[E3-hacking] PBL and flash access on the E3

[en4rab]

--- David Given <dg at cowlark.com> wrote:

> 
> Thanks to Cliff for the detailed explanation of how the flash metadata
> works. From that, it seems to me that the view of the flash that PBL
> sees (after bad-block remapping) is *not* the same as the view that
> Linux sees (talking directly to the chip). Which means that while I'm
> safe and won't be able to trash the metadata using PBL, I *will* be
> able
> to trash the metadata using Linux --- and if I trash the metadata, I
> won't be able to use PBL to boot from the flash.
> 
> Could the strange issues at the end of the flash be this metadata?
> 

I dont know if it will be of any help but I found a copy of the toshiba
data sheet for that nand device and put it on my website for download
here:
http://www.en4rab.dsl.pipex.com/TC58DVAM82AF1FT_030129.pdf
The metadata (crc's for ECC and other stuff) is stored at the end of
eack page.
A page is 528 bytes, 512 bytes are for user data and 16 bytes for ECC or
other metadata.
There is a small note at the end of the datasheet (page32) about
checking for bad pages on a new chip.
en4rab

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