AHB-to-APB Bridge Narrow Burst Transfer Behavior with HSIZE=0 The core issue revolves around the behavior of an AHB-to-APB bridge during narrow burst transfers, specifically when the AHB master initiates a read burst incremental transfer with HSIZE=0 (byte transfer) to an APB slave that is word-addressable. The AHB master expects byte-level granularity in its transactions, while…
GIC400 nIRQ Output Failure and GICD_ISENABLER Address Misconfiguration The issue revolves around the incorrect configuration of the GICD_ISENABLER register address in the ARM GIC400, leading to the failure of nIRQ and nFIQ signal generation. The user has configured the GIC400 to handle two IRQ signals (IRQ0 and IRQ1) and expects the GIC400 to output nIRQ…
AXI4 Master-Slave Data Width Mismatch and Unaligned Transfers In the context of ARM-based SoC designs, the Advanced eXtensible Interface (AXI) protocol is widely used for high-performance on-chip communication. One of the common challenges faced during AXI4-based system integration is handling transactions between masters and slaves with different data widths. This issue becomes particularly complex when…
ARM Cortex-R5 MPU Region Constraints and DDR Memory Partitioning The ARM Cortex-R5 processor, based on the ARMv7-R architecture, provides a Memory Protection Unit (MPU) that allows developers to define memory regions with specific attributes such as caching, access permissions, and execute-never (XN) settings. The MPU is a critical component for ensuring memory safety, performance optimization,…
NEON Register Usage and Memory Alignment in Optimized Memcpy The core issue revolves around the implementation of a high-performance memcpy function using NEON registers (q0 and q1) on a Cortex-A53 processor. The function is designed to leverage 256-bit (32-byte) memory alignment to maximize data throughput, as the AXI Interconnect on the SoC supports 128-bit accesses….
ARM Trusted Firmware Boot Sequence Failure During BL2 to BL31 Transition The issue at hand involves a failure during the boot sequence of the ARM Trusted Firmware (ATF) on an Intel Agilex board. The boot process is designed to transition from BL2 (Boot Loader stage 2) to BL31 (EL3 runtime firmware) and then to Linux,…
SWCLK and CLKIN Frequency Relationship in Cortex-M33 Debugging The Cortex-M33 processor, like other ARM Cortex-M series processors, relies on two critical clock signals for its operation: the system clock input (CLKIN) and the serial wire clock (SWCLK). CLKIN is the primary clock source that drives the core and peripherals, while SWCLK is used for debugging…
ARM Trusted Firmware (ATF) Assertion Failure During Boot Process The core issue revolves around an assertion failure in the ARM Trusted Firmware (ATF) during the boot process, specifically within the xlat_tables_core.c file. The assertion failure occurs at line 1150, indicating a violation of the ARMv8-A privilege model. The error message suggests that an attempt was…
ARM Cortex-M3 Power Consumption Differences: LDR Pseudo-Instruction vs. Manual Address Construction Understanding the Power Consumption Discrepancy Between LDR Pseudo-Instruction and Manual Address Construction When working with ARM Cortex-M3 processors, particularly in low-power embedded systems, understanding the nuances of instruction execution and their impact on power consumption is critical. In this case, the user observed differing…
ARM Cortex-A78 Virtual Memory Access Exception During Kernel Boot The issue at hand involves a failure during the boot process of a Linux kernel (version 5.10.39) on an ARM Cortex-A78 core. The failure occurs specifically when the kernel attempts to access virtual memory during the execution of the set_task_stack_end_magic() function. This function is part of…