Flash locked !

[Altera_Forum]

Hi all, 

 My configuration for uClinux is :  uClinux-dist-20090618.tar.bz2 nios2gcc-20080203.tar.bz2  I followed this tutorial to instanciate a "Spansion S29GL01GP 64Mx16bit (128Mbyte) Nor Flash" on a DBM3C40 devboard :  http://www.nioswiki.com/index.php?title=mtd&highlight=mtd  When I boot uClinux after a "make", here is the log concerning the flash part :  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- physmap platform flash device: 02000000 at 00000000 physmap-flash.0: Found 1 x16 devices at 0x0 in 8-bit bank  Amd/Fujitsu Extended Query Table at 0x0040 physmap-flash.0: CFI does not contain boot bank location. Assuming top. number of CFI chips: 1 cfi_cmdset_0002: Disabling erase-suspend-program due to code brokenness. cmdlinepart partition parsing not available RedBoot partition parsing not available Using physmap partition information Creating 2 MTD partitions on "physmap-flash.0": 0x000000200000-0x000000400000 : "romfs/jffs2" 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "loader/kernel" --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Then I try the traditionnal command to mount something :  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /> mkdir /mnt/configflash /> chmod 777 /mnt/configflash /> mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock0 /mnt/configflash --------------------------------------------------------------------------  But after 1 or 2 seconds, I got these lines (automatically) :  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /> MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x001c0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x001a0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00180000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout ...... ..... --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Then I tried another command to first erase all the blocks but one more time, the same error :  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /> flash_eraseall -j dev/mtd0 Erasing 128 Kibyte @ 0 -- 0 % complete.MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout  flash_eraseall: dev/mtd0: MTD write failure: Input/output error Erasing 128 Kibyte @ 20000 -- 6 % complete.MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout .... .... (up to 100%) --------------------------------------------------------------------------  After searching the web concerning this error, I found this :  3) "eraseall: /dev/mtd0: MTD Erase failure: Input/output error" Possible reason: If you get this message for each block than probably write protection is on. Check the WP pin  So I decided to activate the "unlock" option in "make menuconfig" -> MTD-utils section but unfortunately it doesn't generate a "flash_unlock" executable after a "make" so I add some lines to the Makefile located in (~/nios2-linux/uClinux-dist/user/mtd-utils) :  TARGETS-$(CONFIG_USER_MTDUTILS_UNLOCK) += flash_unlock $(ROMFSINST) -e CONFIG_USER_MTDUTILS_UNLOCK build-$(VER)/flash_unlock /bin/flash_unlock  After a "make", I successfully obtain a "flash_unlock" executable in (~/romfs/bin) but when I try this :  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /> flash_unlock /dev/mtd0 /> Could not unlock MTD device: /dev/mtd0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------  I don't understand what is wrong in my procedure... Can the NOR Flash on DBM3C40 have a write protection (PIN) enabled by default (to the VCC) and which must be disabled manually (with pin assignements in Quartus) ?  Thanks for your help !  Papy

[Altera_Forum]

There was a problem in avalon cfi flash access. And this needs patches on the flash drivers. Please use the community distro instead of the uclinux.org, 

 http://www.nioswiki.com/installnios2linux  - Hippo

[Altera_Forum]

I install "nios2-linux-20090730.tar" following this tutorial : 

 http://www.nioswiki.com/installnios2linux  But still the same problem :  physmap platform flash device: 02000000 at 00000000 physmap-flash.0: Found 1 x16 devices at 0x0 in 8-bit bank  Amd/Fujitsu Extended Query Table at 0x0040 physmap-flash.0: CFI does not contain boot bank location. Assuming top. number of CFI chips: 1 cfi_cmdset_0002: Disabling erase-suspend-program due to code brokenness. cmdlinepart partition parsing not available RedBoot partition parsing not available Using physmap partition information Creating 2 MTD partitions on "physmap-flash.0": 0x000000200000-0x000000400000 : "romfs/jffs2" 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "loader/kernel" ... Sash command shell (version 1.1.1) /> flash_unlock /dev/mtd0 Could not unlock MTD device: /dev/mtd0 /> flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0 Erasing 128 Kibyte @ 200000 -- 100 % complete. /> mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock0 /mnt /> MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x001c0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x001a0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00180000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00160000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00140000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00120000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00100000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x000e0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x000c0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x000a0000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00080000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00060000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00040000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00020000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x00000000 failed: -5 MTD do_write_buffer(): software timeout Write clean marker to block at 0x001e0000 failed: -5  I don't understand what i'm doing wrong... Maybe the Avalon bridge shared between SRAM and CFI Flash ?  Do I must force the SRAM pin to be disabled ?  Thanks for your help !  Papy 

[Altera_Forum]

The datasheet was totally wrong : 

 The flash is a Spansion GL256P11FF (128Kbytes x 256 = 256M)...  Do I must change the config.c file ?  Please help !  Thanks

[Altera_Forum]

You should create an entry of your mtd map in config.c. Especially, you need to tell it the flash bus width, 8 or 16 bits. Please see flash programming for de2-70 post. 

 - hippo 

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks Hippo it works perfectly with this config.c : 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------# define CONFIG_DBM3C40 # if defined(CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP) || defined(CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP_MODULE) static struct mtd_partition nios2_partitions[] = {# if defined(CONFIG_DBM3C40)  {  .name = "jffs2_config",  .size = 0x01000000, /* 16 Mo */  .offset = na_ext_flash_size-0x01000000,   },   {  .name = "sof_and_zimage",  .size = na_ext_flash_size-0x01000000, /* 16 Mo */  .offset = 0,  }# elif ... ... }; .... static struct physmap_flash_data nios2_flash_data = {# if defined(CONFIG_DBM3C40)  .width = 2, /* 16 bits data bus */# elif ... ... }; ------------------------------------------------------------------------  I can successfully store any data to /dev/mtd0 like IP configuration file or some PDF files...  Now I follow the tutorial "Flash Programmer" but I don't understand well the sof2flash parameter --offset in "sof in CFI, program in CFI" paragraph :  # Creating .flash file for the FPGA configuration sof2flash --offset=0xc00000 --input=$SOPC_KIT_NIOS2/examples/verilog/niosII_cycloneII_2c35/standard/standard.sof --output=standard.flash  For me, it only means that the size of (zImage+boot_loader), which is programmed just after this step, must be lower than 0xC00000, otherwise writing zImage or boot loader will erase some part (or full) of the SOF configuration file...  Do I misunderstand the --offset parameter ? I mean it could be a "devboard-dependent" parameter for example...  Thanks for your reply !  Papy