nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Vidar Berg — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:39:20 GMT

Thanks for confirming that it worked. I have reported the issues found here internally so we can improve the sQSPI support in the bootloader.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

MaxLi — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 05:34:05 GMT

Finally, it works.

Thanks for your patient help.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Vidar Berg — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:04:37 GMT

Hi,

I was able to reproduce the same here and it turns it was the same problem reported in this thread: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + External flash with SQSPI: VPR problems causing the application code to hang on startup. However, patching the sqspi driver as suggested in that thread did not work for me. Instead I had to modify the bootloader code to reset VPR before branching to the app:

diff --git a/boot/zephyr/nrf_cleanup.c b/boot/zephyr/nrf_cleanup.c
index c1e5a178..e7f49289 100644
--- a/boot/zephyr/nrf_cleanup.c
+++ b/boot/zephyr/nrf_cleanup.c
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@
 #if defined(NRF_DPPIC)
     #include <hal/nrf_dppi.h>
 #endif
+#if defined(CONFIG_MSPI_NRF_SQSPI)
+    #include <hal/nrf_vpr.h>
+    #include <../../nrfxlib/softperipheral/include/softperipheral_regif.h>
+#endif
+
 
 #include <string.h>
 
@@ -111,6 +116,24 @@ static void nrf_cleanup_clock(void)
 }
 #endif
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_MSPI_NRF_SQSPI)
+static void nrf_cleanup_sqspi(void) 
+{
+    nrf_vpr_cpurun_set(NRF_VPR, false);
+
+    // Reset VPR.
+    nrf_vpr_debugif_dmcontrol_mask_set(NRF_VPR,
+                                       (VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_NDMRESET_Active
+                                        << VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_NDMRESET_Pos |
+                                        VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_DMACTIVE_Enabled
+                                        << VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_DMACTIVE_Pos));
+    nrf_vpr_debugif_dmcontrol_mask_set(NRF_VPR,
+                                       (VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_NDMRESET_Inactive
+                                        << VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_NDMRESET_Pos |
+                                        VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_DMACTIVE_Disabled
+                                        << VPR_DEBUGIF_DMCONTROL_DMACTIVE_Pos));
+}
+#endif
 void nrf_cleanup_peripheral(void)
 {
 #if defined(NRF_RTC0)
@@ -123,6 +146,10 @@ void nrf_cleanup_peripheral(void)
     nrf_cleanup_rtc(NRF_RTC2);
 #endif
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_MSPI_NRF_SQSPI)
+    nrf_cleanup_sqspi();
+#endif 
+
 #if defined(CONFIG_NRF_GRTC_TIMER)
     nrf_cleanup_grtc();
 #endif

Could you please try applying the the same change on your end?

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

MaxLi — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 08:48:23 GMT

Thanks for your help.

when CONFIG_FLASH_MSPI_NOR_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096 was added to mcuboot and app configuration, mcuboot stop at "I: Jumping to the first image slot".

Does it means image in slot-0 is invalid when image magic is bad checked by mcuboot.

Is there any other configuration for image need to be set?

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Vidar Berg — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:20:58 GMT

Hello,

Please also add CONFIG_FLASH_MSPI_NOR_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096 to your mcuboot and application project configuration to ensure the sector size matches the sector size used in internal memory.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

MaxLi — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 09:16:17 GMT

Hello,

Thanks for quick help.

This configuration has indeed taken the program one step forward, but the image check reports a new "slot sectors" error.

Are there any other configuration items related to partition?

partition manager file was attached below.

pm_static.yaml

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../1781.pm_5F00_static.yml.txt

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Vidar Berg — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 10:16:46 GMT

Hello,

Please try adding SB_CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y to the sysbuild.conf file. This should enable the bootloader to access the secondary slot using the MSPI NOR driver without the -ENOENT error.

Best regards,

Vidar

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Hung Bui — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 14:07:59 GMT

Hi Max,

Thanks for the report. I haven't managed to figure out what could be wrong here.

In theory it should work in MCUBoot the same as in application but it seems not. I have forwarded your question internally but due to holiday session I haven't got the reply yet.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

MaxLi — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 02:08:35 GMT

I'm a bit doubtful whether the external flash is no longer accessible in the boot process.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

MaxLi — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 01:59:49 GMT

It's the same issue on v3.1.0 .

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

MaxLi — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 01:37:35 GMT

Yes,it happens on the first boot.
when mcuboot is disabled, the app can read and write the external flash.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Hung Bui — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:30:29 GMT

Hi Max,

Just a quick update, I can reproduce the issue here. Did you see the same issue if you build for v3.1.0 ? Could be that something changed in v3.2.0 caused the problem.

RE: nRF54L15 + MCUboot + mx25r64 with SQSPI : Failed to open flash area on mx25r64.

Hung Bui — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:32:31 GMT

Hi Max,
I'm checking internally to see what could be wrong. Just want to point out that there is another similar ticket but doesn't seem they have the same problem as you, at least in their case MCUBoot can read the 2nd partition
nRF54L15 + MCUboot + External flash with SQSPI: VPR problems

So my understanding is that you have this issue on the first boot, before you receive any image to the second image partition, correct? If you disable MCUBoot, does the application can access the external flash and read/write there?