Utilize external flash with nrf9160 SiP on Custom board.

[Replay]

Hi,

I would like to use the external flash to increase the internal flash, no intention, at the moment, to use it for MCUBoot file or FOTA .

How do I configure it, if it is even possible.

Info:

- nRF Connect SDK: 2.0.0

- nrf9160 SiP on custom board.

- Flash commuincate over SPI.

- Flash is working.

Thanks in advance.

[Replay]

Hi

In build/zephyr/.config, the only difference from nrf9160 DK, is the TF-M UART pins:

nrf9160 DK:

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_TXD_PIN=29

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_RXD_PIN=28

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_RTS_PIN=27

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_CTS_PIN=26

Custom board:

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_TXD_PIN=4294967295

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_RXD_PIN=4294967295

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_RTS_PIN=4294967295

CONFIG_TFM_UART0_CTS_PIN=4294967295

Can this has an effect on the problem?

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Maybe, but that would be a bit odd.
You can try to set them though.

Also check build/mcuboot/zephyr/.config, as this is for the bootloader.

On that topic, compare the following to see if you can find anything suspicious:

• build/zephyr/.config
• build/zephyr/zephyr.dts
• build/mcuboot/zephyr/.config
• build/mcuboot/zephyr/zephyr.dts

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[Replay]

Okay I have been looking in to this problem the past few days, and I'm totally lost on the cause for this failure.

If you got time, I'll post the total overview for you to get the full picture.

- NCS: 2.3.0

- SiP: nrf9160 on custom board

- External Flash: mx25r16

Project setup:

boards/arm/customBoard_nrf9160/customBoard_nrf9160_common-pinctrl.dtsi:

&pinctrl {
	spi0_default: spi0_default {
		group1 {
			psels = <NRF_PSEL(SPIM_SCK, 0, 2)>,
				<NRF_PSEL(SPIM_MOSI, 0, 1)>,
				<NRF_PSEL(SPIM_MISO, 0, 0)>;
		};
	};

	spi0_sleep: spi0_sleep {
		group1 {
			psels = <NRF_PSEL(SPIM_SCK, 0, 2)>,
				<NRF_PSEL(SPIM_MOSI, 0, 1)>,
				<NRF_PSEL(SPIM_MISO, 0, 0)>;
			low-power-enable;
		};
	};
};

boards/arm/customBoard_nrf9160/customBoard_nrf9160_common.dts:

&spi0 {
	compatible = "nordic,nrf-spim";
	status = "okay";
	pinctrl-0 = <&spi0_default>;
	pinctrl-1 = <&spi0_sleep>;
	pinctrl-names = "default", "sleep";
	cs-gpios = <&gpio0 3 GPIO_ACTIVE_LOW>;
  mx25r16: mx25r1635f@0 {
    compatible = "jedec,spi-nor";
    reg = <0>;
    spi-max-frequency = <8000000>;
    jedec-id = [c2 28 15];
    size = <16777216>;
    reset-gpios = <&gpio0 4 GPIO_ACTIVE_LOW>;
  };
};

prj.conf:

CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096
CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y
CONFIG_MULTITHREADING=y
CONFIG_BUILD_WITH_TFM=y
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

child_image\mcuboot.conf:

CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_SPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_KEY_FILE="C:/ncs/xxx/certs/private_mcuboot.pem"

CONFIG_PM_OVERRIDE_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_CHECK=y

CONFIG_MULTITHREADING=y

CONFIG_SIZE_OPTIMIZATIONS=y

# MCUboot requires a large stack size, otherwise an MPU fault will occur
CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=10240

# Enable flash operations
CONFIG_FLASH=y

# This must be increased to accommodate the bigger images.
CONFIG_BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS=256

child_image/mcuboot/customBoard_nrf960.overlay:

/ {	
	chosen {
    nordic,pm-ext-flash = &mx25r16;
	};
};

customBoard_nrf960_ns.overlay:

/ {
	chosen {
        nordic,pm-ext-flash = &mx25r16;
	};
};

Partition manager report:

  external_flash (0x200000 - 2048kB):
+---------------------------------------------+
| 0x0: mcuboot_secondary (0xe8000 - 928kB)    |
| 0xe8000: external_flash (0x118000 - 1120kB) |
+---------------------------------------------+

  flash_primary (0x100000 - 1024kB):
+--------------------------------------------------+
| 0x0: mcuboot (0xc000 - 48kB)                     |
| 0xc000: EMPTY_0 (0x4000 - 16kB)                  |
+---0x10000: mcuboot_primary (0xe8000 - 928kB)-----+
+---0x10000: tfm_secure (0x8000 - 32kB)------------+
| 0x10000: mcuboot_pad (0x200 - 512B)              |
+---0x10200: mcuboot_primary_app (0xe7e00 - 927kB)-+
| 0x10200: tfm (0x7e00 - 31kB)                     |
+---0x18000: tfm_nonsecure (0xe0000 - 896kB)-------+
| 0x18000: app (0xe0000 - 896kB)                   |
+---0xf8000: nonsecure_storage (0x2000 - 8kB)------+
| 0xf8000: settings_storage (0x2000 - 8kB)         |
+--------------------------------------------------+
| 0xfa000: EMPTY_1 (0x6000 - 24kB)                 |
+--------------------------------------------------+

  otp (0x2f4 - 756B):
+------------------------------+
| 0xff8108: otp (0x2f4 - 756B) |
+------------------------------+

  sram_primary (0x40000 - 256kB):
+--------------------------------------------------+
+---0x20000000: mcuboot_sram (0x8000 - 32kB)-------+
+---0x20000000: sram_secure (0x8000 - 32kB)--------+
| 0x20000000: tfm_sram (0x8000 - 32kB)             |
+---0x20008000: sram_nonsecure (0x38000 - 224kB)---+
+---0x20008000: nrf_modem_lib_sram (0x4568 - 17kB)-+
| 0x20008000: nrf_modem_lib_ctrl (0x4e8 - 1kB)     |
| 0x200084e8: nrf_modem_lib_tx (0x2080 - 8kB)      |
| 0x2000a568: nrf_modem_lib_rx (0x2000 - 8kB)      |
+--------------------------------------------------+
| 0x2000c568: sram_primary (0x33a98 - 206kB)       |
+--------------------------------------------------+

Sigurd Hellesvik said:

On that topic, compare the following to see if you can find anything suspicious:

• build/zephyr/.config
• build/zephyr/zephyr.dts
• build/mcuboot/zephyr/.config
• build/mcuboot/zephyr/zephyr.dts

I have not found anything that is giving me an idea of why it should not work.