SST flash debugging | adafruit | Page 1

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:18 PM

#

@radiant scroll I have some ideas on your plan for today.

#

You could skip getting serial console working if you start up in user-invoked safe mode. That should eliminate the need to mount CIRCUITPY early, because main.c won't try to run boot.py, safemode.py, or code.py. Then you can delay or just comment out mounting the filesystem early.

#

One thing I have done is to insert code I want to run into an innocuous user-invokable routine in, say, microcontroller or micrcontroller.cpu, like .temperature or maybe something better. Then I can make that code happen when I'm already in the REPL. So you could put the mounting in there, say. Then you can just log with mp_printf(&mp_plat_print, ...) and it will come out on USB serial.

#

Re SWD: did it work at all? Did you use the onboard gdb debug interface? If that doesn't work, you could use the header near the power pins. The tab on the SWD plug should point toward the edge of the board with the USB connectors

#

I made these sorts of aliases for ease in getting the gdb interface up with the J-Link: alias gdbserver-same54p20a='JLinkGDBServer -device ATSAME54P20A -if SWD'

#

i am talking about the small 10-pin SWD header

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:27 PM

#

On the SWD front, I've attached the J-Link to the correct header on board in the correct orientation. I can start pyocd, and it successfully connects to SWD over CMSIS-DAP. I have not tried JLinkGDBServer, but will.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:27 PM

#

i have never used ocd that successfully. The J-Link software is better

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:27 PM

#

Where pyocd collapses is when I connect to 3333 from GDB.

#

Got it. I'll go that route.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:28 PM

#

here are my gdb aliases for talking to the jlink

📎 gdbinit

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:29 PM

#

With an unmodified CP image flashed, I get the LED strobe, but no further. If I reset during the strobe, it does not enter safe mode.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:29 PM

#

that is what Ross was getting too

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:30 PM

#

This board with the new flash part is a special kind of special.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:31 PM

#

I have aliases to invoke gdb also, like alias tm0-gdb='gdb-multiarch build-trinket_m0/firmware.elf'

#

so I specify the .elf file on the command line. I can't remember why I started using gdb-multiarch -- I think maybe it was to get the gdb python support to work

#

there is also stuff in .gdbinit there to use the svd_gdb.py library to access the registers by name

#

Scott set that up years ago

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:33 PM

#

Which port does JLinkGDBServer listen on?

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:33 PM

#

~~3333~~

#

NO WRONG :2331

#

define jlink
target extended-remote :2331
end

#

in .gdbinit

#

so I start up gdb, per the alias above, or by hand (I have aliases for the common boards but not all)

#

then I do jlink in gdb, and it connects. when I recompile, I do jload to get it to reflash, or jloadc to reflash and restart immediately

#

this is just my workflow, that I made up, to avoid having to remember the indivual commands

#

I was doing a lot of work on setting the fuses right, so there are some commands in there to read and change the fuses in various ways

#

there is a j-link interface right on the board, at the DBG USB port

#

or I thought so,

#

maybe I am wrong, maybe that is just the ICE

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:38 PM

#

OK, a tiny bit of progress. I'm doing all of this by hand right now. I can target remote:2331, monitor reset, cont. It behaves as I've described, then hangs up. ctl-c breaks me into reset_into_safe_mode.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:39 PM

#

ok great, you can set a breakpoint a bit earlier to get a stack trace about who invoked safe mode. I'll look and try to remember: it's been a year or two

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:39 PM

#

I'll go over your .gdbinit, but for now I prefer to keep everything completely transparent.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:41 PM

#

did you just set a breakpoint on reset_into_safe_mode()?

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:41 PM

#

It's a hard fault triggering safe mode.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:41 PM

#

so if you set a breakpoint there, you will catch who's calling it

#

and you can see the reason too

#

it's SAFE_MODE_HARD_FAULT?

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:43 PM

#

Yup. HardFault_Handler is calling reset_into_safe_mode.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:44 PM

#

is there a useful backtrace?

