RE: External flash partitions (LittleFS) not detected with nRF5340

runsiv — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 09:27:23 GMT

I would recommend you to take a look at the demo Vidar posted here nRF5340-DK: Partition Manager for external flash
I think it is exactly what you need

Regards

Runar

RE: External flash partitions (LittleFS) not detected with nRF5340

Parker Lloyd — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 19:19:55 GMT

Hi Runar,

Thanks for your response.

I have not explicitly enabled mcumgr. I have attached my prj.conf to this reply. I suspect some other config is enabling the Partition Manager without me knowing.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../7455.prj.conf

After building the application for the nRF5340, I can see it identifying the partitions in the build files.

Here is my partitions.yml

EMPTY_0:
  address: 0xfe000
  end_address: 0x100000
  placement:
    after:
    - settings_storage
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x2000
app:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0xfc000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xfc000
display_partition:
  address: 0x370000
  end_address: 0x7fc000
  placement:
    after: user_partition
    within: littlefs_storage
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x48c000
external_flash:
  address: 0x1000000
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: -0x800000
littlefs_storage:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x800000
  placement:
    before: end
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x800000
log_partition:
  address: 0x7fc000
  end_address: 0x800000
  placement:
    after: display_partition
    within: littlefs_storage
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x4000
otp:
  address: 0xff8100
  end_address: 0xff83fc
  region: otp
  size: 0x2fc
rpmsg_nrf53_sram:
  address: 0x20070000
  end_address: 0x20080000
  placement:
    before:
    - end
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x10000
settings_storage:
  address: 0xfc000
  end_address: 0xfe000
  placement:
    align:
      start: 0x4000
    before:
    - end
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x2000
sram_primary:
  address: 0x20000000
  end_address: 0x20070000
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x70000
user_partition:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x370000
  placement:
    within: littlefs_storage
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x370000

Here is my regions.yml

external_flash:
  base_address: 0x0
  default_driver_kconfig: CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_HAS_DRIVER
  device: DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)
  dynamic_partition: null
  name: external_flash
  placement_strategy: start_to_end
  size: 0x800000
flash_primary:
  base_address: 0x0
  default_driver_kconfig: CONFIG_SOC_FLASH_NRF
  device: flash_controller
  dynamic_partition: null
  name: flash_primary
  placement_strategy: complex
  size: 0x100000
otp:
  base_address: 0xff8100
  default_driver_kconfig: ''
  device: ''
  dynamic_partition: null
  name: otp
  placement_strategy: start_to_end
  size: 0x2fc
sram_primary:
  base_address: 0x20000000
  default_driver_kconfig: ''
  device: ''
  dynamic_partition: sram_primary
  name: sram_primary
  placement_strategy: complex
  size: 0x80000

My partitions.yml seems to indicate that the partitions are indeed contained within littlefs_storage for the build. I suspect I may need to change my application code to properly access the partitions. My original code for the nRF52833 relied on the DTS partition nodes to access the partitions:

#define USER_PARTITION_NODE    DT_NODELABEL( user_lfs )

FS_FSTAB_DECLARE_ENTRY( USER_PARTITION_NODE );

static struct fs_mount_t *user_mp    = &FS_FSTAB_ENTRY( USER_PARTITION_NODE );

I am still using this code for the nRF5340. Does this need to change?

I am unsure what you mean by this:
Have you remembered to add the including flash config to the childimage for mcuboot?

Does Nordic have a simple example project that shows how to configure LittleFS partitions on external flash while using the Partition Manager?

Parker

RE: External flash partitions (LittleFS) not detected with nRF5340

runsiv — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 07:26:09 GMT

I'm looking into your issue. If you enable mcumgr then you need to use partition manager as it will ignore any changes you have done in the devicetree.

Have you remembered to add the including flash config to the childimage for mcuboot?

Regards

Runar