nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

zpm1066 — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 21:32:28 GMT

Thanks Amanda.

Regards,
Ravi

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

Amanda Hsieh — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:33:06 GMT

I would suggest to set the custom board configs and overlay under app/sysbuild/mcuboot/boards instead of touch nordic/ncs/v2.7.0/bootloader/mcuboot/boot/boards/zephyr.

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

zpm1066 — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:53:27 GMT

Hi Amanda,

What is your recommendation for where the MCUBOOT files (conf and overlay) should be placed for a board?

For MCUBOOT sysbuild (NCS 2.7.0), I have these files in nordic/ncs/v2.7.0/bootloader/mcuboot/boot/boards/zephyr.

For the special cases where I want to use the external SPI flash for app and MCUboot, files have been placed in sysbuild/mcuboot/boards.

Is it recommended to place the MCUBOOT conf/overlay files in sysbuild/mcuboot/boards? Thanks.

Regards,
Ravi

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

Amanda Hsieh — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:01:12 GMT

Happy to hear it works.

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

zpm1066 — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 02:36:54 GMT

Hi Amanda,

Your suggestion below worked. Thank you. It had to be something simple!

SB_CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
SB_CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

The following project layouts work for external flash.

Project folder layout #1

- This layout worked with MCUBoot board conf/overlay files in
ncs/v2.7.0/bootloader/mcuboot//boot/zephyr/boards
- particle_xenon.conf
- particle_xenon.overlay

Project folder layout #2

- Uses sysbuild/mcuboot/boards folder containing the board conf/overlay files

- The MCUBoot configuration in sysbuild/mcuboot overrides the default configuration (if specified) in location
ncs/v2.7.0/bootloader/mcuboot//boot/zephyr/boards of conf/overlay files

- mcbuboot folder needed a "prj.conf",otherwise get a "no prj.conf in mcuboot folder" error

- used a blank prj.conf file

Regards,
Ravi

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

zpm1066 — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 17:22:53 GMT

Hi Amanda,

Earlier I did try with particle_xenon conf & overlay files in smp_ble_feat_spi_flash_ncs270/sysbuild/mcuboot/boards but build failed because it complained that there was no proj.conf under mcuboot folder.

As per your suggestion, I’ll remove the following from MCUBOOT particle_xenon.conf

CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

and update sysbuild.conf to the following

SB_CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
SB_CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
SB_CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

What is your recommendation for where the MCUBOOT files (conf and overlay) should be placed for a board?

For MCUBOOT sysbuild, I have these files in nordic/ncs/v2.7.0/bootloader/mcuboot/boot/boards/zephyr.

For the special cases where I want to use the external SPI flash for app and MCUboot, Is it recommended to place the MCUBOOT conf/overlay files in sysbuild/mcuboot/boards?

I’ll try your recommendation and get back to you. Hopefully, I’ll get MCUBOOT to use the external flash.

Thank you.

Regards,
Ravi

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:22:21 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="zpm1066"]particle_xenon.conf in smp_ble_feat_spi_flash_ncs270/sysbuild/mcuboot and[/quote]

If you want to use the board name for the mcuboot, it should be located under smp_ble_feat_spi_flash_ncs270/sysbuild/mcuboot/boards.

Try to add the following configs sysbuild.conf:

# Settings required for external flash to be used for DFU
SB_CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
SB_CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

-Amanda H.

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

zpm1066 — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 22:19:06 GMT

Hi Amanda,

Thank you.

Note that I've built the project with NCS v2.7.0 from both within nRF Connect VSCode and also from the command line using --sysbuild option.

The MCUboot conf and overlay files for particle_xenon board are in the default location nordic/ncs/v2.7.0/bootloader/mcuboot/boot/boards/zephyr.

Project structure is:

With this setup, firmware built and ran successful. The app correctly used spi flash but mcuboot_secondary ended up using the soc flash.

regions.yml below shows that QSPI NOR flash has been selected despite setting in mcuboot/boot/zephyr/boards/particle_xenon.conf.

Following your suggestion, I tried placing
particle_xenon.conf in smp_ble_feat_spi_flash_ncs270/sysbuild/mcuboot and
particle_xenon.overlay in smp_ble_feat_spi_flash_ncs270/sysbuild/mcuboot/boards. However, the build failed with the following error.

After renaming particle_xenon.conf to prj.conf, build was successful but the mcuboot_secondary still isn't using the external flash. In fact, the firmware just goes into the MCUboot bootloader.

Here is the revised project structure.

I have no issue in building & successfully running the project with exactly same MCUboot conf & overlay files under NCS 2.6.1 using child_image/mcuboot/boards layout.

Note that SPI flash is being used by both app and mcuboot_secondary.

I suspect the issue with the NCS 2.7.0 sysbuild may be with the MCUboot conf & overlay file placements.

Please advise what to try next. Thank you.

Regards,
Ravi

RE: nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 - External SPI flash not being allocated to mcuboot_secondary partition

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:59:29 GMT

Hi,

[quote user=""]Here is the MCUBoot configuration, particle_xenon.conf:[/quote]

Where does the particle_xenon.conf locate?

Try to place the mcuboot config file under the sysbuild folder as this example: applications/nrf5340_audio/sysbuild/mcuboot

Regards,
Amanda H.