DRA821U: keywriter doesn't output any message on UART

HI Charles

Please provide complete detailed steps on how you generated the keywriter binary.

Regards
Diwakar

1. Basic Environment Information
• SDK Version Dependent on Keywriter: ti-processsor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-11_00_00_03
• Target Hardware: custom board
• Current Blocking Issue: After loading the Keywriter image, no console message came out of the 4 available UARTs (WKUP_UART0, MCU_UART0, MAIN_UART0, MAIN_UART1) at all.

2. Modification Steps for the Keywriter Tool
a. File to Modify: main.c in the Keywriter module under the SDK path.
b. Modification Content: Comment out the function call statement of Sciclient_otpProcessKeyCfg() to avoid key writing. The specific code lines are as follows:
◦ Original code: Sciclient_otpProcessKeyCfg();
◦ Modified code: //Sciclient_otpProcessKeyCfg(); (Only this function is commented; no other code logic is modified.)

3. Build and Flashing Steps for the Keywriter Image
a. Compilation Environment: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (equipped with an ARM cross-compilation toolchain, whose version is compatible with the SDK).
b. Build Command: Execute the compilation command in the SDK root directory, specifying the target board and number of parallel compilations:
make keywriter_img -j4 BOARD=j7200_evm

3. Rename bin file: After compilation is completed, keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin is generated. Rename this file to tiboot3.bin.

4. Running Keywriter tool: Loading tiboot3.bin to our custom board via the DFU tool (Version: dfu-util 0.9). The loading is successful and no messages from any UART port.

Hi Charles,

You need to get the OTP keywriter package and need to follow the steps mentioned in the README included in the package to build the keywriter tool. 

If you don't have OTP keywriter package, please reach out to local FAE for the same.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Diwakar,

Thanks for your reply. Are you referring to OTP_KEYWRITER_ADD_ON_j7200_sr2_v2022.01-linux-installer.run? We already applied this to our PDK before we built Keywriter tool. Our build log is attached below.

Is there any means to debug this issue? If we use JTAG debugger to trouble-shooting, what things (registers) should we check?

What else may cause this problem? 

Build log:

~/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/build$ make keywriter_img -j4 BOARD=j7200_evm
make -C /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build -f/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build/keywriter.mk
make[1]: Enter directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
make -f/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build/keywriter.mk pmic sciclient_direct board uart osal_nonos csl csl_init i2c gpio rm_pm_hal  
make[2]: Entering directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
make[2]: For “pmic” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “sciclient_direct” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “board” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “uart” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “osal_nonos” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “csl” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “csl_init” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “i2c” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “gpio” nothing to do。
make[2]: For “rm_pm_hal” nothing to do。
make[2]: Entering directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
make -f/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build/keywriter.mk /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.xer5f
make[2]: Entering directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
make[2]: “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.xer5f”已是最新。
make[2]: Leaving directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
make[1]: Leaving directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
make -C /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build -f/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build/keywriter.mk keywr_imagegen
make[1]: Entering directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”
/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/gcc-arm-9.2-2019.12-x86_64-aarch64-none-elf/bin/aarch64-none-elf-objcopy --gap-fill=0xff -O binary /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.xer5f /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin
/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/gcc-arm-9.2-2019.12-x86_64-aarch64-none-elf/bin/aarch64-none-elf-objcopy --gap-fill=0xff -O binary /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.xer5f /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin
# Appending certificate to keywriter binary file.
/bin/cat /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/x509cert/final_certificate.bin >> /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin
/bin/chmod a+x /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/build/makerules/x509CertificateGen.sh
/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/build/makerules/x509CertificateGen.sh -b /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin -o /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.tiimage -c R5 -l 0x41C00100 -k /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/build/makerules/k3_dev_mpk.pem -d DEBUG -j DBG_FULL_ENABLE -m SPLIT_MODE
~/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build ~/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build

Debug Extension is Enabled :
SoC UID not specified for Debug Extension. Using UID 0
	UID = 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
	DBG_TYPE = 4
R5 Certificate being generated :
	X509_CFG = ./x509-temp.cfg
	KEY = /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/build/makerules/k3_dev_mpk.pem
	BIN = /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin
	CERT TYPE = R5, 1
	CORE ID = 16
	LOADADDR = 0x41c00100
	IMAGE_SIZE = 474782
	BOOT_OPTIONS = 2
SUCCESS: Image /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.tiimage generated. Good to boot
# Signed Keywriter image /home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.tiimage created.
#
make[1]: Leaving directory “/home/kotei/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/build”

Thanks,

Charles

Hi Charles,

Charles Mao said:

Thanks for your reply. Are you referring to OTP_KEYWRITER_ADD_ON_j7200_sr2_v2022.01-linux-installer.run? We already applied this to our PDK before we built Keywriter tool. Our build log is attached below.

Thanks for confirming, so you already copied TIFS keywriter and TI FEK public key to their respective location. 

