nRF52840 UART bootload issue

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 15:09:15 GMT

In the file "sdk_config.h" I changed the

NRF_DFU_SERIAL_UART_USES_HWFC to 0

5000+ lines of defines and this one was causing the issue

Thanks for the help Hung

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 13:30:34 GMT

I set the baud rate back to 115200, I can clearly see the PC pings but the bootloader just pulls the Tx low after few pings, something is missing but I can't find what

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 12:57:47 GMT

I use this value to generate a 100k baudrate :

0x01999000

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

Hung Bui — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 11:29:39 GMT

Hi Gabriel,

the nRF52840 doesn't support both 115200 and 100K baud. Do you mean 1M baud ?

Regarding your question about UART/UARTE, the bootloader code by default uses UARTE.

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 09:28:55 GMT

The PC outputs a baudrate of 115473 for the UART instead of 115200, that might trouble the nRF52 so we switched to 100k baudrate

Also I need to know what is best in the sdk config for bootload UART or UARTE ? I would say UARTE but it really depends on the nRF52 bootloader code, how is the compatibility with the easyDMA feature ?

I can clearly see with the logic analyzer that the nRF52 gets pinged by the PC but it does not respond

PC logs :

>nrfutil dfu serial -pkg app.zip -p COM4 -fc false -b 100000
  [------------------------------------]    0%
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\Scripts\nrfutil-script.py", line 33, in <module>
    sys.exit(load_entry_point('nrfutil==6.1.6', 'console_scripts', 'nrfutil')())
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1130, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1055, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1657, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1657, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1404, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 760, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\__main__.py", line 1073, in serial
    do_serial(package, port, connect_delay, flow_control, packet_receipt_notification, baud_rate, serial_number, True,
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\__main__.py", line 988, in do_serial
    dfu.dfu_send_images()
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\dfu\dfu.py", line 127, in dfu_send_images
    self._dfu_send_image(self.manifest.application)
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\dfu\dfu.py", line 88, in _dfu_send_image
    self.dfu_transport.open()
  File "C:\Users\gat\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\nordicsemi\dfu\dfu_transport_serial.py", line 214, in open
    raise NordicSemiException("No ping response after opening COM port")
pc_ble_driver_py.exceptions.NordicSemiException: No ping response after opening COM port

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

Hung Bui — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 11:14:11 GMT

Hi Gabriel,

Do you get any RTT log on the bootloader side ?
Have you tried to test the bootloader (+MBR)on the nRF52840 DK ?

Also please use the bootloader you find in \nRF5_SDK_17.1.0_ddde560\components\softdevice\mbr\hex not in \examples\dfu\secure_dfu_test_images\uart\

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 09:02:15 GMT

We tested UART at 100k baudrate and its working fine. Somehow our bootloader is not seing the PC messages, I need to try to change the baudrate

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

Hung Bui — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 11:43:31 GMT

Hi Gabriel,

We would need to verify that the bootloader can actually receive the UART command from the PC.

Have you tried to test your board with an UART example and verify that you can communicate with the PC via UART ?

Could you try to debug the bootloader and check if it receives any command ? You may want to use debug version of the bootloader.

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:55:39 GMT

Also I changed this in "sdk_config.h"

#define NRF_BL_DFU_ENTER_METHOD_BUTTON 0
#define NRF_BL_DFU_ENTER_METHOD_GPREGRET 1
#define NRF_BL_DFU_ENTER_METHOD_BUTTONLESS 1
#define NRF_CRYPTO_ALLOCATOR 2
#define NRF_DFU_APP_ACCEPT_SAME_VERSION 1
#define NRF_DFU_APP_DOWNGRADE_PREVENTION 0

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

gat — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:51:12 GMT

Hello,

I tried

1. Flash MBR -> Flash bootloader -> Flash bootloader setting -> flash application

It looks like I stay in the bootloader

I then tried

2. Flash MBR -> Flash bootloader. -> Do DFU update of your application image , check if the application work.

nrfutil dfu serial -pkg app.zip -p COM4 -fc false -b 115200

But it stays at 0%

I made a "custom_board.h", can you check if its correct ?

#include "nrf_gpio.h"

#define LEDS_NUMBER    0
#define LED_1          NRF_GPIO_PIN_MAP(1,13) // R
#define LED_2          NRF_GPIO_PIN_MAP(1,0)	// G
#define LED_3          NRF_GPIO_PIN_MAP(1,1)	// B
#define LEDS_ACTIVE_STATE 0
#define LEDS_LIST { LED_1, LED_2, LED_3 }

#define BUTTONS_NUMBER 0
#define BUTTONS_ACTIVE_STATE 0

#define RX_PIN_NUMBER  NRF_GPIO_PIN_MAP(1,9)
#define TX_PIN_NUMBER  NRF_GPIO_PIN_MAP(1,7)
#define CTS_PIN_NUMBER 11
#define RTS_PIN_NUMBER NRF_GPIO_PIN_MAP(1,2)
#define HWFC           false

RE: nRF52840 UART bootload issue

Hung Bui — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 11:31:42 GMT

Hi Gabriel,

Before testing with bundling the hex files together, have you tried to flash them one by one ?
I would suggest to try :

1. Flash MBR -> Flash bootloader -> Flash bootloader setting -> flash application

It this doesn't work, continue with:

2. Flash MBR -> Flash bootloader. -> Do DFU update of your application image , check if the application work.

3. If 2 works, you can try to do a hex dump of what in the flash using nrfjprog --readcode and then compare with what you have at step 1.

If 2 doesn't work, there must be something wrong with the bootloader. Please double check that the way to enter DFU mode using a button is disabled. It's in case that you have the GPIO hardware differently from the Dev Kit and the bootloader takes it as the button is pressed and won't enter application but enter DFU instead.