nrf7002dk - region `FLASH' overflowed

[Candela]

Hi,

I am trying to create a Wi-Fi application on nrf7002dk using SMP over Bluetooth LE for Firmware Updates, but I get a "region 'FLASH' overflowed" error when I try to build the project:

[1/11] Linking C executable zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf
FAILED: zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map 
c:/nordicsemi/toolchains/v2.3.0/opt/zephyr-sdk/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.exe: zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf section `rodata' will not fit in region `FLASH'
c:/nordicsemi/toolchains/v2.3.0/opt/zephyr-sdk/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.exe: region `FLASH' overflowed by 1424 bytes
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.
[115/263] Building C object modules/hal_nordic/nrfx/CMakeFiles/modules__hal_nordic__nrfx.dir/C_/nordicsemi/v2.3.0/modules/hal/nordic/nrfx/drivers/src/nrfx_gpiote.c.obj
FAILED: modules/mcuboot/mcuboot_subimage-prefix/src/mcuboot_subimage-stamp/mcuboot_subimage-build mcuboot/zephyr/zephyr.hex mcuboot/zephyr/zephyr.elf 

Is there any option to reduce the project's size? I have already disabled the debug options.

Regards,

Candela

[AHaug]

Hi,

A few general thoughts and tips is the following

• First steps would be to disable debug, which you've mentioned and logging.
• The second step is to investigate  Debunking misconceptions: A technical analysis of nRF5 SDK and nRF Connect SDK to see if there are anything you can use from this blog in your project to reduce its footprint
• The third thing is to have a look at the nRF Machine learning sample to see how this application has optimized MCUboot w.r.t. memory

 Could you also provide me with a memory report of your project? Either use the built in extension in VS Code or navigate to '<application location>/build' in command line and use 'nrfjprog partition_manager_report`?

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Candela]

Hi Andreas,

After following the proposals on the blog to reduce the footprint, and adding some settings from the nRF Machine learning sample, I still have the same problem...

I'm attaching the Memory reports of my project before enabling the Bootloader configuration. Once I add it, I get the Flash overflowed.

ROM Memory report:

RAM Memory report:

Partitions Memory report:

Best regards,

Candela

[Candela]

Hi Sigurd,

Thank you for your answer and for the useful samples. I think I reached to build the app without flash overflow errors, but now, I get a compilation error related to the flash IDs. I think it might be because of using the external flash to store the MCUBOOT_SECONDARY partition. Is there any configuration am I missing? 

prj.conf file:

# Drivers selection
CONFIG_GPIO=y
CONFIG_SERIAL=y
CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_LOG_DEFAULT_LEVEL=3
CONFIG_WATCHDOG=n
CONFIG_ADC=n
CONFIG_PINCTRL=y
CONFIG_I2C=n
CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_NRFX_SPIM2=y

CONFIG_REBOOT=y

# Power management
CONFIG_PM=n
 
# Interrupts
CONFIG_DYNAMIC_INTERRUPTS=y
CONFIG_UART_INTERRUPT_DRIVEN=n
CONFIG_IRQ_OFFLOAD=n

# Stacks and heaps
CONFIG_HEAP_MEM_POOL_SIZE=153640
CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=2048
CONFIG_SYSTEM_WORKQUEUE_STACK_SIZE=2048
CONFIG_NET_TX_STACK_SIZE=2048
CONFIG_NET_RX_STACK_SIZE=2048
CONFIG_NET_MGMT_EVENT_STACK_SIZE=4096

# Memory protection
CONFIG_THREAD_STACK_INFO=n
CONFIG_THREAD_CUSTOM_DATA=n
CONFIG_FPU=n

# Wi-Fi
CONFIG_WIFI=y
CONFIG_WIFI_NRF700X=y
CONFIG_WPA_SUPP=y

CONFIG_KEY_MGMT_WPA2=y
CONFIG_SSID=""
CONFIG_PASSWORD=""

CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_PEER_IPV4_ADDR="192.168.1.201" 
# Board's IPv4 Address
CONFIG_NET_DHCPV4=y

# TCP
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y
CONFIG_NETWORKING=y
CONFIG_POSIX_API=y

CONFIG_NET_IPV4=y
CONFIG_NET_TCP=y
CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS=y
CONFIG_POSIX_CLOCK=y
CONFIG_NET_TCP_WORKQ_STACK_SIZE=1024

