CM-T43: U-Boot: Firmware Update

Introduction

The CM-T43 firmware consists of two components: Secondary Program Loader (SPL) and U-Boot, both provided on a single binary image cm-t43-firmware. This article describes the firmware update process for CM-T43 system-on-module product.

Preliminary setup

• Make sure to power off the CM-T43 evaluation platform.
• Connect the host PC to the SB-SOM-T43 base-board (connector P8) via the serial cable supplied with the evaluation kit.
• Start terminal emulation software on your PC. Set baud rate to 115200 bps, 8 bit per frame, 1 stop bit, no parity, no flow control.
• Turn on the CM-T43 evaluation system. The U-Boot boot-loader will start and you will get a command prompt in the terminal window.

If the boot settings of your CM-T43 are different than default, you may need to press and hold ^C while turning the CM-T43 on, in order to get command prompt.

Updating Firmware on the SPI flash

CM-T43 firmware can be updated from an SD card, usb storage, or using network TFTP download. Both methods are performed from the U-Boot command line and include following common steps:

1. Loading binary image from the selected media to the CM-T43 DRAM
2. Flashing image to the on-board SPI flash

Updating from SD card

• Copy the firmware binary image cm-t43-firmware from U-Boot package for CM-T43 to the root directory of the SD card.
• Insert the SD card into the P9 socket on SB-SOM-T43.
• Start the U-Boot MMC subsystem:

# mmc dev 0
# mmc rescan

• Check that the storage device is ready:

# ls mmc 0

• Load the firmware binary into the memory:

# load mmc 0 80a00000 cm-t43-firmware

• Proceed to Flashing images section

Updating from USB storage

• Copy the firmware binary image cm-t43-firmware from U-Boot package for CM-T43 to the root directory of the USB storage device.
• Plug the USB storage device into the USB host connector (P6) on SB-SOM-T43.
• Start the U-Boot USB subsystem:

# usb start

• Check that the storage device is ready:

# ls usb 0

• Load the firmware binary into the memory:

# load usb 0 80a00000 cm-t43-firmware

• Proceed to Flashing images section

Updating from TFTP server

• Setup a TFTP server
• Put the firmware binary image cm-t43-firmware in the root directory of the TFTP server
• Setup U-Boot networking:

for dynamic IP configuration:

# dhcp

or for static IP configuration:

# setenv ipaddr <ip address>

• Setup the TFTP server ip address:

# setenv serverip <server ip>

• Download the firmware binary into the memory:

# tftp 80a00000 cm-t43-firmware

• Proceed to Flashing images section

Flashing images

• Make U-Boot probe the on-board SPI flash:

# sf probe 0

• Erase the on-board SPI flash:

# sf erase 0 c0000

• Write the firmware image into the on-board SPI flash:

# sf write 80a00000 0 c0000

• Reset the CM-T43 evaluation platform.

See also

• CM-T43: U-Boot: Firmware Overview
• CM-T43: U-Boot: Creating a bootable SD card
• U-Boot quick reference
• U-Boot images
• Getting started with Linux on CM-T43
• U-Boot documentation