Can flash uboot.bin from kernel, but it is not in format that nand-writer writes, doesn't boot

Dan Edmondson

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: AM1705

Hello all,

I was hoping this would be simple, but it is turning out to be a chore. I hope you guys know what is going on, and, more importantly, know how to get the correct format.

The problem that is arising now is how to flash u-boot.bin images to nand flash so that they are in the same format as nand-writer flashed uboot.bins.

We have no problem with erasing and writing both uboot and uImage from the kernel. However, the uboot images written from the kernel do not boot and look completely different. I have appended the uboot header as nand-writer does but it will not boot after the UBL tries to jump to it.

Here is the header read into ram at 0xc0700000.

This image shows the start of u-boot.bin, which I believe is flashed at the second page, offset 0x800.

This image shows what is actually in nand flash at the page boundary.

thanks for looking,

Dan

over 9 years ago

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago

Intellectual 860 points

Oh, sorry. I think that TeraTerm dump may not have been with nand read.raw. Anyway, I captured another dump with read.raw and now I see the uboot source, and the additional header in the u-boot.bin file.

The data starts at offset 0x40 in this file.

and that matches up at nand offset 0x840

I think I just need to find out what nand-writer does with the first 64-bytes. ECC store location perhaps?

0 iConduct over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

TI__Expert 5815 points

Hello Dan,

Thank you for posting on the E2E Forums. To further assist you, can you please specify the processor you are currently using?

Best Regards,

Sem Amesawu

0 Titusrathinaraj Stalin over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

TI__Guru** 116100 points

Hi Dan,

I think that the problem seems to be a OOB mismatch issue.

Could you dump the data with OOB by proceeding with below commands.

1) Flash u-boot as usual like using "nandwrite" (for successful boot)

2) NAND dump the first page of u-boot.bin area.

Ex:

u-boot# nand dump 0x40000

3) Boot linux.

4) Update the u-boot.bin from linux.

Ex:

nandwrite -p /dev/mtd2 u-boot.bin

5) Reboot

6) Now, you are not able to get u-boot shell

7) Boot from SD card or any other media that other than NAND

8) Now do a "nand dump" again for the updated u-boot area.

9) Now compare the both dumps.

Please read the following TI E2E posts like yours.

http://e2e.ti.com/support/embedded/linux/f/354/p/356607/1274407.aspx#1274407

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/DM365_Nand_ECC_layout

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Titusrathinaraj Stalin

Intellectual 860 points

Hello Sem and Titus,

Processor is am1705, SDK is DaVinci-PSP-SDK-03.22.00.06, and we use the da830evm for most configuration, but it is a custom board.

Titus, you are spot on. And thanks for suggesting nand dump. Now I see that nand-writer does flash u-boot at the first page boundary, 0x40800 in this case, with the small header at 0x40000. It was in fact the OOB section that caused my confusion because of the way it was displayed by doing nand read and then dumping ram. Nand dump format is much clearer. Thanks also for the link to ECC layout that explains what I am seeing in these nand dumps.

Start of u-boot location at offset 0x40000, block 2.

The end of the first page, with OOB separated. It can be seen that the u-boot binary data does start at the first page boundary.

From this I can see that my first mistake in flashing u-boot from the kernel was in flashing to the first page of block 2. The second mistake was not building the header that goes in the first page of the block where u-boot is flashed.

I will try this from the kernel:

1) Create the 6 word header with magic number, entry point, number of pages, block number of nand, starting page number (always 1 :-) ), and the load address. Flash this at 0x40000.

2) flash u-boot.bin at the first page boundary in the block, 0x40800.

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

Intellectual 860 points

Almost there. The header is in place and the data looks good in flash. However, the board will not boot u-boot written by the kernel even with nandwrite -p.

Here are the OOB sections that give a clue as to what is going on. Notice that the data is the same, just in different places. NAND block 2, offset 0x40000

From a nand-writer flashing:

OOB:
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        f8 dc f0 2e 4a 21 95 cc
        c8 5d 3f 27 56 f5 29 d8
        61 d9 9d 14 3f 27 56 f5
        29 d8 61 d9 9d 14 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14

From kernel writing u-boot with nandwrite -p

OOB:
        ff ff ff ff ff ff f8 dc
        f0 2e 4a 21 95 cc c8 5d
        ff ff ff ff ff ff 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14
        ff ff ff ff ff ff 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14
        ff ff ff ff ff ff 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14

0 Titusrathinaraj Stalin over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

TI__Guru** 116100 points

Hi Dan,

Titus Says said:

I think that the problem seems to be a OOB mismatch issue.

Dan Says said:

Here are the OOB sections that give a clue as to what is going on. Notice that the data is the same, just in different places. NAND block 2, offset 0x40000

This is what I've suspected.

For that, you have to change the OOB section in linux davinci NAND driver.

As the following wiki said, we need to match the OOB sections between linux and RBL.

Apply the patches from the below TI wiki.

