[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[vikas.sontakke at emc.com]

I apologize if this is a duplicate message.  I tried to send it earlier but it went "Waiting for approval" as the system thought I was not a subscriber :-(

I have built a new u-boot for a board which is very similar to canyonlands. But I am having problem in running it. Afterwards, I ran mkimage on it.

uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> ls u-boot*
u-boot  u-boot.bin  u-boot.bin.load  u-boot.map  u-boot.srec

uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> ls -l u-boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 sontav ucode 1174024 2011-12-06 16:30 u-boot

uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> file u-boot
u-boot: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, not stripped

uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> ls -l u-boot.bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 sontav ucode 393216 2011-12-06 16:30 u-boot.bin

uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> file u-boot.bin
u-boot.bin: u-boot/PPCBoot image

uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> mkimage -d u-boot.bin u-boot.bin.load
Image Name:
Created:      Wed Dec  7 12:08:45 2011
Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
Data Size:    393216 Bytes = 384.00 kB = 0.38 MB
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point:  0x00000000
uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01>


I then tftp the image "u-boot.bin.load" and bootm it but I am getting following error.
Error: Bad gzipped data
GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover


I have tried many different load addresses such as 0x40.0000, 0x400.0000, 0x800.0000, 0x1000.0000.  with exactly the same behaviour.  What am I missing?  The board has full 2Gig of RAM and since the new u-boot image is only about 1.2MB after compression, why is it getting overwrite error?  Or is my image not really gzipped but has been marked as gzipped by mkimage utility?

Here is the information about the board:-

U-Boot 2009.01 SX_PPC_M460EX SX_3.1.0738 ppc (Aug 04 2011 - 00:21:27)

CPU:   AMCC PowerPC 460EX Rev. B at 1000 MHz (PLB=200, OPB=100, EBC=100 MHz)
       Security/Kasumi support
       Bootstrap Option H - Boot ROM Location I2C (Addr 0x52)
       Internal PCI arbiter disabled
       32 kB I-Cache 32 kB D-Cache
Board: Mellanox PPC460EX Board
FDEF:  No
I2C:   ready
DRAM:   2 GB (ECC enabled, 400 MHz, CL3)
FLASH: 16 MB
NAND:  1024 MiB

...
...

=> tftp 0x10000000 u-boot.bin.load
Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete..... done
ENET Speed is 100 Mbps - FULL duplex connection (EMAC0)
Using ppc_4xx_eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.100.253; our IP address is 192.168.100.22
Filename 'u-boot.bin.load'.
Load address: 0x10000000
Loading: T ###########################
done
Bytes transferred = 393280 (60040 hex)
=> bootm
Error: Bad gzipped data
GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover

Thanks,
Vikas Sontakke, EMC
vikas.sontakke at emc.com

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[Anatolij Gustschin]

Hi,

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 12:41:38 -0500
<vikas.sontakke@emc.com> wrote:
...
> 
> uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> file u-boot.bin
> u-boot.bin: u-boot/PPCBoot image
> 
> uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> mkimage -d u-boot.bin u-boot.bin.load
> Image Name:
> Created:      Wed Dec  7 12:08:45 2011
> Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
> Data Size:    393216 Bytes = 384.00 kB = 0.38 MB
> Load Address: 0x00000000
> Entry Point:  0x00000000
> uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01>
> 
> 
> I then tftp the image "u-boot.bin.load" and bootm it but I am getting following error.
> Error: Bad gzipped data
> GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover

Did you read the documentation? Why are you trying to
boot U-Boot image using 'bootm' command? 'bootm' command is
used for booting operating system images.

If you want to update U-Boot on the board, you need to write
it into the flash memory used for booting. Do you have a
JTAG debugger for the case updating U-Boot image goes wrong
for some reason?

> I have tried many different load addresses such as 0x40.0000,
> 0x400.0000, 0x800.0000, 0x1000.0000.  with exactly the same
> behaviour.  What am I missing?

Please read U-Boot documentation [1] to understand which
command is used for which purpose. Updating U-Boot is
also described in the U-Boot documentation.

HTH,
Anatolij

[1] http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/UBoot

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[vikas.sontakke at emc.com]

Hi Anatolij,

Before I attempt to burn the new image in the flash, I want to test it first.  There are instruction on burning this image in to flash but 

The documentation that I am looking says following:-
==========================
"If U-Boot is already installed and running on your board, you can use these instructions to download another U-Boot image to replace the current one.

ALERT! Warning: Before you can install the new image, you have to erase the current one. If anything goes wrong your board will be dead. It is strongly recommended that:

    you have a backup of the old, working U-Boot image
    you know how to install an image on a virgin system

ALERT! Proceed as follows: "

<<The rest of the instructions are for burning it in the flash.>>
===========================


I am complete newbie at this.  I also tried "go <load_address>" but that caused immediate crash.

