Bootloader programming for nRF52840 Dongle

[ShivImp]

hello

I had developed code based on the example ble_beacon_app and tested on nRF52840DK.  That worked fine.   I need to make the same work on the nRF52840 dongle.   I followed the instructions of nRF52840 Dongle user guide and nRF52840 Dongle Programming Tutorial.  

I also tested the blinky_LED sample for PCA10059 and it works fine on the dongle.   But, I cannot make my code work on the dongle.

I changed the preprocessor defines to PCA10059 and followed the guidelines for adapting the BLE example ( with softdevice).   Please see the memory map and attached doc.   The green area is my app.  Blue is the softdevice and orange is the MBR.

Clarifications Needed:

• The hex file still shows as pca10056_s140.hex. Should it not change to pca10059?
• Bootloader is able to program.
• But, it appears that code does not work.  

Any ideas how to overcome this issue?   Thank you.

dongle_prob.pdf

[Hung Bui]

Hi Shiva, 

Have you tried to test with the ble_app_hrs made for PCA10059 (\examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_hrs\pca10059\s140) 

It looks like your beacon example is quite small in size compare to the hrs. Please double check. This  is the memory layout of the hrm: 

I tested here with a fresh nRF52840 dongle and it worked fine. I attached the hex here that you can test. 

Since the nRF52840 dongle was not made to be a development platform. There is a potential issue that if the flash of the fds is used by previous firmware, it's not possible to clear the flash from the bootloader/programmer. And it can crash the application if the fds/fstorage is not expecting anything in the flash area allocated for it. 

If you want to use the nRF52840 dongle as a development platform , I would strongly suggest to solder the 10 pins header into P1 port and then you can use a DK to program it as a normal DK/custom board.

ble_app_hrs_pca10059_s140.hex 

[ShivImp]

Hi Hung,  I have ordered the cable.  It will probably be next week before I can test his.  Thanks