topic Help with booting from FlexSPI2 in i.MX RT Crossover MCUs

Help with booting from FlexSPI2

spencermacdonald — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:06:31 GMT

I have a RT1176 based custom board that has the flash memory (IS25WP128) on the flexspi2 port. I'm able to run application out of RAM but I can't figure out how to get it too boot from the flash.

When trying to use NXP-MCUBootUtility it gives me an error message "MCU has entered Flashloader but failed to configure external memory" after clicking connect to ROM.

I get the following in the log.
--------MCU Device ROM Info--------
Unique ID[31:00] = 0x8293d90d
Unique ID[63:32] = 0x2908500e
Current Version = K3.0.1
Target Version = T2.0.0
Life Cycle status = HAB Open
--------MCU Flashloader Info-------
Current Version = K2.8.0
Target Version = T1.0.4
--------MCU device eFusemap--------
(0x940) SYSBT_CFG0 = 0x0
(0x950) SYSBT_CFG1 = 0x0
(0x960) SYSBT_CFG2 = 0x8
BT_FUSE_SEL = 1'b0
When BMOD[1:0] = 2'b00 (Boot From Fuses), no app in boot device, MCU enters serial downloader mode directly
When BMOD[1:0] = 2'b10 (Internal Boot), MCU boots app according to both BOOT_CFGx pins and Fuse BOOT_CFGx
----------FlexRAM memory-----------
IOMUXC_GPR->GPR16 = --------

I don't see anywhere in the options how to configure to use the flexSPI2. Is that supposed to be auto detected?

When I run the command that fails manually I get

$ ./blhost -t 50000 -u 0x15A2,0x0073 -j -- configure-memory 9 538976256
{
"command" : "configure-memory",
"response" : [],
"status" : {
"description" : "20107 (0x4E8B) kStatus_FlexSPINOR_SFDP_NotFound",
"value" : 20107
}
}

Re: Help with booting from FlexSPI2

Gavin_Jia — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 07:30:51 GMT

Hi @spencermacdonald ,

Thanks for your interest in NXP MIMXRT series!

First, I recommend checking the hardware connections for the Flash memory or providing the schematic for that section so I can review it for you. Additionally, using the MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool may yield more consistent test results.

For external flash memory with FlexSPI2, in some cases you need to explicitly provide option words first, for example:

fill-memory 0x20202000 4 0xCF900002 word
configure-memory 9 0x20202000
fill-memory 0x20202000 4 0xC1000057 word
fill-memory 0x20202004 4 0x0001000A word
configure-memory 9 0x20202000

You can refer to this similar post for more details: https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-RT-Crossover-MCUs/i-MXRT1176-QSPI-on-FLEXSPI2-2nd-Pin-Group-can-t-boot/m-p/1288276

Best regards,

Gavin

Re: Help with booting from FlexSPI2

spencermacdonald — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:31:45 GMT

Using the MCUXpresso I'm also running into issues. I configured the Boot Memory Configuration tool as follows.

This same configuration works on a board with memory attached to FlexSPI 1.

Where do I run the commands you posted?

Re: Help with booting from FlexSPI2

Gavin_Jia — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:03:48 GMT

Hi @spencermacdonald ,

We apologize—due to a technical glitch with our community tools, your message was missed. Please accept our sincere apologies!

I couldn’t identify the source of your issue in this configuration interface. However, the failure log indicates that the problem was caused by an SFDP mismatch. Generally, using the tool’s built-in FCB template should not cause any issues. Therefore, I recommend focusing your troubleshooting on whether the Boot CFG configuration matches your hardware connections, as well as verifying that the Flash connections and DQS settings are correct. You can use a RAM-based program to read from and write to the Flash; if this operation is successful, the issue can be narrowed down to the Boot CFG and FCB configurations.

Since this thread keep for a long while, if you have any updates or encounter new issues, please feel free to start a new thread to contact us. Thank you again for your understanding!

Best regards,
Gavin