No connection when using the DC/DC converter

[Arne Laugstøl]

Hi I don't get a connection when I run boards from PCBWay, but it works fine with the same boards manufactured by Eurocircuit. When I comment out the statement below, boards from both manufacturer works fine.

err_code = sd_power_dcdc_mode_set(NRF_POWER_DCDC_ENABLE);

Our board is based on nRF52832, and sdk 14.2.0. The two manufacturers have received identical gerber-files, bom etc. I have also double checked (and also replaced the DC/DC components on the PCBWay board, without success). The only difference between the boards is that the boards from PCBWay is thinner than the ones from Eurocircuit.

Both boards starts fine and starts advertising. But, I am not able to connect to the ones from PCBWay with DC/DC enabled (Tried 10 psc. with the same result). Every board (3 psc. from Eurocircuit connects fine.

I would appreciate any tips about what differences I should look for?

Regards Arne

[Andre]

When you connect a debugger, is the code still running after you enter DCDC mode, or does it hang? Does the entire board die, or just the radio?

[Arne Laugstøl]

The strange thing is that if I am using a debugger, then it works fine (even the PCBWay). Without a debugger it works fine until I try to connect from my phone. It is advertising as expected, but no connection.

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

What are you using for connecting the the device? Do you get any error codes? Does the board reset, or just lock when you try to connect? Have you tested with some serial/GPIO/LED debugging to see where the application fails?

[Arne Laugstøl]

I am using Segger j-Link as a debugger. When I try to connect, the board continue to advertise. I have not tested with GPIO/LED. But, I have tried to use sniffer and Wire-Shark, and it seems that the board doesn't try connect, it just continue to advertise.

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

Have you tried setting the DEBUG flag, to see if the device gets an error code and ends up in the error handler? The default recovery method is to reset the chip, which can make it look like the connection is never happening and advertising continues if this is the default behavior on startup.