Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

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vrtisworks
 
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Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 11:02 am

Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by vrtisworks »

I am trying to update the bootload on my Circuit Playground BLE.

I get CPLAYBTBOOT to show up.

And here is the information from the current INFO_UF2

UF2 Bootloader 0.2.11-8-g2c13fd5-dirty lib/nrfx (v1.1.0-1-g096e770) lib/tinyusb (legacy-755-g55874813) s140 6.1.1
Model: Adafruit Circuit Playground nRF52840
Board-ID: nRF52840-CircuitPlayground-revD
Date: Jul 13 2019

I down loaded "update-circuitplayground_nrf52840_bootloader-0.6.0_nosd.uf2" from GITHUB and copied it over to CPLAYBTBOOT.

It will sit there for a while, then eventually (a couple of minutes?) the device disappears from Windows and it looks like the Playground has reset.

But if I go back to boot mode and look, INFO_UF2 hasn't changed, and the "update" file is gone.

What am I missing/doing wrong?

Thanks

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by mikeysklar »

Hmm, strange that it is not a nearly instant copy and update. Is it possible you are running low on space on the CPX BLE device?

What if you try going back to the previous release 0.5.1? Any change? I ask since the 0.6.0 came out in the last month.

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_nR ... /tag/0.5.1

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hathach
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by hathach »

update bootloader using update-uf2 file need the existing bootloader to be at least 0.4.0 or higher. You could update from 0.2.0 using the Arduino IDE burn bootloader option as mentioned in the guide here https://learn.adafruit.com/bluefruit-nr ... bootloader

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ShakespearianMonkey
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by ShakespearianMonkey »

This week I received a new playground express with exactly the same UF2 configuration, and am having the same problem. Whether I am trying to install the newest bootloader or a makecode program I get identical symptoms: all lights blink green, and I can find and transfer files to CPLAYBTBOOT, but at that point the board just hangs instead of rebooting with new code.

An additional data point: the above problems are experienced on a windows 10 machine, but we also tried it on an ipad with a slight variation that as soon a new makecode program is successfully downloaded to cplayboot, the device disconnects and yet continues to run the prior (in this case out-of-the-box) program.

Any other suggestions very welcome - thanks in advance!

UF2 Bootloader 0.2.11-8-g2c13fd5-dirty lib/nrfx (v1.1.0-1-g096e770) lib/tinyusb (legacy-755-g55874813) s140 6.1.1
Model: Adafruit Circuit Playground nRF52840
Board-ID: nRF52840-CircuitPlayground-revD
Date: Jul 13 2019

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vrtisworks
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by vrtisworks »

I ran into something like this. The Express and the Express BLE have different processors. If you try to download a UF2 for the wrong processor, it will just disappear because the bootloader checks the processor module. I noticed this first when I tried the wrong code from MakeCode.

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vrtisworks
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by vrtisworks »

hathach wrote:update bootloader using update-uf2 file need the existing bootloader to be at least 0.4.0 or higher. You could update from 0.2.0 using the Arduino IDE burn bootloader option as mentioned in the guide here https://learn.adafruit.com/bluefruit-nr ... bootloader

Thank you so much. Those instructions worked and I got the Bootloader updated..

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ShakespearianMonkey
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by ShakespearianMonkey »

@vrtisworks thanks! After stumbling through an antivirus block on adafruit_nrfutil, I managed to upgrade my bootloader too (see below), and I can compile and load sketches from the arduino ide.

However, this did not fix the original problem that when I upload uf2 files from makecode, the bluefruit does not reboot automatically. When rebooted manually it erases the newly downloaded file and continues to execute the existing CURRENT. So maybe makecode is generating code for the wrong process per vrtisworks' earlier idea? But I see no options in makecode for specifying the download platform...very puzzling.

UF2 Bootloader 0.6.1 lib/nrfx (v2.0.0) lib/tinyusb (0.10.1-293-gaf8e5a90) lib/uf2 (remotes/origin/configupdate-9-gadbb8c7)
Model: Adafruit Circuit Playground nRF52840
Board-ID: nRF52840-CircuitPlayground-revD
SoftDevice: S140 version 6.1.1
Date: Aug 4 2021

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ShakespearianMonkey
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by ShakespearianMonkey »

Update/workaround: I now understand that https://makecode.adafruit.com only supports the Circuit Playground Express (SAMD MCU) while the Playground BLE device (NRF MCU) is not supported. However I learned that https://maker.makecode.com does support the bluetooth version of the board. Using maker.makecode I was able to successfully load programs from windows and OSX machines but not IOS. I posted a separate thread on that problem since it seems likely to be a different root cause. Thanks to MSFT for the clarifications!

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dpdannemiller
 
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Re: Update Bootloader for Playground BLE

Post by dpdannemiller »

ShakespearianMonkey wrote:Update/workaround: I now understand that https://makecode.adafruit.com only supports the Circuit Playground Express (SAMD MCU) while the Playground BLE device (NRF MCU) is not supported. However I learned that https://maker.makecode.com does support the bluetooth version of the board.
I purchased a CP BLE for my niece. I want to start her on MakeCode since we previously played with Scratch. I was initially confused why I couldn't get makecode.adafruit.com to work. Now I understand the reason (thanks ShakespearianMonkey). I like the tutorials on makecode.adafruit.com. Are there any plans to extend support to the CP BLE?

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