AM2632: UniFlash - Export bootloader and application to single bin file

Bruce Ngo

Part Number: AM2632
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: UNIFLASH,

Tool/software:

On a pcba that has an AM2632, programmed with a valid SBL image (.tiimage) and Application image (.appimage): is it possible to export the memory to a single .bin file? And then take this single .bin file and program it to another identical board? I use the SBL Image address off-set as my starting point to export the memory. UniFlash gives me an error when I attempt to do this (see attached image). I select SBL Image only when attempting to do this programming. Are there other settings I need to toggle? Thank-you!

11 months ago

0 Nilabh Anand 11 months ago

TI__Guru 51940 points

Hi Bruce,

There is no direct way to do it. I can suggest a work around but it would not be straight forward.

https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/arm-based-microcontrollers-group/arm-based-microcontrollers---internal/f/arm-based-microcontrollers---internal-forum/1483518/am263p4-q1-ccs-theia-multicore-hex-file-generation

Then take CCS memory browser dump of the flash content, store it. Then connect the second device to ccs, use memory browser to load the previosuly generated file to the flash location.

0 Nilabh Anand 11 months ago in reply to Nilabh Anand

TI__Guru 51940 points

Please note from TI recommendatiion we would suggest to use Uniflash to flash the seconf device.

May I know what purpose does it solve?

0 Bruce Ngo 11 months ago in reply to Nilabh Anand

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nilabh,

Thank-you for the response. Would there be another link available? I'm having trouble accessing the one you provided (page not found).

0 Bruce Ngo 11 months ago in reply to Nilabh Anand

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nilabh,

Our contract manufacturer doesn't use UniFlash in the production environment. They program direct to the spi flash using a Dediprog SF100. So that's why I'm trying to create a single file for them to use, and see if I can verify it on my bench set up.

0 Nilabh Anand 11 months ago in reply to Bruce Ngo

TI__Guru 51940 points

Please use the srecord tool that is available for both windows and linux.

Steps to download in Windows:

Start on this page SRecord 1.65. Click on Download.
On the next page, click on SourceForge.net download mirrors under the "Pre-compiled Windows Executable" heading.
On the page that comes up, click on the green box that contains the text Download Latest Version.
The file downloaded is named srecord-1.65.0-win64.exe. Run it to install the software.

Command to convert .mcelf to intel hex:

srec_cat {Path to binary}\hello_world.release.mcelf -Binary -offset 0x80000 -o hello_world.release.hex -Intel

in the order of,
srec_cat input_binary_path -type_of_input -offset_from_flash -o output_binary_name -hex_type

This will generate a hex binary that can be flashed using your custom flash writer. Point to note, in flash the content would still be in the mcelf format so that TI bootloader can parse, load and boot the application.

0 Bruce Ngo 10 months ago in reply to Nilabh Anand

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nilabh,

Thank-you, I will try this out. Does it matter if the files I'm working with are .tiiimage (bootlader) .appimage (application) format? For the offsets, do I need the leading 6, as would be inputted in UniFlash (example shown below)?

0 Nilabh Anand 10 months ago in reply to Bruce Ngo

TI__Guru 51940 points

Yes Bruce, leading 6 would be needed.

.tiiimage is for SBL and .appimage is for multicore app image for r5f cores.

Arm-based microcontrollers

Arm-based microcontrollers forum

AM2632: UniFlash - Export bootloader and application to single bin file