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:45 PM

#

This is where I needed to get, I can carry on from here. I'll need to build with symbols for the bt to be truly useful. I appreciate your help.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:46 PM

#

that sounds like a secondary bug. I guess you want to do some breakpointing/bisecting to find where it's hanging up

#

and re the serial port thing: you were trying to set the console to go to some serial pins but you weren't seeing any output?

#

I rarely do that, so I"m not sure of the compile flag settings

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:47 PM

#

Now that I've got SWD working, I can make progress. So many broken tools.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:47 PM

#

🙂

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:48 PM

#

No problem with the gcc flags. That's second nature to me. With SWD I may not need the serial console.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:48 PM

#

very occasionally I have to power-cycle the J-Link, but that was rare. mon reset is your friend in gdb to get the hw back to a good state

#

I think that was only when I was messing with fuse setting. There was a trick to get it to actually write the fuses, but never mind that for this

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 12:49 PM

#

I'll keep you posted. Thanks again, sincerely.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 12:50 PM

#

i cut my teeth on samd gdb debugging in the beginning, but it's kind of like a piano piece I learned 8 years ago and only play once a year now

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 1:09 PM

#

You were spot on, Dan. Hard fault is secondary due to uninited vfs->next, failure to mount the fs was one more level up in the failure chain, and, of course, flash failure to init was the root cause.

gaunt pilot Apr 10, 2025, 1:23 PM

#

the flash failure to init should really go into safe mode with reason SAFE_MODE_NO_CIRCUITPY. It does do that sometimes already with other errors (like can't init the filesystem) (takes care not to recurse if we are already in that safe mode)

#

There is SAFE_MODE_FLASH_WRITE_FAIL but that's too specific, you're not trying to write. I think that may be used only for internal flash, but not deliberately.

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 1:25 PM

#

You're right. Noted. I'll see if I can add that once I've shot the flash bug.

#

I've worked my way to original bug reported in #10172, the hard fault in memcpy during an attempt to initialize the fs. Progress!

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 1:43 PM

#

This may be it: With my updated toml we're hanging up in wait_for_flash_ready. It's got a hard-coded assumption re: status that's probably not right for this flash part. Back to the datasheet...

#

But first, a walk, a shower, and some breakfast!

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 3:35 PM

#

Well that's...interesting. Contrary to the datasheet, the SST26VF064B doesn't appear to reset the WEL (Write Enable Latch) status bit after completing a Page Program. The BUSY bit comes down, but the WEL stays up. I'm going to poke around some more to be certain we're not doing something strange like reading the wrong register.

primal plank Apr 10, 2025, 4:25 PM

#

👋 so I'm on the thread

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 4:30 PM

#

I bypassed the WEL bit test, and now we're back to hard faulting. Now it looks like the Page Program ops are never actually writing to the flash. Pass me a shovel...

#

(That explains why the WEL bit never comes down)

primal plank Apr 10, 2025, 4:37 PM

#

https://www.adafruit.com/product/5315 or https://www.digikey.com/short/f28zdvjb can be really helpful for flash debugging

SOIC 8-Pin Test Clip to DIP Adapter

This SOIC Test Clip is a great way to test and connect to Flash memory, EEPROMs or other 8-SOIC chips, with pinpoint accuracy and NO soldering! It's sort of like an alligator ...

DigiKey Electronics

5250 | DigiKey Electronics

Order today, ships today. 5250 – SOIC, 0.15 to 0.35" Wide Test Clip 8 (2 x 4) from Pomona Electronics. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

#

try lowering the clock speed of the flash if you haven't already

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 4:40 PM

#

So the question is: how did this ever work? What's happening is that write_flash is calling spi_flash_write_data but not the generic version as would be correct for external flash. Instead, it's calling the specialized version in ports/atmel-samd/supervisor. My, oh my.

#

For this board with its external flash, we need to exclude the specialized flash functions so they don't override the generic functions.

#

(Thanks for the tool tips, I'll order one)

primal plank Apr 10, 2025, 4:43 PM

#

No, the custom one is to use the QSPI peripheral

#

you'll need a logic analyzer with it

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 4:45 PM

#

I see, my bad. I got excited there for a second.

