Program external spi flash using nrfjprog

[lseg]

Hi,

is it possible to write data to external spi flash using nrfjprog? This would be on a custom board, which has nRF9160 with extra external SPI flash (not QSPI)?

Kind regards,

Luc

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

Unfortunately, nrfjprog does not have SPI flash capabilities, it only supports QSPI based flash devices on nRF52840/nRF52833/nRF5340.

 

*edit* listed incorrect device.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[BrianW]

Håkon Alseth said:

it only supports QSPI based flash devices on nRF52840/nRF52833/nRF5340.

Can you point me to the documentation/examples on how to do this on an nrf5340 board with a QSPI external flash (same schematic as the nrf5340DK boards), as this would be very useful for my production process!

The only doc I find is this one

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf_cltools/page/UG/cltools/nrf_nrfjprogexe_reference.html

but it a) notes the qspi options are depreciated without giving details on the 'toml' replacements and b) says it only works on nrf52?

thanks!

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

If you have a .hex file that has the correct offset, you can program it directly with nrfjprog and it will automatically figure out that it is in the QSPI XIP area:

nrfjprog --program <qspi.hex> --verify -f nrf53

 

Or if you want to read:

nrfjprog --readqspi readout.hex -f nrf53

 

Note that the XIP area differs on nRF52840 (0x1200_0000) and nRF5340 (0x1000_0000):

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/memory.html#ariaid-title4

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf5340/page/chapters/memory/appmem.html

 

Please note that the "-f nrf53" (or -f nrf52 if nrf52840 is targeted) is crucial when communicating over QSPI.

If not, you will see errors similar to this:

$ nrfjprog --memwr 0x10000000 --val 0x12345678
Parsing parameters.
[error] [ Client] - Encountered error -2: Command qspi_init_preconfigured executed for 47 milliseconds with result -2
[error] [ Worker] - QSPI driver is not configured! Configure QSPI before attempting to initialize.
ERROR: Requested operation is currently unavailable.
ERROR: Check logs for more details.
NOTE: For additional output, try running again with logging enabled (--log).
NOTE: Any generated log error messages will be displayed.

While with the correct family switch:

$ nrfjprog --memwr 0x10000000 --val 0x12345678 -f nrf53
Parsing parameters.
[ #################### ]   0.000s | Reading external memory, 0x0004 bytes @ 0x00000000 - Done                          
Initializing the QSPI peripheral.
Writing.
Uninitializing the QSPI peripheral.

$ nrfjprog --memrd 0x10000000 -f nrf53
[ #################### ]   0.000s | Reading external memory, 0x0004 bytes @ 0x00000000 - Done                          
0x10000000: 12345678                              |xV4.|

I see that I've misinformed you:

Håkon Alseth said:

nRF52840/nRF52833/nRF5340

My apologies, nRF52833 does not have QSPI, so I will edit this and remove that reference.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[BrianW]

thanks, that work nicely! Much handier for production initialisation of the external flash areas

[Håkon Alseth]

Always happy to help out. Hope you have a wonderful day!

 

Kind regards,

Håkon