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I am working on an STM32F103RBT6 program and at some point I need to store values in the FLASH.

Writing in Flash is working as a charm, if I parse through the memory of my microcontroller, I see that the data has been written at the expected spot.

However, if I try to read the data I stored on a word (uint32_t), I read 0.

__attribute__((__section__(".nb_Frames"))) const uint32_t nb_Frames_Flash;
uint8_t CAN_nb_Frames_Tx_cc = 0;

[...]

CAN_nb_Frames_Tx_cc = (nb_Frames_Flash & 0x000000FF);

For example here, I want to get the low byte of the value stored in nb_Frames_Flash (0x01 for example), but CAN_nb_Frames_Tx_cc stays = 0.

I am sure that nb_Frames_Flash != 0 because If I go through these lines step by step thanks to the debugger, I can see that nb_Frames_Flash = 0x00010101 (which is the value I wrote in the Flash). The assignement just feels like it's not going through ...

I have tried to change the assignement : CAN_nb_Frames_Tx_cc = (nb_Frames_Flash & 0x000000FF); by adding casts, changing the definition of CAN_nb_Frames_Tx_cc (uint32_t for instance), going through an intermediate variable ... But it just won't work ...

I am really stuck here and I don't know why it is not properly working.

The thing that makes me go nuts is that reading in Flash is completely working for structures. I stored structures in Flash, and I have no issue to read them and store them in a RAM variable ...

In advance, thank you for your help !

EDIT : Here is my linker script : 

{
RAM (xrw)      : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 20K
FLASH (rx)      : ORIGIN = 0x8000000, LENGTH = 128K - 5K
Erases (RW)     : ORIGIN = 0x801EC00, LENGTH = 4
Frames (RW)     : ORIGIN = 0x801EC04, LENGTH = 4
TRAMESTx (RW)   : ORIGIN = 0x801EC08, LENGTH = 1400
TRAMESRx (RW)   : ORIGIN = 0x801F180, LENGTH = 1800
TRAMESADC(RW)   : ORIGIN = 0x801F888, LENGTH = 800
TRAMESOP (RW)   : ORIGIN = 0x801FBA8, LENGTH = 800
}

/* Define output sections */
SECTIONS
{
  /* The startup code goes first into FLASH */
  .isr_vector :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    KEEP(*(.isr_vector)) /* Startup code */
    . = ALIGN(4);
  } >FLASH

 .nb_Erases : 
 {
    . = ALIGN(4);

    *(.nb_Erases)

    . = ALIGN(4);
    } > Erases

 .nb_Frames : 
 {
    . = ALIGN(4);

    *(.nb_Frames)

    . = ALIGN(4);
    } > Frames

 .user_TramesTx : 
 {
    . = ALIGN(4);

    *(.user_TramesTx)

    . = ALIGN(4);
    } > TRAMESTx

 .user_TramesRx : 
 {
    . = ALIGN(4);

    *(.user_TramesRx)

    . = ALIGN(4);
    } > TRAMESRx

 .user_TramesADC : 
 {
    . = ALIGN(4);

    *(.user_TramesADC)

    . = ALIGN(4);
    } > TRAMESADC

 .user_TramesOp : 
 {
    . = ALIGN(4);

    *(.user_TramesOp)

    . = ALIGN(4);
    } > TRAMESOP
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Publish your linker script. The section .nb_Frames can be placed at a wrong address, eg. RAM, bss or in a black-hole. You could also generate a map file to see the exact placement. \$\endgroup\$
    – filo
    Jul 25, 2018 at 8:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ I added it, but I am pretty confident about it being correct since I can write in flash without any issue. But feel free to say if anything is wrong ! \$\endgroup\$
    – B.Clergue
    Jul 25, 2018 at 9:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3
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You need to make nb_Frames_Flash volatile.

The compiler sees no change to nb_Frames_Flash anywhere in the code. Thus it implies it is 0. Resulting no code will be inserted for the assignement of CAN_nb_Frames_Tx_cc. (check the assembler, it will be missing)

__attribute__((__section__(".nb_Frames"))) volatile const uint32_t nb_Frames_Flash;

The volatile keyword explicitly instructs to compiler to perform a read for every use of nb_Frames_Flash.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It is working ! Thank you so much, I cannot upvote your answer but it is perfect ! However, I am still interested in understanding why not putting volatile in front of the structure declaration doesn't prevent the compiler from reading it ? \$\endgroup\$
    – B.Clergue
    Jul 25, 2018 at 9:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @B.Clergue The compiler optimizations. Try it without -O0. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jeroen3
    Jul 25, 2018 at 19:25

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