#

I see we're reading flash in QUAD depending on the board, but are always writing in SINGLE unconditionally.

radiant scroll Apr 10, 2025, 6:16 PM

#

The SST26VF064B is unusual in that it has two separate controls for quad spi mode. In the configuration register the IOC bit controls the operation of the WP# and HOLD# pins switching them between use as data (IOC=1) or WP# and HOLD# (IOC=0). Additionally, there are a pair of ops for enabling/resetting quad mode: EQIO(0x38, Enter Quad I/O) and RSTQIO(0xFF, Reset Quad I/O). CP is not set up to use these ops, so I've tried running the part in single mode. No luck.

gaunt pilot Apr 11, 2025, 1:02 PM

#

forwarding a few messages from other thread

#

@neon lark @radiant scroll I compared the datasheets for SST26VF016B and SST26VF064B, and they seem virtually identical, including the 38H operation, etc.

#

The SST26VF016B and SST26VF064B were PR'd https://github.com/adafruit/nvm.toml/pull/11 by flyerink, who is/was a Microchip employee, Frenkie Wang, in Shenzhen.

#

That PR says they were tested and worked. So SST26VF032B should be workable too. https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues/10172 says something changed at CircuitPython 8.2.0 that broke it, but the testing was on an Xplained board with non-SST flash, I think. I pinged @flyerink about this: https://github.com/adafruit/nvm.toml/pull/11#issuecomment-2796895713. flyerink has a microchip email address you can see in their profile.

#

@neon lark 👆

radiant scroll Apr 11, 2025, 2:24 PM

#

gaunt pilot That PR says they were tested and worked. So SST26VF032B should be workable too....

The mention of 8.2.0 in issue #10172 is likely a red herring. Problems with the SST26VF064B go back to at least version 8.1.0 as shown in issue #8047.

neon lark Apr 11, 2025, 4:04 PM

#

I sent an invite to my guy in memory products, so hopefully he can help

radiant scroll Apr 11, 2025, 4:15 PM

#

gaunt pilot The SST26VF016B and SST26VF064B were PR'd <https://github.com/adafruit/nvm.toml/...

The SST26VF016B is not used by any boards supported by CircuitPython, so it's likely that it's never been tested with CircuitPython.

gaunt pilot Apr 11, 2025, 4:19 PM

#

I don't know what flyerink meant when they said it was tested; it would be good to know

#

looking at the data sheets, I think the 16, 32, and 64 all operate the same way

radiant scroll Apr 11, 2025, 4:29 PM

#

I'm walking methodically through init. I've found that we inadvertently cleared the IOC bit in supervisor_flash_init by zeroing the config register after setting it in spi_flash_init_device. After fixing that, still failing in same way: wait_for_flash_ready hanging up due to WEL bit in status register never coming down after a page program command (0x02). If I ignore the WEL bit, CP thinks the flash write has completed, but nothing is actually written to the flash.

#

I'm working under the assumption that whatever the 016 or 064 was tested with, it wasn't CircuitPython. I'm now looking closely at the protection mechanisms on the parts.

gaunt pilot Apr 11, 2025, 4:40 PM

#

radiant scroll I'm walking methodically through init. I've found that we inadvertently cleared ...

If you are getting stuck, it would be fine to wait for the Microchip support engineer and pose q's to them

radiant scroll Apr 11, 2025, 5:23 PM

#

@gaunt pilot @primal plank @neon lark Got it! CircuitPython now successfully initializes a CIRCUITPY drive on the SST26VF064B flash. The root cause is the unusual protection mechanism built into the part. It's a hack at this point, but I've disabled protection by issuing a ULBPR (0x98, Global Block-Protection Unlock) in supervisor_flash_init() like this:

    #if 0
    if (flash_device->has_sector_protection) {
        write_enable();

        // Turn off sector protection
        uint8_t data[1] = {0x00};
        spi_flash_write_command(CMD_WRITE_STATUS_BYTE1, data, 1);
    }
    #else
    // Experimental: Unlock all block-protection bits
    spi_flash_command(CMD_ENABLE_WRITE);
    // Global Block-Protection Unlock
    spi_flash_command(0x98);
    #endif

The code that's #if'd out is where the IOC bit gets cleared in error.

