.bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:30:14 GMT

And also if i create zip package from hex file then it will automatically remove the UICR register form the hex file and create the binary file from it. and the size of that bin file is exact the same what i required.

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 09:22:23 GMT

Thanks Vidar for your support.

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 09:07:03 GMT

Yes, that correct. But you should be able to automate this process.

Regards,

Vidar

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 08:42:14 GMT

ok, got it.

So that means, if we don't want to include UICR in .bin file then we need to remove it from hex and create bin file. That's the only way right..?

regards

Rohit Saini

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 08:37:03 GMT

Yes, you have to program the original bootloader hex that has the UICR data at 0x10001014 and 0x10001018. The MBR will not start the bootloader if this data is missing.

The start address is set here as you said:

And the MBR paramater page address at 0x10001018 here:

    __root uint32_t const m_uicr_mbr_params_page_address
        @ UICR_PARAM_PAGE_ADDR = NRF_MBR_PARAMS_PAGE_ADDRESS;

Regards,

Vidar

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 05:26:36 GMT

But Right now i am removing the UICR data from my hex file.

in this case its not jumping to the bootloader part.

And I checked the link you shared. But one thing again i didn't understand that where exactly in bootloader we are assigning the address to the UICR register.

one place is this i know.

That means without including the UICR register in hex file we cant jump to the bootloader location from the MBR..?

Regards

Rohit Saini

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 12:43:19 GMT

OK, so you should not have to set the UICR registers if your are programming the .hex.

[quote user="R_S"].bin is only used for creating signature separately.[/quote]

Yes, and for DFU.

[quote user="R_S"]Is it possible to avoid this much manually intervention..?[/quote]

You will have to decode the intelhex format somehow before you can compute the signature. But this is usually something you will automate through a script (shell, python, etc), so not something you should have to do manually.

[quote user="R_S"]

How it knows in case of blink application code and not in Bootloader code...?

[/quote]

The MBR will jump to the bootloader on startup if it sees the bootloader address at 0x10001014 or 0xff8. Please see the "Master boot record and SoftDevice reset procedure" section of the Softdevice specification for more details.

Regards,

Vidar

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 10:17:02 GMT

And i have one more doubt.

LIke i am erasing the flash then loading softdevice code. and then my Blinky application code which started from 0x27000 location in flash.

nrfjprog.exe --family NRF52 --eraseall

nrfjprog --program s140_nrf52_7.2.0_softdevice.hex --family NRF52

nrfjprog --reset --program blinky_pca10056.hex --family NRF52

once it reset the LED start Blinking.

That means its jumping to the 0x27000 memory location. But my question is how he knows that this location it need to jump.

Because when i did same for the open bootloader code. I created the hex file and i deleted the uicr Address register from hex file and then performed below steps.

nrfjprog.exe --family NRF52 --eraseall

nrfjprog --program s140_nrf52_7.2.0_softdevice.hex --family NRF52

nrfjprog --reset --program open_bootloader_usb_mbr_pca10056.hex --family NRF52

But in this case its not jumping to my bootloader code. why is that so. why in blibky application its jumping from mbr to its location(0x27000) but for open bootloader code its not jumping to its loaction(0xBE000)....?

How it knows in case of blink application code and not in Bootloader code...?

Regards

Rohit Saini

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 07:23:28 GMT

I am using nrfjprog only to flash my chip. And also i am using .hex file for programming.

.bin is only used for creating signature separately.

Writing UICR with nrfjprog

> nrfjprog --memwr 0x10001014 --val <bl_start>

> nrfjprog --memwr 0x10001018 --val <mbr_param_page>

But this process will be manually right. First need to build the code then remove the UICR content from the .hex file.

creating .bin based on that hex file and then i need to create the signature on that bin.

Is it possible to avoid this much manually intervention..?

Regards

Rohit Saini

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 07:11:25 GMT

The UICR registers used by the bootloader are only meant to be written once when you first program the device. They cannot be included a DFU image.

[quote userid="109220" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/84268/bin-file-of-secure-bootloader-is-too-much/350772#350772"]Now i question. How many ways we can write the data into UICR register..?[/quote]

What are you currently using for programming the chip? nrfjprog, jlink commander, or something else? Also, it is a must to use the .bin file for programming, or can you use the .hex?

Writing UICR with nrfjprog

> nrfjprog --memwr 0x10001014 --val <bl_start>

> nrfjprog --memwr 0x10001018 --val <mbr_param_page>

Regards,

Vidar

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 06:25:48 GMT

Actually i am using my won public key and certificate to create a signature on .bin directly.

And i did as you mentioned by removing the UICR register from hex and then created bin file from hex by using "arm-none-eabi-objcopy" command.

Now i question. How many ways we can write the data into UICR register..?

Or anything else we can change here, so that our code directly jump to the Bootloader address..?

Can you help me here...

Regards

Rohit Saini

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 14:03:17 GMT

The nrfutil script does this already. I.e. strips away the UICR section from the hex, converts it to a bin, and computes the signature with your private key as input. Is there are reason you can't use nrfutil?

[quote user="R_S"]and to run "arm-none-eabi-objcopy" command. which place i need to run this..?[/quote]

It's from the command line. Objcopy is included in the GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain (link)

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 13:43:54 GMT

bin I am using for Signature creation.

But the size of that bin is very large.

and to run "arm-none-eabi-objcopy" command. which place i need to run this..?

Regards

R_S

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 13:20:10 GMT

What's the purpose of generating this bin file, is it for DFU or for programming through the debug interface. You will need to write the UICR registers separately if it's for the latter.

[quote user="R_S"]And also to creating .bin from .hex which command need will be used....?[/quote]

I usually use objcopy or hex2bin (link)

example with objcopy:

arm-none-eabi-objcopy --input-target=ihex --output-target=binary <input>.hex <output>.bin

Regards,

Vidar

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

R_S — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 12:59:12 GMT

So looks like I need to remove the content related to uicr register from hex file and then creating bin file from it.

Now,

So in this case do i also need to program UICR register separately or not....?

And also to creating .bin from .hex which command need will be used....?

Regards

Rohit Saini

RE: .bin file of Secure bootloader is too much

Vidar Berg — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 12:26:04 GMT

Hi Rohit,

Please see my answer in this thread: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/47903/noload-directive-for-uicr_bootloader_start_address-and-uicr_mbr_params_page. The large file size is caused by byte padding needed to offset the UICR data that is part of the bootloader image.

Best regards,

Vidar