I’m running into an error when trying to update the firmware on my STM32F429. I get the error: “cannot update host: {odfu-init}: F42xxx/43xxx dual-bank not yet supported”. I have the option bits for the dual bank feature of the MCU disabled, so it is using a single bank.
Does outboard firmware update work with the STM32F429 MCU when dual bank is disabled? Is there something else I’m missing?
Here’s my hardware and firmware setup: (NOTE-NBGL) running firmware 8.1.3.17044
Hi @rickconrey. Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, the Notecard firmware doesn’t support ODFU for that particular part. I am going to see what it would take to get support into our next firmware release, though. I’ll report back here with any updates.
Thanks,
Hayden Roche
Blues staff firmware engineer
Hi @rickconrey. When you get a chance, could you let me know the exact STM32F429 you’re using? I’m asking because the amount of flash the chip has impacts the way the ODFU has to be performed, as the flash layout differs depending on the size.
We are using the STM32F429ZIT6, so 2MB flash. Our firmware is much smaller than that though if it matters.
Thanks for that information!
Because the part is 2 MB, there actually is no “single bank” mode. See Table 6 of RM0090. The flash is organized as 2 banks, and there’s no way for the user to change that. You may not be using dual-bank boot, but that’s a separate (but related) thing controlled by a separate flag in the chip’s options bytes (BFB2). DB1M is the bit in the options bytes that controls dual-bank vs. single-bank flash layout, and it’s only relevant for 1 MB parts. See Table 17 of RM0090.
I just got my hands on the same chip you’re using, and I’m now going to work on getting ODFU working. I think it will be pretty straightforward, but I’ll let you know how it goes.
Good news @rickconrey: I’ve gotten ODFU working with this part (well, actually with a STM32F439, but they behave the same for ODFU purposes). Support for ODFU for both F429 and F439 will be included in our next Notecard firmware release, which will be released by the end of March.
Exciting news! Thank you for doing this so quickly!
Any chance there’s a dev firmware I can try out?
At some point in the future (6 months or so) we plan on moving to the STM32F427, which is also a pretty similar part. Would that MCU be supported with the new firmware?
Exciting news! Thank you for doing this so quickly!
Happy to help. Thanks for helping us make the product better.
Any chance there’s a dev firmware I can try out?
Unfortunately no; the next thing we put out will be that release at the end of March. If you have a .bin/.binpack you’d like to privately share with me to validate that ODFU will in fact work with that release, I can do that, though.
At some point in the future (6 months or so) we plan on moving to the STM32F427, which is also a pretty similar part. Would that MCU be supported with the new firmware?
Yes, ODFU should work for STM32F427 as well. It has the same flash layout as the part you’re using now, so it’ll follow the same code path in the Notecard firmware.
Great! Looking forward to trying it out!