BB C4 and latest Angtrom Demo u-boot problem

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Jeff Malcom

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Jul 10, 2010, 4:52:10 AM7/10/10
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Here I start a new discussion about the latest problem I have on my BB
rev C4.
This thread is a fork about this specific topic from
http://groups.google.com/group/beagleboard/browse_thread/thread/8fbca4350022f57d/99ae172328ed59c1#99ae172328ed59c1
Now.. a little recap:
I'm trying to use the latest Angtrom-demo from this link:
http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beagleboard/
but I cant' get the uboot work.
I put all the needed files on the MMC, the beagle start up correctly
and load the u-boot.bin from MMC without problems, but the boot
process hang at the
I2C: Ready
ad nothing more.
Others u-boot works just fine.
I tested the same SD on another beagle same rev C4, and get the same
results.
Tried remaking the SD, but nothing changed...
Am I the only One with this problem?

Koen Kooi

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Jul 10, 2010, 9:58:59 AM7/10/10
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Op 10 jul 2010, om 10:52 heeft Jeff Malcom het volgende geschreven:

> Here I start a new discussion about the latest problem I have on my BB
> rev C4.
> This thread is a fork about this specific topic from
> http://groups.google.com/group/beagleboard/browse_thread/thread/8fbca4350022f57d/99ae172328ed59c1#99ae172328ed59c1
> Now.. a little recap:
> I'm trying to use the latest Angtrom-demo from this link:
> http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beagleboard/
> but I cant' get the uboot work.
> I put all the needed files on the MMC, the beagle start up correctly
> and load the u-boot.bin from MMC without problems, but the boot
> process hang at the
> I2C: Ready
> ad nothing more.

As said in other threads, your MLO is too old. Hold down the USER button and reflash the MLO in nand. The instructions can be found on the angstrom site.

And next time please include the complete output, I had to guess at the mlo version.

regards,

Koen

Barladeanu Dorian-BDB048

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Jul 11, 2010, 2:30:34 AM7/11/10
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Hi
I have the same problem.
I am the happy owner of a Beagleboard ver.C4 - newcomer in Linux,
U-boot, x-load and so on. I succeeded, following the steps prescribed in
the beagleboard sites to get the 0xdroid android working on a 480x272
4.3" LCD of LG (the Special Computing kit provided with beagleboard with
the expansion board of Hy-Research). The android is sensing an USB mouse
and an USB keyboard connected through a hub. I understand that for
activating the touchscreen controller TSC2064 I need to make changes in
U-boot pinmux in omap3-beagle.h file.
I downloaded the U-boot from
git://gitorious.org/beagleboard-validation/u-boot.git the most updated
version of U-boot for C4 and I succeeded to obtain the U-boot and the
U-boot.bin files after make. In the install.conf file I uncommented
U_BOOT_IMAGE = flash-uboot.bin and I copied in the SD card the
U-boot.bin as flash-uboot.bin.
After succesfully passing the autoinstall stage and rebooted the
board I
obtained:

Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.2 (Feb 19 2009 - 12:01:24) Reading boot
sector Loading u-boot.bin from mmc


U-Boot 2010.03-dirty (Jul 10 2010 - 08:50:06)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max clock-720Mhz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C: ready

Here the board is stuck. Please, has somebody any idea?
Sincerely yours
Dorian Barladeanu

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Koen Kooi

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Jul 11, 2010, 10:56:19 AM7/11/10
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Op 11 jul 2010, om 08:30 heeft Barladeanu Dorian-BDB048 het volgende geschreven:
>
> obtained:
>
> Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.2 (Feb 19 2009 - 12:01:24)

As said before, you need 1.4.4ss, not 1.4.2 for newer uboots to work

Barladeanu Dorian-BDB048

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Jul 11, 2010, 12:27:43 PM7/11/10
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Thanks - this solved the hanging problem.

