[U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv

[U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv

[Petri Lehtinen]

Hi!

I'm using U-Boot 1.3.4 and Linux 2.6.26.5 on MPC8323E-RDB. After using
fw_printenv in Linux, erase and saveenv stop working in U-Boot. In
Linux, fw_* still work.

When using erase, this is the result:

=> protect off fe040000 fe05ffff
Un-Protected 1 sectors
=> erase fe040000 fe05ffff

Flash erase error at address fe040000
Block Erase Error.
Block locked.
  done
Erased 1 sectors
=> md fe040000
fe040000: c7be9eae 626f6f74 636d643d 73657465    ....bootcmd=sete
fe040010: 6e762062 6f6f7461 72677320 726f6f74    nv bootargs root
...

So the sector doesn't get erased.

Errors are similar when using saveenv:

=> saveenv
Saving Environment to Flash...
Un-Protected 1 sectors
Erasing Flash...
Flash erase error at address fe040000
Block Erase Error.
Block locked.
  done
Erased 1 sectors

I tracked the error message down to cfi_flash.c, where this function
call fails:

   flash_isequal (info, sector, 0, FLASH_STATUS_DONE)

However, I have no clue on how CFI works, so my ability to debug it
further stops here. A possible reason I can think of is that the ioctl
calls in fw_setenv are somehow messing up the Flash status.

Any ideas?

-- 
Petri Lehtinen
Inoi Oy
Tel. : +358 40 758 0229
Email: petri.lehtinen at inoi.fi

[U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Petri Lehtinen,

In message <48CF6452.40603@inoi.fi> you wrote:
> 
> I'm using U-Boot 1.3.4 and Linux 2.6.26.5 on MPC8323E-RDB. After using
> fw_printenv in Linux, erase and saveenv stop working in U-Boot. In
--^^^^^^^^^^^--

I think this must be a typo. fw_printenv should have no effect. I
guess you mean fw_setenv (as in the Subject) ?

> Linux, fw_* still work.

Obviously the flash locking is the important thing here. Probably your
flashes weren't locked before, but are locked after running fw_setenv.

> When using erase, this is the result:
> 
> => protect off fe040000 fe05ffff
> Un-Protected 1 sectors
> => erase fe040000 fe05ffff
> 
> Flash erase error at address fe040000
> Block Erase Error.
> Block locked.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That's a pretty clear error message here.

> Errors are similar when using saveenv:
> 
> => saveenv
> Saving Environment to Flash...
> Un-Protected 1 sectors
> Erasing Flash...
> Flash erase error at address fe040000
> Block Erase Error.
> Block locked.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Again, a clear error message.

> However, I have no clue on how CFI works, so my ability to debug it
> further stops here. A possible reason I can think of is that the ioctl
> calls in fw_setenv are somehow messing up the Flash status.

The problem is that  the  MPC8323ERDB  board  has  flash  chips  that
support  hardware  flash  protection  (locking), but the board config
file does  not  select  the  CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION  option.  Therefore
U-Boot  will  not  make  any  attempts  to  lock  or unlock any flash
sectors.


I think two things should be done:

a) Kim, I think it would make sense to  add  CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION  to
   all  board  configurations  that use lockable flash chips. I would
   even consider this a bug fix and pull it into the upcoming 2008-10
   release, if you want.

b) Guennadi, I think it would be  nice,  user-friendly  behaviour  if
   fw_setenv  did  not unconditional locking, but would instead leave
   the flash in the same state it found it. Do you think it would  be
   possible  to  test  the state first, and then perform the unlock /
   lock operations only when the flash sectors  were  already  locked
   when fw_setenv was called?

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.    - Ambrose Bierce

[U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv

[Guennadi Liakhovetski]

On Tue, 16 Sep 2008, Wolfgang Denk wrote:

> b) Guennadi, I think it would be  nice,  user-friendly  behaviour  if
>    fw_setenv  did  not unconditional locking, but would instead leave
>    the flash in the same state it found it. Do you think it would  be
>    possible  to  test  the state first, and then perform the unlock /
>    lock operations only when the flash sectors  were  already  locked
>    when fw_setenv was called?