#

Once I determined that it was the sector erase prior to the page program that was actually failing, it pointed me to the part's protection mechanism. The rest was straight forward. @gaunt pilot and @primal plank we'll need to chat about how to fix this properly.

mental hollow Apr 11, 2025, 5:31 PM

#

Nice, just made an account to help, that block protection can be tricky.

#

Ross was letting me know

radiant scroll Apr 11, 2025, 5:33 PM

#

mental hollow Nice, just made an account to help, that block protection can be tricky.

I think for CircuitPython we'll want to turn it off completely, similar to the hack above. Is there something more subtle you can suggest?

mental hollow Apr 11, 2025, 5:56 PM

#

radiant scroll I think for CircuitPython we'll want to turn it off completely, similar to the h...

Unfortunately, the Block protection is enabled after power cycling, so the quickest way to unlock it is the Global Unlock command. I had to go through and double check but I do not believe this can be disabled.

radiant scroll Apr 11, 2025, 5:57 PM

#

mental hollow Unfortunately, the Block protection is enabled after power cycling, so the quick...

Thanks for the double check. Using the ULBPR should be fine.

gaunt pilot Apr 14, 2025, 7:16 PM

#

@neon lark could you try this build, which is for xplained same54? https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/actions/runs/14451538234/artifacts/2941892628 ? It's from @radiant scroll's pull request https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/10249 to fix how SST flash chips work. It should also load on the curiosity board, though the pin defs will be wrong. But see if CIRCUITPY comes up. This build also has support for 16, 32, and 64 versions of the SST chip.

neon lark Apr 14, 2025, 8:13 PM

#

@gaunt pilot I am having issues flashing to the SAME54 Xplained Pro.

Here's what I have tried:
Connected to PC, was not detected. Checked SentinelOne and confirmed it was not getting blocked.

Tried connecting Atmel ICE and flashing UF2 via SWD debug connector (same way I flashed the binary you sent last week for the Nano board).
That gives this error:

#

Sentinel One just updated. It was blocking it.
Working on getting it whitelisted.

#

So I just discovered that Sentinel One was not blocking the SAME54 Xplained Pro (but the error screenshot above prevented flashing). But it did block the Curiosity board when I flashed the UF2.

gaunt pilot Apr 14, 2025, 8:33 PM

#

neon lark So I just discovered that Sentinel One was not blocking the SAME54 Xplained Pro ...

TCF is something in Eclipse: "Target Communication Framework". You flash the UF2 by uploading to the BOOT drive on the xplained board. So you have to load the UF2 bootloader on the xplained board. I thought you did that last week, but maybe not.

neon lark Apr 14, 2025, 8:34 PM

#

I didn't find an Xplained board last week. I just found one today though

#

BOOT drive never appeared for the Xplained board. Tried both Target and Debug USB connectors

gaunt pilot Apr 14, 2025, 8:37 PM

#

are you flashing https://github.com/adafruit/uf2-samdx1/releases/download/v3.16.0/bootloader-same54_xplained-v3.16.0.bin to the xplained board?

#

That has to be there, then you'll be able to double-click to get the BOOT drive for that bootloader

neon lark Apr 14, 2025, 9:27 PM

#

Sorry, was having an old man moment! 🤣
Just flashed the binary. Then got the Sentinel One blocking thing. Currently putting in a request to have the SAME54 Xplained whitelisted

neon lark Apr 15, 2025, 4:31 PM

#

Have had the SAME54 Xplained Pro whitelisted on Sentinel One.
Programmed it with the binary you linked yesterday.

