nRF9160 SPI External Flash (mx25r6435f) - FATFS does not mount

RE: nRF9160 SPI External Flash (mx25r6435f) - FATFS does not mount

Håkon Alseth — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:55:24 GMT

I'm glad to hear that you got things running with littlefs.

Let me know if there's anything else that pops up.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nRF9160 SPI External Flash (mx25r6435f) - FATFS does not mount

Avgerinos89 — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 11:51:47 GMT

Hello Hakon

Following your suggestion I managed to make it work using littlefs file system.

I add the following pm_static.yml file:

external_flash:
  address: 0x00000
  end_address: 0x7F0000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x7F0000
littlefs_storage:
  address: 0x00000
  device: MX25R64
  region: external_flash
  address: 0x0
  size: 0x7F0000

Also I made a few changed to the prj.conf file to use littlefs
prj.conf

CONFIG_FLASH=y

CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_FS_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y
CONFIG_FLASH_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

CONFIG_HEAP_MEM_POOL_SIZE=16384

CONFIG_SHELL=y
CONFIG_SHELL_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM=y
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_SHELL=y
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_SHELL_TEST_COMMANDS=y

CONFIG_FAT_FILESYSTEM_ELM=n
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_LITTLEFS=y
CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y
CONFIG_FLASH_PAGE_LAYOUT=y

#CONFIG_MPU_ALLOW_FLASH_WRITE=y

CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=n
CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096

# Memories
CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=4096
CONFIG_SHELL_STACK_SIZE=4096

At this moment I can use littlefs for my application so I will use littlefs as it is.

Thank you for your help

RE: nRF9160 SPI External Flash (mx25r6435f) - FATFS does not mount

Håkon Alseth — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 14:48:12 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="Avgerinos89"]As I mention, on the SDK v2.5.1, when I enable CONFIG_DISK_DRIVER_FLASH I get the following compile error:[/quote]

My apologies for not seeing this.

The pm_static.yml needs some extra parameters, similar to what is posted here:

RE: Problem with flashdisk and partition_manager

Could you try this and see if it builds/runs properly afterwards? Note that you might need to delete your build folder and regenerate the project.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nRF9160 SPI External Flash (mx25r6435f) - FATFS does not mount

Avgerinos89 — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 13:38:06 GMT

Hello Hakon

I have made some progress since yesterday.
The shell fs backend was not the problem as I had tried to mount using the fs_mount(&fs_mnt); function, that was returning the same error (-5).

With some changes I managed to make it work, but only works using the SDK v2.4.2.

The changes that I have made:

prj.conf

CONFIG_FLASH=y

CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_FS_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y
CONFIG_FLASH_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

CONFIG_HEAP_MEM_POOL_SIZE=16384

CONFIG_SHELL=y
CONFIG_SHELL_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM=y
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_SHELL=y
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_SHELL_TEST_COMMANDS=y

CONFIG_DISK_DRIVERS=y
CONFIG_DISK_DRIVER_FLASH=y
CONFIG_DISK_ACCESS=y
CONFIG_FAT_FILESYSTEM_ELM=y
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_LITTLEFS=n
CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y
CONFIG_FLASH_PAGE_LAYOUT=y

CONFIG_MPU_ALLOW_FLASH_WRITE=y

CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_MKFS=y


CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096

# Memories
CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=4096
CONFIG_SHELL_STACK_SIZE=4096

overlay file

#include <C:\ncs\v2.5.1\zephyr\boards\arm\nrf9160dk_nrf9160\nrf9160dk_nrf9160_common_0_14_0.dtsi>

/delete-node/ &storage_partition;

&mx25r64 {
	partitions {
		compatible = "fixed-partitions";
		#address-cells = <1>;
		#size-cells = <1>;

		storage_partition: partition@0 {
			label = "storage";
			reg = <0x00000000 0x0800000>;
		};
	};

	status = "okay";
};

&uart1 {
	status = "okay";
};

/ {

	aliases {
		ext-flash = &mx25r64;
	};
	
	chosen {
		nordic,pm-ext-flash = &mx25r64;
		zephyr,flash = &flash0;
		zephyr,sram = &sram0_ns;
		zephyr,code-partition = &slot0_ns_partition;
	};

	msc_disk0 {
		compatible = "zephyr,flash-disk";
		partition = <&storage_partition>;
		disk-name = "NAND";
		cache-size = <4096>;
	};
	
};

Using these changes on the SDK v2.4.2, it works. It successfully mounts, read and write the external flash.

