[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Alexandre Gambier]

Hi,

I'm working on a STM chip under linux and U-Boot 1.3.1.

Here's my problem.
To boot linux up I load the kernel stored in a NAND device. If a bad 
block is present in the nand I can't load the kernel.

To store the kernel I first erase the partition and write the kernel image.
During the erase stage, U-Boottells that a bad block has been skipped 
but everything's fine.

   NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
   Skipping bad block at  0x005c0000
   Erasing at 0x900000 -- 100% complete.
   OK

When I write the kernel image, U-Boottells that everything's fine.

   NAND write: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
    4194304 bytes written: OK

But when I try to read the kernel, it fails.

   NAND read: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x1a4bff
    1723391 bytes read: ERROR


I though U-Boot was able to handle bad block when reading back data..

Did I forget to initialize something ?

BEst regards.


-- 
Best regards.

Alexandre Gambier
Fte Maximal France SAS

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Peter Barada]

On 04/26/2012 07:27 AM, Alexandre Gambier wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm working on a STM chip under linux and U-Boot 1.3.1.
>
> Here's my problem.
> To boot linux up I load the kernel stored in a NAND device. If a bad 
> block is present in the nand I can't load the kernel.
>
> To store the kernel I first erase the partition and write the kernel image.
> During the erase stage, U-Boottells that a bad block has been skipped 
> but everything's fine.
>
>    NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
>    Skipping bad block at  0x005c0000
>    Erasing at 0x900000 -- 100% complete.
>    OK
>
> When I write the kernel image, U-Boottells that everything's fine.
>
>    NAND write: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
>     4194304 bytes written: OK
>
> But when I try to read the kernel, it fails.
>
>    NAND read: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x1a4bff
>     1723391 bytes read: ERROR
>
>
> I though U-Boot was able to handle bad block when reading back data..
>
> Did I forget to initialize something ?
>
Did you use "nand write.i"  to write the kernel and "nand read.i" to
read the kernel? the ".i" tells u-boot to skip bad blocks...

-- 
Peter Barada
peter.barada at logicpd.com

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Scott Wood]

On 04/26/2012 12:11 PM, Peter Barada wrote:
> On 04/26/2012 07:27 AM, Alexandre Gambier wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm working on a STM chip under linux and U-Boot 1.3.1.
>>
>> Here's my problem.
>> To boot linux up I load the kernel stored in a NAND device. If a bad 
>> block is present in the nand I can't load the kernel.
>>
>> To store the kernel I first erase the partition and write the kernel image.
>> During the erase stage, U-Boottells that a bad block has been skipped 
>> but everything's fine.
>>
>>    NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
>>    Skipping bad block at  0x005c0000
>>    Erasing at 0x900000 -- 100% complete.
>>    OK
>>
>> When I write the kernel image, U-Boottells that everything's fine.
>>
>>    NAND write: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
>>     4194304 bytes written: OK
>>
>> But when I try to read the kernel, it fails.
>>
>>    NAND read: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x1a4bff
>>     1723391 bytes read: ERROR
>>
>>
>> I though U-Boot was able to handle bad block when reading back data..
>>
>> Did I forget to initialize something ?
>>
> Did you use "nand write.i"  to write the kernel and "nand read.i" to
> read the kernel? the ".i" tells u-boot to skip bad blocks...

That has been the default for a while now.  Why use something as ancient
as 1.3.1?

-Scott

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Alexandre Gambier]

Hi,


>> Did you use "nand write.i"  to write the kernel and "nand read.i" to
>> read the kernel? the ".i" tells u-boot to skip bad blocks...
No I use "nand read $load_addr AppKernel" cause I didn't know we can use 
"nand read.i" - "help nand" doesn't display this information.
I tried "nand read.i" and now it works fine but I still can't boot the 
kernel cause its crc is wrong I will flash the kernel again with "nand 
write.i" and check if it works.

> That has been the default for a while now.  Why use something as ancient
> as 1.3.1?
Because my embedded linux distribution is STLinux which includes support 
for STM chips with this version of u-boot.

Alex.

