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AM2631: Regarding External Flash Memory Image Update

O.H
Mastermind 7090 points

Part Number: AM2631

Hi experts,

Is it possible to rewrite the external flash memory that stores the AM2631 program (image) while the CPU is running?
I understand that AM263Px supports this as described below.
It would be  helpful thay you provide alternative methods or application notes on how to achieve this with AM263x.
Best regards,
O.H
  • 0
    TI__Guru 57800 points

    Hi,

    Yes its possible to rewrite the flash memory in am263, as the program execution happens from RAM

  • 0 in reply to Nilabh Anand
    TI__Guru 57800 points

    AM263Px supports execute in place so an additional accelerator is needed to update the firmware image,

  • 0 in reply to Nilabh Anand
    Mastermind 7090 points

    Hi Nilabh Anand,

    Thank you for your reply.

    Let me confirm one more thing. Is it possible to have two images (programs), one before the update and one after the update, by dividing the external flash area into two?
    (Specifically, placing two images at 0x000_0000 and 0x000F_0000 in the external Flash and intentionally destroying one of the images.)

    Or do I need to prepare two external flash drives?
    (Specifically, since only CS_0 can be selected from the CPU side, switching is done using an external circuit.)

    I would like to confirm if there is a way to select one of two programs to launch when booting with the AM263x.

    Best regards,
    O.H

  • 0 in reply to O.H
    TI__Guru 57800 points
    O.H said:

    Let me confirm one more thing. Is it possible to have two images (programs), one before the update and one after the update, by dividing the external flash area into two?
    (Specifically, placing two images at 0x000_0000 and 0x000F_0000 in the external Flash and intentionally destroying one of the images.)

    Yes, this is definitely possible, you can pick the offset from where to boot based on if a firmware update was successful i.e

    Lets say initially you are booting from seg A(0x0000_0000), then you can do a fimrware update, now you have a new image in SegB(0xF000_0000), maintain a state variable(new_fw) which SBL will read and try to boot from Seg B, if boot succeeds, all good, if it does not it falls back to Seg A.

  • 0 in reply to O.H
    TI__Guru 57800 points
    O.H said:
    I would like to confirm if there is a way to select one of two programs to launch when booting with the AM263x.

    This logic needs to be built in SBL, and you will need to state a variable in flash at a predefined offset, which SBL can read before booting the firmware.

  • 0 in reply to Nilabh Anand
    Mastermind 7090 points

    Thank you for your kind support. I understood.

    Best regards,
    O.H

  • 0 in reply to O.H
    TI__Guru 57800 points

    Sure will close this thread now.