BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 16:51:24 GMT

Hi Hung,

I'm afraid I can't spend any more time on this issue. One thing I saw was that in the example you provided there were other update calls occurring in the same connected callback. I'm not sure this matters, but I was only executing the MTU exchange request upon being connected, then waiting for that to complete. In any case, I think there is some wierd stack behavior going on here, but we got around it for now and need to move on.

Thanks and regards,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 10:57:24 GMT

Hi Pam,

It can be difficult to debug without a way to print out log.

If you test with the default peripheral_uart sample , do you get the RTT log ?

I have made a very similar sample with peripheral_uart (which I assume you based your application on) that also request MTU exchange when in connected callback , very close to what you have done in your application. Could you try to test with my sample ? you can download it here at the end of section 2.2 :

Building a Bluetooth application on nRF Connect SDK - Part 3 Optimizing the connection

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 17:58:39 GMT

Hi Hung,

It's tricky to get logs because we are using the nRF52832 and there is only one UART, which is being used elsewhere in our application. Basically I was never even to get the RTT terminal output to work consistently, so I didn't even consider adding the log complexity.

I was able to repeat what I think is the same problem using the standard "peripheral_uart" sample application with a few changes. I added the following define to the prj.conf file:

CONFIG_BT_GATT_CLIENT=y

This is to allow for the call to "bt_gatt_exchange_mtu" which our application needs to force the usage of the larger MTU. The issue occurs when this call is done immediately from the connection callback. If I actually call a parameter update first from the connection callback, then wait to call the MTU exchange update from the parameter update callback, there is no issue.

Attached is the updated main.c file I modified from the peripheral_update sample application.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../4478.main.c

Hopefully this will help find the issue, which I also believe is something in the stack. For now we have a workaround, and have only seen the problem on the Samsung S20+ and Samsung S10+ phones.

Regards,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:01:19 GMT

Hi Pamela,
It's good that you managed to get the sniffer working.
Our team is looking at a solution to make it work on DK v3.0.0

Regarding the issue you are having with Samsung S20+. From what I can see is that the MTU exchange was performed without any problem. The nRF52 requested and got the response.

However what I see is that the slave (nRF52) stopped responding after packet #7852. The master retried after that until timeout happened:

It's hard to tell what happened without any log from the nRF52. Could you check if there is any log on the nRF52 ?

It could be the issue either with the application or it could be the BLE stack that crashed.

It's why I was asking if you observe the same issue on the stock example in the SDK. Could you please try to reproduce the issue on one of the example ? If it doesn't happen you may want to add what you added to your application for example MTU exchange.

I have a Galaxy S10 and a Galaxy S22 here that can be used for testing. If you can provide any example to reproduce the issue it would be great.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 22:52:14 GMT

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../SamsungConnectionDrop.pcapng

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 22:51:28 GMT

Hi Hung,

Actually maybe it would be best to have you guys look into the original issue of this case, which is certain Samsung phones dropping the BLE connection immediately after the MTU exchange occurs with our device using a nRF52832. I now do have a trace of the connection drop and it would be helpful to have some input on what was captured, the connection starts on item # 7840 of the capture. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to upload this file, so let me know if you can't find it.

Thanks and regards,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 16:50:03 GMT

Hi Hung,

I finally got the sniffer working properly with the older nRF52-DK board. The issue was the JLink driver needed to be updated. So after checking the version and updating the JLink driver via the Segger Configurator tool, I was then able to follow the traffic for a specific device properly.

You should definitely get the dev team to follow up on the 3.0.0 version boards not working correctly with the sniffer, my local apps engineer experienced the same issue. At this point however you can close this specific case.

Thanks and regards,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 07:47:15 GMT

Hi Pamela,

The firmware OB-nRF5340-NordicSemiV1.00 is actually correct. It's because on v3.0.0 we use a nRF5340 as the interface chip instead of using the Jlink chip. So the target device is still nRF52 but the programmer/debugger is a nRF53.

However, I did a test with a v3.0.0 board like your and got the same issue. Wireshark couldn't detect the board. I suspect there is a compatibility issue between the extcap library we have and the new board. I will report this to the team to find a solution.

In the mean time, please try the suggestion from this ticket. for the old board. Could you let me know the version of your board ? I remembered the I experienced the same issue a long time ago but haven't seen that in the last few years.

Also you can try to get hold of a nRF52840 dongle (PCA10059). For the dongle , there is no update lately so I believe the sniffer should work.

Also please try to debug without the sniffer. Please try to test with a stock SDK example.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:44:24 GMT

Below are some other points worth mentioning.

