U-Boot for the Freescale i.MX6q SabreLite board =============================================== This file contains information for the port of U-Boot to the Freescale i.MX6q SabreLite board. 1. Build -------- To build U-Boot for the SabreLite board: make mx6qsabrelite_config make 2. Boot from SD card -------------------- The SabreLite boards boot from the SPI NOR flash. These boards need their SPI to be reflashed with a small SD card loader to support boot from SD card. The board will still boot from SPI NOR, but the loader will in turn request the BootROM to load the U-Boot from SD card. The SD card loader is available from https://wiki.linaro.org/Boards/MX6QSabreLite This is provided under a open-source 3-clause BSD license. To following procedure can be used to update the SPI-NOR on the SabreLite board: 1. Write this SD card loader onto a large SD card using: sudo dd if=iMX6DQ_SPI_to_uSDHC3.bin of=/dev/sXx Note: Replace sXx with the device representing the SD card in your system. Note: This writes SD card loader at address 0 2. Put this SD card into the slot for the large SD card (SD3 on the bottom of the board). Make sure SW1 switch is at position "00", so that it can boot from the fuses. 3. Power-up the SabreLite, press 'space' to enter command mode in the U-Boot (the default one the board is shipped with, starting from the SPI NOR) and enter the following commands: MX6Q SABRELITE U-Boot > mmc dev 0 MX6Q SABRELITE U-Boot > mmc read 0x10800000 0 200 MX6Q SABRELITE U-Boot > sf probe MX6Q SABRELITE U-Boot > sf erase 0 0x40000 MX6Q SABRELITE U-Boot > sf write 0x10800000 0 0x40000 4. Write the u-boot.imx produced during the U-Boot build to the SD card: sudo dd if=u-boot.imx of=/dev/sXx bs=512 seek=2 && sudo sync Note: Replace sXx with the device representing the SD card in your system. 5. Re-insert the SD card back in the slot for the large SD card and power-cycle the board. Note: The board now boots from full size SD3 on the bottom of the board. NOT the micro SD4/BOOT slot on the top of the board. I.e. you have to use full size SD cards. This information originally taken from: https://wiki.linaro.org/Boards/MX6QSabreLite 3. Boot from SPI NOR -------------------- The SabreLite board can also boot U-Boot directly from the SPI NOR flash: 1. Power-up the SabreLite, press 'space' to enter command mode in the U-Boot and enter the following commands: => mmc dev 0 => mmc read 0x10800000 0x400 0x80000 => sf probe 0 => sf erase 0 0xc0000 => sf write 0x10800000 0x400 0x80000 Note: This procedure assumes you have booted using the desired U-Boot from an SD card as prepared in the previous section. Alternative mechanisms, such as using tftpboot to copy an alternative U-Boot image into memory can also be used. 4. Recovering SPI-NOR --------------------- In case you somehow do not succeed with this procedure you can upload U-Boot via USB: 1. Download and install the imx_loader following the instructions provided: https://github.com/boundarydevices/imx_usb_loader 2. Connect the board to USB via the USB OTG port. 3. Make sure SW1 switch is at position "01", so that it can boot from USB OTG. 4. Power-up the SabreLite and run the imx_loader to upload the U-Boot image: sudo imx_usb u-boot.imx Note: This will upload and run the U-Boot image in memory, the SPI will not be reprogrammed and this procedure will need to be repeated if the board is reset. 5. Use one of previous descriptions to re-flash the SPI-NOR as required. 6. Ensure SW1 is returned to "00" to boot from the fuses once done.