Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 09:07:28 GMT

Hi Hung,

Thanks, this worked! I could flash your .hex files and they worked (I could see DFU via BLE), I could also flash my built files with same result. Thanks a lot. I will now start the next step of combing BL+SD+APP and add Buttonless.

Thanks

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 13:52:50 GMT

Hi Andreas,

I'm sorry for the mistake. I got the same issue when I try to program the 2 hex files I provided separately.

The issue was that if you do --sectorerase on the bootloader hex file. It will erase the MBR because the bootloader store some information in the MBR setting.
So you can either do this:
nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program 8322.s140_nrf52_6.1.1_softdevice.hex --chiperase --verify

nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program 2475.secure_bootloader_ble_s140_pca10056_debug.hex

nrfjprog -r

Notice that there is no sectorerase with the bootloader file. It's fine because with the softdevice programming we already clear the whole chip.

Or you can do mergehex -m file1.hex file2.hex -o output.hex to merge the softdevice and the bootloader.
After that you can flash the output.hex with --chiperase and reset.
You can read more about that here.

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 12:44:53 GMT

Hi Hung,

I changed the 1st Sectorerase to Chiperase, still using your .hex files and added the reset. All messages says success, but still no BLE DFU visible...

>nrfjprog --version
nrfjprog version: 10.17.3 external
JLinkARM.dll version: 7.66a

What I also saw is that when Flashed with nrfjproj commands is that only LED5 on the Dev board is lit. When I Flash from the Debugger LED 1, 2 and 5 are all on and all works. When I then reset the device, not even running from debugger all 3 LEDs still on and still works. After nrfjprog Flash only LED5 is on and nothing works. Not sure if that means something?

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 12:10:16 GMT

Hi Andreas,

Please try:
nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program 8322.s140_nrf52_6.1.1_softdevice.hex --chiperase --verify

nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program 2475.secure_bootloader_ble_s140_pca10056_debug.hex --sectorerase --verify

then

nrfjprog -r

Make sure you erase the chip when you flash the softdevice so that all the UICR is cleared.

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 09:46:22 GMT

Hi Hung,

Thanks for the info, I think we are another step closer!

I managed to apply the changes to the SES project as suggested in the ticket you pointed me too as "c_additional_options="-fno-ipa-modref". Recompiled the solution, ran it in the SES IDE in debug, and all seems to work, I can see the BLE available to DFU to as DfuTarg.

I tried deploying the same built .hex files with:

rem Flash Softdevice
nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program s140_nrf52_6.1.1_softdevice.hex --sectorerase --verify

rem Flash Bootloader
nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program secure_bootloader_ble_s140_pca10056_debug.hex --sectorerase --verify

But this does not work. I double checked that I have the same Softdevice in SES which I do have. My only conclusion is that my deployment command was faulty. To try and prove this, I then tried to deploy your 2 provided .hex files with the same commands:

rem Flash Softdevice
nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program 8322.s140_nrf52_6.1.1_softdevice.hex --sectorerase --verify

rem Flash Bootloader
nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program 2475.secure_bootloader_ble_s140_pca10056_debug.hex --sectorerase --verify

But also no success. Can you confirm that you can deploy your .hex files with these same commands and it works? What can then be wrong?

Thanks

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 10:14:29 GMT

Hi Andreas,

How did you compile the bootloader ? Did you use SES or GCC for compiling ? It's important that you use the exact version that we recommended for the SDK. You can find the information in the SDK documentation.

The error 9 you received look very similar to this ticket. Could you have a look and check if it's the same issue ?

I attached here the hex file I compiled here and it worked on nRF52840 DK v3.
devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../2475.secure_5F00_bootloader_5F00_ble_5F00_s140_5F00_pca10056_5F00_debug.hex

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../8322.s140_5F00_nrf52_5F00_6.1.1_5F00_softdevice.hex

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 12:37:24 GMT

Hi Hung,

My turn to appoligise for late reply, I was also fortunate to be able to take a break.

