Buttonless DFU without peer manager

RE: Buttonless DFU without peer manager

Sophisti — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 18:04:33 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I would've expected to run into issues with mobile more than the nrf connect for desktop application. As far as I know I haven't done anything else other than disable the peer manager.

I will add the full projects later! For now I can move ahead with the mobile app as I am a bit time constraint.

I am using the NRF5 SDK 17.1.0.

Thanks a lot!

RE: Buttonless DFU without peer manager

Einar Thorsrud — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 08:27:39 GMT

Hi,

It is interesting that DFU succeeds from a mobile app bot not from nRF Connect for Desktop. You get a GATT timeout on nRF Connect which then leads to disconnect, but I cannot see why, and that is not expected. Is the only change that you removed the peer manager? I ask because this should have no relevance for DFU at all, as long as you don't use bonding anyway.

I would be interesting to know what happens on the nRF side. If you have another nRF DK lying around (with a device with more flash), it could perhaps be interesting to test on that to get bootloader logging and see if that sheds some light on things.

If you don't make progress, can you upload your bootloader and application project (or some minimal failing example based on it) here, along with instructions on how to reproduce so that I can test on my end? Note that it should be complete projects with project files etc (so not just code and sdk_config.h). that I can drop in an unmodified SDK and run out of the box so that we are sure we are testing the same thing.

Also, which SDK are you using (I see you linked to SDK 15.2 documentation, but I want to double check)?

RE: Buttonless DFU without peer manager

Sophisti — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 10:26:43 GMT

Hi,

I have been doing OTA firmware upgrades with nrf connect for Desktop all the time. I attached the log in the previous post already. But here again: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../5466.2022_2D00_08_2D00_04T14_5F00_32_5F00_25.240Z_2D00_log.txt

Today I tried to use DFU with the mobile app, and this is working just fine!

Luckily I don't have to worry about flash size constraints anymore.

However it is a bit of a hassle to send the package to my phone and use it that way. I would like to automate this process in a custom desktop app, so I am very keen to know why the nrf connect for desktop app keeps quitting on me. I tried re-opening the app as well as reconnecting the devkit to the computer, with no luck.

RE: Buttonless DFU without peer manager

Einar Thorsrud — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 07:57:23 GMT

Hi,

I do not spot anything that looks incorrect here. Can you try to make sure you delete the bond on the phone you are testing with (if already existing) and toggle Bluetooth off and on again to clear the cache of BT services on the peers? Does that help? If not, what do you see if you try to do the DFU update from nRF Connect for Desktop? And if it fails, can you upload the full log from nRF Connect for Desktop as well?

RE: Buttonless DFU without peer manager

Sophisti — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 15:23:20 GMT

Hi Einar,

Thanks for your reply.

The debug version cannot be used in combination with the buttonless DFU service as described here:
https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.sdk5.v15.2.0%2Fble_sdk_app_buttonless_dfu.html

I added a log of my nRF connect for desktop activity.
Here I first connect to the device after programming the bootloader. Device name is changed from dfutarg to "Qing DFU"
Then the application named "bma_dfu_no_pm_package.zip" is uploaded. This all goes well.
The device resets and appears as expected as "Qing dice". I can connect to it and open the DFU menu again.
When trying to upload the same package again it is stuck at initializing for some time, and disconnects after getting a Gatt timeout.

I tried removing logging, but this does not decrease the package size enough. I don't know what other components to exclude.

I also included the main and sdk_config files of the application and bootloader.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../2022_2D00_08_2D00_04T14_5F00_32_5F00_25.240Z_2D00_log.txt

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../0827.sdk_5F00_config_5F00_bootloader.h

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../4150.sdk_5F00_config_5F00_application.h

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../main_5F00_bootloader.c

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../main_5F00_application.c

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../bma_5F00_dfu_5F00_no_5F00_pm.hex

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../bma_5F00_dfu_5F00_no_5F00_pm_5F00_package.zip

RE: Buttonless DFU without peer manager

Einar Thorsrud — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 12:59:17 GMT

Hi,

There is no requirement on bonding or the peer manager for doing buttonless DFU, but it could be that some other issue was introduces while you made this change? There is also a subtle difference, that when not using bonding in the bootloader, the nRF will increment the bluetooth address by 1 when in DFU mode in oder to make it appear like a different device for the phone and make it do service discovery. So the phone app needs to look for the new address when trying to connect to the nRF after it has entered DFU mode. This is handled by default by our example applications (nRF Connect and nRFToolbox), and so this should not be the problem either as you write that you use nRF Connect.

If you don't make any progress, perhaps you can upload the full log from nRF Connect? Also, if you are able to fit the debug bootloader with RTT logging that could be interesting as well (that might be difficult though as it is larger and your device is flash constrained).

Regarding other ways to reduce size, you should make sure to configure your compiler to optimize for size, and remove any unused components (like the peer manager, but also if you have others).