NPC100 failing

[adamtrhon]

Hello,

we have a tablet with NPC100. We build linux on it with openembedded. I want to use NPC100 using libnfc-nci. I modified src/halimpl/pn54x/tml/i2c/phTmlNfc_alt.h and configured the build with --enable-pn7120 and --enable-alt. 

After boot I run nfcDemoApp poll, which freezes with following in output (with logs enabled):

[ many lines left out ]

0:069:211 - NxpHal: > Polling Loop Started
0:069:158 - NxpTml: 0:069:271 - NxpTml: PN54X - Write requested.....
0:069:319 - NxpTml: PN54X - Invoking I2C Write.....
PN54X - Invoking I2C Read.....
0:070:176 - NxpNciX: len = 28 > 2103190C000101010201030105018001810182018301850106017701
0:070:212 - NxpTml: PN54X - I2C Write successful.....
0:070:241 - NxpTml: PN54X - Posting Fresh Write message.....
0:070:276 - NxpTml: PN54X - Tml Writer Thread Running................
0:070:293 - NxpHal: write successful status = 0x0
0:071:648 - NxpTml: PN54X - I2C Read successful.....
0:071:692 - NxpNciR: len = 4 > 41030100
0:071:723 - NxpTml: PN54X - Posting read message.....
0:071:773 - NxpHal: read successful status = 0x0
0:071:838 - NxpTml: PN54X - Read requested.....
0:071:871 - NxpTml: PN54X - Invoking I2C Read.....

Full logs are attached.

I also tried neard. I was able to detect cards and show serial numbers, but this is as far as I got. It is no use, but I am confident that the hardware is fine.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

[adamtrhon · Accepted solution]

If anybody finds this:

The first problem is with the alt driver. It seems that it cannot handle case when the chip sends data unexpectedly. Thus I suggest using the kernel driver from https://github.com/NXPNFCLinux/nxp-pn5xx.

At this time (I am going to raise a github issue regarding this) the driver itself has a problem: it cannot drive the chip out of reset. In the pn544_enable function there is this block of code (licensed as GPL):

if (MODE_RUN == mode) {

        pr_info("%s power on\n", __func__);
        if (gpio_is_valid(dev->firm_gpio))
                gpio_set_value_cansleep(dev->firm_gpio, 0);
        gpio_set_value_cansleep(dev->ven_gpio, 1);
        msleep(100);
}

that drives the chip out of reset. The problem is that after 100ms sleep the chip gets to some weird state where it does not respond to CORE_RESET_CMD (standard NCI command). Removing the msleep() line fixed the problem.

[weidong_sun]

Hello  Adam,

     The chip is designed for Notebook application, It's support should be in the charge of Mobile team. So contact Sales Account Manager of local NXP , and get more help!

Have a nice day!

TIC weidong

[adamtrhon]

Hello weidong.sun, thank you for your answer. Unfortunately we don't have a local NXP partner, as we buy the whole tablet from 3rd party company. So we signed NXP NDA, downloaded npc100 software package with linux-libnfc-nci from docstore and I tried that one with a very similar result. I also tried writing my own demo app, as simple as possible, basically just

    int main () {

        nfcManager_doInitialize();

        nfcManager_doDeinitialize();

    }

plus error checking, but even this fails (hangs during initialization). Is there another place where I can get help?