[J-u-boot.git] / doc / README.atmel_pmecc

How to enable PMECC(Programmable Multibit ECC) for nand on Atmel SoCs
-----------------------------------------------------------
2012-08-22 Josh Wu <[email protected]>

The Programmable Multibit ECC (PMECC) controller is a programmable binary
BCH(Bose, Chaudhuri and Hocquenghem) encoder and decoder. This controller
can be used to support both SLC and MLC NAND Flash devices. It supports to
generate ECC to correct 2, 4, 8, 12 or 24 bits of error per sector (512 or
1024 bytes) of data.

Following Atmel AT91 products support PMECC.
- AT91SAM9X25, X35, G25, G15, G35 (tested)
- AT91SAM9N12 (not tested, Should work)

As soon as your nand flash software ECC works, you can enable PMECC.

To use PMECC in this driver, the user needs to set:
	1. the PMECC correction error bits capability: CONFIG_PMECC_CAP.
	   It can be 2, 4, 8, 12 or 24.
	2. The PMECC sector size: CONFIG_PMECC_SECTOR_SIZE.
	   It only can be 512 or 1024.
	3. The PMECC index lookup table's offsets in ROM code: CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET.
	   In the chip datasheet section "Boot Stragegies", you can find
	   two Galois Field Table in the ROM code. One table is for 512-bytes
	   sector. Another is for 1024-byte sector. Each Galois Field includes
	   two sub-table: indext table & alpha table.
	   In the beginning of each Galois Field Table is the index table,
	   Alpha table is in the following.
	   So the index table's offset is same as the Galois Field Table.

	   Please set CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET correctly according the
	   Galois Field Table's offset base on the sector size you used.

Take AT91SAM9X5EK as an example, the board definition file likes:

/* PMECC & PMERRLOC */
#define CONFIG_ATMEL_NAND_HWECC		1
#define CONFIG_ATMEL_NAND_HW_PMECC	1
#define CONFIG_PMECC_CAP		2
#define CONFIG_PMECC_SECTOR_SIZE	512
#define CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET	0x8000

NOTE: If you use 1024 as the sector size, then need set 0x10000 as the
 CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET
Commit	Line	Data
bdfd59aa WJ	1	How to enable PMECC(Programmable Multibit ECC) for nand on Atmel SoCs
	2	-----------------------------------------------------------
	3	2012-08-22 Josh Wu <[email protected]>
	4
	5	The Programmable Multibit ECC (PMECC) controller is a programmable binary
	6	BCH(Bose, Chaudhuri and Hocquenghem) encoder and decoder. This controller
	7	can be used to support both SLC and MLC NAND Flash devices. It supports to
	8	generate ECC to correct 2, 4, 8, 12 or 24 bits of error per sector (512 or
	9	1024 bytes) of data.
	10
	11	Following Atmel AT91 products support PMECC.
	12	- AT91SAM9X25, X35, G25, G15, G35 (tested)
	13	- AT91SAM9N12 (not tested, Should work)
	14
	15	As soon as your nand flash software ECC works, you can enable PMECC.
	16
	17	To use PMECC in this driver, the user needs to set:
	18	1. the PMECC correction error bits capability: CONFIG_PMECC_CAP.
	19	It can be 2, 4, 8, 12 or 24.
	20	2. The PMECC sector size: CONFIG_PMECC_SECTOR_SIZE.
	21	It only can be 512 or 1024.
	22	3. The PMECC index lookup table's offsets in ROM code: CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET.
	23	In the chip datasheet section "Boot Stragegies", you can find
	24	two Galois Field Table in the ROM code. One table is for 512-bytes
	25	sector. Another is for 1024-byte sector. Each Galois Field includes
	26	two sub-table: indext table & alpha table.
	27	In the beginning of each Galois Field Table is the index table,
	28	Alpha table is in the following.
	29	So the index table's offset is same as the Galois Field Table.
	30
	31	Please set CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET correctly according the
	32	Galois Field Table's offset base on the sector size you used.
	33
	34	Take AT91SAM9X5EK as an example, the board definition file likes:
	35
	36	/* PMECC & PMERRLOC */
	37	#define CONFIG_ATMEL_NAND_HWECC 1
	38	#define CONFIG_ATMEL_NAND_HW_PMECC 1
	39	#define CONFIG_PMECC_CAP 2
	40	#define CONFIG_PMECC_SECTOR_SIZE 512
	41	#define CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET 0x8000
	42
	43	NOTE: If you use 1024 as the sector size, then need set 0x10000 as the
	44	CONFIG_PMECC_INDEX_TABLE_OFFSET