[U-Boot] How to start U-Boot for i.MX31 NAND out of RedBoot (out of RAM)

[Ulrich Gerster]

Hello

>>>> Magnus Lilja <lilja.magnus at gmail.com> 23.07.09 11.18 Uhr >>>
> Hi

>>2009/7/22 Ulrich Gerster <gersteru at dhbw-loerrach.de>:
>> Hello
>>
>>>>>> Magnus Lilja <lilja.magnus at gmail.com> 14.07.09 19.43 Uhr >>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>>>>>2009/7/14 Ulrich Gerster <gersteru at dhbw-loerrach.de>:
>>>> Hello.
>>>>
>>>>>>> Magnus Lilja <lilja.magnus at gmail.com> 14.07.09 16.03 Uhr >>>
>>>>
>>>>>> I used the patch from you out of this posting:
>>>>>> [U-Boot-Users] [PATCH RFC 3/5] i.MX31: Add i.MX31 NAND Flash Controller driver.
>>>>>> http://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/2008-August/038239.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> They should work, or not? Do they require something else?
>>>>
>>>>> I haven't tried that driver on a recent U-boot so I don't know if (or
>>>>> how) it will work when applied to a recent U-Boot.
>>>>
>>>> I'm using the u-boot master release of middle of June.
>>>> How can I ensure that your patch is working? Or how do I know what is missing that it works?
>>
>>> You need to use either a debugger or add printf's to see what's going
>>> on (to the mxc_nd.c or whatever the file is called.
>>
>> I have the drivers working now. But there's a little problem left. When I try to use u-boot to update itself
>> (write itself from RAM to Flash) it seems that it overwrites the out of band information too.

> That's normal since writing new data means writing a new error correcting code.
Well, you're right.

>> So when I try to reboot nothing is working because every program assumes that the first blocks are bad.
>> Do you have a suggestion how to fix that issue?

> Not sure that I understand what "every program assumes..." means.

I try to explain my problem in more detail. I had a working u-boot programed
in NAND-Flash. Then I wanted to update it. I used the nand write command and
wrote a the new image in the NAND-Flash. When I then restarted the Board U-Boot
wasn't responding. Then I loaded RedBoot to RAM using a BDI. But when I was trying
to access NAND-Flash with RedBoot (factive nand) RedBoot was freezing. The only
chance I had was to clear the the NAND and the OOB. After I did that I was able to
access the NAND-Flash with RedBoot. After that I programed the same u-boot image
in the NAND-Flash using the RedBoot fis write command.
The result was a working u-boot.

> But my guess is that the OOB layout may be different in
> nand_spl/nand_boot_fsl_nfc.c compared to drivers/mtd/nand/mxc_nd.c so
> the nand_spl may interpret the OOB information that mxc_nd.c has
> written in a different way.

Ok. So I should compare this. Which function does take care for that?

> This is especially true for large page NAND since the i.MX31 controller uses
> a non-standard layout, for small page NAND there should be no problem 
> (although I don't know if nand_spl has been tested on small page nand yet).

So now it is tested. I'm using small page nand with (512 + 16 spare) Bytes.
Do you think it is a problem of the nand_spl or the nand driver?

Thanks!
Ulrich Gerster