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Peter Barada]

On 04/27/2012 03:16 AM, Alexandre Gambier wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
>>> Did you use "nand write.i"  to write the kernel and "nand read.i" to
>>> read the kernel? the ".i" tells u-boot to skip bad blocks...
> No I use "nand read $load_addr AppKernel" cause I didn't know we can use 
> "nand read.i" - "help nand" doesn't display this information.
> I tried "nand read.i" and now it works fine but I still can't boot the 
> kernel cause its crc is wrong I will flash the kernel again with "nand 
> write.i" and check if it works.
Assuming you load the kernel to ram with tftp (and that "AppKernel" is
an mtdparts partition in NAND), then you could do:

nand erase.part AppKernel
tftp $load_addr uImage
crc32 $load_addr $filesize
nand write.i $load_addr AppKernel $filesize
nand read.i $load_addr AppKernel $filesize
crc32 $load_addr $filesize

To verify the CRCs match between what you load off tftp and what you
read back from NAND.


-- 
Peter Barada
peter.barada at logicpd.com

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Scott Wood]

On 04/27/2012 09:29 AM, Peter Barada wrote:
> On 04/27/2012 03:16 AM, Alexandre Gambier wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>>>> Did you use "nand write.i"  to write the kernel and "nand read.i" to
>>>> read the kernel? the ".i" tells u-boot to skip bad blocks...
>> No I use "nand read $load_addr AppKernel" cause I didn't know we can use 
>> "nand read.i" - "help nand" doesn't display this information.
>> I tried "nand read.i" and now it works fine but I still can't boot the 
>> kernel cause its crc is wrong I will flash the kernel again with "nand 
>> write.i" and check if it works.
> Assuming you load the kernel to ram with tftp (and that "AppKernel" is
> an mtdparts partition in NAND), then you could do:
> 
> nand erase.part AppKernel
> tftp $load_addr uImage
> crc32 $load_addr $filesize
> nand write.i $load_addr AppKernel $filesize
> nand read.i $load_addr AppKernel $filesize
> crc32 $load_addr $filesize
> 
> To verify the CRCs match between what you load off tftp and what you
> read back from NAND.

There is no U-Boot version that both has "nand erase.part" and requires
a .i suffix on nand read/write.

-Scott

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Scott Wood]

On 04/27/2012 02:16 AM, Alexandre Gambier wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> 
>>> Did you use "nand write.i"  to write the kernel and "nand read.i" to
>>> read the kernel? the ".i" tells u-boot to skip bad blocks...
> No I use "nand read $load_addr AppKernel" cause I didn't know we can use
> "nand read.i" - "help nand" doesn't display this information.
> I tried "nand read.i" and now it works fine but I still can't boot the
> kernel cause its crc is wrong I will flash the kernel again with "nand
> write.i" and check if it works.
> 
>> That has been the default for a while now.  Why use something as ancient
>> as 1.3.1?
> Because my embedded linux distribution is STLinux which includes support
> for STM chips with this version of u-boot.

Does STLinux have a support contact?

This list is for mainline U-Boot.  Have you checked whether these chips
are supported in current mainline U-Boot?

-Scott

[U-Boot] Can't read kernel if bad blocks are present in partition

[Alexandre Gambier]

>> Assuming you load the kernel to ram with tftp (and that "AppKernel" is
>> an mtdparts partition in NAND), then you could do:
>>
>> nand erase.part AppKernel
>> tftp $load_addr uImage
>> crc32 $load_addr $filesize
>> nand write.i $load_addr AppKernel $filesize
>> nand read.i $load_addr AppKernel $filesize
>> crc32 $load_addr $filesize
>>
>> To verify the CRCs match between what you load off tftp and what you
>> read back from NAND.
Everything works fine now.
I now use "nand write.i" and "nand read.i" instead of "nand write" and 
"nand.read".
>> Does STLinux have a support contact?
>>
>> This list is for mainline U-Boot.  Have you checked whether these chips
>> are supported in current mainline U-Boot?
It was just a misunderstanding of u-boot commands.

Thank you guys for your help.