One more things which I would like to confirm. Above package is for DRA821 Silicon Revision 2.0. Can you confirm that you are using the same silicon revision? 

Charles Mao said:

However, there's nothing coming out of WKUP_UART0 at all. We are using Keywriter in pdk_j7200_11_00_00_21.

Also, we need to look for the traces from MCU_UART first. R5 application traces will come in MCU_UART, whereas TIFS traces will come in WKUP_UART.

If there is issue in loading Keywriter TIFS , you will not see any log on WKUP_UART. 

Regards
Diwakar

Yes, our chip is SR2.0. Chip mark is DRA821U4T5BALM.

We can access four UARTs (WKUP_UART0, MCU_UART0, MAIN_UART0, MAIN_UART1). When running Keywriter, none of them had output at all.

Here's the list of all steps we've done:

1. install ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11

2. install OTP_KEYWRITER_ADD_ON_j7200_sr2_v2022.01-linux-installer.run

3. cp <OTP_KEYWRITER_ADD_ON>/ti-fs-keywriter.bin <PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/tifs_bin/j7200/ti-fs-keywriter.bin

4. cp <OTP_KEYWRITER_ADD_ON>/ti_fek_public.pem <PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/scripts/ti_fek_public.pem

5. cd <PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/scripts && ./gen_keywr_cert.sh -g
ls ~/ti/pdk_j7200_11_00_00_21/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/scripts/keys
aes256.key bmek.key bmpk.pem smek.key smpk.pem

6. Copy ti_fek_public.pem:
cp ~/OTP_KEYWRITER_ADD_ON_j7200_sr2_v2022.01/addon/ti_fek_public.pem <PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/scripts/keys/tifekpub.pem

7. Generate x509 file:
cd <PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/scripts
./gen_keywr_cert.sh -s keys/smpk.pem --smek keys/smek.key -t keys/tifekpub.pem -a keys/aes256.key
The file is here:
<PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/x509cert/final_certificate.bin

8. Compile keywriter:
cd <PDK>/packages/ti/build
make keywriter_img -j4 BOARD=j7200_evm
The keywriter bin is here:
<PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin

9. DFU flash keywriter
cp keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin tiboot3.bin
dfu-util -d 0451:6164 -a tiboot3.bin.raw -D tiboot3.bin

10. Recycled power, keywriter did not work (i.e., no output from four UARTs mentioned above).

Hi Charls,

Charles Mao said:

10. Recycled power, keywriter did not work (i.e., no output from four UARTs mentioned above).

You should not reset the board. In DFU boot mode, you are directly passing image to ROM to read and load it to core.

In the same power cycle, you will get the traces on MCU_UART. Are you not getting that as well ?

Also send me the image of the test setup.

Regards
Diwakar

Diwakar Dhyani said:

In the same power cycle, you will get the traces on MCU_UART. Are you not getting that as well ?

No, we didn't get anything either in the same power cycle.

I attached the whole binary folder content. BTW, the readme file is overly simplified. Do you have more detailed documentation for keywriter?

keywriter-j7200-20251031.zip

Hi Charles,

There are public documentation on the keywriter which explain the flow, below are the links for the same.

1. https://software-dl.ti.com/tisci/esd/latest/6_topic_user_guides/key_writer.html
2. https://software-dl.ti.com/tisci/esd/latest/2_tisci_msgs/security/keywriter.html
3. https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-rtos-jacinto7/08_02_00_05/exports/docs/pdk_jacinto_08_02_00_21/docs/userguide/jacinto/modules/keywriter.html

Can you try using UART boot mode and see if it works. You can also test it with other board as well. I have tested the package in the past it used to work, but if you still face any issue even after using UART boot mode, will try to arrange the board and test it out on that.

Help share the ROM UART string as well. You can follow FAQ for the same.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Diwakar,

We tried UART boot mode and the ROM code didn't even take the Keywriter binary (we renamed keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin to tiboot3.bin) through X-modem protocol at all as shown below. However, we have no problem to load HS-FS binaries using UART boot mode and the board can boot into U-Boot.

ROM string from UART

02000000011a00006a3776636c0000000000000048534653010102000101020002a600000000000004a0cc3e38a1aa0a31fad2423895bfc21ffc7da765dff4aa6e0991fb6e197442ae4d3becef35fe5ed4b63abbcc45c3ecca5ce97ad552fb882fc0eb008c9e5ce2ad0bc40b000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000f8449b915a15a5d8a7d59d4177a2443be37fcadcaa5db3075f8df5a0a6a0d5d2CCCCCCCC

Hi Charles,

I will arrange sample and board at my end to see if it is working or not.Will update you by mid of next week on this.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Diwakar,

I’m Charles’s colleague and We are also working on thsi issue, since we didn't have the correct manual for uart boot mode test, Could you please provide us the complete manual of UART bootmode for DRA821,so that we can try again. 

Thanks. 

