U-Boot SPL Stuck

Hi Miroslav,

Thanks for your reply.

I do have an EEPROM which is empty (since the board was assembled here).

I've tried to follow the steps on the link you said (the only diference is that we are powering the board through USB) but nothing happens: Neither that diagnostic menu nor that "CCC" print.

Again, would this diagnostic app run if the external memory (RAM) was not assembled properly?

I'm gonna try hardcoding just to make sure u-boot.img can be loaded.

Thank you very much

Victor Leite

Hi Miroslav,

This starterware app shows me there is something wrong with my hardware.

I tried the same app with another beaglebone with an empty eeprom and it works just fine!

Thank you very much for your replies.

Best regards,

Victor Leite

Hi,

We have assembled a few beaglebone-clone boards but it seems that something is really going wrong with our boards. Please see the output of the starterware app which runs great with any original beaglebone but with our board is getting stuck at this point:

StarterWare AM335x Boot Loader
Copying application image from MMC/SD card to RAM
Jumping to StarterWare Application...

I suppose it has to do with DDR memory (I'm checking schematics, memory device version, etc)

Now I'm trying to find out what is happening. One of the ways I'm trying it is to check registers through JTAG debugger.

If anybody has any sort of idea, suggestion, advice, please help!

Thanks

Hi,

The "StarterWare AM335x Boot Loader" is the MLO written for 256MB DDR3 on TI starter KIT. It didnt work for me in beaglebobe either. After you build u-boot make sure you copy both MLO and U-boot.img. I did the same this to hack beaglebone and I missed to copy MLO. Then I realized MLO does clk_init, PLL_Init, peripheral_init, DDR3_init. If you dont have luck with it, hook-up the emulator(XDS) and try to load the gel script. That  way you can isolate if you have any DDR3 problem. 

Thanks

siva.

Hi Siva,

Thank you very much for your reply!

1) The boot loader and app I'm using are located inside beaglebone folder at the Starterware directory. The same files (actually the same sdcard) are running OK with the original beaglebones which were supposed to be identical.

2) Im trying to get more information through CCS 5.5 and JTAG XDS100v2 emulator. I'm using the Beaglebone.ccxml (target config file) which comes with CCS and the AM335x_beaglebone.gel file from the starterware directory.

Again, I can load some apps to the original beaglebone memory but when I try the exacly same steps with my "clone" I get the following:

CortxA8: Breakpoint Manager: Retrying with a AET breakpoint
CortxA8: Trouble Setting Breakpoint with the Action "Finish Auto Run" at 0x80030d70: (Error -1066 @ 0x333C) Unable to set/clear requested breakpoint. Verify that the breakpoint address is in valid memory. (Emulation package 5.1.232.0) 

Hi Victor,

For some reason I couldnt connect the XDS100V2 on my beaglebone and also on my custom board. So I bought FT2232H eval board from Digikey and used it as TI emulator. 

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&site=us&keywords=768-1030-ND&x=0&y=0&formaction=on

I got this and modified the PID/VID to work as TI emulator. Please see the link below.

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/XDS100#Q:_How_can_I_check_if_the_VID.2FPID_for_the_EEPROM_are_programmed_correctly.3F

http://e2e.ti.com/support/development_tools/code_composer_studio/f/81/t/226953.aspx

I know this is going in different direction. But this is what I did to make the FT2232 based emulator working for beaglebone. 

If you proceed with FT2232H, let me know for further questions any.

Thanks

siva.

Hi Siva,

I have programmed the FT2232H ports using the Mprog 3.5 - EEPROM Programming Utility provided by FTDI:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm#MProg

I works fine. I also have reprogrammed a FT2232H of an original beaglebone and everything works great! I can connect to it, debug apps, see the processor registers and the memory browser.

Unfortunately, with my clone I just have access to the processor registers but not the memory (related to the external one) nor debug apps (as you can see on the above reply).

The attached text is the output of the JTAG connection test.

Thank you

Victor Leite

I posted another topic since this issue is getting very specific:

Troubleshooting DDR memory

http://e2e.ti.com/support/arm/sitara_arm/f/791/t/318808.aspx

Thanks

After you connect to the target, did you run DDR_DataTransferCheck script? Does it read your DDR?

Could you please provide any documentation, link, or just comments about the steps to run this script?

Thank you very much!

Hi Siva,

DDR_DataTransferCheck failed!

I've checked the timings from the wiki you posted. (I'm using the DDR2 spreadsheet provided from TI since I'm not working with the beaglebone black but the white one) 

I'm trying to probe the DDR clock output from the AM3359. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I couldn't get this signal. Do you have experience with that kind of probing?

Thank you very much for your replies.

Victor Leite

Siva,

I didn't realize the DDR clock would be running just when some sort of communication with memory take place. My bad! 'm gonna try to probing clock again but this time running the DDR_DataTransferCheck script.

I don't have a x-ray available here. Maybe I'll try submit a few boards to a third-party.

One more thing, I'm not sure if I was clear enough before: GEL EMIF, DDR PHY Configs are OK! Just the DDR_DataTransfer script fails.

Thanks

Hi Victor,

EMIF, PHY configuration is one directional. Even if you dont populate the DDR the configuration will be successful.

And the clock wont be running all the time until you access the DDR. Easier way is to modify the gel script ddr_datatransfer function. Increase the number of locations to be checked to 10000 or something, or do this,..

hotmenu AM3358_SK_Initialization()
{

unsigned int i,j;

GEL_TextOut("**** AM3358_SK Initialization is in progress .......... \n","Output",1,1,1);
ARM_OPP100_Config();

for(i=0;i<100000;i++)

{

for(j=0;j<100000;j++); //some delay
DDR3_EMIF_Config();

}
GEL_TextOut("**** AM3358_SK Initialization is Done ****************** \n\n\n","Output",1,1,1);
}

thanks

siva.

Siva,

The ddr_ck from processor can't be seen at the trace it was supposed to be.
That was confirmed by a measuring today (It was compared with an original board with the same steps)

Now I'm gonna send a few boards to a X-ray inspection in order to know if there is something wrong with our assembling and which pads are not properly connected.

Thanks

Victor,

All the best with x-ray. Make sure your PLL supplies are fine. If you dont see ddr clk in few more boards, I would think its not solder issue. If you have clkout, probe that to make sure your clock is propagating.

Have a look at this, if you didnt to make sure all supplies are fine. 

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/AM335x_board_bringup_tips

thanks

siva.