a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

JohnM — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 14:35:16 GMT

ok, I didn't know about this pynrfproj! I think that's what I'm looking for.

Yes it's for educational.

Case closed.

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

Andy — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 13:27:03 GMT

I still don't understand what's your goal with this. If you just want to display the contents on flash somewhere, I'd advise you to just use JLinkExe, use the savebin command and open the bin file in Sublime Text using the HexViewer plugin.

If you're just doing stuff for educational purposes then the pynrfjprog library is fairly easy to use. I've used it in the past to automate flashing of entire panels, writing serial numbers to UICR, etc.

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

JohnM — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 13:02:17 GMT

ok! so I drop UART and I've just found a Jlink lib in Python: pylink.

So I'll experiment with this library, there must be a function to read a memory location in this lib.

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

Andy — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 11:32:54 GMT

nrfjprog works through JLink though, i.e. it uses SWD, not UART.

Which Python UART library are you talking about? I searched the repositories of Nordic and didn't find anything about UART. Do you mean nrfutil by any chance? Or the Python wrapper for nrfjprog? Those are the only two relevant repos I found in GitHub. Or are you talking about something in the SDK?

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

JohnM — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 11:04:37 GMT

Well my idea is just to experiment with the Python UART library.

So, if you say that I'm obliged to upload a little FW in the Flash, it mean nrfjprog (or nRF Connect) does it as well. But how can it manage to put it in an unused flash area in order not to corrupt the FW already present in the target chip?

my guess: nrfproj calculates the flash application size, the actual size of the existing FW and then puts its little FW at the end of the area, am I right?

Thanks.

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

awneil — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 13:37:32 GMT

[quote userid="15909" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/45791/a-way-to-read-the-flash-memory-over-uart-without-uploading-a-firmware-to-the-target-chip-nrf52/180520"]What exactly are you trying to accomplish? What kind of requirements do you have[/quote]

Exactly!

What is the goal: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#goal

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

Andy — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 13:30:41 GMT

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? What kind of requirements do you have?

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

awneil — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 08:34:04 GMT

[quote userid="14926" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/45791/a-way-to-read-the-flash-memory-over-uart-without-uploading-a-firmware-to-the-target-chip-nrf52/180431"]You can use nrfjprog to read flash area/data through SWD[/quote]

In fact you can use any debugger or other utility that can read through SWD!

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

Jørgen Holmefjord — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 08:03:55 GMT

Hi,

There is no way to get anything from flash over UART without uploading a application that reads the data and sends it over UART. You can use nrfjprog to read flash area/data through SWD interface, as long as the APPROTECT register have not been set.

Best regards,
Jørgen

RE: a way to read the flash memory over UART without uploading a firmware to the target chip? (nrf52)

awneil — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 17:56:35 GMT

[quote userid="67176" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/45791/a-way-to-read-the-flash-memory-over-uart-without-uploading-a-firmware-to-the-target-chip-nrf52"]upload and run a small sketch in the RAM [/quote]

You could do that - but then you'd have to have firmware in the chip to facilitate it!