AM62A7-Q1: LinuxAppImage authentification problem with NOR QSPI Flash

Nikhil Bhat

Part Number: AM62A7-Q1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: UNIFLASH, SYSCONFIG

Tool/software:

Hello,

I am using a custom hardware using the TI AM62A7-Q1 Soc. On the board I have a QSPI NOR flash (Part Number - IS25WE256E) as well as an eMMC flash.

I am using the uniflash tool to flash the core images using the configurations as provided by TI. I can flash the images using the sbl_prebuilt/default_sbl_ospi_nand_hs_fs.cfg (ipc_rpmsg_echo_linux.release.appimage) onto our qspi nor and it works

However when i try to flash the linux.appimage.hs_fs using the sbl_prebuilt/default_sbl_ospi_nand_linux_hs_fs.cfg, the images are flashed successfully. However on booting from QSPI i get the following error as seen below

Bootloader_verifyMulticoreImage:619 Failed to authenticate and copy on the go, reading the image to DDR

Bootloader_verifyMulticoreImage:680 Failed to authenticate Image

The same linux.appimage.hs_fs works and boots perfectly when flashed onto the emmc flash

It would be great if I could get some support on this. Please let me know if further information is needed

Regards,

Nikhil

7 months ago

0 Vaibhav Kumar 7 months ago

TI__Guru 55553 points

Hi Nikhil,

Here is a checklist before we move forward.

I am assuming you have modified the SysConfig FLASH parameters for SBL UART UNIFLASH Project: sbl_uart_uniflash_multistage/sbl_uart_uniflash_stage2 to make it work for the QSPI NOR Flash you are using.
To boot in QSPI Bootmode, your flash does support the 6B + 3 byte + 8 dummy cycles but I am assuming the QE bit is set as well in the QSPI Flash for it to be able to boot in 1s-1s-4s.

Can you please try using the latest sysfw binaries(that is from SDK 11.1) ?

Link: https://software-dl.ti.com/mcu-plus-sdk/esd/AM62AX/11_01_00_16/exports/docs/api_guide_am62ax/RELEASE_NOTES_11_01_00_PAGE.html#autotoc_md152

Just replace the binaries and and check if the failures are still seen.

Regards,

Vaibhav

0 Nikhil Bhat 7 months ago in reply to Vaibhav Kumar

Prodigy 90 points

Hi Vaibhav,

Thanks for the prompt response. Yes I have modified the sysconfig flash parameters to make it work.

I tried using the latest sysfw binaries from sdk 11.1 but i still get the same error as mentioned previously.

I can share snapshots of my qspi configuration

Best regards,

Nikhil

0 Nikhil Bhat 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

Prodigy 90 points

I could solve the current problem. The problem was due to the default offsets provided by TI in the .cfg file, which cross the 16MB mark.

Due to this, in the QSPI NOR configuration in syscfg one needs to enable the 4Byte addressing mode and adjust the corresponding read and write commands (as they are different for 3B and 4B modes).

The second option to fix the issue is to adjust the offsets in such a way that all images including the linuxappimage fall below the 16MB mark.

With either of the fixes, the image authentication problem is resolved however when u-boot boots I receive the following error

Could you assist me with this

Thanks and best regards,

Nikhil

0 Vaibhav Kumar 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

TI__Guru 55553 points

Please let me know if the following E2E helps: https://e2e.ti.com/support/processors-group/processors/f/processors-forum/1494767/am6442-emmc-boot-spl-failed-to-boot-from-all-boot-devices/5820233?tisearch=e2e-quicksearch&keymatch=SPL:%20failed%20to%20boot%20from%20all%20devices

Apart from this, I have reassigned this thread to the another expert who can help you further.

Thanks,

Vaibhav

0 Prashant Shivhare 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

TI__Guru* 80671 points

Nikhil Bhat said:
Could you assist me with this

The default AM62A U-Boot is built to support NAND devices. Since, you have NOR flash, the booting fails. You would have to modify the U-Boot to integrate the NOR support.

0 Nikhil Bhat 7 months ago in reply to Prashant Shivhare

Prodigy 90 points

Thanks for your reply. Do i just need u-boot.img or do i also need to rebuild bl31 (ATF), bl32(optee) and u-boot-spl.bin-am62ax files ?