When I compile this code using the SDK v2.5.1 I get compiling errors. The error appear only when the
CONFIG_DISK_DRIVER_FLASH is enabled.

But when CONFIG_DISK_DRIVER_FLASH is not enabled (was not included in my original post) the project compiles, but the disk would not mount. So it looks like to mount the disk it needs to enable CONFIG_DISK_DRIVER_FLASH.

As I mention, on the SDK v2.5.1, when I enable CONFIG_DISK_DRIVER_FLASH I get the following compile error:

FAILED: zephyr/drivers/disk/CMakeFiles/drivers__disk.dir/flashdisk.c.obj 
C:\ncs\toolchains\c57af46cb7\opt\zephyr-sdk\arm-zephyr-eabi\bin\arm-zephyr-eabi-gcc.exe -DKERNEL -DMBEDTLS_CONFIG_FILE=\"nrf-config.h\" -DMBEDTLS_USER_CONFIG_FILE=\"nrf-config-user.h\" -DNRF9160_XXAA -DNRF_SKIP_FICR_NS_COPY_TO_RAM -DNRF_TRUSTZONE_NONSECURE -DPICOLIBC_DOUBLE_PRINTF_SCANF -DUSE_PARTITION_MANAGER=1 -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809 -D__LINUX_ERRNO_EXTENSIONS__ -D__PROGRAM_START -D__ZEPHYR_SUPERVISOR__ -D__ZEPHYR__=1 -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/include -Izephyr/include/generated -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/soc/arm/nordic_nrf/nrf91 -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/lib/posix/getopt/. -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/soc/arm/nordic_nrf/common/. -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrf/include -Itfm/install/interface/include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrf/include/tfm -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrf/tests/include -Itfm/generated/interface/include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/modules/hal/cmsis/CMSIS/Core/Include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/modules/cmsis/. -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/modules/hal/nordic/nrfx -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/modules/hal/nordic/nrfx/drivers/include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/modules/hal/nordic/nrfx/mdk -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/modules/hal_nordic/nrfx/. -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrfxlib/nrf_modem/include -Imodules/nrf/subsys/nrf_security/src/include/generated -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrf/subsys/nrf_security/include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrf/ext/oberon/psa/core/include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrf/ext/oberon/psa/core/library -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/modules/crypto/mbedtls/include -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/modules/crypto/mbedtls/library -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrfxlib/crypto/nrf_oberon/include/mbedtls -IC:/ncs/v2.5.1/nrfxlib/crypto/nrf_oberon/include -Wshadow -fno-strict-aliasing -Os -imacros C:/Embedded_software/flash_test_new/build/zephyr/include/generated/autoconf.h -fno-common -g -gdwarf-4 -fdiagnostics-color=always -mcpu=cortex-m33 -mthumb -mabi=aapcs -mfp16-format=ieee --sysroot=C:/ncs/toolchains/c57af46cb7/opt/zephyr-sdk/arm-zephyr-eabi/arm-zephyr-eabi -imacros C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/include/zephyr/toolchain/zephyr_stdint.h -Wall -Wformat -Wformat-security -Wno-format-zero-length -Wno-pointer-sign -Wpointer-arith -Wexpansion-to-defined -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Werror=implicit-int -fno-pic -fno-pie -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -ftls-model=local-exec -fno-reorder-functions --param=min-pagesize=0 -fno-defer-pop -fmacro-prefix-map=C:/Embedded_software/flash_test_new=CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR -fmacro-prefix-map=C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr=ZEPHYR_BASE -fmacro-prefix-map=C:/ncs/v2.5.1=WEST_TOPDIR -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections --specs=picolibc.specs -D_POSIX_THREADS -std=c99 -MD -MT zephyr/drivers/disk/CMakeFiles/drivers__disk.dir/flashdisk.c.obj -MF zephyr\drivers\disk\CMakeFiles\drivers__disk.dir\flashdisk.c.obj.d -o zephyr/drivers/disk/CMakeFiles/drivers__disk.dir/flashdisk.c.obj -c C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:484:1: error: return type defaults to 'int' [-Werror=implicit-int]
  484 | PM_FOREACH_AFFILIATED_TO_disk(DEFINE_FLASHDISKS_CACHE)
      | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c: In function 'PM_FOREACH_AFFILIATED_TO_disk':
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:523:30: error: storage class specified for parameter 'flash_disks'
  523 | static struct flashdisk_data flash_disks[] = {
      |                              ^~~~~~~~~~~
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:523:15: error: parameter 'flash_disks' is initialized
  523 | static struct flashdisk_data flash_disks[] = {
      |               ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:524:39: error: 'DEFINE_FLASHDISKS_DEVICE' undeclared (first use in this function)
  524 |         PM_FOREACH_AFFILIATED_TO_disk(DEFINE_FLASHDISKS_DEVICE)
      |                                       ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:524:39: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:533:1: error: expected declaration specifiers before 'PM_FOREACH_AFFILIATED_TO_disk'
  533 | PM_FOREACH_AFFILIATED_TO_disk(VERIFY_CACHE_SIZE_IS_NOT_ZERO_IF_NOT_READ_ONLY)
      | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/include/zephyr/toolchain/gcc.h:92,
                 from C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/include/zephyr/toolchain.h:50,
                 from C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/include/zephyr/sys/__assert.h:11,
                 from C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/drivers/disk/flashdisk.c:10:
C:/ncs/v2.5.1/zephyr/include/zephyr/init.h:125:44: error: storage class specified for parameter '__init_disk_flash_init'
  125 | #define Z_INIT_ENTRY_NAME(init_id) _CONCAT(__init_, init_id)
      |                                            ^~~~~~~

