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DM365 - updating the flashed MVL Pro 5.0 kernel and rootfs to newer Davinci images

Chuck Meade
Prodigy 30 points

My DM365 has a MVL Pro 5.0 kernel and rootfs in NAND flash.

I have test-booted the newer kernel and rootfs from 11/16/09 from the following location:  http://arago-project.org/files/releases/davinci-psp_3.1.0.0-phase3/images/dm365-evm/

I did that by modifying the U-Boot bootcmd and bootargs variables to use TFTP/NFS.

This works, except that it appears that the older U-Boot on the DM365 uses different NAND bad block table logic than the NAND logic in the newer kernel uses.  The newer kernel writes out a different BBT, and then on the next boot U-Boot says that it cannot find a BBT, and writes out the old BBT type again.  Booting the older MVL system from NAND now fails because of the BBT corruption.

I believe that the explanation is that the new kernel from PSP 3.1.0.0 (version ~2.6.32) uses much newer NAND logic than the original U-Boot that remains on the board.  That U-Boot appears to be compatible with the NAND BBT logic in the 2.6.18-era kernel in MVL Pro 5.

I do see a new U-Boot binary image on the Davinci download page that I listed above, but it is not readily apparent how to replace the U-Boot image in this NAND, due to the UBL initial bootloader that DM365 uses.  It is apparently not as simple as just replacing a U-Boot image at a particular flash location.
Also I would like confirmation of my assumptions above before I move toward replacing U-Boot, especially since I do not have a JTAG unit that works with the DM365.

So could someone who is familiar with these specifics please let me know if the above assumptions are correct.  And secondly, what is the safest (most likely to not brick the DM365) method to replace the U-Boot image on the DM365?

Thanks,
Chuck

 

  • 0
    Prodigy 30 points

    Would the "SD card boot and flashing tool" mentioned here (http://e2e.ti.com/forums/p/10329/40219.aspx#40219)  be a good solution for this?

    How reliable is the SD card boot and flashing tool on the DM365?  I'm trying to avoid bricking the DM365, since I do not have the JTAG unit for the DM365.

    Is the DM365 compatible with a BDI2000 JTAG unit?  If so, does anyone have a BDI2000 config file for the DM365?

    Thanks,
    Chuck

     

  • 0 in reply to Chuck Meade
    Prodigy 50 points

    Hi Chuck,

    I found the "SD card boot and flashing tool" and also the Serial flash tools for DM365

    http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/UG:_DaVinci_PSP_Installation_on_DM365_EVM#Flashing_DM365_EVM_.28PG_1.2_Silicon_or_newer.29_using_Serial_flash_utilities

    very useful and they worked well for me.

    I found the procedere for booting and flashing from serial UART even more convenient and relieable, because you "only" switch the board to UART-Boot and then type 

    sfh_DM36x.exe -nandflash  <UBL binary file> <u-boot binary file>

    on a windows commandline and power on the board. With the serial flasher you can choose the files you want to flash to the NAND (u-boot image and UBL) even better. You can reanimate a totally dead system ("nand erase") with it, beacause it only needs the ROM-Bootloader inside the Arm.You often have to start the tool twice, because it has an issue, but just dont worry about that.

    The SD-Card tool needs a running USB-Cardreader and runs a script (that works well on Ubuntu and has error messages on Debian) that formats the SD-card with different partitions and then copies some files. But after that, booting from SD also works very reliable.

    Regards

    Ulrich


  • 0 in reply to Ulrich Goetzke
    Prodigy 30 points

    Hi Ulrich,

    Thanks for the info on the SD card boot and flashing tool.  I appreciate the feedback.

    Chuck