I am hoping that this is trivial for somebody who has updated u-boot code.  If I am using wrong command, please tell me correct command to test the u-boot from RAM before burning it to the flash.

Thanks,
- Vikas


-----Original Message-----
From: Anatolij Gustschin [mailto:agust at denx.de] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 2:59 PM
To: Sontakke, Vikas
Cc: U-Boot at lists.denx.de
Subject: Re: [U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

Hi,

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 12:41:38 -0500
<vikas.sontakke@emc.com> wrote:
...
> 
> uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> file u-boot.bin
> u-boot.bin: u-boot/PPCBoot image
> 
> uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01> mkimage -d u-boot.bin u-boot.bin.load
> Image Name:
> Created:      Wed Dec  7 12:08:45 2011
> Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
> Data Size:    393216 Bytes = 384.00 kB = 0.38 MB
> Load Address: 0x00000000
> Entry Point:  0x00000000
> uboot-sources-EMC/u-boot-2009.01>
> 
> 
> I then tftp the image "u-boot.bin.load" and bootm it but I am getting following error.
> Error: Bad gzipped data
> GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover

Did you read the documentation? Why are you trying to
boot U-Boot image using 'bootm' command? 'bootm' command is
used for booting operating system images.

If you want to update U-Boot on the board, you need to write
it into the flash memory used for booting. Do you have a
JTAG debugger for the case updating U-Boot image goes wrong
for some reason?

> I have tried many different load addresses such as 0x40.0000,
> 0x400.0000, 0x800.0000, 0x1000.0000.  with exactly the same
> behaviour.  What am I missing?

Please read U-Boot documentation [1] to understand which
command is used for which purpose. Updating U-Boot is
also described in the U-Boot documentation.

HTH,
Anatolij

[1] http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/UBoot

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear vikas.sontakke at emc.com,

In message <629D989C137DD040A0A994BD21888F1E75E81D17@MX29A.corp.emc.com> you wrote:
>
> I have built a new u-boot for a board which is very similar to canyonlands. But I am having problem in running it. Afterwards, I ran mkimage on it.

Why did you do that?

> I then tftp the image "u-boot.bin.load" and bootm it but I am getting following error.
> Error: Bad gzipped data
> GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover

What makes you think this could work?

There is no documentation anywhere that desribes such an approach, so
why do you think this could work?


Why don't you simply read the DULG for the canyonlands board an follow
the steps described there to install a new U-Bootimage?

> Board: Mellanox PPC460EX Board

Be careful.  Even if boards are similar the code for one board
(canyonlands) will most certainly NOT run on different hardware (even
if you consider the differences to be small).

Make sure you have a JTAG debugger at hand in case you brick your
board (alternatively, make sure you  have a working boot image in NAND
for recovery).

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Experience is what causes a person to make new  mistakes  instead  of
old ones.

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[vikas.sontakke at emc.com]

Hi  Wolfgang,

I received the sources from the vendor for the u-boot.  I built it using ELDK.  I want to do sanity check by verifying that my u-boot binary image can work *before* burning it to the flash.  I am presuming that this is possible i.e. test u-boot from RAM before burning to flash.  I have built the image which is specifically built for this board.

The reason I did mkimage on it because I got the following error message when I attempted to boot the u-boot.bin image as it was produced by the "make all".  Here is snippet from the console:-

================
=> tftp 0x400000 u-boot.bin
Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete..... done
ENET Speed is 100 Mbps - FULL duplex connection (EMAC0)
Using ppc_4xx_eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.100.253; our IP address is 192.168.100.22
Filename 'u-boot.bin'.
Load address: 0x400000
Loading: T ###########################
done
Bytes transferred = 393216 (60000 hex)
=> bootm
Bad Header Checksum
ERROR: can't get kernel image!
================

That is why I thought I needed to put a header on it.


I also tried to use "go" command instead of "boot" and I had followuing error:-

================
=> tftpboot 0x1000000 u-boot.bin
Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete..... done
ENET Speed is 100 Mbps - FULL duplex connection (EMAC0)
Using ppc_4xx_eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.100.253; our IP address is 192.168.100.22
Filename 'u-boot.bin'.
Load address: 0x1000000
Loading: T ###########################
done
Bytes transferred = 393216 (60000 hex)
=> go 0x1000000
## Starting application at 0x01000000 ...
NIP: 01000000 XER: 00000000 LR: 7FF6A564 REGS: 7fe52c88 TRAP: 0700 DEAR: 87E003E
7
MSR: 00029000 EE: 1 PR: 0 FP: 0 ME: 1 IR/DR: 00

