[U-Boot] Can't erase or read NOR using mtd part-id

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Alexandre Gambier,

In message <4D52B843.5010004 at ftemaximal.fr> you wrote:
> 
> I'm using u-boot to boot a Linux-based device.
> I created some MTD partitions for my NOR and NAND flashes.
> 
> Here is the configuration:
> 
> device nor0 <NOR>, # parts = 4
>   #: name                        size            offset          mask_flags
>   0: U-Boot              0x00080000      0x00000000      0
>   1: Environment         0x00020000      0x00080000      0
>   2: Kernel              0x00400000      0x000a0000      0
>   3: FreeNOR             0x00360000      0x004a0000      0
> 
...
> When I want to erase the U-Boot partition I can't use the command `erase 
> U-Boot`, the following error occurs : "incorrect device type in U-Boot".
> I must use the command `erase 1:0-7`.
> 
> Is-it normal ?

There are many ways to specify a flash area. When referring to MTD
partitions, the synatx is "<device name>,<partition number>", i. e.
for the partition named "U-Boot" above you use

	erase nor0,0

So yes, the behaviour is normal.

> My second question is when I try to read the Environment partition with 
> the command `md.b Environment 128` I get the following dump (which is 
> not correct).
> 
> 0000000e: 0e 40 ff e0 18 40 c0 cb 18 40 18 40 0c cb 03 61    
> . at ...@... at .@...a
...

Only very few commands (and only flash related ones) accept MTD
partition specifications for addresses.  "md" does not. What happpens
here is that the argument "Environment" gets parsed as a hex number.
Only the first character, 'E', can successfully be converted, then the
conversion stops (without error message).  Then you get the dump
starting at 0x0000000E.

> Is-it normal as well ?

Yes, it is.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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