I unsoldered SB47 and tried deploying to the nRF52840. This failed due to a readprotect still being in place. I used "nrfjprog --recover" and that did the trick, I managed to deploy and all seemed successful, but still no luck, I could not see the BLE advertisement. I then redid all steps on the Debug version and ran that from SES.(nRF5_SDK_15.3.0_59ac345\examples\dfu\secure_bootloader\pca10056_ble_debug\ses)

It seems fine, I stepped through the code but it fails. This line fails:

ret_val = nrf_bootloader_init(dfu_observer);

I do not know what the errors mean, can you point me in the right direction please. Here is the SES Debug Terminal output:

<info> app: Inside main
<debug> app: In nrf_bootloader_init
<debug> nrf_dfu_settings: Calling nrf_dfu_settings_init()...
<debug> nrf_dfu_flash: Initializing nrf_fstorage_nvmc backend.
<debug> nrf_dfu_settings: Using settings page.
<debug> nrf_dfu_settings: Copying forbidden parts from backup page.
<debug> nrf_dfu_settings: Destination settings are identical to source, write not needed. Skipping.
<info> nrf_dfu_settings: Backing up settings page to address 0xFE000.
<debug> nrf_dfu_settings: Destination settings are identical to source, write not needed. Skipping.
<debug> app: Enter nrf_bootloader_fw_activate
<info> app: No firmware to activate.
<info> app: Boot validation failed. No valid app to boot.
<debug> app: DFU mode because app is not valid.
<info> nrf_bootloader_wdt: WDT is not enabled
<debug> app: in weak nrf_dfu_init_user
<debug> app: timer_stop (0x200057D4)
<debug> app: timer_activate (0x200057D4)
<info> app: Entering DFU mode.
<debug> app: Initializing transports (found: 1)
<debug> nrf_dfu_ble: Initializing BLE DFU transport
<debug> app: Failed to initialize transport 0, error 9
<error> app: Could not initalize DFU transport: 0x00000009
<error> app: Received an error: 0x00000003!

I tried stepping in deeper with the deepest being into "ret_val = trans->init_func(observer);"

Here it seems as if code and debugger is out of sync. I cannot see it returning the error 9 as reported and stepping through the code it jumps over some lines...

Thanks!

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 09:03:31 GMT

Hi Andreas,
Sorry for late response. I was on vacation in the last few days.

Have you got any progress with the XB122? I think it's still the best to get started with the nRF52840DK. Please test the bootloader + softdevice only before moving to the buttonless service.
We need to make sure the bootloader can run on the XB122. If it doesn't work the buttonless service won't be able to do anything.

If the same firmware work on the DK but not on the module there must be some hardware difference causing the issue. You may need to step into the code and check where the bootloader crash. Please use the _debug version of the bootloader to be able to step in the code.

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 06:18:15 GMT

Hi Hung,

Yes we were looking at the same, I saw the Crystal to the top right, just out of your image which also had a 32.0 in the number.. Thanks for showing the right one.

I am familiar with the samples, I have built and deployed a few, I managed all on the XM/XB 122. I have even now combined some samples and added own logic to have the functionality I need in my App. I now measure distance with the Radar and transmit that vie BLE Header which I then read from any BLE scanner. I am not an electronic specialist, but have been dabbling and programming various controllers for a while now. I am a programmer, with a lot of aged C and C++ experience that changed to C# over the years.

Sorry for the long story, but I am past samples now, I need Buttenless DFU working on the XM122, the first steps as you suggest, has been done. We now need to be able update the pacjaged devices in the field, with no Dev board close. The last part I then need to figure out is how to add Settings, so we can just update that and not the whole App, but for now BLE DFU will get us going.

All tools and samples are already working on the XM/XB122, is deploying on the nRF52840 DK the only next option?

Thanks

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 14:51:54 GMT

Hi Andreas,
I'm not so sure if I'm looking at the same module as you but according to this , it has a 32kHz crystal (X2) :

I don't know what could be wrong here, but if you are not very familiar with both the hardware and and the software it's not a good idea to jump straight into the bootloader and the buttonless service.
I would suggest to start with the nRF52840DK and get familiar with the examples we have (start with blinky for example to blink LED, then to BLE application, then to the bootloader application). Don't worry about bricking it, it's very hard to brick the DK. If you flash something non-functional you can just simply erase it and flash something else.