When I double-click the reset button, no xxxxBOOT drives appears in Windows Explorer

gaunt pilot Apr 15, 2025, 4:40 PM

#

@Ross I programmed the xplained board with a J-Link connected to the SWD connector with that .bin, and double-click shows E54XBOOT. Just to confirm, the USB cable is connected to the "TARGET USB" jack?

radiant scroll Apr 15, 2025, 4:40 PM

#

As Dan said, also when you double-click reset, LED0 should start pulsing, not flashing.

gaunt pilot Apr 15, 2025, 4:41 PM

#

(not sure how to program using the DEBUG USB jack without using Atmel Studio, which I don't have installed)

#

look like that capability is no longer there by default: https://www.segger.com/products/debug-probes/j-link/models/other-j-links/j-link-edbg/

radiant scroll Apr 15, 2025, 4:51 PM

#

One other thing, for your whitelisting, the id will be 0x00b5/0x239a running the UF2 bootloader, running CircuitPython it will be 0x80b6/0x239a.

neon lark Apr 15, 2025, 4:56 PM

#

I have Atmel Studio installed. I tried programming the binary using the EDBG. For some reason that autodetects it as an SAMD51P20A. I was able to program the binary and see LED0 pulsing. But no drive.

#

Wait, sentinel one is blocking again 😖

gaunt pilot Apr 15, 2025, 4:57 PM

#

do you have to open a ticket for each of these 😦

radiant scroll Apr 15, 2025, 4:57 PM

#

I feel for you.

neon lark Apr 15, 2025, 4:59 PM

#

gaunt pilot do you have to open a ticket for each of these 😦

Yup. It's exhausting 🤦‍♂️

gaunt pilot Apr 15, 2025, 5:00 PM

#

I guess they won't wildcard exempt 0x239a as VID

neon lark Apr 15, 2025, 6:11 PM

#

Ok, flashed the binary and saw E54XBOOT.
Pressed reset and Sentinel One blocked it again. Put in a new whitelist request

gaunt pilot Apr 15, 2025, 7:12 PM

#

@neon lark assuming this works, the next step is to update the curiosity board def repo to the tip of adafruit/main so you can pick up the changes. You could rebase or merge from upstream (adafruit).

neon lark Apr 16, 2025, 4:15 PM

#

I had the resubmit the whitelist request this morning as it was blocked (again) by sentinel one when I tried to flash the UF2 to E54XBOOT drive

primal plank Apr 16, 2025, 4:29 PM

#

is it done based on usb vid/pid? you could change it

neon lark Apr 16, 2025, 4:34 PM

#

It's done on the USB serial numbers that come up when it connects

primal plank Apr 16, 2025, 4:35 PM

#

you could hard code that in tinyusb

neon lark Apr 18, 2025, 5:34 PM

#

Sorry I was out sick yesterday.

Looks like the SAME54 Xplained Pro is now whitelisted. I have it connected to Target USB. It shows up as having 7.95MB storage.

I can program it (just a simple LED toggle) and copy library files to it successfully.

neon lark Apr 18, 2025, 6:17 PM

#

@gaunt pilot was the microchip chat thread deleted? I didn't at it in the archived threads.
I'm trying to find a message that was part of it

gaunt pilot Apr 18, 2025, 6:18 PM

#

you should be able to click the spool of thread icon at the top and see it. It's not listed visibly after several days of inactivity

neon lark Apr 18, 2025, 9:57 PM

#

gaunt pilot <@408440154814939136> assuming this works, the next step is to update the curios...

@gaunt pilot I will need help with this

gaunt pilot Apr 18, 2025, 10:06 PM

#

neon lark <@329766224093249548> I will need help with this

did you make any changes besides adding the board to ports/atmel-samd/boards ? You could bring main on your fork up to date, and then create a branch for the board locally. Then copy the board files to that branch, commit them, and submit a PR to adafruit/circuitpython.

#

# copy the curiosity board files from your development branch off somewhere else.
git remote add adafruit https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython
git checkout main
git pull --ff-only adafruit main
git submodule update --init --filter=blob:none   # bring the submodules up to date
git checkout -b curiosity-board
# copy the board files back to this new branch
# try a build
# when it's ok:
git commit -a
git push
# now go to https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython. You should see a box with a button about "recent pushes", and making a pull request. Go ahead and do that.

