i.MX8M-Mini doesn't boot from SPI NOR

[friederschrempf]

Hi,

we have a custom board with i.MX8MM and it has a 1MB SPI NOR flash connected to the ECSPI1 interface.

In order to boot from SPI NOR, I flashed an image containing only U-Boot SPL with an offset of 0x400 (1 KiB).

This image runs fine, when I put it on the SD-card with an offset of 0x8400 (33 KiB).

The BOOT_CFG in the OTP fuses is set to boot from eMMC and enables the recovery boot from ECSPI1.

With the fuses set and the image in the flash, I can see that the BootROM starts probing the flash device, but the SPL binary does not run (no output on the console).

pengfan‌ was so kind to tell me, that NXP is aware of a problem with SPI NOR boot and currently investigating this. I would be very grateful if NXP could share their current status and possible solutions if known.

Thanks!

Frieder Schrempf

Kontron Electronics GmbH

[elmaralbert]

Hi Igor,

I have the same problem on our customer iMX8M-Mini board. We would like to boot from SPI-NOR (W25Q128FV/JV), also connected to ECSPI1. Boot configuration is done by strapping options:

BOOT_CFG15 = 0

BOOT_CFG14 = 1

BOOT_CFG13 = 1

BOOT_CFG12 = 0

BOOT_CFG11 = 0

BOOT_CFG10 = 0

BOOT_CFG9   = 0

BOOT_CFG8   = 0

BOOT_CFG7   = 0

BOOT_CFG6   = 0

BOOT_CFG5   = 0

BOOT_CFG4   = 0

BOOT_CFG3   = 0

BOOT_CFG2   = 0

BOOT_CFG1   = 0

BOOT_CFG0   = 0

BOOT_MODE1 = 1

BOOT_MODE0 = 0

My questions are:

• Are these the correct strapping options? We took them from chapter 6.1.5 Boot devices (internal boot) of the i.MX 8M Mini Applications Processor Reference Manual.
• How to generate to correct image to be programmed into the SPI-NOR-Flash. The imx-mkimage does not provide a respective image. According to this post https://community.nxp.com/thread/508705 it should be the same as for eMMC.
• How to programm the SPI-NOR-Flash? Can the UUU-Tool be used similar to the QSPI (FlexSPI)?

Thank you in advance

Elmar Albert

[igorpadykov]

Hi Frieder

info was sent via mail.

Best regards
igor
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[nikolaos_stefanou]

Hello Igor,

We're facing the exact same issue as Frieder for our iMX8MM platform.
If there is any information that could help, it'll be appreciated if you could send it to us.

Kind Regards,
Nikolaos

[JHT]

Hello Igor,

We are considering changing teh design of a working custom BD from eMMC to NOR flash and I am wondering if you can send the information sent to Frieder Schrempf, to my email as well. 

Also we are considering using Micron Xcella (octal SPI). is there an app note for octal SPI and/or can you flag issues we might run into if we use octal instead of quad SPI.

Thanks  in advance - JT

[wouher]

Hi Igor,

I am experiencing a similar issue with the iMX8M Mini. Is there any info you could share that could be relevant for me?