GPR00: 7FF6A5E8 7FE52D78 7FE52F24 00000001 7FE5873C 7FE5873C 0000000B F71BD70D
GPR08: 7FF5B40C 00000020 05F5E101 3B9ACA0C 00000001 FFBEBFF7 7FFAFB00 00000000
GPR16: 7FFA40F4 7FFAC388 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
GPR24: 00000000 7FE58688 00000000 00000000 7FE5873C 01000000 7FFB03C8 00000002
** Illegal Instruction **
Call backtrace:
01000000 7FF6A5E8 7FF7C3C4 7FF7BAC8 7FF7BC38 7FF7E7F0 7FF5AF68
7FF59710
Program Check Exception
=================

I am using following DULG documentation (5.4.3 Installation using U-Boot) http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/UBootInstallUsingUBoot  which tells how to burn the new u-boot but does not tell me how to run *without* burning.

Please help!  I hope I am not asking something impossible.

Thanks,
- Vikas

-----Original Message-----
From: Wolfgang Denk [mailto:wd at denx.de] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 3:13 PM
To: Sontakke, Vikas
Cc: U-Boot at lists.denx.de
Subject: Re: [U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

Dear vikas.sontakke at emc.com,

In message <629D989C137DD040A0A994BD21888F1E75E81D17@MX29A.corp.emc.com> you wrote:
>
> I have built a new u-boot for a board which is very similar to canyonlands. But I am having problem in running it. Afterwards, I ran mkimage on it.

Why did you do that?

> I then tftp the image "u-boot.bin.load" and bootm it but I am getting following error.
> Error: Bad gzipped data
> GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover

What makes you think this could work?

There is no documentation anywhere that desribes such an approach, so
why do you think this could work?


Why don't you simply read the DULG for the canyonlands board an follow
the steps described there to install a new U-Bootimage?

> Board: Mellanox PPC460EX Board

Be careful.  Even if boards are similar the code for one board
(canyonlands) will most certainly NOT run on different hardware (even
if you consider the differences to be small).

Make sure you have a JTAG debugger at hand in case you brick your
board (alternatively, make sure you  have a working boot image in NAND
for recovery).

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Experience is what causes a person to make new  mistakes  instead  of
old ones.

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear vikas.sontakke at emc.com,

In message <629D989C137DD040A0A994BD21888F1E75E81DB5@MX29A.corp.emc.com> you wrote:
> 
> I am using following DULG documentation (5.4.3 Installation using U-Boot) h=
> ttp://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/UBootInstallUsingUBoot  which tells how to=
>  burn the new u-boot but does not tell me how to run *without* burning.

You cannot run the image without buring it to flash.

Did you bother to read the FAQ?  The very first U-Boot FAQ handles
your situation:
http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/CanUBootBeConfiguredSuchThatItCanBeStartedInRAM

You may be able to istall a NAND booting version of U-Boot to NAND
flash (assuming your out-of-tree port supports NAND booting).

Once you got this working, you have a recovery system, and you can
erase and re-program the NOR flash without risk.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way  is  to
make  it  so  simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the
other is to make it so complicated that there are  no  obvious  defi-
ciencies.                             - Charles Anthony Richard Hoare

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[vikas.sontakke at emc.com]

Hi Wolfgang,

Thank you for that reply!  

I do know that the board has NAND flash and it is seen by the u-boot.  

FLASH: 16 MB
NAND:  1024 MiB

The vendor has told us that the actual flash is lot bigger than reported by u-boot.

> (assuming your out-of-tree port supports NAND booting)

How do I find this out?

Thanks,
- Vikas

-----Original Message-----
From: Wolfgang Denk [mailto:wd at denx.de] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 3:52 PM
To: Sontakke, Vikas
Cc: U-Boot at lists.denx.de
Subject: Re: [U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

Dear vikas.sontakke at emc.com,

In message <629D989C137DD040A0A994BD21888F1E75E81DB5@MX29A.corp.emc.com> you wrote:
> 
> I am using following DULG documentation (5.4.3 Installation using U-Boot) h=
> ttp://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/UBootInstallUsingUBoot  which tells how to=
>  burn the new u-boot but does not tell me how to run *without* burning.

You cannot run the image without buring it to flash.

Did you bother to read the FAQ?  The very first U-Boot FAQ handles
your situation:
http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/CanUBootBeConfiguredSuchThatItCanBeStartedInRAM

You may be able to istall a NAND booting version of U-Boot to NAND
flash (assuming your out-of-tree port supports NAND booting).