#

https://learn.adafruit.com/contribute-to-circuitpython-with-git-and-github has the deatils

#

and https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-add-a-new-board-to-circuitpython/submit-a-pull-request

neon lark Apr 18, 2025, 10:19 PM

#

I'm going over all of the pin and SERCOM configurations with a fine tooth comb to make sure they're correct.
Then I will start on the above instructions

gaunt pilot Apr 18, 2025, 10:26 PM

#

are you testing them in CIrcuitPython itself? That may be the easiest way to surface any issues? And did you get it loaded on the curiosity board itself?

neon lark Apr 18, 2025, 10:32 PM

#

I have CP on the curiosity board (sans the SST26VF0xxB support).
I can toggle IO pins and confirm with logic analyzer.
The SERCOMs have been a bit more challenging so far

gaunt pilot Apr 18, 2025, 10:45 PM

#

neon lark I have CP on the curiosity board (sans the SST26VF0xxB support). I can toggle IO...

if you go ahead and make a draft PR as above, it will have the SST support in the builds (or your local build)

#

i.e. bringing it up to date on main will incorporate the SST fixes

#

i have the schematic saved somewhere, I thought. could you say more about the sercom challenges?

#

like, are you creating, say, a UART on some designated pins, but it's saying "Invalid pins"?

neon lark Apr 18, 2025, 10:48 PM

#

I'm still pretty new to 32-bit, was an 8-bit guy for several years.

I have multiple SPI buses on my board. I have one each for SD card, LCD, and an extra general purpose one. The general purpose one would likely become the one that users would utilize when working with. I guess that would become my default one?

gaunt pilot Apr 18, 2025, 10:49 PM

#

yes, for connecting external stuff. The SD one would have board.SD_MOSI, etc. and the LCD one would have board.LCD_MOSI (or DISPLAY_MOSI or whtaeever)

#

so you could just test each one with busio.SPI(mosi=..., miso=..., sck=...) and if that doesn't error then you are fine. Maybe I am saying something obvious to you

#

and the display may be write only, so no miso needed

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:19 PM

#

gaunt pilot if you go ahead and make a draft PR as above, it will have the SST support in th...

Ok, I synced my fork with Adafruits main branch.
Then built the new firmware, put the board into bootloader mode and dropped the firmware.uf2 file onto the CPYNANOBOOT drive.
CIRCUITPY drive doesn't appear, I tried resetting the board as well.

Flashing the default-objects-no-external-flash.uf2 you sent last week works though.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong in my build.

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:20 PM

#

neon lark Ok, I synced my fork with Adafruits main branch. Then built the new firmware, p...

can you get to the REPL via /dev/ttyACM0?

#

oh, wait, you're on windows, ok, via Tera Term or similar

#

when you're connected to the REPL, and you press the reset button, what shows up in the REPL window?

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:27 PM

#

Windows Device Manager sees it as COM40.
In TeraTerm nothing comes up initially, or when I press the reset button

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:28 PM

#

so you if unplug it the COM40 goes away?

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:29 PM

#

Yes

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:29 PM

#

does ctrl-C do anything?

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:29 PM

#

Checked several times that sentinel one is not blocking it

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:29 PM

#

when you press reset, do you see anything interesting on the RGB LED?

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:30 PM

#

4 yellow flags

#

*flashes

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:31 PM

#

that's good, that means it's coming up. You would press reset during those flashes to get it into safe mode

#

is the source for that build pushed to your repo?

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:32 PM

#

I'll push it now

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:35 PM

#

you could try another build with INTERNAL_FLASH_FILESYSTEM=1 in mpconfigboard.mk. Also did you do a make clean BOARD=... beforehand or remove the build-* directory before rebuidling?

#

this is good, you made a PR against adafruit/circuitpython. We can make this a draft and work on it easily.

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:38 PM

#

I didn't do a make clean. I'll try that now

#

I just pushed my changes to the development branch

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:40 PM

#

So there is an SST26VF016B on the test board right now?

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:42 PM

#

No, it's a 64. Need to update the files. Doh!

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:44 PM

#

you don't need to do a clean build every time, just when you've updated stuff like the error messages, or some underlying sw.

