Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 13:42:37 GMT

Seeing as almost no samples uses this by default, I would not say that removing it is known for causing issues in the connection.

Is there some way for me to reproduce this flaky behavior that you are seeing? Can you describe it in more detail, and upload an application that I can test to replicate it on a DK?

BR,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 08:23:56 GMT

Hi Edvin

I know that you guys were on holidays till 11th April, so no issue on responses.

But when I apply the fixes of commenting out the reliable_wr line, then reconnecting to the device again.

In the phones were it was previously connecting such as iOS devices and other android devices, the services/characteristics values such as device info like firmware version, etc starts showing up as garbage. And if we do phone restart or on android we do refresh services, we start seeing the correct values of the device information.

But on the connectivity front some devices connection is not stable after the fix, its like quite flaky.

Do suggest if removing reliable_wr cause issues in connection.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 07:36:02 GMT

Hello,

I have been out of office since my last reply, but I am back now.

I have not seen any updates on this from our side, but it still looks like an Android issue. I suspect it is this one:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/262484178

So a fix from our side would be a way to trick the Android to not executing it's faulty behavior. Ultimately, this needs to be fixed by Android.

What sort of behavior do you see on the iOS when you apply the workaround? Do you have any sniffer traces (nRF Sniffer) before and after?

I am a bit confused. You say that the issue occured on all of our samples as well. Is that because the same DK/chip was used with your application before? Does it happen e.g. if you test the ble_app_uart example on an unused (unknown device) for the Android 13 phone? The ble_app_uart example doesn't have the reliable_wr = 1 set by default. If you don't have any unused DKs, you can try to just give the device a new address:

static void change_addr(void)
{
    ret_code_t err_code;
    ble_gap_addr_t my_addr;
    
    err_code = sd_ble_gap_addr_get(&my_addr);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
    
    my_addr.addr[2] += 0x2E; // Add random value so that it appears as a new device
    
    err_code = sd_ble_gap_addr_set(&my_addr);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
}

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 10:06:38 GMT

Hey Edvin

Using the same fix, experience on ios devices has degraded a lot. Lots of connection issues or many times not even connecting to the peripheral because of the service discovery failing.

So the problem here is that we are able to support for the android but now its failing on ios side, as the ios is not able to handle the reliable_write fix which works on android.

Do let us know for any other workaround.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 11:54:46 GMT

Hey Edvin, Is it possible for any other fix which doesn`t require any restart or Bluetooth cache clear

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:57:38 GMT

Yes Edvin, our application had this line and we commented out and restarted the phone (central device) and its working.

We are working with more testing on this solution for reliability.

Can you please walk me through what is the reason behind this so that we can have more confidence on the solution.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:27:42 GMT

Does your custom application (or any of the applications that you have tested on that DK) have reliable_wr = 1 when you add your characteristic? Search for it in the project. If it does, try to comment it out, reflash it, and power cycle your phone. Does that change the behavior?

The reason I am asking you to power cycle the phone is that we saw this had to be done when testing. Not really sure why yet.

BR,
Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 12:28:57 GMT

No Edvin, I didn`t had to do any changes in the examples to replicate this, just logging enabled.

Examples that I checked on were - ble_app_uart, ble_app_blinky, etc from nrf sdk.

and also ncs example code for nrf52840.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 12:26:09 GMT

You said that this will happen with most of the examples in the SDK. Can you please specify one example that you tested from the SDK where the issue was reproduced? Did you have to do any modifications to the example for it to happen?

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 12:12:37 GMT

I see. Reading through the thread now. It seems like the bug is on the Android side, but I am not sure how/whether we can work around it from our side. I will try to discuss this with philips77, as he has more experience with mobile phones applications. Please be aware that there is a public holiday here in Norway. We will be back April 11th. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 05:27:37 GMT

Hi Edvin

The issue is not with the disconnection callbacks, the issue is from the central which is trying to discover services after connection and is not able to do that. I have attached screenshot of the nRF Connect application in the issue title itself and shared sniffer trace according to that.

I am attaching the screenshot of the sniffer trace from the central side where the problem starts, this sniffer trace was publish by one of the nordic dev on github following up on this issue.

I have already attached the github link where the issue is being discussed.

Do let me know if you require any other logs from my side.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 22:31:44 GMT

Seeing as it is the peripheral that decides to disconnect, the log from the peripheral would be useful. You say that it also happens with the default examples from the SDK, so e.g. the RTT log from the ble_app_uart example would be helpful.