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/DM365_Nand_ECC_layout

Have you ever read the following TI E2E post ?

http://e2e.ti.com/support/embedded/linux/f/354/p/356607/1274407.aspx#1274407

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Titusrathinaraj Stalin

Intellectual 860 points

Hi Titus,

Yes, it is slowly sinking in through my thick skull. :-) The DM365_NAND_ECC_layout is the fix, I will keep reading. I think I may have even reversed the screen shots in my last post. Anyway, this layout has the correct information about what I'm seeing.

I believe the implication is that once this patch is in place in uboot and the kernel, we'll probably need to re-flash u-boot, uImage, and the nand filesystem images so that they all play the same OOB game.

thanks again! I am reasonably certain this is the answer, but I'll wait to "verify" when I have it working for completeness.

Dan

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

Intellectual 860 points

I have uboot and kernel now playing the same game with OOB layout. I have re-flashed u-boot and uImage, and they are booting up now, but not cleanly.

It was necessary to do a nand scrub on the nand block where the uboot environment is stored as this somehow got marked as a bad block. The scrub and subsequent saveenv has restored that block for uboot. However, when the kernel begins to boot, every block the kernel tries to access gets marked as a bad block. So the environment gets marked bad to the kernel and it can no longer read that part of nand correctly. Uboot seems ok with the same block as printenv shows my settings are there, saved in nand.

In the board file, board-da830-evm.c, I have added the new ecclayout structure to da830_evm_nand_pdata. I also notice that pdata is using bbt_td and bbt_md. Is this what triggers the bad block markings?

Here is nand dump i uboot of the environment storage block, 0x140000.

Here is a capture of the kernel booting up and complaining about bad blocks.

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

Intellectual 860 points

Ok, I'm getting somewhere now.

The issue is that the mapping for the bbt in the OOB is now in conflict with the new pattern. Referring to the NAND ECC layout, the old pattern used by uboot and the kernel had empty (free) bytes to write the bad block tables to at the very beginning of the OOB section. Those first 24 bytes shown as blank spaces. Without moving the bbt, it will now overwrite the green blocks of the new layout. These bbt tables are normally written to the OOB section of the last two blocks in the NAND device.

In the new ECC layout, it is necessary to relocated the bbt pattern and mirror to some of the blank spaces.

So, in uboot, /drivers/mtd/nand/nand_bbt.c, the two nand_bbt_descr tables (bbt_main_descr and bbt_mirror_descr) need to be modified. I changed .offs from 8 to 16 so that the first bbt descriptor will be in that third row, and changed .veroffs from 12 to 32 so that the second bbt descriptor will be in that fifth row.

For the kernel, I changed the two descriptor tables in the same way. Now everything maps in the OOB sections without conflict.

To recover nand, since I had corrupted things by not having moved the bbt's, I first flashed in the new uboot with nand-writer. Then I did a nand scrub on the block containing the uboot environment, and also on those last two blocks at 0x1ffC0000 and 0x1ffe0000 (we have a 512MB nand device). Just to be clean, I also erased those blocks.

I reset the board and saw that the UBL was no longer complaining about no room to write the bbt. And that it did write a bbt. I reset the uboot environment bootcmd and bootargs and did a saveenv. No complaints from the nand driver. At this point I tftp'd the uImage and reflashed it. Both uboot and the kernel can read uboot environment ok again.

Everything is now booting and reading/writing nand with the patch applied. That's good.

Tomorrow I'll get back to the original problem of flashing uboot from the kernel. UBL still does not like the uboot written by the kernel.

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

Intellectual 860 points

Oh! I suppose the UBL needs to know about the new ECC layout now.

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

Intellectual 860 points

Well, I can't figure out why UBL doesn't like the u-boot written by the kernel. I've stepped through the UBL code and it throws an error on the first read attempt of the u-boot header.

Here is nand dump, u-boot written by kernel

U-Boot > nand dump 0x40000
Page 00040000 dump:
        11 ed ac a1 00 00 c0 c0 72 00 00 00 02 00 00 00
        01 00 00 00 00 00 c0 c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
        ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
OOB:
        ff ff ff ff ff ff f8 dc
        f0 2e 4a 21 95 cc c8 5d
        ff ff ff ff ff ff 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14
        ff ff ff ff ff ff 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14
        ff ff ff ff ff ff 3f 27
        56 f5 29 d8 61 d9 9d 14

Here is the same u-boot file written by nand-writer

0 Titusrathinaraj Stalin over 9 years ago in reply to Dan Edmondson

TI__Guru** 116100 points

Hi Dan,

I'm not able to understand that what problem are you facing ?

The both logs seems to be same while you written u-boot by NAND writer and kernel.

Right ?

Are you facing any BBT issues (any bad blocks updation issue) ?

I think that It may not be able to read BBT (with OOB area) which is written by old u-boot.

0 Dan Edmondson over 9 years ago in reply to Titusrathinaraj Stalin

Intellectual 860 points

Hi Titus,

I'm confused also. But it seems to be working now. Maybe something was left behind and a nand scrub finally cleared it. I don't know.

However, I have run our package installer twice and UBL seems happy with uboot now. I'll install a few more times to be sure the kernel flashing is good to go.

Thanks again for your help!

Processors

Processors forum

Can flash uboot.bin from kernel, but it is not in format that nand-writer writes, doesn't boot