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 6:48 PM

#

Ok, updated mpconfig.mk for the SST26VF064B.
Rebuilt and flashed the uf2.

It appears in Device Manager, but doesn't show in TeraTerm. Tried CTRL-C, resetting but doesn't show.

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 6:53 PM

#

there is an mpconfigboard.h and a pins.c at the top level of your repo, which should not be there. Could you git rm them and commit and push?

#

(and make sure they are not inadvertently the latest versions of those files instead of being in the board directory)

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 7:19 PM

#

Fixed

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 7:45 PM

#

ok, I changed your build slightly, doing

EXTERNAL_FLASH_DEVICES = "N25Q256A,SST26VF064B"

#

so I could try loading it on the xplained board. With INTERNAL_FLASH_FILESYSTEM = 1 it did come up. with QSPI_FLASH_FILESYSTEM = 1 it did not.

#

so that's fishy -- I wonder if one of the QSPI pins is getting used for something else.

#

no, pins look ok

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 7:54 PM

#

QSPI pins only being used for that

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 7:55 PM

#

I can't find my schematic for your curiosity board right now. Could you give me a link or upload it? I commented out #define EXTERNAL_FLASH_QSPI_DUAL in mpconfigboard.h and that helped on the xplained board, but I don't know if you are using the flash in dual or quad mode

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 7:58 PM

#

📎 02-01318-R1_SCH.PDF

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 7:59 PM

#

hmm, you must be using it in quad mode, because of the schematic above, and the quad mode pins are PA08-PA011, but in our code, it says the dual mode pins are ~~PA08, PA09, PB10, PB11~~ WRONG: PB10 and PB11 are QSPI SCK and CS

#

anyway, it is quad mode, so remove that EXTERNAL_FLASH_QSPI_DUAL line. I can upload my build here

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 8:00 PM

#

When I created the schematic, I based it of the Feather M4 CAN.

I'm not sure if the Feather is dual or quad mode?

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 8:01 PM

#

📎 firmware.uf2

#

that's my build, with quad mode, and support for the SST 64 chip.

#

~~Feather M4 CAN does NOT have EXTERNAL_FLASH_QSPI_DUAL set. It uses quad mode~~ WRONG -- looking in the wrong file

#

anyway, try that uf2 above

#

my mistake about the pin difference, but I have no idea why we used dual mode on the Feather CAN. The SST may be different for DUAL mode and it's not being set up properly for that. But we can use quad mode anyway, I would think. I will see if there's a reason for the dual mode on the feather

#

no reason that I can see. Feather M4 CAN is one of the few boards I don't have on the shelf, so can't test it with quad mode

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 8:14 PM

#

That works, Windows sees the 8MB flash and I can program it.
Thank you!

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 8:15 PM

#

yay!!

#

If you change the external flash devices line to :

EXTERNAL_FLASH_DEVICES = "N25Q256A,SST26VF016B,SST26VF032B,SST26VF064B"

it will support all those possibilities. Not sure if the N25 chip even has the same footprint, so you could delete that if it doesn't make sense

radiant scroll Apr 23, 2025, 8:19 PM

#

Just tuned in to the flash show. Bravo for getting it working!

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 8:22 PM

#

radiant scroll Just tuned in to the flash show. Bravo for getting it working!

Thank you @radiant scroll and @gaunt pilot !

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 8:22 PM

#

this is great, thanks for your perseverance

#

and you're welcome

radiant scroll Apr 23, 2025, 8:23 PM

#

Goes for me, too.💪

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 8:31 PM

#

Now just need to test the buses and I should be good to go!

gaunt pilot Apr 23, 2025, 9:12 PM

#

The pull-request version still has the #define EXTERNAL_FLASH_QSPI_DUAL in mpconfigboard.h. Delete that line.

neon lark Apr 23, 2025, 11:03 PM

#

Do I just delete it, or change to:
#define EXTERNAL_FLASH_QSPI_QUAD ?

gaunt pilot Apr 24, 2025, 4:07 AM

#

it defaults to quad

#SST flash debugging