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AM2634-Q1: Does the SOP Dip Switches are necessary in the hardware design?

Phoenix Yin
Prodigy 150 points
Part Number: AM2634-Q1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: UNIFLASH

To write the SBL and Application image files into external flash, I always need to set boot mode switches (SOP 0 - 3) on Eva board. (following the SDK guide of boot and flash)

The questions is do we have to add the same dip switches in our control board?

Or what is the best method for booting from external flash?

  • 0
    TI__Guru*** 131410 points

    Hello Phoenix,

    The choice of having a switch bank is specifically to streamline the use of multiple boot modes for all users. If you only need a single boot mode, then you would just need to have the right pull-up / pull-down resistors for when the device boots up.

    If there is a need to swap between boot modes for your control board and you only have to swap between two modes it is likely that you can do so with just one or two jumpers populate where you can configure the board based on jumper settings. An example of this would be how what we have on our TMDS273GPEVM.

    In the above case, the middle jumper is left unconnected to boot from QSPI flash and is connected to boot from SBL. (The other jumpers help control other boot modes)

    Let me know if you have further questions on this!

    Best Regards,

    Ralph Jacobi

  • 0 in reply to Ralph Jacobi
    Prodigy 150 points

    Thanks Ralph,

    we only want to boot from QSPI external flash, but if I fixed the SOP pins to QSPI mode, how can I flash the images into the external flash?

    Using TI's uniflash tools will require different boot mode. For example, if using SBL_Jtag_uniflash, it requires to set to NOBOOT MODE.

  • +1 in reply to Phoenix Yin
    TI__Guru*** 131410 points

    Hi Phoenix,

    I think the most effective solution would be to have the ability to toggle between modes by enabling access to the SOP pins as part of the flash process. If you feel this would happen at only one time you can use an unpopulated jumper or test point that is probed just for flashing the image. If you feel this would need to be done repeatedly, by users etc. then I'd recommend having a populated jumper.

    I've also heard of other cases like flash memories getting flashed on via a socketed board as part of the flow so it's installed with the ready to go software as well which would be a situation where you wouldn't have any toggling between boot modes. But if the SBL is going to be used for that, then you need at least one means to switch between SBL + QSPI boot.

    Best Regards,

    Ralph Jacobi