The Bluetooth Low Energy stack on the nRF52 doesn't disconnect on it's own. Any disconnects should be visible in the application. Therefore you should see sd_ble_gap_disconnect() being called from somewhere. Try setting breakpoints at all of them to see which one that triggers. Also, the event BLE_GAP_EVT_DISCONNECTED being triggered in your ble_evt_handler() in main.c. Please check it, and try to log the disconnect reason:

        case BLE_GAP_EVT_DISCONNECTED:
            NRF_LOG_INFO("Disconnected. Reason %d", p_ble_evt->evt.gap_evt.params.disconnected.reason);
            // LED indication will be changed when advertising starts.
            m_conn_handle = BLE_CONN_HANDLE_INVALID;
            break;

BR,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 14:09:09 GMT

Yes Edvin, nordNonconnectingsniffer.pcapng is the one where the connection is not working.

Connection is not happening on the second attempt.

After connection when the service discovery is happening then the problem starts, you can see from the packet.

And yes the peripheral is nRF52840. From the rtt terminal point of view, connection is shown but after some attempt from the central side (when the 0x3b error is thrown), disconnection event comes on the nrf.

Hope the sniffer packets are pretty evident in showing up the issue, if not then suggest otherwise. And we really need quick responses on the issue.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 13:32:51 GMT

Hello,

I assume it is the nordNonconnectingsniffer.pcapng that shows the connection that is not working?

Almost all of the sniffer trace contains a connection (packet to 342 to 48756). But there is a short connection before that. Does that mean that it works on the second attempt, but not the first?

In both cases, I see that the connection is terminated by the slave/peripheral, which I assume is the nRF. It is correct that the peripheral is the nRF?

What does the log from the nRF say?

BR,
Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 14:31:33 GMT

Hi Edvin

Please find the sniffer traces for connecting scenarios and non connecting scenarios. You`ll see multiple request from the master(phone side) which is not supported.

Please give us some insights on this issue.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../connectedsniffer.pcapng devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../nordNonconnectingsniffer.pcapng

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 13:45:23 GMT

Can you please try the nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE? Just because I am more familiar with it.

And also, please upload one sniffer trace for a working application, and one from a not working device.

BR,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 13:04:09 GMT

Hey Edvin

Please find attached one of the HCI snoop on the phone which was is showing the same behaviour.

Hope this will also help in diagnosing.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../hci_5F00_snoop20230324174605.cfa

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 04:57:08 GMT

Hey Edvin, Whatever important debug points that was to be taken care of we have accommodated those.

Such as - erasing the flash (recover and eraseall), deleted bluetooth(system app) cache and storage,ncs example,sdk14 examples,sdk17 examples,etc.

But nothing worked, its not just one device we have tested but we have tested with 10 different devices but the result remained the same.

Meanwhile I am trying to get you a better sniffer packets.

ble sniffer - 4.1.1

Wireshark - 4.0.4

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 13:53:38 GMT

Hello,

Please see the attached screenshot:

You just select your peripheral from the Device drop down menu. Please do so before you try to connect to it. After you do, it should filter out everything else, and follow the device into the connection.

Did you investigate the "forget device" on the phone? And have you tried to delete the flash on the nRF (all the flash, using "nrfjprog --eraseall"), and re-programming it, for debugging purposes? Just to see whether there are some old bonding data only on one of the devices?

BR,
Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 08:45:21 GMT

Just to give you perspective of this issue, you can follow this thread where people are discussing about the same issue regularly. Even one of the nordic dev accepted that the issue is there.

github.com/.../448

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 08:01:02 GMT

yeah Edvin I have tried forget device but that also didn`t worked.

Can you give me filter string so that it would be easier to separate the peripheral out.

I am also not seeing connection followup, Am I missing something in the sniffer tracing.

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Edvin — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 07:57:14 GMT

Sorry that I didn't specify this, but you need to select the peripheral from the drop down filter menu while it is advertising (before you connect to it). This is so that it is easier to see (because it filters out other devices), and also so that the sniffer will follow the devices into a connection.

In your sniffer traces, the sniffer doesn't follow the connection, so I can't see anything useful here.

You say that service discovery doesn't work. Have you tried to "forget device" from the Android phone?

BR,

Edvin

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 07:47:50 GMT

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../connsniffertrace.pcapng

PFA sniffer trace for proper connection with another Android 13 device

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 07:40:45 GMT

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../sniffercapture.pcapng

PFA sniffer trace for android 13 phone - not connecting

RE: Cannot connect to devices from SDK17 on android 13

Gaurav — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 07:39:27 GMT