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ShawnP
ShawnP
Associate II
February 18, 2023
Question

Hard fault invalid state

  • February 18, 2023
  • 8 replies
  • 2601 views

I'm trying to inject a simple wrapper around my timer interrput handler written in C - primarily for debug purposes to simplify debugging the state of registers and stack before the C code gets in and messes up the stack and state pushing all the junk it pushes to selectively save registers it's going to mess with etc. I just injected a little assembly (below) to forward the exception to my "real" handler giving me a break point prior to the 'C' code (vector table set to point to this wrapper).

I can run this in the debugger and I can break on the ldr instruction but if I proceed from there (either continue or single step) I end up in the hard fault hander with HFSR: 0x40000000 and CFSR: 0x20000 which seems to indicate and "invalid state" fault.

I'm fairly new to ARM so I'm sure it's something simple but it's got me beat.

NOTE: If I just set the vector table to point directly to my 'C' function everything works just fine - I end up in the 'C' function and everything operates as expected.

Any help would be appreciated.

Shawn

 .section	.text.TIM6_IRQHandler_Wrapper
TIM6_IRQHandler_Wrapper:
	ldr r0, =TIM6_IRQHandler
	add r0, #1
	bx r0
	.size	TIM6_IRQHandler_Wrapper, .-TIM6_IRQHandler_Wrapper

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8 replies

Tesla DeLorean
Tesla DeLorean
Guru
February 18, 2023

Doesn't TIM6_IRQHandler already load as an ODD number?

OR on 1, rather than ADD on 1

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ShawnP
ShawnPAuthor
Associate II
February 18, 2023

Yeah, you're probably right. But the original version of the code just had "bl TIM6_IRQHandler" - same result. So I figured I'd give adding 1 a shot. Then discovered I'm getting a hard fault even before getting to the branch - not even getting to the add instruction. BTW - based on your note I did two things 1) took out the add (same results) 2) changed add to ORR r0, #1 (same results)

Tesla DeLorean
Tesla DeLorean
Guru
February 18, 2023

What is the value of TIM6_IRQHandler ??

You said it worked when the value was in the Vector Table?

.word / dcd TIM6_IRQHandler

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ShawnP
ShawnPAuthor
Associate II
February 18, 2023

Value of TIM6_IRQHandler = 0x8000dc0 - taken from disassembly in wrapper code. And also cofirmed in disassembly for actual code below.

in the vector table code there is no /dcd switch - just .word TIM6_IRQHandler

	.word	TIM4_IRQHandler
	.word	TIM5_IRQHandler
	.word	TIM6_IRQHandler_Wrapper
	.word	TIM7_IRQHandler
	.word	TIM8_BRK_IRQHandler

right now TIM6_IRQHandler looks like this - just handing off to HAL. Will be gettiner more complicated later hence my desire to get a shim in place before I hit the C code.

void TIM6_IRQHandler(void)
{
 /* USER CODE BEGIN TIM6_IRQn 0 */
 
 /* USER CODE END TIM6_IRQn 0 */
 HAL_TIM_IRQHandler(&htim6);
 /* USER CODE BEGIN TIM6_IRQn 1 */
 
 /* USER CODE END TIM6_IRQn 1 */
}
 TIM6_IRQHandler:
08000dc0: push {r7, lr}
08000dc2: add r7, sp, #0
266 HAL_TIM_IRQHandler(&htim6);
08000dc4: ldr r0, [pc, #8] ; (0x8000dd0 <TIM6_IRQHandler+16>)
08000dc6: bl 0x80068bc <HAL_TIM_IRQHandler>
270 }

ShawnP
ShawnPAuthor
Associate II
February 18, 2023

Solved it thanks to your questions!! Your /dcd switch question got me to thinking what setting / switches are needed to set the LSB on the address. Then I looked at the .weak and .thumb_set

	.weak	TIM6_IRQHandler
	.thumb_set TIM6_IRQHandler,TIM6_IRQHandler_Wrapper

code in the startup module. Above is the "new" (working) version of the code and I set the vector table back to TIM6_IRQHandler and renamed the entry point in my C code to TIM6_IRQHandler_Main. Seems the .thumb_set statement sets the low bit in the vector. I had commented the .weak and .thumb_set statements out since I didn't need a weak label and I was setting the vector directly.

I need to do a bit more investigation to understand the full dynamics of the .weak, .thumb_set, the vector table and strong overrides. I think the linker somehow knows that when you override a weak address that the .thumb_set setting needs to be sticky.

Anyway, thanks a bunch for your help!!!

Shawn

Tesla DeLorean
Tesla DeLorean
Guru
February 18, 2023

DCD is the Keil/IAR equivalent to .word that GNU/GAS uses

Looking at the listing, or disassembly, file may show the bytes/words emitted by the Assembler. All the function addresses in the vector table should be odd.

On chips with an FPU watch for routines that push co-processor registers. These will fault if the co-processor is not enabled.

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Piranha
Piranha
Principal III
February 19, 2023

Someone already sorted it all out and reported:

https://community.st.com/s/question/0D53W00000dS8FcSAK/review-of-st-startup-code

Edited by moderation team to adjust to community guidelines

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