-----Original Message-----
From: beagl...@googlegroups.com [mailto:beagl...@googlegroups.com]

--

Jeff Malcom

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Jul 15, 2010, 4:03:17 AM7/15/10
to Beagle Board
I need a bit of infos before upgrading : as far as I know, the X-
loader is the main loader program. Now, I can't get what the MLO file
on the SD is for. I think it is the equivalent of the X-loader only on
the SD, but is there a way to use that? The main problem here is that
I'm trying to figure out how the boot process works and what files are
loaded from where...
Another little question... if during the update of the X-loader I
encounter problems... is there a way to boot the BB anyway for
restore?
Last question: I read somewhere on the net that in some flashing
scripts the flashed file is the x-load.bin.ift, in other the flashed
file is directly the MLO... what is the difference?
Thanks for your patience ;) and for the help!

Koen Kooi

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Jul 15, 2010, 9:11:55 AM7/15/10
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MLO == xloader == xloader.bin.ift == xloader.bin == xload

They are all the same

Søren Steen Christensen

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Jul 15, 2010, 10:29:30 AM7/15/10
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Hi Koen and Jeff,

> MLO == xloader == xloader.bin.ift == xloader.bin == xload
> They are all the same

I’m not sure I agree 100% to this although I totally agree that the changes
are minor (though important) – In my world the following is true:

- X-loader, xload and xloader.bin : Unsigned (meaning missing the 8
bytes header in the start of the image)
- MLO, cloader.bin.ift : Signed (meaning containing the 8 bytes
header in the start of the image)

The 8 byte header is 2 x 32bit containing image size and address of which to
load the image...

MLO only needs to be on the SD card when the ROM code is actually booting
from MMC. For BeagleBoard this is only the case when holding the user-button
during power on. For BeagleXM MLO on SD card will normally always be needed
since it doesn’t contain any NAND...

> Another little question... if during the update of the X-loader I
> encounter problems... is there a way to boot the BB anyway for
> restore?

You can always boot the board from either USB, UART or MMC (by pressing the
user button) regardless of the NAND and xloader/MLO state. For more info
please see chapter 25 of the OMAP TRM (spruf98g.pdf)

Best regards - Hope this clarified your questions
Søren

---
SSC Solutions ApS - Denmark - www.ssc-solutions.dk


Alphaemmeo

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Jul 15, 2010, 11:46:57 AM7/15/10
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Hi all,

I'm new here and I'm a university student;

I've the same problem as Jeff but I don't feel sure about flashing on
the NAND
as for now, I tried booting from an SD putting the latest MLO and U-
BOOT.bin
and pressing the user button but with no succes.

I'm using a BB rev.C4 but I keep getting the BB to boot only from NAND
and
not from SD.

Are there any particular timing about the user button?

Søren Steen Christensen

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Jul 15, 2010, 1:07:11 PM7/15/10
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You need to hold it down while powering/resetting the board. Secondly you
FAT partition needs to be minimum 32MB in case it's FAT32 formatted - In
case it's less than 32MB you should format it FAT12/16 - Otherwise the OMAP
ROM-code won't accept it. Last but not least you need to make sure that you
MLO is signed as discussed in the previous post.

Having these in place should give you the ability to boot from MMC...

Good luck

Jeff Malcom

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Jul 16, 2010, 5:53:42 PM7/16/10
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The reason behind my question about the flashing of a new Xloader on
the nand was mainly because I'm afraid of "bricking" then BB.
When I read the question of Alphaemmeo, I tested the procedure to boot
from the MMC using the xloader on the MMC (MLO).
I get the "booting from MMC" message and alla start up, buit now i
don't understand a thing... at that point the X-loader was already
executed ad it was from the nand,
infact i put on the CD the MLO from angstrom-demo-page (the one needed
to run the most recent u-boot.bin) but the latest u-boot.bin keep on
shangin at I2C:ready and the
X-loader version print if always 1.4.2... now i can't understand if I
get it wrong or something else about he user button thing...
can I run the MLO from mmc bypassing the x-loader on the nand? I can't
get this point
Thanks to all for the patience :)

Søren Steen Christensen

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Jul 17, 2010, 4:29:41 AM7/17/10
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Hi Jeff,

> can I run the MLO from MMC bypassing the x-loader on the nand?
Yes you can. As stated in my previous post. Pressing and holding the User
Button during power up, the ROM code will first search the MMC for a file
called MLO. In case this is found, this is used. In case this isn't found it
will continue and try loading it from NAND...

