Stm32h723 pbuf free assert, why are the ethernet drivers still broken?

[arena_chris1seto]

I have a project running on my Stm32H7. I imported my ethernetif/lwip settings from the Stm32CubeH7 H723 lwip + freertos http server example, but made some small changes. For the most part in the most basic sense, the driver works and my board at least gets a DHCP lease and responds to ping, but I am getting an assert:

"Assertion "pbuf_free: p->ref > 0" failed at line 753 in [......]/LwIP/src/core/pbuf.c"

I've read so many topics on the state of Ethernet in the Stm32H7. Because of the ST community manager locking threads where fixes are discussed, I honestly don't know the current state of the drivers, except I can guess that this is an issue having to do with pbufs getting clobbered. I've seen the large zip file from https://community.st.com/t5/embedded-software-mcus/bug-fixes-stm32h7-ethernet/td-p/281420, but I don't know how out of date this is or how many of these issues have truly been fixed now. 

If the drivers in the CubeH7 drivers are working, what am I doing wrong? If they are not, when can we expect better fixes? The Stm32H7 has been out for 6+ years.

Thanks!

Attached are my files:

NOTE: In my code, D/ICACHE are enabled in main

[arena_chris1seto]

Thanks @STOne-32 , I will follow up with them.

[kotofey]

Do you have any solution? I have exactly the same problem with pbuf assert.

[dumarjo]

Any update ? I have the exact same problem.

[Sankar]

hi, i am also facing similar problem. did you get the solution? could you help ? 

Sankar

[STOne-32]

Dear @Sankar ,

can you please your project with @STea , we will help you . The original post thread has been solved with right settings of memories and heap size .

please share your code & setup and failing part of code .

Cheers,

STOne-32

[STea · Accepted solution]

Hello @Sankar ,@dumarjo, @kotofey,

I can confirm that this issue is related mostly to buffer sizes exceeding their dedicated memory addresses and this addressees can change based on the H7 series and if it's a dual or single core MCU . i don't know you exact issues but you can try to look for the following common mistakes:

1. For STM32H72x/H73x devices, the Ethernet buffers can't be placed in address range 0x30040000 - 0x30048000, since that range is not valid. D2 SRAM on those devices is much smaller, so the buffers need to be placed starting at 0x30000000. This affects RX & TX descriptors and RX buffer addresses (ETH configuration in CubeMX) and LWIP_RAM_HEAP_POINTER used for TX buffers .
2. When running the stack on Cortex-M4, the buffers can be placed at the same address (0x30040000), but it is better to place them at 0x10040000 which is alias for the same address. This alias is accessible by Cortex-M4 D-bus and helps to utilize the Harvard architecture.
3. On STM32H747-Discovery board, modification needs to be done to default solder bridge configuration. SB8 should be closed and SB21 should be open for Ethernet to work, otherwise the MDC signal is not properly connected.
4. When allocating buffers via pbuf_alloc (or similar), PBUF_RAM must be used as 3rd parameter. This is necessary to ensure that the allocated buffer is placed in D2 SRAM and synchronized with DMA
5. Not sufficient stack size for different thread can cause issues.

a detailed explanation on the setup of Ethernet and LWIP on STM32H7 can be found in this article .

BR