STM32F207 bare metal SPI RXNE and TXE not working? - arm

Question

I need to communicate with an eeprom chip(25lc1024) via SPI.
I can get the following code to work but have to resort to delays isntead of the flags alone.
Otherwise I can see on the scope that it is not waiting for all the bits to be shifted out and proceeds.
Any ideas why the flags are not stopping it?
void Init_SPI(void){
RCC->APB2ENR |= RCC_APB2ENR_SPI1EN; // enable SPI clock
GPIOA->AFR[0] |= SET_AFL_A_FOR_SPI1;
GPIOB->AFR[0] |= SET_AFL_B_FOR_SPI1;
SPI1_NSS = DESELECT_CHIP; // set the SS pin high
// initialize the SPI configuration register
SPI1->CR1 = SPI_CR1_MSTR // SPI master mode
| SPI_CR1_BR_1; // 010 bit rate prescale /8 (60MHz/8 = 7.5MHz)
SPI1->CR2 = SPI_CR2_SSOE;
SPI1->CR1 |= SPI_CR1_SPE; // enable SPI
}
unsigned int eeprom_read(unsigned long address, unsigned int chars_to_read)
{
char temp;
unsigned int result = 0;
SPI1_NSS = SELECT_CHIP; // set the SS pin low
SPI1->DR = READ_FROM_SPI; // send data out SPI
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_TXE) ); // wait until transmit buffer empty
SPI1->DR = (address & 0xFF0000) >> ADJ16; // send data out SPI
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_TXE) ); // wait until transmit buffer empty
SPI1->DR = (address & 0x00FF00) >> ADJ8; // send data out SPI
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_TXE) ); // wait until transmit buffer empty
SPI1->DR = (address & 0x0000FF); // send data out SPI
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_TXE) ); // wait until transmit buffer empty
delay();
temp = SPI1->DR;
SPI1->DR = DUMMY_8BIT; // send dummy 8 bits to generate clock
chars_to_read--;
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_RXNE) ); // wait until receive buffer is not empty
//USART2->DR = SPI1->DR;
result = SPI1->DR;
if(chars_to_read != 0){
while((SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_RXNE) ); // wait until receive buffer is empty
delay();
SPI1->DR = DUMMY_8BIT; // send dummy 8 bits to generate clock
//delay();
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_TXE) ); // wait until transmit buffer is empty
while( !(SPI1->SR & SPI_SR_RXNE) ); // wait until receive buffer is not empty
temp = SPI1->DR;
result = (result*256) + temp;
chars_to_read--;
}
delay();
SPI1_NSS = DESELECT_CHIP; // set the SS pin high
return result;
}
static void delay(void)
{
unsigned int j = FALSE;
for (j = 0; j < 25; j++) {
}
}