BCM20737S Prototype board are failing

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Anonymous
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This is a follow up to the discussions here: Prototype boards are failing with issue similar to one previously reported  & Prototype boards are failing with issue similar to one previously reported (con't)

We are experiencing a similar problem. 7 out of 70 boards stop advertising after 10 - 60 seconds (time maybe a little more).

We have checked the code with 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 and have run our code as well as the hello_sensor code and both stop advertising.

The crystal warm-up is also set to 5000ms.

How do I check for testing this reliably. I am currently testing WICED 2.2.3.

Using 2.2.1 as mention in the above to discussion does not solve the problem.

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1 Solution

Customer has updated their SDK to 2.2.3 on Win7/10 and issue has since not occur. I shall close this case for now.

View solution in original post

17 Replies
BoonT_56
Employee
Employee
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Can you disable sleep mode? Let us know whether the issue remains.

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Anonymous
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Hi boont

Hello_sensor example does not have sleep mode by default. Let me know if I am missed it in the code!

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You are right. I was looking at something else when I replied you.

Can you confirm that you have change the crystal warmup time to the following file?

"WICED-Smart-SDK\Wiced-Smart\tier2\brcm\mandatory\bld\20737\mandatory.cgs"

As you are doing this on your custom board, it may not be easy to debug. From whom

are you sourcing your sip module?

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Some folks here suggested bumping up the warmup time to 7000, max.

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Anonymous
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7000 gives the same result with boards still not advertising after sometime.

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Is this still an issue?

sambhav

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Anonymous
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Hi boont

Yes, this is still an issue.  We've tried to eliminate some unknowns, and used the "Hello Sensor" application example, but some badges still stop advertising.

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If hello_sensor app, our gold standard, also stops advertising after a while, then it may be worthwhile looking into the HW design. May I know from whom are you sourcing your SIP module?

Do you have a SENSE board? It is based on the 20737S module. I used MBT (Manufacturing Bluetooth Test Tool) to access my SENSE board and was able to exert things like RESET and LE Tx/Rx test suites. This shows that my module is OK. Perhaps you can do this also on your module.

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Anonymous
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Hi boont

We are sourcing it from Avnet Taiwan. frank from Avnet has been helping us get to the bottom of this. We still haven't found the issue. Sense board works fine. The interesting/frustrating issue is the 63 boards work fine and do not fail, it is the 7 that consistently fail. Any help will be really appreciated.

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Did you use an external 32k crystal? Is the crystal conform to the specifications?

Did you have a chance to go through the MBT route?

frank

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Anonymous
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Hi Boont,

We do not use an external 32k crystal as it is optional!

BCM20737S Bluetooth Low Energy SiP Module Technical Reference

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Let me know if this isn't the case!

I haven't had a chance yet to do a MBT.

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It is optional. I just want to know whether are you using one or not.

Do you have any of the 7 modules in Taiwan? Or your OEM in Taiwan can furnish some modules? I would

like my colleague Frank to check them out.

frank

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Anonymous
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Hi Boon,

We aren't using the external 32k crystal.

Frank Chang in Taiwan already has one board.

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I would like Frank to help me check out the module today to see if we can find anything amiss. frank

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I have verified with Frank that he does not have a board onhand. We will continue to work with your Taiwan counterparts to secure one.

frank

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Customer has updated their SDK to 2.2.3 on Win7/10 and issue has since not occur. I shall close this case for now.

Anonymous
Not applicable

SDK 2.2.3 on Windows caused very strange errors to occur.  LEDs blinking erratically, resets, etc.  We think there~s something wrong with the fine timer in this SDK version for Windows.

We finally went back to SDK 2.2.2 on Mac.  Now the downloaded code works fine, but the initial problem of about 10% of the boards STOPPING ADVERTISEMENT is back.

How can we solve this problem?  It's always the same boards that fail; it's not random.  For example, if you have 70 boards and about 7 fail, then if you reset/restart all 70, the same 7 will fail again.

This is not a manufacturing issue, because we have used 4 different manufacturers, and different versions of the PCB layout (which follows your guidelines) and always get the same identical problem.

We need to solve this problem badly!!!!

Thanks,

Gil

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