Don't forget that you can debug an application if it doesn't work.

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:43:23 GMT

Hi Hung,

I bought the nRF52840 to be able to factory reset the XM/XB122 as in one of my early deployments I managed to "brick" it. I soldered the SB47 closed on the nRF52840 spesifically to not be able to flash to the nRF52840 and brick that too by accident and to not have power issues while testing..

I could not find the 32kHz crystal you talk about in the XM122 documentation, but did find a FA-20H 32.0000MF20X-K3 in the XM122 schematics which is a 32 MHz crystal, was your kHz a typo?

My questions:

1) Should the crystal be ok and no further software changes needed?

2) Do I really need to test with nRF52840 DK alone, is there not a different way to trouble shoot?

3) If I do this and I flash a non working version, will I be able to recover the nRF52840 without having to buy more hardware?

Thanks

Cheers

Andreas

PS. I am not trying to ignore your advice, just weary of breaking my only fixing tool...;-)

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:20:50 GMT

Hi Andreas,

Could you please test using nRF52840DK ?
Please test DFU with the nRF52840DK first before you move to the XB122.

If you don't have 32kHz crystal on the XB122 you may need to configure the bootloader to user RC instead of the crystal.

It's correct that you just need to flash the softdevice and then flash the bootloader to test the bootloader. It should advertiser as "DFUTarg" and then you can use nRF Connect app on the phone to connect and do DFU

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:06:05 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply!

I tried compiling the secure_bootloader_ble_s140_pca10056_debug SES project without any mods. Does not compile, complains about

__vfprintf.h: No such file or directory

in SEGGER_RTT_Syscalls_SES.c

I am using SES version:

SEGGER Embedded Studio for ARM
Release 6.34a Build 2022083102.51023
Windows x64

I managed to apply "fix" as in Compiling issue with SEGGER EMBEDDED STUDIO V6.30 ,this basically ignores most of what is in SEGGER_RTT_Syscalls_SES.c with a #ifdef

That seemed to work and got me to the error you said would happen, for that I applied the +0x1000 -0x1000 in the flash_placement.xml as described in your mentioned patch

Now compiles, thanks! I repeated above on release version and it also works, now on to the next step.

Step C1: nrfutil pkg generate --hw-version 52 --application-version 1 --application acc_bluetooth_beacon.hex --sd-req 0xB6 --key-file ..\private.key app_dfu_ble_dist.zip //No errors

Step D1 connected to XB122 through nRF52840DK:

nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program s140_nrf52_6.1.1_softdevice.hex --sectorerase --verify //No errors

Step D2 connected to XB122 through nRF52840DK:

nrfjprog -f nrf52 --program secure_bootloader_ble_s140_pca10056.hex --sectorerase --verify

After this, try to connect to DFU any App to XB122 after disconnecting from nRF52840, but do not see any BLE device to DFU to...neither could I see it with a BLE Scanner.

Are my commands to Flash Softdevice and Bootloader correct, you did not give samples?

Where do I start looking, there were no errors in the process?

Thanks

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 10:23:50 GMT

Hi Andreas,

If you are using the nRF52840 the hardware CC310 cryptocell is used and you don't need to compile uECC or Oberon as they are software backend. My blog was based on NRF52832 which doesn't have hardware crypto.
The example should compile out of the box for nRF52840.

Have you tried to compile \examples\dfu\secure_bootloader\pca10056_ble_debug\ses with no modification ?
You may need to apply this patch if you use newer version of SES.

[quote user="AndreasLiebenberg"]Reading this I assume you were using Keil to write the blog[/quote]

Yes you were right. It was Keil configuration I was referring to. If you use SES it's FLASH_START and FLASH_SIZE you need to change. However, you should not use the configuration for blinky example to use on the bootloader.
The bootloader has a different start address compare to normal application:

[quote user="AndreasLiebenberg"]6) Can I mix a Debug App hex with the Release Bootloader as you suggest we use to start with?[/quote]

Yes, the debug variant of the bootloader only reduce the requirement of version control and can use the default key. It has nothing to do with debugging option of the compiler.