Is this an error about the partition manager? I am a bit confused about this error and why it would not appear in the SDK v2.4.2 ?

So, at this point I managed to make it work using SDK v2.4.2, but I would prefer to make it work on the latest SDK v2.5.1.

Thank you for your support!

RE: nRF9160 SPI External Flash (mx25r6435f) - FATFS does not mount

Håkon Alseth — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 13:02:32 GMT

Hi,

The fs shell sample seems to be mainly targeted towards littlefs:

https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/samples/subsys/shell/fs/README.html

I am unable to get it to mount properly when running your code on my side, even with other boards (nrf52840 etc), so I suspect there's something strange with the shell fs backend

Even if I took the zephyr/samples/subsys/fs/fat_fs sample, and then added SHELL=y / FILE_SYSTEM_SHELL=y, it did work, as the FS was mounted by the firmware running:

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v3.3.99-ncs1-1 ***
[00:00:00.250,335] <inf> flashdisk: Initialize device SD
[00:00:00.250,366] <inf> flashdisk: offset d8000, sector size 512, page size 4096, volume size 163840
[00:00:00.250,457] <inf> main: Block count 320
Sector size 512
Memory Size(MB) 0
[00:00:00.250,579] <inf> flashdisk: Initialize device SD
[00:00:00.250,579] <inf> flashdisk: offset d8000, sector size 512, page size 4096, volume size 163840
Disk mounted.

Listing dir /SD: ...
[FILE] SOME.DAT (size = 0)
[DIR ] SOME


uart:~$ fs read /SD:/SOME.DAT
File size: 0
uart:~$ fs ls /SD:/
SOME.DAT
SOME/

It looks like the firmware has to manually mount the volume first.

PS: When using nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns, you will invoke partition_manager, which uses pm_static.yml for static allocation of your partitions.

You can then declare it similar to this (change addresses and sizes to your liking):

storage_partition:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x800000

Kind regards,

Håkon