I am not sure if this is possible with the current MTD ABI, it looks like 
it is not. There is a flags member in struct mtd_info_user, which can take 
value MTD_WRITEABLE, but I think it means something different - whether 
this mtd-device is writable in principle. So, it looks like the only way 
to find out whether the specific sector is locked is to try to write / 
erase it:-(

Thanks
Guennadi
---
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.

DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: +49-8142-66989-0 Fax: +49-8142-66989-80  Email: office at denx.de

[U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv

[Petri Lehtinen]

 >> fw_printenv in Linux, erase and saveenv stop working in U-Boot. In
 > --^^^^^^^^^^^--
 >
 > I think this must be a typo. fw_printenv should have no effect. I
 > guess you mean fw_setenv (as in the Subject) ?

Ahh, yes. I meant fw_setenv of course.

 > The problem is that  the  MPC8323ERDB  board  has  flash  chips  that
 > support  hardware  flash  protection  (locking), but the board config
 > file does  not  select  the  CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION  option.  Therefore
 > U-Boot  will  not  make  any  attempts  to  lock  or unlock any flash
 > sectors.

I enabled CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION, and now it works. Thanks a lot.

-- 
Petri Lehtinen
Inoi Oy
Tel. : +358 40 758 0229
Email: petri.lehtinen at inoi.fi

[U-Boot] [PATCH] mpc83xx: add h/w flash protection to board configs (was Re: erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv)

[Kim Phillips]

On Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:04:50 +0200
Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de> wrote:

> The problem is that  the  MPC8323ERDB  board  has  flash  chips  that
> support  hardware  flash  protection  (locking), but the board config
> file does  not  select  the  CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION  option.  Therefore
> U-Boot  will  not  make  any  attempts  to  lock  or unlock any flash
> sectors.
> 
> 
> I think two things should be done:
> 
> a) Kim, I think it would make sense to  add  CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION  to
>    all  board  configurations  that use lockable flash chips. I would
>    even consider this a bug fix and pull it into the upcoming 2008-10
>    release, if you want.

ok, I'll leave non-fsl boards up to their maintainers though:

[U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv

[yusuf khan]

> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:46:26 +0300
> From: Petri Lehtinen <petri.lehtinen@inoi.fi>
> Subject: [U-Boot] erase and saveenv stop working after using fw_setenv
> To: u-boot at lists.denx.de
> Message-ID: <48CF6452.40603@inoi.fi>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Hi!
>
> I'm using U-Boot 1.3.4 and Linux 2.6.26.5 on MPC8323E-RDB. After using
> fw_printenv in Linux, erase and saveenv stop working in U-Boot. In
> Linux, fw_* still work.
>
> When using erase, this is the result:
>
> => protect off fe040000 fe05ffff
> Un-Protected 1 sectors
> => erase fe040000 fe05ffff
>
> Flash erase error at address fe040000
> Block Erase Error.
> Block locked.
>   done
> Erased 1 sectors
> => md fe040000
> fe040000: c7be9eae 626f6f74 636d643d 73657465    ....bootcmd=sete
> fe040010: 6e762062 6f6f7461 72677320 726f6f74    nv bootargs root
> ...
>
> So the sector doesn't get erased.
>
> Errors are similar when using saveenv:
>
> => saveenv
> Saving Environment to Flash...
> Un-Protected 1 sectors
> Erasing Flash...
> Flash erase error at address fe040000
> Block Erase Error.
> Block locked.
>   done
> Erased 1 sectors
>
> I tracked the error message down to cfi_flash.c, where this function
> call fails:
>
>    flash_isequal (info, sector, 0, FLASH_STATUS_DONE)
>
> However, I have no clue on how CFI works, so my ability to debug it
> further stops here. A possible reason I can think of is that the ioctl
> calls in fw_setenv are somehow messing up the Flash status.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> --
> Petri Lehtinen
> Inoi Oy
> Tel. : +358 40 758 0229
> Email: petri.lehtinen at inoi.fi
>
>

Hi

I think it is the problem of hardware locking, try enabling
CFG_FLASH_PROTECTION .

-- 
Thanks & Regards

Yusuf A Khan
Multitech Software Systems
Koramangala,Bangalore