# System settings
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC_NANO=n


# Networking
CONFIG_NET_LOG=y
CONFIG_NET_IPV6=n
CONFIG_NET_UDP=y
CONFIG_NET_IF_UNICAST_IPV4_ADDR_COUNT=1
CONFIG_NET_MAX_CONTEXTS=10
CONFIG_NET_CONTEXT_SYNC_RECV=y

CONFIG_NET_PKT_RX_COUNT=16
CONFIG_NET_PKT_TX_COUNT=16
CONFIG_NET_MAX_CONN=10
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_NEED_IPV4=n 
CONFIG_USERSPACE=n

# Below section is the primary contributor to SRAM and is currently
# tuned for performance, but this will be revisited in the future.
CONFIG_NET_BUF_RX_COUNT=80
CONFIG_NET_BUF_TX_COUNT=80
CONFIG_NET_CONTEXT_NET_PKT_POOL=y
CONFIG_NET_BUF_DATA_SIZE=128
CONFIG_NET_TC_TX_COUNT=0

CONFIG_INIT_STACKS=y
CONFIG_NET_L2_ETHERNET=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SETTINGS=y
CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS_POLL_MAX=4

# SNTP
CONFIG_SNTP=y

# Generate JSON message
CONFIG_JSON_LIBRARY=y
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC_FLOAT_PRINTF=y
CONFIG_CJSON_LIB=y

# BLE configuration

CONFIG_BT=y
CONFIG_SETTINGS=y
CONFIG_BT_PERIPHERAL=y
CONFIG_BT_GATT_DYNAMIC_DB=y

CONFIG_BT_DEVICE_NAME="Anchor"

# DFU over BLE
CONFIG_FLASH=y
CONFIG_IMG_MANAGER=y
CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y

CONFIG_MCUMGR=y
CONFIG_MCUMGR_CMD_IMG_MGMT=y
CONFIG_MCUMGR_CMD_OS_MGMT=y
CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_BT=y
CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_BT_AUTHEN=n
CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_BT_CONN_PARAM_CONTROL=y

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y
#CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096
#CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR_STACK_WRITE_BUFFER_SIZE=16
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
#CONFIG_MCUBOOT_IMG_MANAGER=y


# Size optimizations
CONFIG_SIZE_OPTIMIZATIONS=y

mcuboot.conf file:

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS=256
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_MCUBOOT=0x10000

Build log on this link

Thank you,

Candela

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

You need to have an mcuboot.overlay, same as you have an oberlay for the board to enable external flash.
See this unofficial sample.

[Candela]

Hi Sigurd,

Thank you a lot for your patience. Thanks to adding the overlay, I advanced into the building on the project. Nevertheless, the building process gets stuck into the step "Generating app_test_update.hex" many hours, without finishing the building process at all.

I've got a warning related to the mapping of the XIP partition during the building, I think it can be related. I am attaching the building log here.

Thank you for the support,

Candela

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Candela said:

Nevertheless, the building process gets stuck into the step "Generating app_test_update.hex" many hours, without finishing the building process at all.

I have never seen the build process freeze like that before.
Can you try to delete the build folder and rebuild?

"CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y"

The nRF7002DK uses SPI for external flash, and not SPI: https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/ug_nrf7002_dk/UG/nrf7002_DK/hw_external_memory.html?cp=3_0_2_4_5

So you need to use the SPI driver instead.

Something along these lines:

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=n
CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096

[Candela]

Hi Sigurd,

Finally, I have achieved to build succesfully the app deleting the partition manager file. Now the app fits on the nRF5340.

However, I think there is something wrong with the address mapping, because I can't load any new images by MCUMGR (it used to work before adding the WiFi configurations that caused the overflow), and, if I try to flash the hex file directly into the board, the BLE stops working (due to the hci image i guess...) I think it has to do with the XIP address warning on the last build log I uploaded.

I have also added the SPI configurations you propose.

Thank you!

Candela

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

In your log, I see multiple warnings like this:

warning: NORDIC_QSPI_NOR (defined at C:/nordicsemi/v2.3.0/nrf/Kconfig.nrf:97,
drivers/flash/Kconfig.nordic_qspi_nor:4) was assigned the value 'y' but got the value 'n'. See
http://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/kconfig.html#CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR and/or look up
NORDIC_QSPI_NOR in the menuconfig/guiconfig interface. The Application Development Primer, Setting
Configuration Values, and Kconfig - Tips and Best Practices sections of the manual might be helpful
too.

I suggest that you look into fixing these first.

You can do this by running "ninja menuconfig" inside "build/" or inside "build/mcuboot", depending on which image has the warning.

Candela said:

think it has to do with the XIP address warning

Do you try to use XIP in your project?