For the MLO to be loaded succesfuly from MMC you need:
1) A FAT partition marked bootable (normally the first one on the MMC)
2) In case the partition is <32MB is needs to be formatted FAT12/16
3) In case the partition is >=32MB is needs to be formattet FAT32 (normally
used by BeagleBoard users)
4) The MLO file needs to be named 'MLO' and not 'Mlo' og 'mlo'

I hope the above is clear?

Best regards - Good luck

Richard Andrews

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Jul 17, 2010, 7:07:55 AM7/17/10
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On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 6:29 PM, Søren Steen Christensen
<li...@ssc-solutions.dk> wrote:
> For the MLO to be loaded succesfuly from MMC you need:
> 1) A FAT partition marked bootable (normally the first one on the MMC)
> 2) In case the partition is <32MB is needs to be formatted FAT12/16
> 3) In case the partition is >=32MB is needs to be formattet FAT32 (normally
> used by BeagleBoard users)
> 4) The MLO file needs to be named 'MLO' and not 'Mlo' og 'mlo'

I think there is also another requirement. The MLO file must be the
first file written to the newly formated FAT filesystem.

Søren Steen Christensen

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Jul 17, 2010, 1:49:50 PM7/17/10
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Hi Richard,

> I think there is also another requirement.
> The MLO file must be the first file written to the newly formated FAT
filesystem.

It was by full intention that I didn't mention that one. I'm 99.99999% sure
that this is just an old rumor (unfortunately still floating around - and
which BTW doesn't harm :-). It was the case for some of the first ROM code
revision for OMAP3430, but I'm nearly 100% certain, that it has been fixed
somewhere around Beagle revision Cx and onwards...

Best regards

Richard Andrews

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Jul 18, 2010, 12:00:07 AM7/18/10
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I'd appreciate knowing the definitive answer on this one (including
beagleboard/OMAP revisions with different behaviours) if anyone knows.
I'm writing some beginner docs. Best if the info is accurate.

Søren Steen Christensen

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Jul 19, 2010, 4:55:02 AM7/19/10
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Hi Richard,

> I'd appreciate knowing the definitive answer on this one (including
> beagleboard/OMAP revisions with different behaviours) if anyone knows.
> I'm writing some beginner docs. Best if the info is accurate.

The problem with this one is, that it's not considered a bug (and therefore
not existing in the errata list :-).
All I know for sure is, that the first revision(s) of the ROM code needed
the file to be first in the FAT.
Newer versions doesn't (and I think the change was somewhere around Beagle
Rev C2 - Or maybe even earlier).

I will try to see if I can get any more precise information

Jeff Malcom

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Jul 20, 2010, 5:06:11 AM7/20/10
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Finally I've found some time for a bit of testing.
I made a SD card (kingston 8Gb) with 3 partitions:
1) Fat32 bootable (~ 400Mb)
2) Ext3 for he rootfs (~3.6Gb)
3) Ext3 for <other_use_here> (the remaining space).
I copied the MLO, u-boot.bin and all the other files from the Angstrom
demo e tested to run the X-loader only from SD.
Follows the results (log from minicom):

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
---------------------------------------------------
NAND boot test (no SD inserted)
---------------------------------------------------
Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.2 (Feb 19 2009 -
12:01:24)
Loading u-boot.bin from nand


U-Boot 2009.11-rc1-00601-g3aa4b51 (Jan 05 2010 - 20:56:38)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2 L3-165MHz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C: ready
DRAM: 256 MB
NAND: 256 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC or NAND, using default environment

In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
Board revision C4
Die ID #7ea4000400000000040373051401500e
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
OMAP3 beagleboard.org #

