i.MX8 booting from QSPIFlash

[efio]

Hi we've a imx8mn based board with different DDR chip and different NOR flash connected to QSPI interface. (different from imx8mn-evk board)
As well we have two boot options: eMMC and QSPI.
The board boots and works while booting from eMMC, the QSPI flash is available in u-boot and Linux.
But, when we're trying to switch to QSPI boot option - boot fails - no output on the console.
On the other hand, we can see the clocks on SPI bus and - it means the CPU indeed tries to boot from QSPI.
We're building our QSPI flash image with a help of imx-mkimage utility, there is a guide of how to create it:
https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors/IMX8Mnano-EVK-How-to-make-QSPI-booting-image/td-p/17047...
In addition, here is the out of: make SOC=iMX8MN DEV=flexspi flash_evk

BL32=tee.bin DEK_BLOB_LOAD_ADDR=0x40400000 TEE_LOAD_ADDR=0x56000000 ATF_LOAD_ADDR=0x00960000 ../iMX8M/mkimage_fit_atf.sh evk.dtb  > u-boot.its

bl31.bin size: 

41456

u-boot-nodtb.bin size: 

736416

evk.dtb size: 

28304

./mkimage_uboot -E -p 0x5000 -f u-boot.its u-boot.itb

FIT description: Configuration to load ATF before U-Boot

Created:         Tue Oct  8 17:44:52 2024

 Image 0 (uboot-1)

  Description:  U-Boot (64-bit)

  Created:      Tue Oct  8 17:44:52 2024

  Type:         Standalone Program

  Compression:  uncompressed

  Data Size:    736416 Bytes = 719.16 KiB = 0.70 MiB

  Architecture: AArch64

  Load Address: 0x40200000

  Entry Point:  unavailable

 Image 1 (fdt-1)

  Description:  evk

  Created:      Tue Oct  8 17:44:52 2024

  Type:         Flat Device Tree

  Compression:  uncompressed

  Data Size:    28304 Bytes = 27.64 KiB = 0.03 MiB

  Architecture: Unknown Architecture

 Image 2 (atf-1)

  Description:  ARM Trusted Firmware

  Created:      Tue Oct  8 17:44:52 2024

  Type:         Firmware

  Compression:  uncompressed

  Data Size:    41456 Bytes = 40.48 KiB = 0.04 MiB

  Architecture: AArch64

  OS:           Unknown OS

  Load Address: 0x00960000

 Default Configuration: 'config-1'

 Configuration 0 (config-1)

  Description:  evk

  Kernel:       unavailable

  Firmware:     uboot-1

  FDT:          fdt-1

  Loadables:    atf-1

41420+1 records in

41421+0 records out

165684 bytes (166 kB, 162 KiB) copied, 0.0578868 s, 2.9 MB/s

./mkimage_imx8 -version v2 -fit -loader u-boot-spl-ddr.bin 0x912000 -second_loader u-boot.itb 0x40200000 0x60000 -out flash.bin

Platform: i.MX8M (mScale)

ROM VERSION: v2

Using FIT image

LOADER IMAGE: u-boot-spl-ddr.bin start addr: 0x00912000

SECOND LOADER IMAGE: u-boot.itb start addr: 0x40200000 offset: 0x00060000

Output: flash.bin

fit_size: 886

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

886 bytes copied, 5.7108e-05 s, 15.5 MB/s

FIT hash: 9dc0d453c9a49e3d880292c4c330e685ea495c6856ab82ab61354b134f9b

========= IVT HEADER [HDMI FW] =========

header.tag: 0x0

header.length: 0x0

header.version: 0x0

entry: 0x0

reserved1: 0x0

dcd_ptr: 0x0

boot_data_ptr: 0x0

self: 0x0

csf: 0x0

reserved2: 0x0

boot_data.start: 0x0

boot_data.size: 0x0

boot_data.plugin: 0x0

========= IVT HEADER [PLUGIN] =========

header.tag: 0x0

header.length: 0x0

header.version: 0x0

entry: 0x0

reserved1: 0x0

dcd_ptr: 0x0

boot_data_ptr: 0x0

self: 0x0

csf: 0x0

reserved2: 0x0

boot_data.start: 0x0

boot_data.size: 0x0

boot_data.plugin: 0x0

========= IVT HEADER [LOADER IMAGE] =========

header.tag: 0xd1

header.length: 0x2000

header.version: 0x41

entry: 0x912000

reserved1: 0x0

dcd_ptr: 0x0

boot_data_ptr: 0x911fe0

self: 0x911fc0

csf: 0x9527c0

reserved2: 0x0

boot_data.start: 0x911fc0

boot_data.size: 0x42860

boot_data.plugin: 0x0

========= OFFSET dump =========

Loader IMAGE:

 header_image_off 0x0

 dcd_off 0x0

 image_off 0x40

 csf_off 0x40800

 spl hab block: 0x911fc0 0x0 0x40800

Second Loader IMAGE:

 sld_header_off 0x58000

 sld_csf_off 0x59020

 sld hab block: 0x401fadc0 0x58000 0x1020

 fit-fdt csf_off 0x5b020

 fit-fdt hab block: 0x401fadc0 0x58000 0x3020

SPL CSF block:

Blocks = 0x911fc0 0x0 0x40800 "flash.bin"

SLD CSF block:

Blocks = 0x401fadc0 0x58000 0x1020 "flash.bin",\

SLD FIT-FDT CSF block:

Blocks = 0x401fadc0 0x58000 0x3020 "flash.bin"

bootmode selected: FlexSPI - 3B Read '0110'

We can see on power up clock signal of the QSPI bus.
But we can't see the processor running. Nothing over the console.

1.  What is probably incorrect in our FLASH image preparation?
   
2. To which offset on QSPI FLASH the image should be burn?
3. Do we need to config something on u-boot? SPL? if so, what to config?

The flash P/N we are using is: S25FL256SAGBHVB00

Thank you so much for your help,

[efio]

Anyone?

[efio]

Hi,

Observations of QSPI controller:

1. Using an oscilloscope, I monitored the SPI wave and noticed the QSPI controller reading address 0x400 with command 0x3.
2. The read register value is 0xd1002041, which I believe should be correct.
3. The controller attempts this read twice.
4. A third read attempt is made using command 0x13 (4-byte address read), resulting in the same value: 0xd1002041.
5. After these three cycles, the operation halts.

Questions:

1. Is this behavior normal for a QSPI controller?
2. Could the read value (0xd1002041) be incorrect despite appearing valid?
3. Why might the controller stop after three read attempts?
4. Is there a potential issue with the controller or the connected device?

Any insights or suggestions for further troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,