times.

EDIT: (5 times, because (NRF_SDH_BLE_GATT_MAX_MTU_SIZE != 23) condition is not met).

ret_code_t nrf_sdh_ble_default_cfg_set(uint8_t conn_cfg_tag, uint32_t * p_ram_start)
{
    uint32_t ret_code;

    ret_code = nrf_sdh_ble_app_ram_start_get(p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        return ret_code;
    }

#if defined (S112) || defined(S312)
    STATIC_ASSERT(NRF_SDH_BLE_CENTRAL_LINK_COUNT == 0, "When using s112, NRF_SDH_BLE_CENTRAL_LINK_COUNT must be 0.");
#endif

    // Overwrite some of the default settings of the BLE stack.
    // If any of the calls to sd_ble_cfg_set() fail, log the error but carry on so that
    // wrong RAM settings can be caught by nrf_sdh_ble_enable() and a meaningful error
    // message will be printed to the user suggesting the correct value.
    ble_cfg_t ble_cfg;

#if (NRF_SDH_BLE_TOTAL_LINK_COUNT != 0)
    // Configure the connection count.
    memset(&ble_cfg, 0, sizeof(ble_cfg));
    ble_cfg.conn_cfg.conn_cfg_tag                     = conn_cfg_tag;
    ble_cfg.conn_cfg.params.gap_conn_cfg.conn_count   = NRF_SDH_BLE_TOTAL_LINK_COUNT;
    ble_cfg.conn_cfg.params.gap_conn_cfg.event_length = NRF_SDH_BLE_GAP_EVENT_LENGTH;

    ret_code = sd_ble_cfg_set(BLE_CONN_CFG_GAP, &ble_cfg, *p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_ERROR("sd_ble_cfg_set() returned %s when attempting to set BLE_CONN_CFG_GAP.",
                      nrf_strerror_get(ret_code));
    }

    // Configure the connection roles.
    memset(&ble_cfg, 0, sizeof(ble_cfg));
#if !defined (S122)
    ble_cfg.gap_cfg.role_count_cfg.periph_role_count  = NRF_SDH_BLE_PERIPHERAL_LINK_COUNT;
#endif // !defined (S122)
#if !defined (S112) && !defined(S312) && !defined(S113)
    ble_cfg.gap_cfg.role_count_cfg.central_role_count = NRF_SDH_BLE_CENTRAL_LINK_COUNT;
    ble_cfg.gap_cfg.role_count_cfg.central_sec_count  = MIN(NRF_SDH_BLE_CENTRAL_LINK_COUNT,
                                                            BLE_GAP_ROLE_COUNT_CENTRAL_SEC_DEFAULT);
#endif // !defined (S112) && !defined(S312) && !defined(S113)

    ret_code = sd_ble_cfg_set(BLE_GAP_CFG_ROLE_COUNT, &ble_cfg, *p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_ERROR("sd_ble_cfg_set() returned %s when attempting to set BLE_GAP_CFG_ROLE_COUNT.",
                      nrf_strerror_get(ret_code));
    }

    // Configure the maximum ATT MTU.
#if (NRF_SDH_BLE_GATT_MAX_MTU_SIZE != 23)
    memset(&ble_cfg, 0x00, sizeof(ble_cfg));
    ble_cfg.conn_cfg.conn_cfg_tag                 = conn_cfg_tag;
    ble_cfg.conn_cfg.params.gatt_conn_cfg.att_mtu = NRF_SDH_BLE_GATT_MAX_MTU_SIZE;

    ret_code = sd_ble_cfg_set(BLE_CONN_CFG_GATT, &ble_cfg, *p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_ERROR("sd_ble_cfg_set() returned %s when attempting to set BLE_CONN_CFG_GATT.",
                      nrf_strerror_get(ret_code));
    }
#endif  // NRF_SDH_BLE_GATT_MAX_MTU_SIZE != 23
#endif  // NRF_SDH_BLE_TOTAL_LINK_COUNT != 0

    // Configure number of custom UUIDS.
    memset(&ble_cfg, 0, sizeof(ble_cfg));
    ble_cfg.common_cfg.vs_uuid_cfg.vs_uuid_count = NRF_SDH_BLE_VS_UUID_COUNT;

    ret_code = sd_ble_cfg_set(BLE_COMMON_CFG_VS_UUID, &ble_cfg, *p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_ERROR("sd_ble_cfg_set() returned %s when attempting to set BLE_COMMON_CFG_VS_UUID.",
                      nrf_strerror_get(ret_code));
    }

    // Configure the GATTS attribute table.
    memset(&ble_cfg, 0x00, sizeof(ble_cfg));
    ble_cfg.gatts_cfg.attr_tab_size.attr_tab_size = NRF_SDH_BLE_GATTS_ATTR_TAB_SIZE;

    ret_code = sd_ble_cfg_set(BLE_GATTS_CFG_ATTR_TAB_SIZE, &ble_cfg, *p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_ERROR("sd_ble_cfg_set() returned %s when attempting to set BLE_GATTS_CFG_ATTR_TAB_SIZE.",
                      nrf_strerror_get(ret_code));
    }

    // Configure Service Changed characteristic.
    memset(&ble_cfg, 0x00, sizeof(ble_cfg));
    ble_cfg.gatts_cfg.service_changed.service_changed = NRF_SDH_BLE_SERVICE_CHANGED;

    ret_code = sd_ble_cfg_set(BLE_GATTS_CFG_SERVICE_CHANGED, &ble_cfg, *p_ram_start);
    if (ret_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_ERROR("sd_ble_cfg_set() returned %s when attempting to set BLE_GATTS_CFG_SERVICE_CHANGED.",
                      nrf_strerror_get(ret_code));
    }

    return NRF_SUCCESS;
}

I am only calling ble_stack_init() a single time, followed by nrf_sdh_freertos_init()

I will grab a DK again and see if I can get the same output ASAP.

Br. Casper