Use external flash with MCUBOOT

RE: Use external flash with MCUBOOT

Davenator — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 19:26:40 GMT

I am using version 1.9.1

I began debugging MCUboot and finally figured out the settings and their dependencies. Now I have things building and seem to work. I can mount a file system on the storage partition and read/write files. So I am convinced the external flash is working.

My question is does MCUMGR support image partitions on the external flash? When I use it to list the partitions only see the ones on the internal flash. I would like to use it to upload and test booting from external flash.

> mcumgr -c nrf52 image list

Images:
image=0 slot=0
version: 0.0.0
bootable: true
flags: active confirmed
hash: 3cc864cc51508c03e70aa83fd49d47e0aaf943736eb7b1ac1472c69511eeb718
Split status: N/A (0)

The board.dts file looks like the partitions are defined and the partition manager seems to confirm it.

west build -t partition_manager_report
-- west build: running target partition_manager_report
[1/1] cmd.exe /C "cd /D D:\Projects\Nordic\OTA\littlefs_ub... D:/Projects/Nordic/OTA/littlefs_ubx/build/partitions.yml"
external_flash (0x40000 - 256kB):
+-------------------------------------------+
| 0x0: mcuboot_secondary (0x24000 - 144kB) |
| 0x24000: external_flash (0x1c000 - 112kB) |
+-------------------------------------------+

flash_primary (0x30000 - 192kB):
+-------------------------------------------------+
| 0x0: mcuboot (0xc000 - 48kB) |
+---0xc000: mcuboot_primary (0x24000 - 144kB)-----+
| 0xc000: mcuboot_pad (0x200 - 512B) |
+---0xc200: mcuboot_primary_app (0x23e00 - 143kB)-+
| 0xc200: app (0x23e00 - 143kB) |
+-------------------------------------------------+

sram_primary (0x6000 - 24kB):
+------------------------------------------+
| 0x20000000: sram_primary (0x6000 - 24kB) |
+------------------------------------------+

From ubx_bmd330eval_nrf52810.dts

&flash0 {

partitions {

compatible = "fixed-partitions";

#address-cells = <1>;

#size-cells = <1>;

boot_partition: partition@0 {

label = "mcuboot";

reg = <0x00000000 0xc000>;

};

slot0_partition: partition@c000 {

label = "image-0";

reg = <0x0000C000 0xd000>;

};

slot1_partition: partition@19000 {

label = "image-1";

reg = <0x00019000 0xd000>;

};

scratch_partition: partition@26000 {

label = "image-scratch";

reg = <0x00026000 0x3000>;

};

storage_partition: partition@29000 {

label = "storage";

reg = <0x00029000 0x00007000>;

};

RE: Use external flash with MCUBOOT

Sigurd — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 12:10:19 GMT

Hi,

Looks like the overlay is not getting applied. Check the start of the log to see if it's get applied or not.

[quote user=""]I am using Zephyr 3.0.99 with the nrf52810 on a ublox BMD-330 eval board.[/quote]

If you are building for ubx_bmd330eval_nrf52810 , then you should name your overlay file ubx_bmd330eval_nrf52810.overlay and not nrf52dk_nrf52810.overlay

RE: Use external flash with MCUBOOT

Davenator — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 12:57:26 GMT

After studying the code a bit and trying to figure out which parts of it apply I made the modifications. I now get a lot of compile errors that I'm not sure how to interpret. Any suggestions on how to resolve?

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../5353.build.txt devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../8715.prj.conf

From child_image/mcuboot

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../8715.prj.conf devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../7220.nrf52dk_5F00_nrf52810.overlay

RE: Use external flash with MCUBOOT

Sigurd — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 14:33:35 GMT

Hi,

[quote user=""]I would really appreciate if you could point me to a working example that uses your latest SDK or up to date info. on how to solve this problem[/quote]

My colleague Simon have an example here:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/82430/ncs-external-flash-ota-change-qspi-to-spi/345238#345238

What nRF Connect SDK version are you using?