NUCLEO-F401RE + x-cube-ble1: Hard Fault

[BareMetaler]

I’m attempting to learn BLE and IoT and have purchased the following boards to get started.

NUCLEO-F401RE    MCU brd

X-NUCLEO-IDB05A2  BLE Expansion brd

Downloaded:

STM32CubeIDE Version: 2.0.0 Build: 26820_20251114_1348 (UTC)

STM32CubeMX Version: 6.16.1

x-cube-ble1   BLE Demo

The main program calls HAL-Init() which goes directly to the HardFault_Handler()

My preliminary conclusion is that Version 20.0.0 is not compatible with the demo program based on help I sought on ChatGPT. It recommends Version 1.19.0. Is this correct?

May need to back up and start from scratch and would appreciate a point in the right direction to avoid going down any unnecessary rabbit holes.

Thank you, BareMetaler

[Issamos]

Hello @BareMetaler 

I don’t think this issue is related to the IDE version. Are you using a personal project or one of the available examples?

Best Regards.

II

[KnarfB]

The HAL source code version is independent of the IDE version. 

HAL_Init does only the most basic initialization and is not specific to a demo.

So your HW+SW setup may have some general issue.

I doubt that changing the IDE version may fix that, but you may try.

The IDE comes with a hard fault analyzer and you may dig into that

or start with a new empty project to verify your HW+SW setup.

hth

KnarfB

[gbm]

Oh, that's quite simple as soon as you realize that "to avoid going down any unnecessary rabbit holes" is the same as "to avoid ChatGPT".

Stay away from AI-generated stuff, use the official ST demo code. Also, the proper platform for modern BLE development is STM32WB series.

[Andrew Neil]

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@BareMetaler wrote:

HAL-Init() which goes directly to the HardFault_Handler()

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What do you mean by that?

Have you stepped into HAL_Init() to see exactly where the Hard Fault happens, and what causes it?

Debugging Cortex-M (including STM32) Hard Faults.

[Andrew Neil]

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@BareMetaler wrote:

ChatGPT. It recommends Version 1.19.0. Is this correct?

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It is out of date - v2.0.0 was released on 18 November:

STM32CubeIDE 2.0.0 released

Note that the big difference between v2.0.0 and v1.x.x is that CubeMX is no longer integrated - it is now just a standalone tool:

STM32CubeIDE 2.0.0 workflow tutorial

So this means that a lot of tutorials & documentation (both ST's and 3rd parties) are now out-of-date.

In that respect, you might find it easier to use an earlier version of CubeIDE - such as v1.19.0

Note that you can have multiple versions of CubeIDE all installed at the same time and working independently - you just need to keep a separate workspace for each.

If you want to use AI, ST's own "Sidekick" might be a better bet:

STM32 Sidekick: the AI-powered tool that accelerates your design journey

How to use STM32 Sidekick