ARM Cortex-A72 Debugger Hangs During NEON Vectorization and Type Casting The issue at hand involves the debugger stalling or failing to execute specific lines of code when working with ARM Cortex-A72 Aarch64 processors, particularly during NEON vectorization and type casting operations. The debugger appears to hang indefinitely when encountering instructions such as uint8x16_t aa =…
STM32H745 Dual-Core Debugging Challenges with IAR Toolchain The STM32H745 microcontroller, featuring a dual-core ARM Cortex-M7 and Cortex-M4 architecture, presents unique debugging challenges when using the IAR Embedded Workbench toolchain. The primary issue revolves around the inability to simultaneously debug both cores using separate IDE instances, despite following the recommended STMicroelectronics Application Note AN5286 for debugger…
ARMv8 TLB Miss Penalty and Table Walk Latency Overview In ARMv8 architecture, the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) is a critical component for virtual-to-physical address translation. When a TLB miss occurs, the processor must perform a table walk to retrieve the necessary translation information from the page tables stored in memory. This process introduces latency, which…
ARM Cortex-M7 MPU Configuration and Privilege Mode Transition Fault The issue at hand involves an unexpected MemManage Fault on an ARM Cortex-M7 processor (specifically the STM32H7 series) when transitioning from privileged thread mode to unprivileged thread mode. The fault is triggered immediately after writing to the CONTROL register to switch to unprivileged mode, with the…
Flash Memory CRC Check Mechanism and Its Disabling in ARM Cortex-M3 The ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller architecture incorporates a Flash Memory Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) mechanism to ensure data integrity during runtime. This mechanism is designed to verify the integrity of the Flash memory contents by computing a CRC value and comparing it against a precomputed…
ARM Juno Board Android 10 Upgrade Challenges The ARM Juno board, a development platform widely used for testing and prototyping on ARM architectures, presents unique challenges when upgrading from Android 9 to Android 10. The primary issue revolves around the compatibility of the existing Juno SDK, which is based on Android 9, with the newer…
Understanding the DHCSR Register and C_DEBUGEN Bit Behavior The Debug Halting Control and Status Register (DHCSR) is a critical component in ARM Cortex-M processors, primarily used for controlling and monitoring the debug state of the processor. One of its key bits is the C_DEBUGEN bit, which enables or disables the debug functionality. The issue at…
ARM Cortex-M Synchronous Exception Handling in QEMU Synchronous exceptions in ARM Cortex-M processors occur when the processor encounters an issue that prevents the normal execution of an instruction. These exceptions are precise, meaning they are triggered immediately after the offending instruction is executed, and the processor state is well-defined at the point of the exception….
ARM TrustZone and Secure Enclave Implementation Challenges on ARMv8-A ARM TrustZone is a hardware-based security feature embedded in ARM processors, designed to create a secure environment for executing sensitive code and handling confidential data. TrustZone achieves this by dividing the system into two worlds: the Secure World and the Normal World. The Secure World operates…
ARMv8-A Translation Table APTable Permission Faults in Secure World Implementations Understanding the APTable Permission Mechanism in ARMv8-A Translation Tables The ARMv8-A architecture employs a multi-level translation table system to manage virtual-to-physical address mappings and access permissions. The translation tables are hierarchical, with each level responsible for a portion of the virtual address space. The Access…