---------------------------------------------------
MMC boot (Angstrom SD):: TEST : 1 (no USER butoon)
SD: latest MLO, old u-boot.bin
---------------------------------------------------
Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.2 (Feb 19 2009 - 12:01:24)
Reading boot sector
Loading u-boot.bin from mmc


U-Boot 2009.11 (Feb 23 2010 - 15:33:48)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2 L3-165MHz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C: ready
DRAM: 256 MB
NAND: 256 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC or NAND, using default environment

In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
Board revision C4
Die ID #7ea4000400000000040373051401500e
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
OMAP3 beagleboard.org #

---------------------------------------------------
MMC boot (Angstrom SD):: TEST : 1 (with USER butoon)
SD: latest MLO, old u-boot.bin
---------------------------------------------------
40W�Ԥ�ԤDU���
ᅁ%�����͵����сa�1�����Ɂ�Ź�ѹ�Ɂ������Ł����Ɂ����������ť5)�Reading boot
sector
Loading u-boot.bin from mmc


U-Boot 2009.11 (Feb 23 2010 - 15:33:48)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2 L3-165MHz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C: ready
DRAM: 256 MB
NAND: 256 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC or NAND, using default environment

In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
Board revision C4
Die ID #7ea4000400000000040373051401500e
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
OMAP3 beagleboard.org #

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

---------------------------------------------------
MMC boot (Angstrom SD):: TEST : 2 (no USER butoon)
SD: latest MLO, latest u-boot.bin
---------------------------------------------------
Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.2 (Feb 19 2009 - 12:01:24)
Reading boot sector
Loading u-boot.bin from mmc


U-Boot 2010.03 (Jun 25 2010 - 14:31:23)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max clock-720Mhz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C: ready

---------------------------------------------------
MMC boot (Angstrom SD):: TEST : 2 (with USER butoon)
SD: latest MLO, latest u-boot.bin
---------------------------------------------------
40W

Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.2 (Feb 19 2009 - 12:01:24)
Reading boot sector
Loading u-boot.bin from mmc


U-Boot 2010.03 (Jun 25 2010 - 14:31:23)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max clock-720Mhz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/NAND
I2C: ready

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
For booting with the USER button pressed, here what I did:
Push the USER (keep pushed) -> power the BB -> (keep USER pushed) till
something happen

Now, I would expect to see the X-loader version change using the USER
button... but nothing...
I can't find where the error is...

radhish a

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Jul 27, 2010, 2:53:15 PM7/27/10
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Hello All,
I am using BB rev C4.
I tried downloading the demo image from the angstrom distribution.it
didnt worked.the u-boot image is not working.
my MLO version is 1.4.4.u-boot image hangs at i2c ready..
can anyone pls help me to overcome this issue....

Robert Nelson

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Jul 27, 2010, 3:20:08 PM7/27/10
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On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 1:53 PM, radhish a <radh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
> I am using BB rev C4.
> I tried downloading the demo image from the angstrom distribution.it
> didnt worked.the u-boot image is not working.
> my MLO version is 1.4.4.u-boot image hangs at i2c ready..
> can anyone pls help me to overcome this issue....

You 'still' have incompatible X-loader and U-boot.. X-load 1.4.4ss
will only work with U-boot 2010-03

Read the directions at the bottom of this page:
http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beagleboard/

Specifically the first nand flashing instructions..

Regards,

--
Robert Nelson
http://www.rcn-ee.com/

Jeff Malcom

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Jul 27, 2010, 4:06:41 PM7/27/10
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@Robert
I've take a look at the page you linked.
But I've the same dubt: if I use an up-to-date MLO on the SD, and I
boot from SD using the USER button, ne X-loader version number that I
should read during statup would be the new one.
Am I right?
If so, Why I can't proper boot the SD? Any ideas?
Thanks

Gerald Coley

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Jul 27, 2010, 4:21:39 PM7/27/10
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Maybe your SD card is not properly formatted or the MLO is not the first file copied onto a freshly formatted card and it is defaulting to booting from NAND.
 