On building u-boot i could not find the u-boot-spl.bin-am62ax file ? Could you assist me with this

Regards,

Nikhil

0 Prashant Shivhare 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

TI__Guru* 80671 points

Nikhil Bhat said:
Do i just need u-boot.img or do i also need to rebuild bl31 (ATF), bl32(optee) and u-boot-spl.bin-am62ax files ?

If you have modified and built the U-Boot, you should modify both A53 SPL and A53 U-Boot proper on the boot media.

Nikhil Bhat said:
On building u-boot i could not find the u-boot-spl.bin-am62ax file ? Could you assist me with this

If you are using PSDK top level makefile to build the U-Boot, the file that needs to be used for building the Linux Appimage is: board-support/u-boot-build/a53/spl/u-boot-spl.

Please modify both the Linux Appimage and the u-boot.img on the boot media.

0 Prashant Shivhare 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

TI__Guru* 80671 points

Nikhil Bhat said:
do i also need to rebuild bl31 (ATF), bl32(optee)

These need not be rebuilt.

0 Nikhil Bhat 7 months ago in reply to Prashant Shivhare

Prodigy 90 points

Thanks for your prompt response. I activated the nor related configs in the u-boot menuconfig from the following post AM62A7: Boot from Norflash failed through xSPI interface - Processors forum - Processors - TI E2E support forums

However i am receiving the following error when i make u-boot

make[2]: *** [/home/user/ti-processor-sdk-linux-edgeai-am62a-evm-10_01_00_05/board-support/ti-u-boot-2024.04+git/Makefile:2055: spl/u-boot-spl] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/user/ti-processor-sdk-linux-edgeai-am62a-evm-10_01_00_05/board-support/ti-u-boot-2024.04+git/build/a53'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:177: sub-make] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/user/ti-processor-sdk-linux-edgeai-am62a-evm-10_01_00_05/board-support/ti-u-boot-2024.04+git'
make: *** [makerules/Makefile_u-boot:16: u-boot-a53] Error 2

Regards,

Nikhil

0 Prashant Shivhare 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

TI__Guru* 80671 points

I am looping in our U-Boot OSPI expert for further support.

0 Hong Guan64 7 months ago in reply to Prashant Shivhare

TI__Guru* 75890 points

Here is the Linux SDK user guide on how to build u-boot with the SDK top-level makefile.
https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM62AX/11_01_07_05/exports/docs/linux/Overview/Top_Level_Makefile.html#
Best,
-Hong

0 Nikhil Bhat 7 months ago in reply to Hong Guan64

Prodigy 90 points

Hi Hong,

Thanks for the link.

I have the followind additional questions -

1. I am actually looking for the exact config parameters that need to be enabled in the u-boot menuconfig for QSPI NOR support.

2. In the u-boot config, there are two defconfigs namely am62ax_evm_a53_defconfig and am62ax_evm_r5_defconfig. Do we need to activate qspi nor support for both cores.

3. For the LinuxAppImage generation, the SPL bin is set to image load address of 0x80080000. This address is present in the r5_defconfig file and not the a53. Does that mean the spl bin has to be taken for the r5 build and not from a53 ?

Regards,

Nikhil

+1 Hong Guan64 7 months ago in reply to Nikhil Bhat

TI__Guru* 75890 points

Hi Nikhil,
1/. & 2/.
There's OSPI-NOR flash on TI AM62x-SK board & AM62P-SK board, but not on AM62A-SK board. I'd recommend refer to either am62x_evm_r5_defconfig/am62x_evm_a53_defconfig or am62px_evm_r5_defconfig/am62px_evm_a53_defconfig on OSPI-NOR configurations for your reference.
3/. refer to this file on the load/entry address for each binary in tispl.bin image
https://git.ti.com/cgit/ti-u-boot/ti-u-boot/tree/arch/arm/dts/k3-binman.dtsi?h=11.01.14#n256
Best,
-Hong

0 Nikhil Bhat 6 months ago in reply to Hong Guan64

Prodigy 90 points

Thanks Hong, this helped solve my issue. It is now working as expected.

Regards,

Nikhil