Once you got this working, you have a recovery system, and you can
erase and re-program the NOR flash without risk.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way  is  to
make  it  so  simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the
other is to make it so complicated that there are  no  obvious  defi-
ciencies.                             - Charles Anthony Richard Hoare

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[Stefan Roese]

Hi Vikas,

On Wednesday 07 December 2011 23:13:18 vikas.sontakke at emc.com wrote:
> I do know that the board has NAND flash and it is seen by the u-boot.
> 
> FLASH: 16 MB
> NAND:  1024 MiB
> 
> The vendor has told us that the actual flash is lot bigger than reported by
> u-boot.

Then the vendor U-Boot port is broken.
 
> > (assuming your out-of-tree port supports NAND booting)
> 
> How do I find this out?

NAND booting required that chip-select 0 is connected to the NAND chip. If 
your board usually boots from NOR, then it is connected to the NOR FLASH chip. 
The AMCC/APM evaluation boards have a jumper to toggle this chip-select 
between NAND and NOR. If your custom board doesn't have such a means to toggle 
the CS0 then you have no chance to boot from NAND.

Another idea would be to build a rambooting U-Boot target for your board. This 
is supported for Sequoia. But not for Canyonlands. You might want to take a 
look at that.

Otherwise you need to burn the U-Boot image into your NOR FLASH and just hope 
that it works. A JTAG debugger would be handy if it doesn't work though.

Best regards,
Stefan

--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,      MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich,  Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-0 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: office at denx.de

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[vikas.sontakke at emc.com]

Hi Stefan,

>Then the vendor U-Boot port is broken.

I hope that is not the case :-(  When they told me that the board has 2GB of flash, I told them that u-boot only reported 16MB.  I was told not to worry about it.  Vendor saves firmware for their chip (which is a PCI-e device on the board), their config files and VAR partition for their Linux image is stored in the 2GB flash.  Do I need to push them to clarify as to why their u-boot is not reporting the correct flash sizes? 

>Otherwise you need to burn the U-Boot image into your NOR FLASH and just hope 
>that it works. A JTAG debugger would be handy if it doesn't work though.

We have Lauterback Power Debug Interface and TRACE32 software CD.  I have been told that it does support JTAG burning.  Now I need to investigate it. 

Thanks for your reply,
- Vikas

-----Original Message-----
From: Stefan Roese [mailto:sr at denx.de] 
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 2:30 AM
To: u-boot at lists.denx.de
Cc: Sontakke, Vikas; wd at denx.de
Subject: Re: [U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

Hi Vikas,

On Wednesday 07 December 2011 23:13:18 vikas.sontakke at emc.com wrote:
> I do know that the board has NAND flash and it is seen by the u-boot.
> 
> FLASH: 16 MB
> NAND:  1024 MiB
> 
> The vendor has told us that the actual flash is lot bigger than reported by
> u-boot.

Then the vendor U-Boot port is broken.
 
> > (assuming your out-of-tree port supports NAND booting)
> 
> How do I find this out?

NAND booting required that chip-select 0 is connected to the NAND chip. If 
your board usually boots from NOR, then it is connected to the NOR FLASH chip. 
The AMCC/APM evaluation boards have a jumper to toggle this chip-select 
between NAND and NOR. If your custom board doesn't have such a means to toggle 
the CS0 then you have no chance to boot from NAND.

Another idea would be to build a rambooting U-Boot target for your board. This 
is supported for Sequoia. But not for Canyonlands. You might want to take a 
look at that.

Otherwise you need to burn the U-Boot image into your NOR FLASH and just hope 
that it works. A JTAG debugger would be handy if it doesn't work though.

Best regards,
Stefan

--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,      MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich,  Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-0 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: office at denx.de

[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[Stefan Roese]

Hi Vikas,

On Thursday 08 December 2011 17:25:00 vikas.sontakke at emc.com wrote:
> >Then the vendor U-Boot port is broken.
> 
> I hope that is not the case :-(  When they told me that the board has 2GB
> of flash, I told them that u-boot only reported 16MB.  I was told not to
> worry about it.  Vendor saves firmware for their chip (which is a PCI-e
> device on the board), their config files and VAR partition for their Linux
> image is stored in the 2GB flash.  Do I need to push them to clarify as to
> why their u-boot is not reporting the correct flash sizes?

Your choice. If I owned such a "product", I would like it to report the 
correct sizes.
 
> >Otherwise you need to burn the U-Boot image into your NOR FLASH and just
> >hope that it works. A JTAG debugger would be handy if it doesn't work
> >though.
> 
> We have Lauterback Power Debug Interface and TRACE32 software CD.  I have
> been told that it does support JTAG burning.  Now I need to investigate
> it.

Yes, Lauterbach TRACE32 is fine. You can always use it to flash U-Boot, once 
you have flashed an incorrect/broken version, which doesn't allow you to 
update via U-Boot again.

Best regards,
Stefan

--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,      MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich,  Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-0 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: office at denx.de