Using the pm_static.yml with an external flash

[tomtran_montage]

Hi,

I am looking to create use a pm_static.yml to create a partition table for MCUBoot, which have the internal flash as the primary boot partition and the external SPI flash as the secondary partition.  As I know XIP only can be performed on QSPI, can this be done.  If so, how can I do this via SPI?

Here's my current pm_static.ym;

# Internal Flash Partitions

EMPTY_0:

address: 0xe000

end_address: 0x10000

placement:

before:

- mcuboot_pad

region: flash_primary

size: 0x2000

app:

address: 0x18000

end_address: 0x100000

region: flash_primary

size: 0xe8000

external_flash:

address: 0x100000

end_address: 0x800000

region: external_flash

size: 0x700000

littlefs_storage:

address: 0xf0000

device: DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)

end_address: 0x100000

placement:

before:

- tfm_storage

- end

region: external_flash

size: 0x10000

mcuboot:

address: 0x0

end_address: 0xe000

placement:

before:

- mcuboot_primary

region: flash_primary

size: 0xe000

mcuboot_pad:

address: 0x10000

end_address: 0x10200

placement:

align:

start: 0x4000

before:

- mcuboot_primary_app

region: flash_primary

size: 0x200

mcuboot_primary:

address: 0x10000

end_address: 0x100000

orig_span: &id001

- mcuboot_pad

- tfm

- app

region: flash_primary

size: 0xf0000

span: *id001

mcuboot_primary_app:

address: 0x10200

end_address: 0x100000

orig_span: &id002

- app

- tfm

region: flash_primary

size: 0xefe00

span: *id002

# External Flash Region (e.g., MX25R64 or similar)

external_flash:

address: 0x00000000

size: 0x00800000 # 8 MB

region: external_flash

mcuboot_secondary:

address: 0x00000000

size: 0x00800000 # Same size as primary

orig_span: &id003

- mcuboot_pad

- tfm

- app

region: external_flash

size: 0xf0000

mcuboot_secondary_app:

address: 0x10200

end_address: 0x100000

orig_span: &id004

- app

- tfm

region: flash_primary

size: 0xefe00

span: *id002

After flashing it to my nrf7002DK, I get the following message.

I am using NCS v3.1.0 and I am basing off of the sample smp_svr.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tom

[Hung Bui]

Hi Tom, 
Just want to check if you have followed our tutorial on DFU with external flash here: https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/nrf-connect-sdk-intermediate/lessons/lesson-9-bootloaders-and-dfu-fota/topic/exercise-3-dfu-with-external-flash/

It shows you how to DFU with external flash in both cases QSPI and SPI. 

[tomtran_montage]

Hi Hung,

I just tried building the example you've mentioned.  This is what I got, which is back to the previous issue that I am having.

[tomtran_montage]

Basically, the overall settings I want to setup is MCUBoot with the primary partition in the internal flash and the secondary partition on the external flash.

What should I look at to achieve this?

[Hung Bui]

Hi Tom, 

Have you tried to build the \ncs-inter-main\l9\l9_e3_sol\spi from https://github.com/NordicDeveloperAcademy/ncs-inter

I changed app_mx.overlay to app.overlay and mcuboot_mx.overlay to mcuboot.overlay (because the nRF7002dk uses MX25R64) and build the application for nRF7002dk/nRF5340/cpu_app. 
It built fine and after I flashed the firmware it seems to be fine with the partition. 



Could you take a look at the attached project and the partitions.yml in build folder . You may want to have something similar in your pm_static.yml. 

app:
  address: 0x10200
  end_address: 0x100000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xefe00
external_flash:
  address: 0xf0000
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x710000
mcuboot:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x10000
  placement:
    align:
      end: 0x1000
    before:
    - mcuboot_primary
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x10000
mcuboot_pad:
  address: 0x10000
  end_address: 0x10200
  placement:
    align:
      start: 0x4000
    before:
    - mcuboot_primary_app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x200
mcuboot_primary:
  address: 0x10000
  end_address: 0x100000
  orig_span: &id001
  - mcuboot_pad
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xf0000
  span: *id001
mcuboot_primary_app:
  address: 0x10200
  end_address: 0x100000
  orig_span: &id002
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xefe00
  span: *id002
mcuboot_secondary:
  address: 0x0
  device: DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)
  end_address: 0xf0000
  placement:
    align:
      start: 0x4
  region: external_flash
  share_size:
  - mcuboot_primary
  size: 0xf0000
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
sram_primary:
  address: 0x20000000
  end_address: 0x20070000
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x70000

5481.spi.zip

[tomtran_montage]

I will take a look and let you know.  That was what I was building previously (ncs-inter) l9_e3.