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TEVM4460 Blaze Tablet will not boot.

Patrick Irwin
Prodigy 40 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: 4460

Hi,

I am using a TEVM4460 Blaze Tablet Platform, with OMAP 4460 ES 1.1 HS processor.
The S1/S2 switch is configured to boot from SD card as described in section "First time flashing on eMMC" from
http://omapedia.org/wiki/4AI.1.7_OMAP4_Icecream_Sandwich_Release_Notes

I am following the documentation from http://www.omappedia.org/wiki/Android_Pre-built_Binaries_Guide

Basically all of the steps appear to go OK, but when I connect to the target using minicom the target is always
offline. No LED's on the device are on.

I've connected the USB debug port to my Ubuntu PC and opened minicom for port /dev/ttyUSB0 (actually
when I connect the USB debug port 4 ports are opened on my PC, /dev/ttyUSB0, ...., /dev/ttyUSB3).

I cannot connect from the USB OTG port.

I have also read the post in http://e2e.ti.com/support/omap/f/849/t/188749.aspx
and followed the instructions given there, to no avail.

I'm using MLO file, 4AI.1.7_Blaze_Tablet_OMAP4460_HS_ES1.0_MLO, downloaded from http://www.omappedia.org/wiki/Android:_Working_with_pre-built_binaries

I've reproduced the same problem with 3 different SD/SDHC cards, and flashing the SD card went fine.

Is there some way I can debug this/ get boot logs?

Best regards,

Patrick

  • 0
    TI__Expert 8055 points

    Patrick,

    A few things to check:

    1. The port in your serial console should be /dev/ttyUSB2

    2. Ensure that your Blaze Tablet is plugged into the wall power and that the power switch is set to the AC option.

    3. Have you ever removed the SOM board (the PCB with the OMAP on it) from inside your Tablet?  If so, ensure that it is connected back firmly.

    4. Ensure that your MLO file is named just "MLO".  The ROM code will search for a valid MLO at the beginning sectors of the SD card.  Thus, I recommend that you reformat the boot partition of your SD card ("sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sd?1), where /dev/sd?1 is the correct driver for your card, such as /dev/sdd1, /dev/sde1, etc. Then mount this partition, copy over just your MLO file (named "MLO"), and unmount.  If you try renaming, recopying, deleting, etc the files on the boot partition, the MLO may not end up at the beginning sectors for the ROM code to find it.

    5. You won't be able to connect from the USB OTG port until Android is up and you can use ADB.  Go ahead and remove the micro-USB cable.  If it is connected, depending on your sysboot settings, the ROM code will try to boot from USB, meaning that you will have a few second delay.  (You need the mini-USB cable connected for the serial console.)

    Please let me know the result of these steps.  If it is still not booting, do you have another Blaze Tablet board that you can try with?

    Regards,
    Gina 

  • 0 in reply to Gina Glaser
    Prodigy 40 points

    Hi Gina,

    Thanks for the response. Following your suggestions from  4. above,  I got a boot log from minicom. See attached file (minicom.log). It showed an SEC_RESET_EXTERNAL_DATA_ABORT error. In addition, I now have another problem. After attempting to boot once, the board no longer tries to boot, i.e. I only succeeded in getting the minicom log once. It may be a power problem, since when I remove the back cover one of the internal leds that was always on when the power switch was set to AC or Battery is now off. I have no idea what could have caused this.

    I haven't removed the SOM board, or modified the board in any way other  

    I don't have another Blaze Tablet to try at this time.  Our company does have a few other Blaze Tablets (in a different office to mine),  we didn't encounter any such problems with the other boards. 

    Regards,

    Patrick

  • 0 in reply to Patrick Irwin
    TI__Expert 8055 points

    Patrick,

    Can you please confirm that this is the MLO you are using from omappedia:

    https://gforge.ti.com/gf/download/frsrelease/914/5940/4AI.1.7_Blaze_Tablet_OMAP4460_HS_ES1.1_MLO

    I just tested this on my OMAP4460 ES1.1 HS Blaze Tablet, and it is working fine.

    Remember that if you have the micro-USB cable connected, it could take 5-10 seconds to boot the x-loader and see any output on the console.  (Depending on your switch settings, the ROM code may be trying to boot from USB if you have the cable connected to your PC.)

    I guess it is possible there is a hardware issue with this particular Blaze Tablet, if it works erratically, and exactly the same procedure and setup works fine on your other boards.

    Regards,
    Gina 

  • 0 in reply to Gina Glaser
    Prodigy 40 points

    Gina, 

    Yes, I was using that MLO. However  I used the ./generate_MLO tool to sign that MLO, which I now think was incorrect as that MLO was already signed. This most likely explains the error I got in the minicom.log.

    However, I still have the problem where the board no longer attempts to boot, irrespective of what MLO I'm using or how long I wait.

    Before this happened, a led (STATUS3 to the left of the display port if I remember correctly) was  always on if the power switch was in AC or Battery position. Now this led doesn't light up any longer, power surge perhaps? Can you confirm that this led should always be on when the power switch is in AC?  

    Regards,

    Patrick

     

  • 0 in reply to Patrick Irwin
    TI__Expert 8055 points

    Patrick,

    Yes, the pre-built MLO binaries that are titled with "HS" are already signed, so you do not need to sign them again.  You can use this binary as-is on an HS device.  (If you were following the steps from the release notes on omappedia to build the MLO binary yourself, then you would need to sign it after the build step for use on an HS device.)

    I just checked with my Blaze Tablet.  If I move the power switch to AC, then the STATUS3 LED turns on after about one second.  If I move the power switch to battery, then the STATUS3 LED does not turn on.  This test is with only the power cable plugged in - no USB cables or SD card.  Thus, it is completely independent of any SD card formatting, MLO, serial console settings, etc, so it rules out other possible issues.  Now if I disconnect the SOM board from inside the Blaze Tablet and move the power switch to AC, the STATUS3 LED does not turn on.  Perhaps you could try carefully unplugging / plugging your SOM board and ensuring that it is securely attached.  Do you have any other power supply you could test with, just in case?  Otherwise, especially if this board was working previously, I guess there is some hardware issue, and you may need to return this board to SVTronics.

    Regards,
    Gina 

  • 0 in reply to Gina Glaser
    Prodigy 40 points

    Gina,

    Unplugging/plugging the SOM board didn't change the STATUS3 LED behavior, it's still off. I also confirmed from one of my work colleagues who has a working board that they reproduce the same LED behavior as you. So it does appear there's a hardware issue. I will return the board.

    I'll now mark this post  as "Verify Answer" as your responses provided all the info needed to resolve this. Thanks again for your help with this.

    Patrick