Hi Jing,

You can refer to https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/spracy5 app note for the same, section "3.4 Running Until u-boot" in particular.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Jing,

I understand your concern. I am trying to arrange HS-FS sample at my end. In the meantime, can you connect to R5 core and see if R5 keywriter application is even getting loaded or not ?

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Jing,

I quickly tested with 9.1 SDK, below are the logs . Can you try with 9.1 sdk if possible? I will check with 8.1 sdk in some time.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Jing,

I tested in 8.1 SDK as with some modification it starts working. For some reason, "ti-fs-keywriter.h" is not getting generated, which gets included in the final keywriter image.

I manually generated it after copying necessary files from OTP Keywriter package. using command:
"/ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/drv/sciclient/tools/bin2c/bin2c.out  /ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/tifs_bin/j7200/ti-fs-keywriter.bin /ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j7200-evm-08_01_00_11/pdk_j7200_08_01_00_33/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/ti-fs-keywriter.h TIFS_KEYWRITER_BIN"

After running the above command, i re-built keywriter image and copied to the sd card.Power on the board and could see the keywriter logs.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Diwakar,

Thanks for your quick response! We’ll follow your suggestions and update you on the results ASAP.

BTW，Which file is used for burning the image, keywirter_img_j7200_release.bin or keywirter_img_j7200_release.tiimg?

Regards

Jing

Hi Diwakar,

Thanks for your quick response! We’ll follow your suggestions and update you on the results ASAP.

BTW, Which file is used for burning the image, keywirter_img_j7200_release.bin or keywirter_img_j7200_release.tiimg?

The log output is now available when the 9.1 SDK compilation image keywirter_img_j7200_release.tiimg is burned into the EMMC. There is a mistake in the TI document, which states that it is keywirter_img_j7200_release.bin.

Regards

Jing

Hi Jing,

jing Yi said:

BTW, Which file is used for burning the image, keywirter_img_j7200_release.bin or keywirter_img_j7200_release.tiimg?

We need to use keywriter_img_j7200_release.tiimage image.

jing Yi said:

There is a mistake in the TI document, which states that it is keywirter_img_j7200_release.bin.

Can you point out which document so that we can fix that?

Regards
Diwakar

《Jacinto7 High Security Device Development》

Hi Jing,

Thanks for pointing out , will fix this. Do let me know if we can close this issue or not.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Diwakar,

We are currently following the document for burning, but the key still cannot be written successfully. We need help to confirm what factors might cause this problem and whether there are any other errors in the document.

Regards

Hi Diwakar

Could you pls help go through those steps and check if there are any mistakes.

Regards

Hi jing ,

What issue you are facing now any logs ?

Regards 

Diwakar 

Hi Diwakar

Could you please help conduct a further review of the detailed aspects of the steps—such as the Key in use and the referenced images—to identify any potential issues?

Hi Jing,

jing Yi said:

We’re currently making hardware modifications to continue debugging, and will share any log output with you right away once we have it.

We know you’re likely swamped with tasks right now, so it’s totally understandable if you haven’t had the chance to review the 10 steps we shared earlier in full detail. That said, we identified an image usage error yesterday—this issue is actually noted in those steps, and we’ve spent over a week troubleshooting problems that stemmed from this oversight.

Thank you for understanding. Apart from below step, rest of the steps are fine. We need to use keywriter_img_j7200_release.tiimage generated binary. Unfortunately I missed this point earlier, sorry for the same.

Charles Mao said:

The keywriter bin is here:
<PDK>/packages/ti/boot/keywriter/binary/j7200/keywriter_img_j7200_release.bin

Also as you said earlier you are able to see some logs now. Can you help me with those logs.

jing Yi said:

The log output is now available when the 9.1 SDK compilation image keywirter_img_j7200_release.tiimg is burned into the EMMC

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Jing,

jing Yi said:

Taking OTP certificate from 0x41c7f004

Debug response: 0x0

Key programming sequence completed

Debug response we are seeing 0x0 that means there are no error and keywriting is successful. As you haven't wrote keyrev and keycnt the device will not get converted to HS-SE.

jing Yi said:

 KEY REV extension disabled

jing Yi said:

 KEY CNT extension disabled

So in summary keywriting process successfully completed . We are able to write SMPK and SMEK, if we update keyrev keycnt it will get converted to HS-SE.

Regards
Diwakar

HI Jing 

From logs, we can see that it is trying to load the remote core firmware. When U-BOOT loads remote core firmware it looks for signed binary in case of HS-SE device, if it signed imaged is not there authentication will fail.For quick boot test, you can set drprocboot=0 in uEnv.txt.

I would suggest you to raise a new question as the issue deviates from the thread title. It helps us to streamline the issue.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Jing,

Can you raise new thread for this, so that right expert can answer your question on uboot.

Regards
Diwakar

Hi Diwakar,

I attempted to start a new thread but couldn’t proceed due to lacking purchase details. Charles (who’s in a different time zone) will create one when he’s available. Do you have any suggestions on where to find more detailed information about U-BOOT loading remote core firmware on J7200? We’d greatly appreciate your help!