How to switch from EEPROM to SFLASH ?

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Anonymous
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Broadcom has put 32KB EEPROM (default NVRAM) which is not good for OTA upgrade - 64KB or more is required, otherwise memory might get corrupted. To fix that I tried to switch to onboard SFlash (64KB). Following the manual I changed: RD2, RD3, RD4, R100, R101.

To give it a try I booted up from ROM (button SW5) and ran:

ROM.proximity-BCM920732TAG_Q32 recover UART=COM6 PLATFORM_NV=SFLASH VERBOSE=1

but I am getting the error:

Recovering platform ...

Tools\ChipLoad\Win32\chipload.exe -BLUETOOLMODE -PORT COM6 -BAUDRATE 115200 -NODLMINIDRIVER -MINIDRIVER Platforms/BCM920732TAG_Q32/uart_64bytes_DISABLE_EEPROM_WP_PIN1.hex -BTP Platforms/BCM920732TAG_Q32/20732_SFLASH.btp -CONFIG build/proximity-BCM920732TAG_Q32-rom-ram-Wiced-release/proximity-BCM920732TAG_Q32-rom-ram-Wiced-release.hex > build/proximity-BCM920732TAG_Q32-rom-ram-Wiced-release/download.log 2>&1 && echo Recovery complete && "Tools/common/Win32/echo.exe" && echo Application running || echo **** Recovery failed - retry ****

**** Recovery failed - retry ****

The last part (most important) from download.log says:

A total of 2 contiguous memory areas were filled:

[FF000000..FF000027] DATA (40 bytes)

[FF003000..FF006075] DATA (12406 bytes)

Download config error trying to verify 40 bytes at address 0xFF000000    (SOURCE:  CONFIG   Configuration data   build/proximity-BCM920732TAG_Q32-rom-ram-Wiced-release/proximity-BCM920732TAG_Q32-rom-ram-Wiced-release.hex) (Data mismatch at address 0xFF000001. Expected byte value 0x08 but device contains 0xFF)

The above procedure for EEPROM works fine (PLATFORM_NV=SFLASH is omitted in this case since EEPROM is default).

Am I missing something for SFLASH ?

Thanks

Lukas

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1 Solution
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hello MadMax,

If Serial Flash is not supported and EEPROM is too small do you think replacing the EEPROM from 32KB to 64K will fix the problem ?

[JT] - Please take a look at the Post: Re: Memory size limits on 20732? - this will give you a rough understanding of how our Memory Map is laid out.  As per your question on the replacement of the EEPROM, it depends on the size of your App.  Of course you will need the "double buffering" technique for both images, but since the Stack is ROM based, you will have a smaller image with which to do OTA!  Our upcoming SDK 2.0 will support this feature.

In other words how else can I test OTA feature with BCM20732TAG Board ?

Is it also not supported ?

[JT] - The OTA functionality is not supported on the BCM20732TAG Board.  Our upcoming BCM20736 board (released 2 days ago) will support - Please see BCM20736 Product Brief for the details.

Also why does the manual show how to switch from EEPROM to SFLASH if the last one is not supported in a first place ? Don't you think its highly misleading ?

[JT] - Yes, it is misleading.  We intended to make both available at the time of the design as a design feature for upcoming devices (And the BCM20736 does support it!) but EEPROM was based on customer feedback.

I hope this helps!

JT

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3 Replies
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hello MadMax

The Serial FLASH is not supported on the BCM20732TAG Board.

The upcoming BCM2073xTAG003 Board will support Serial FLASH.

JT

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Anonymous
Not applicable

If Serial Flash is not supported and EEPROM is too small do you think replacing the EEPROM from 32KB to 64K will fix the problem ?

In other words how else can I test OTA feature with BCM20732TAG Board ?

Is it also not supported ?

Also why does the manual show how to switch from EEPROM to SFLASH if the last one is not supported in a first place ? Don't you think its highly misleading ?

Lukas

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hello MadMax,

If Serial Flash is not supported and EEPROM is too small do you think replacing the EEPROM from 32KB to 64K will fix the problem ?

[JT] - Please take a look at the Post: Re: Memory size limits on 20732? - this will give you a rough understanding of how our Memory Map is laid out.  As per your question on the replacement of the EEPROM, it depends on the size of your App.  Of course you will need the "double buffering" technique for both images, but since the Stack is ROM based, you will have a smaller image with which to do OTA!  Our upcoming SDK 2.0 will support this feature.

In other words how else can I test OTA feature with BCM20732TAG Board ?

Is it also not supported ?

[JT] - The OTA functionality is not supported on the BCM20732TAG Board.  Our upcoming BCM20736 board (released 2 days ago) will support - Please see BCM20736 Product Brief for the details.

Also why does the manual show how to switch from EEPROM to SFLASH if the last one is not supported in a first place ? Don't you think its highly misleading ?

[JT] - Yes, it is misleading.  We intended to make both available at the time of the design as a design feature for upcoming devices (And the BCM20736 does support it!) but EEPROM was based on customer feedback.

I hope this helps!

JT

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