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Version: kirkstone_1-09-00

NXP SOC flashing

Devices based on NXP Socs need the UUU (Universal Update Utility) tool to write images using an USB connection to the Host PC and a builtin Serial Downloader mode on the device.

This variant of flashing generally applies to:

  • Modular Vision MX8M-Plus
  • SBC-3.5-[MX8, MX8M, MX8M-Mini, MX8X]
  • SBC-MX6
  • SBC-SANTINO-MX6
  • SBC-TANARO-MX8M-Mini
  • SOM-Q7-MX6
  • SOM-Q7-MX8
  • SOM-SMARC-MX8M
  • SOM-SMARC-MX8M-Plus
  • SOM-uQ7-MX6
  • SOM-uQ7-MX6-2
  • SOM-uQ7-MX8M-[Nano, Nano-Lite, Mini]

Prepare host PC​

A PC running either Windows or Linux is required. A virtual machine is not recommended here, as the USB-passthrough may lead to problems.

The UUU tool from the silcon vendor is hosted at github. Prebuilt images for UUU can be found at github.com/nxp-imx/mfgtools/releases. Some Linux OS distributions also provide it as package via their package manager.

Download the binary fitting to your host system into a new, empty directory.

Download release image​

The actual device image needs to be downloaded from the specific Clea OS release. Check Download Links section page for further details.

The needed files are:

  • U-Boot
  • Image (wic.bz2)
  • Bmap file (.wic.bmap) optional

Select either Clea-OS Things or Clea-OS Embedded artifacts and download the files into the same directory as the UUU tool.

Decompress bootloader​

On a Linux host the downloaded U-Boot files may be decompressed with the following commands:

$ tar xf *.tar.gz

On a Windows host the downloaded files may be decompressed with the 7zip tool.

Additional files​

To configure the UUU update process an additional flash.lst file is needed, that is not yet part of the release artifacts. It may be downloaded here:

  • for SBC-MX6, SOM-Q7-MX6, SOM-uQ7-MX6 and SOM-uQ7-MX6-2: flash.lst
  • for SOM-SMARC-MX8M, SBC-3.5-MX8M, SBC-3.5-MX8M-Mini, SBC-3.5-MX8X, SBC-3.5-MX8 and SOM-uQ7-MX8M-Mini: flash.lst
  • for SBC-3.5-MX8 and SOM-Q7-MX8: flash.lst
  • for SOM-SMARC-MX8M-Plus: flash.lst
  • for SOM-uQ7-MX8M-Nano and SOM-uQ7-MX8M-Nano-Lite: flash.lst
  • for Modular Vision MX8M-Plus: flash.lst
  • for SBC-TANARO-MX8M-Mini: flash.lst
  • for SBC-SANTINO-MX6: flash.lst

Prepare USB Connection to the device​

The flashing process using the UUU tool needs a USB connection to the device. On most devices either a USB-A to micro-USB- or USB-A to USB-C-Cable is required.

Connect this to the related interface on the device, but not yet connect it to the host PC. (This is due to the fact, that few devices may stay powered over the USB lines, and the power-cycle further below may not reset the device correctly.)

Flashing the device​

info

The flashing procedure may be slightly different from device to device due to the different way in which the Serial Downloader mode is enabled. The user is therefore requested to read the documentation below and then also refer to the specific documentation for the board in his possession.

Serial Downloader mode​

The device must be forced to start into the USB Serial Downloader mode. The actual way how this is achieved depends on the concrete device.

Devices booting from internal eMMC​

Devices that are booting from an internal eMMC can be forced to serial downloader mode, by pointing the eMMC to boot from an empty partition, or by deleting the existing bootloader.

This variant is usable among others for:

  • Modular Vision MX8M-Plus
  • SBC-SANTINO-MX6
  • SBC-TANARO-MX8M-Mini

The actual step can be done in the u-boot console, or the booted linux console as explained in the next.

info

Most boards or carriers directly expose a jumper to force the serial download mode via USB OTG. The user can directly check the instructions in the specific device page of this part of the documentation.

U-Boot​

A serial console is required for this stop.

  • Connect the serial debug cable to the device and your host PC.
  • Open a terminal window on that port.
  • Power on the device.
  • Stop the boot by pressing ESC in the terminal window.

The U-boot console should now be available.

Attention

The device will not be able to boot after these steps until a new bootloader is flashed.

    > mmc dev 0
    > mmc erase 0 0x1000
    > mmc partconf 0 0x0 0x7 0x0

On an older version of the installed bootloader the following sequence might be needed:

    > mmc dev 2
    > mmc erase 0 0x1000
    > mmc partconf 2 0x0 0x2 0x0

Power cycle to start the serial download mode.

Linux console on the device​

These commands may be executed via a serial debug cable on a port with login console or using an ssh connection to the device.

Attention

The device will not be able to boot after these steps until a new bootloader is flashed.

On the console execute:

    # mmc bootpart enable 2 1 /dev/mmcblk0

Power cycle to start the serial download mode.

Flashing the image​

The device should now run the serial downloader, and all files and tools should be available on the host PC.

Now connect the USB cable to the host PC and start the UUU-tool, with the needed release artifacts. imx-boot is the bootloader for mx8 devices, for mx6 devices it is called u-boot.imx.

    $ sudo ./uuu -bmap -b flash.lst imx-boot seco*clea-os*image*.wic.bz2

The flashing should start and outputs it status like this:

    uuu (Universal Update Utility) for nxp imx chips -- libuuu_1.5.191-4-g64a5a8f

    Success 1    Failure 0


    1:1-0319A800 7/ 7 [Done                                  ] FB: done

After it reports 'done', the device can be powercycled to boot into the newly installed OS.

Device specific variants of the flashing process​

See subpages for additional hints for devices that need some additional steps.