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CC2540EMK-USB: SmartRF Packet Sniffer BLE stops scanning for BLE packets

Gabriel Baez
Prodigy 90 points
Part Number: CC2540EMK-USB
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CC2540

Hello,

Since several weeks ago I've been using the CC2540 USB dongle to sniff packets coming from battery-powered BLE devices. This morning I noticed that the packet count at the lower-left corner of the SmartRF Packet sniffer window stopped after receiving around 6000 packets. It usually goes to 12000 or more with no problem. I restarted the SmartRF program several times, but I still encountered the same issue. The BLE devices are broadcast-only, so no connections are made between the devices and the USB dongle. These BLE beacons are transmitting on all 3 channels.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

  • 0
    TI__Genius 12815 points
    Hi Gabriel,

    Did you check your computer's RAM consumption? Which Windows OS are you using?
  • 0 in reply to RachelP
    Prodigy 90 points

    Hello Rachel,

    I am using Windows 10. I see that it is using approx. 20 MB of RAM. 

    There seems to be a pattern here. Whenever I run the sniffer the first 3-4 times, it wont freeze. But after that it will begin to freeze in the middle of a scan. The "play" button is still grayed out when it freezes.

  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    TI__Genius 12815 points
    Hi Gabriel,

    The tool page does not list Windows 10 as a supported platform: www.ti.com/.../PACKET-SNIFFER
    It's possible some updates are needed in order for it to work properly. I will check with the tools team to see if they have any details about why Windows 10 is not listed as a supported platform.

    To make sure it's not an embedded issue, what version of the sniffer firmware are you using? Please make sure you are using the latest available.
  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    TI__Genius 12815 points
    Hi Gabriel,

    While waiting for the tool team response, I found another thread here where someone was having trouble with the Packet Sniffer and Windows 10: e2e.ti.com/.../673696

    Can you try some of the recommended troubleshooting steps from that thread?
  • 0 in reply to RachelP
    Prodigy 90 points
    Hello Rachel,

    I am using version 2.18.1.0.

    That's interesting. I wonder if running it in a Win7 system fixes this issue. I want to buy another dongle, but I really need to figure out how to fix this.

    Please, let me know what the Tools team say about this.

    Thank you for your help.
  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    TI__Genius 12815 points

    Hi Gabriel,

    The tools team was unsure about the cause and wants to try it out on their end with a Windows 10 machine. Can you provide detailed steps to reproduce this issue?

    Are you able to try on a Windows 7 machine to see if the issue is resolved?

  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    TI__Genius 12815 points
    Hi Gabriel,

    Are you still having trouble with the sniffer stopping its scan? If so, please provide steps to reproduce this issue so I can provide this info to the tools team.
  • 0 in reply to RachelP
    Prodigy 90 points
    Hello Rachel,

    Sorry for the late response. There has been a lot going on lately and was not able to log in here.

    I purchased another cc2540 sniffer to rule out any possible defects with the previous dongle, but it still freezes.

    Here are the steps I perform:
    1. Plug the Sniffer in a USB cable extension.
    2. I open the SmartRF packet Sniffer tool and select Bluetooth Low Energy.
    3. Once the main screen opens, I make sure the dongle shows up in the Capturing device tab.
    4. Radio configuration is always set to channel 37.
    5. At this point, I press "Play" and let it run for 30 seconds. A total of roughly 10,000 packets are sniffed within 30 seconds.
    6. After it runs, I filter out the beacon of interest with its MAC ID.

    However, it starts to freeze after about the same 3 to 4 runs. It freezes at different times; sometimes at 2000 packet count, or at 9000 packet count.

    I could not try it in my Win7 machine, but I will try it this weekend.
  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    Prodigy 90 points

    BTW, I'm getting this message when I try to press the Play button after it freezes:

    After this message appears, the app crashes. I hope this helps.

  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    TI__Genius 12815 points
    Hi Gabriel,

    Thank you for providing the extra information about your setup. I will pass this along to the tools team for investigation. Someone will reach out if the team needs more information or if the issue is resolved.
  • 0 in reply to RachelP
    Prodigy 90 points

    Hello Rachel,

    Any updates on this? So far, I keep seeing the same issue. Unplugging and plugin the Sniffer seems to correct the issue.

    Thank you for all of your help so far.

  • 0 in reply to RachelP
    Prodigy 90 points
    Steps were provided. I am still waiting on a response from the tools team.
  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    TI__Guru 68116 points
    Hi Gabriel,

    Sorry for the delay - I will be taking over this thread for Rachel. When you listed steps you had step 6 as "6. After it runs, I filter out the beacon of interest with its MAC ID." Is that step necessary for the failure to occur? Our tools team was unable to reproduce the issue and we are trying to rule out potential differences in the setup.

    Additionally, are you only seeing this on Windows 10?

    Regards,
    Katie
  • 0 in reply to Katie Pier
    Prodigy 90 points

    Hello Katie,

    Thank you for following up with me. To answer your question, no. You will see the error whether you are filtering by a specific MAC address or not. I am starting to believe this is an issue in the software side. The only workaround is to close the app and reopen it. 

    As for the Win 10, I haven't been able to test it in Win7. I will test it in my Win 7 PC this week and will provide you with the results.

    Again, thank you for your help.

  • 0 in reply to Gabriel Baez
    Prodigy 90 points

    All right, so I tested the BLE sniffer at home in my Win7 computer and so far I have not seen it crash. The only difference I've noticed is that the BLE traffic is way lower at my house than at my company. For example, BLE traffic in my office is at around 1000+ packets per second, whereas at home it is only 100 packets per seconds. Does high BLE traffic have an effect on this?