Cannot Initiate QSPI

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Simonr — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 08:18:19 GMT

This case is nearly 4 years old at this point. Please make a new case where you describe what your problem is, and if you find this case relevant, please link to it.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Piwy — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 07:56:03 GMT

Hi, did you find the solution ? i have the same issue....

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Simonr — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:13:15 GMT

Did you try measuring the voltage on the pins to the QSPI from the nRF while operating? You can also ask the QSPI manufacturers what is the expected behavior of the QSPi chip when/if it is damaged by too high input voltages.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

lufeitan — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 14:26:03 GMT

Hi Simon,

QSPI memory is only connected to LDO and nRF52840.

Best regards,

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Simonr — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 06:44:04 GMT

No, that should not be the case. The other pins should not output any voltage/current while the nRF52 series are flashed as far as I know. You can try measuring the voltage on the pins to the QSPI from the nRF while operating, as the voltage might exceed 2.0V during operation. Is the QSPI chip connected to anything but the LDO and the nRF52840?

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

lufeitan — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 13:56:04 GMT

Hi Simon,

I used a heat gun to remove the flash memory from the board. I initiated the QSPI pins as GPIO's and was able to toggle them, showing that the GPIO controller worked and that the pins are still functional. However, even without the flash memory, the QSPI controller still times out when activating inside the nrf52840.

I was also able to probe the VCC pad of the memory and confirm that the input voltage was 1.8V. The input voltage was generated by an LDO on the custom board from a main voltage of 3V.

Is it possible that the Flash memory powered on in single SPI mode and, when I used QSPI on the nrf52840 to program the flash, some pins drew more current than allowed and caused the QSPI controller to burn out?

Best regards,

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Simonr — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 09:28:02 GMT

Do you have more than one of these flash memory chips, and can switch it out on your custom board to see if that makes it run again? How are you powering the QSPI flash memory? Are you able to confirm that the input voltage onto the flash memory chip is actually 1.8V? Can you check that the lines between the nRF52 and the QSPI are not broken in any way as well?

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

lufeitan — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 14:58:39 GMT

Hi Simon,

I am using the MT25Q series flash memory from Micron. I have attached its datasheet. I am powering both the flash memory and the nrf52840 with 1.8V.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../MT25QU02GCBB_5F00_datasheet.pdf

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Simonr — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 09:52:10 GMT

Could it be that the external flash chip has been damaged by too high voltages? I see that its datasheet (if this is the correct one for your chip) states that it doesn't operate at voltages higher than 2.0V. What voltage are you supplying the flash chip with?

Best regards,

Simon

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

lufeitan — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 15:25:24 GMT

Hi,

Thank you for the response.

I have checked the connections on the layout file and they seem to be correct. I will check again to make sure.

I am thinking that if the connections are not correct, it would not have initialized in the first place. My experience with both copies of the custom board was that the QSPI initiated fine the few times (I was even able to read device ID from flash using QSPI), but then suddenly stopped initiating after I power cycled a few times.

The other devices on the custom board do not use QSPI, some use TWI, others use UART. I am not allowed to give specific part numbers.

Best Regards,

Lu Tan

RE: Cannot Initiate QSPI

Simonr — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 09:36:30 GMT

This sounds like a hardware problem to me. Seeing as the project works fine on the DK, and other drivers run as expected, it points towards some communication failure between the Micron flash chip and the nRF52840. Can you check the connection between the devices and make sure that they are connected correctly to one another? Also, what other drivers are there that you have been able to initialize and run on the custom board?

Best regards,

Simon