I am able to get the capture at least started and somewhat working with an older nRF52-DK board, but it will not follow the connection process correctly. But with the brand new nRF52-DK board (version 3.0.0) I can't even start the capture process. One thing that is strange with the new board is the name of the J-Link firmware listed when I use the Segger Configuration tool, it is shown as OB-nRF5340-NordicSemiV1.00. This makes no sense since the board uses an nRF52832 chip and not a nRF5340. Is there any way the wrong firmware image for the J-Link was programmed on this board at manufacturing? Note that if I try to update it with the Configuration tool it states that it is up to date and I don't know how to manually force it to program with any other image.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 14:35:39 GMT

Hello Hung,

We are not getting anywhere here, I have already gotten over the hump but need to get this sniffer working for future issues. Here is the answers to your questions:

Have you made sure you copied the extcap to C:\Program Files\Wireshark\extcap not C:\Users\pam\AppData\Roaming\Wireshark\ ? Yes

Please make sure you have installed the pyserial >v 3.5 Yes

Also have you tried to run nrf_sniffer_ble.bat --extcap-interfaces in command line and check what show in the screen ? Yes

Please answer the question on:

Hung Bui said:

Please try to test the phone with one of our example in the SDK to see if you get the same issue. I can't even get the capture to start at this point, what I am trying to sniff is irrelavent.

What's the disconnect reason show on the peripheral side ? I believe there is a bug on the Samsung side, I have to play games with the stack to get around it. At this point I just want to get the sniffer working.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 07:54:11 GMT

Hi Pamela,

Have you made sure you copied the extcap to C:\Program Files\Wireshark\extcap not C:\Users\pam\AppData\Roaming\Wireshark\ ?

Please make sure you have installed the pyserial >v 3.5

Also have you tried to run nrf_sniffer_ble.bat --extcap-interfaces in command line and check what show in the screen ?

Please answer the question on:

[quote user="hungbui"]Please try to test the phone with one of our example in the SDK to see if you get the same issue. [/quote]

What's the disconnect reason show on the peripheral side ?

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 18:40:33 GMT

Hi Hung,

No luck getting this working. I just received a brand new nRF52-DK and now having different issues. First I am having problems getting the interface to be shown in the Wireshark capture options. Then when I do finally get it to show up somehow I get the following error messages:

Error by extcap pipe: FIFO does not exist!

nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE could not find interface: COM11

I have attached a Nordic sniffer log file for you to reference. Note that I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Wireshark program and even some python stuff. I also downloaded the latest Segger JLink program and updated the dev board JTAG firmware.

Any help would be great, this is frustrating to say the least. Thanks for your help and regards.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 08:08:12 GMT

Hi Pam,
Please try to update the Jlink firmware and download our latest sniffer.

Please try to test the phone with one of our example in the SDK to see if you get the same issue.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 17:41:04 GMT

Hi Hung,

Yes I tried selecting the correct device from the drop down box, but the sniffer is still not able to follow the connection process. Perhaps my dev kit board is too old and causing issues? I know it is an older version, I just ordered a newer one to try and see if it works any better.

Thanks,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 09:09:43 GMT

Hi Pam,

You would need to select your device in the drop down list. Something like this:

After that it should only follow the advertising of the device you want to follow. Only after that you should start the connection between the phone and the device.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 23:18:38 GMT

Hi Hung,

I am not able to capture any packets past the adversing stage with my sniffer setup. I even tried re-installing the Wireshark tools, but still can only see advertisement and scan packets.

As an example I have attached a scan capture file taken when a valid BLE connection completed. Can you tell me if you notice anything wrong with my setup used for capturing this file? Note I am using the nRF52DK board PCA10040 version 1.2.4.

Thanks for your help and regards,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 07:22:17 GMT

Hi Pam,

It's would be very useful to have the sniffer trace.

Please try to follow a connection by selecting the advertiser on the drop down list as instructed in the documentation. Please try with the latest version of the sniffer.
Let us know if you have any problem.

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Pamela Keiles — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 20:32:55 GMT

Hi Hung,

At this point we've only seen it on several S20+ and one S10+. From our device logging the connection is dropped following the MTU update exchange, but I have not been able to repeat it with my setup yet. I will test with an S20+ that I am receiving tomorrow to see if I can get more clues.

What is your recommended means for performing the a BLE sniffer trace? I do have some of the Nordic dev kit boards and have tried to use Wireshark briefly in the past, but found it confusing to easily follow the communications for a single device.

Thanks and regards,

Pam

RE: BLE Connection Dropping Immediately on Samsung S20 Plus phone

Hung Bui — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 11:47:50 GMT

Hi Pamela,

Could you check if there is any log on the device ?

Have you managed to reproduce the issue in house ? If you did , please try capture a sniffer trace , so we can investigate what could be wrong over the communication.

Did it only happen on S20+ phone ? have you observed the same on other Samsung S models ?