[PATCH] Add 'config IMX_NFC_V1_BISWAP' to swap the Bad block Indicator, and use for imx27pdk nand support.

[Sascha Hauer]

On Wed, Jul 06, 2011 at 11:30:00AM +0200, Lambrecht Jürgen wrote:
> On 07/06/2011 10:09 AM, Sascha Hauer wrote:
> > On Tue, Jul 05, 2011 at 03:33:48PM +0200, Jürgen Lambrecht wrote:
> > > - Swap the BI-byte on position 0x7D0 with a data byte at 0x835.  To 
> > fix a bug
> > >   in Freescale imx NFC v1 SoC's for 2K page NAND flashes: imx27 and 
> > imx31.
> > >   Warning: The same solution needs to be applied to the boot loader 
> > and the
> > >   flash programmer.
> > > - Enable NAND support for the imx27pdk (3ds), and use BISWAP.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Jürgen Lambrecht <J.Lambrecht at televic.com>
> > > ---
> > >  arch/arm/mach-imx/Kconfig         |   30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
> > >  arch/arm/mach-imx/mach-mx27_3ds.c |   14 ++++++++++++++
> > >  drivers/mtd/nand/mxc_nand.c       |   29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > >  3 files changed, 71 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> > >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > +
> > > +config IMX_NFC_V1_BISWAP
> > > +     bool "Make the MXC 2kB-page NAND driver swap the Bad Block 
> > Indicator"
> > > +     depends on MACH_MX27_3DS
> > > +     depends on MTD_NAND_MXC
> > > +     help
> > > +       Enable this if you want that the MXC NAND driver swaps the 
> > Bad Block
> > > +       Indicator (BBI) byte. The IMX NFC v1 (present in IMX27 and 
> > IMX31)
> > > +       contains a bug for 2kB-page flashes: the 2kB page is read out in
> > > +       4x512B chunks, so also the spare area is read out in 4
> > > +       chunks. Therefore the data area and the spare area becomes
> > > +       mixed. This causes a problem for the factory programmed BBI: it
> > > +       appears in the data area instead of the spare area, and is
> > > +       overwritten. This patch swaps that byte to the "real" spare
> > > +       area. WARNING: then also the bootloader and the flash 
> > programmer must
> > > +       be patched!!
> >
> > I don't like this approach. IMO some code should be run on a virgin
> > flash which is aware of this issue and creates a correct bad block
> > table. You run this once and forget about this afterwards and every
> > kernel/bootloader can run without patching. Otherwise if you accidently
> > or intentionally start an older (unpatched) kernel your Nand gets
> > corrupted.
> >
> I see 3 solutions: rely on the quality of the NAND flash driver (1), 
> patch the SW (2) or patch the HW (3).
> 
> 1. A normal NAND flash driver relies on the ECC to detect a 
> (potentially) bad block. But a factory bad block can have more bad bits 
> that the specified ECC bits.
>     Solution is to check after each write if the data was written 
> reliable: a write/read-back policy. (linux kernel option: Device Drivers 
> -> MTD support -> NAND Device Support -> Verify NAND page writes)
>     This will of course slow-down writing a lot.
> 2. The Freescale solution: patch the SW:
>        1. flash programmer
>        2. boot-loader NAND driver
>        3. OS NAND driver
> 3. For the HW patch, a special SW must be written that must be executed 
> before the board is programmed. That special SW must run in RAM and copy 
> the BBI byte to the "swapped" place, so that after swapping, the BBI is 
> at the good place. Then the SW must not be patched.
>     Risk: if this step is skipped, the factory BBI information is lost, 
> and if the SW has no write/read-back policy (solution 1), data will be 
> lost in some point in time.
> 
> Your solution is (3), but for the linux rootfs partition only, using the 
> BBT. Of course bootloader partitions and the linux kernel binary are not 
> written often, but I read (several times, and also been told) that even 
> when only reading a nand flash it can become bad!
> I still have to investigate this for how to solve this in the bootloader..
> 
> Because of the risk, and to have a fast solution, we went for solution (2).
> But if no one else is interested in this solution, I guess there is no 
> point trying to get it accepted.
> 
> > Also, my comment above applies here too. You added a 'depends on the
> > board I care of', but usually my kernels have all available boards
> > compiled in. So I can select this option and it will change the
> > behaviour of all boards I might run the kernel on, not only the
> > ones you depend on above.
> Ok, i should then find a better way to do it.
> But, the mxc_nand.c code contains this to protect it: 'if 
> ((mtd->writesize > 512) && nfc_is_v1())'.

This is the correct way to limit the fix to the correct versions of the
nand controller, but that's not what I tried to say. You might want
to use solution (2) for your board whereas I want to use solution (3)
for my boards. With the Kconfig approach it would not be possible for
us to use the same kernel binary.

> Am I correct that all nfc-v1's have that bug, so only imx27 and imx51?
> The application note we finally got from freescale only mentions "FSL 
> IMX NFC".

s/imx51/imx31/.

Yes, only imx27 and imx31 a affected by this bug.

Sascha

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