Bluetooth mesh example not working

[NilsMinor]

Describe the bug
Hi,
I tried to gest started with the zephyr mesh examples on my custom board (https://github.com/NilsMinor/inuk-base) that is based on an E73-2G4M04S1B module (nrf52832 qfaa).
I tested my custom bluetooth board before using fruitymesh, an other nrf52 mesh software that is based on nordics soft device that worked fine.

I used the nrf52dk_nrf5832 as zephyr board, I did not change anything on the nrf52dk_nrf5832 its for testing. After testing the Blinky example that worked fine I wanted to try the mesh examples.

I used the examples samples/boards/nrf/mesh/onoff_level_lighting_vnd_app and samples/bluetooth/mesh_demo to get started.

Building and flashing worked fine with the lates zephyr 2.30 on ubuntu with nrfjprog and jlink.
To Reproduce
I followed the instructions from https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/samples/boards/nrf/mesh/onoff_level_lighting_vnd_app/README.html and https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/samples/bluetooth/mesh_demo/README.html#overview

Expected behavior
I was not able to get any sign of live from the device. I was not able to get communication on uart (not sure if this is enabled in this examples) but I also could not detect the device over bluetooth.

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS Ubuntu 18.02
• Toolchain latest sdk and lates Zephyr
  I have no Idea what step I am missing. I appreciate any tip. I am new to zephyr and really want to get the mesh demo running before I make further investigations on how to use zephyr for my application. Thanks for any help.

Best regards,
Nils

[carlescufi]

@trond-snekvik @jhedberg does the example need provisioning perhaps?

[NilsMinor]

Hey @carlescufi I tried different apps to scan BLE and tried to use the nRF mesh app for provisioning. It feels like I am missing something. Did I understood it correctly, I do not need to flash an bootloader or other software? It should just be building the app and flashing it all using west right?

Edit:
I also have big troubles after I flashed the boards once, I need several nrfjprog --recover to flash them again, maybe I missed something on creating the boards?

Thanks for your help,
Nils

[carlescufi]

@NilsMinor you don't need a bootloader, just build and flash the app.
Can you try samples/bluetooth/beacon first and see if you can scan that using your mobile phone first?

[NilsMinor]

@carlescufi ok I found the bug and it was my fault! I designed the hardware my self and I missed something! I was not able to build the beacon example with the nrf52dk_nrf52832 setup but with the nrf52_vbluno52 board config. The different was that the nrf52dk enables the DCDC converter that I did not connected on my hardware. So the dcdc startup went wrong and stopped the zephyr. I switched off the dcdc converter in Kconfig and was able to build also the mesh examples! So thanks for your help, I learned a lot :D

[carlescufi]

@carlescufi ok I found the bug and it was my fault! I designed the hardware my self and I missed something! I was not able to build the beacon example with the nrf52dk_nrf52832 setup but with the nrf52_vbluno52 board config. The different was that the nrf52dk enables the DCDC converter that I did not connected on my hardware. So the dcdc startup went wrong and stopped the zephyr. I switched off the dcdc converter in Kconfig and was able to build also the mesh examples! So thanks for your help, I learned a lot :D

Glad to hear that, thank you for letting us know.

[tcpipchip]

wow,
Do you mean that if you replace the NRF52DK_NRF52832 by NRF52_VBLUNO52, will finally run on E73-2G4M04S1B the ZEPHYR ?

I am having the same problem, my E73-2G4M04S1B does not run ZEPHYR!

[trond-snekvik]

@tcpipchip Please create a separate issue if you're having trouble with this. Sounds like you have a board config or XYAL accuracy issue.

[tcpipchip]

yes, make sense! it´s a CRYSTAL problem!

[tcpipchip]

24Mhz