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

AndreasLiebenberg — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 09:42:46 GMT

Thanks Hung,

I took your advise and rather went to your blog that I have not previously seen. I scanned it and it also looked like a good option, so I dove in.

First part went smooth, I had all the tools and decided to go for the Oberon crypto lib.

On the project changes, you suggested to change as follows

NRF_CRYPTO_BACKEND_MICRO_ECC_ENABLED to 0 //This was already 0

NRF_CRYPTO_BACKEND_NRF_SW_ENABLED to 0 //This was already 0

NRF_CRYPTO_BACKEND_OBERON_ENABLED to 1 //I made this change

Then it did not want to compile, I had to disable a few more settings in the sdk_config.h that shipped with the 15.3 SDK:

NRF_CRYPTO_BACKEND_CC310_BL_ENABLED 0 //This was 1

NRF_CRYPTO_BACKEND_CC310_BL_ECC_SECP256R1_ENABLED 0 //This was 1

This made the source compile, great start! Note: there was no micro_ecc_lib_nrf52.lib to remove from the segger project in : nRF5_SDK_15.3.0_59ac345\examples\dfu\secure_bootloader\pca10056_ble\ses (Chose this project for nRF52840DK board to be used which uses the S140 Softdevice)

1) I hope this is all correct thus far as it seems to work?

Then I went on to try and build, but first needed to change the FLASH targets/sizes as suggested due to Oberon

I could not find the settings your blog refers to, "For example for the nRF52840 project you change IROM1 start from 0x78000 to 0x77000 and IROM1 size from 0x6000 to 0x7000. This meant your bootloader now +4kB larger. This is the draw back of using Oberon library instead of uEcc" so I started to search and found this resource Adjustment of RAM and Flash memory

Reading this I assume you were using Keil to write the blog. I tried following their SES instructions but not successful and need help please.

I tried setting the Section Placement Macros and picked the values as they suggested for Blinkey with softdevice:

FLASH_PH_START=0x0
FLASH_PH_SIZE=0x100000
RAM_PH_START=0x20000000
RAM_PH_SIZE=0x40000
FLASH_START=0x26000
FLASH_SIZE=0xda000
RAM_START=0x200022B0
RAM_SIZE=0x3dd50

Tried compiling but get same 4 linker errors as without the new settings (which was empty to start with, both in project and solution)

section .uicr_bootloader_start_address VMA [0000000000000ff8,0000000000000ffb] overlaps section .reserved_flash VMA [0000000000000000,00000000000f7fff]

section .mbr_params_page VMA [00000000000fe000,00000000000fefff] overlaps section .text VMA [00000000000f83bc,00000000000feb57]

section .bootloader_settings_page VMA [00000000000ff000,00000000000fffff] overlaps section .rodata VMA [00000000000febc4,00000000000ff103]

It seems like the setting is ignored in generating the linker file.

2) Where does it get the current settings from?

3) Where should I set them (probably same as 3 but just confirming)?

4) Are they the correct settings I am trying to use?

5) If not, where/how do I find the correct settings for this project?

I have a working .hex for the App so need this step to continue.

6) Can I mix a Debug App hex with the Release Bootloader as you suggest we use to start with?

Your help is appreciated!

Thanks

Cheers

Andreas

RE: Adding buttonless DFU to BLE App using SDK 15.3. Should I upgrade to SDK 17 first?

Hung Bui — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 12:11:57 GMT

Hi Andreas,

1. I'm not very familiar with the novelbit tutorial so it's hard for me to give an advice. However, my suggestion is to get familiar with the bootloader and make sure you can use it to do DFU without problem before you move to implement buttonless service in the application. I would suggest to have a look at my blog here.

In the blog I give an instruction on how to test the bootloader and have some discussion on how the buttonless service works. Please see Appendix 3.

2. It's always good to have your application running on latest SDK. However I don't see much point of upgrading to SDK v17.1 just for the bootloader and buttonless DFU. As far as I know the mechanism doesn't change much.

My suggestion is to follow my blog, study (and test) the ble_app_buttonless_dfu and implement the same to your application. You can follow the Novelbit blog after you are familiar with the bootloader and the ble_app_buttonless_dfu example.