spi-nand kernel module is missing (please add kernel config option MTD_SPI_NAND=m)

[Mikhail Kshevetskiy]

A lot of spi-nand flashes is supported linux kernel. It will be very helpful to add a possibility to read/write/erase such flashes using standard linux support. Unfortunately spi-nand support is not enabled in armbian linux kernel.
 

example: recovery bootloader on the router board
 

• Orange Pi 4 configuration
  
  1. Recompile orange pi 4 linux kernel to enable spi-nand driver (linux-5.10 or above is required). Make sure spinand, mtd and nandcore are built as modules
  2. sudo armbian-config, go to “System → DTC” and replace spidev with spinand
  3. install the following packages: mtd-utils
  4. reboot board to apply changes
   
• Connect spi-nand chip to orange pi4 board
  
  Testpoint Meaning Where to connect
  3.3V 3.3V power supply pin 17 of orange pi 4 connector
  DI SPI Data In pin 19 of orange pi 4 connector
  DO SPI Data Out pin 21 of orange pi 4 connector
  CLK SPI Clock pin 23 of orange pi 4 connector
  GND Ground pin 25 of orange pi 4connector
  CS# SPI Chip Select pin 24 of orange pi 4 connector
  WP# Write Protect short with HOLD# and 3.3V testpoints
  HOLD# Hold short with WP# and 3.3V testpoints
   
• restart spinand and mtd modules
  
  rmmod ofpart spinand mtd nandcore
  modprobe spinand
  modprobe mtd
  
  make sure the flash was detected
  
  dmesg | tail -n 6
  [ 237.055291] spi-nand: probe of spi0.0 failed with error -524
  [ 383.913569] spi-id: 00, ef, aa, 21
  [ 383.913729] spi-id: ef, aa, 21, 00
  [ 383.913878] spi-id: ef, aa, 21, 00
  [ 383.913936] spi-nand spi0.0: Winbond SPI NAND was found.
  [ 383.913965] spi-nand spi0.0: 128 MiB, block size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048, OOB size: 64
   
• Recovering bootloader
  
  Add partitions of your choice using
  
  mtdpart add /dev/mtd0 <PART_NAME>
  
  Erase & flash partition
  
  flash_erase /dev/mtd 0 0
  nandwrite /dev/mtd image_file
  
  Disconnect flash from orange pi board and test it

[Igor]

On 7/3/2023 at 2:43 AM, Mikhail Kshevetskiy said:

Unfortunately spi-nand support is not enabled in armbian linux kernel

Here are kernel configs for all kernels. I am sure its easy to find correct ones:
https://github.com/armbian/build/tree/main/config/kernel

Enable and sent a PR.