Gerald

Robert Nelson

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Jul 27, 2010, 4:24:25 PM7/27/10
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On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 3:06 PM, Jeff Malcom <cybers...@gmail.com> wrote:

Simple your SD card is not formatted "exactly" the way the internal
X-Loader wants to read it..

There are a couple tools/scripts posted on the net to accomplish this,
but here's my way:

Make sure you use a spare sd card.. (i don't want you to lose your
existing work.)

http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu#Upgrade_X-loader_and_U-boot

Jeff Malcom

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Jul 28, 2010, 3:08:19 AM7/28/10
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Finally I managed to create a full bootable SD!
Many thanks to all for the support!
I followed the instruction posted by Robert (almost).
better: i followed this:
http://nishanthmenon.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-boot-beagle.html
because the script from the page linked don't works for me (problem
with fdisk -l, I'm on kubuntu 10.04)
Now... another little question:
On a page that I've read only todai I've found a little comment about
using fdisk to format the SD:
they say to not use 50 as size for the boot partition but 51... but
everywhere I've found 50...
could this be the problem?
For now... many thanks for the support and for the patience.. to all
of you!

SvenWilksen

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Jul 28, 2010, 9:46:27 AM7/28/10
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Now I got also a problem with the Angstrom demo. I wanted to show a
workmate the demo image.

I downloaded all files from the angstrom site, formatted the SD-card
as required and copied (in this order) MLO and u-boot.bin to the boot
partition and so on. (I simply followed the instructions)

Now, it doesn't boot.

The output on the serial console shows, when I only power up the
board:

#BEGIN BOOT LOG#

Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.4.4ss (Jul 24 2010 -
12:54:25)
Beagle Rev
C4
Reading boot
sector
Loading u-boot.bin from
mmc


U-Boot 2010.03 (Jul 24 2010 -
13:35:32)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max
clock-720Mhz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/
NAND
I2C:
ready
DRAM: 256
MB
NAND: 256
MiB
In:
serial
Out:
serial
Err:
serial

Probing for expansion boards, if none are connected you'll see a
harmless I2C e.

timed out in wait_for_pin:
I2C_STAT=0
I2C read: I/O
error
Unrecognized expansion board:
0
Beagle Rev
C4
Die ID
#2054002400000000040365fa12014020
Hit any key to stop autoboot:
0
Unknown command 'mmcinit' - try
'help'

** Unable to use mmc 0:1 for fatload
**
Wrong Image Format for bootm
command
ERROR: can't get kernel
image!
OMAP3 beagleboard.org #

#END BOOT LOG#

When I press the user button while powering the board, the output
shows:

#BEGIN BOOT LOG WITH USER BUTTON PRESSED#
OMAP3 beagleboard.org # 40W PH�H�U���ᅁInstruments X-Loader
1.4.4ss )
Beagle Rev
C4
Reading boot
sector
Loading u-boot.bin from
mmc


U-Boot 2010.03 (Jul 24 2010 -
13:35:32)

OMAP3530-GP ES3.1, CPU-OPP2, L3-165MHz, Max
clock-720Mhz
OMAP3 Beagle board + LPDDR/
NAND
I2C:
ready
DRAM: 256
MB
NAND: 256
MiB
In:
serial
Out:
serial
Err:
serial

Probing for expansion boards, if none are connected you'll see a
harmless I2C e.

timed out in wait_for_pin:
I2C_STAT=0
I2C read: I/O
error
Unrecognized expansion board:
0
Beagle Rev
C4
Die ID
#2054002400000000040365fa12014020
Hit any key to stop autoboot:
0
Unknown command 'mmcinit' - try
'help'

** Unable to use mmc 0:1 for fatload
**
Wrong Image Format for bootm
command
ERROR: can't get kernel image!

#END BOOT LOG#

As I said, this happens, when I strictly follow the instructions on
the angstrom project page. (I also flashed the MLO to the NAND).

Koen Kooi

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Jul 28, 2010, 9:53:02 AM7/28/10
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Sven,

Type this into u-boot:

nand erase 260000 20000

That will reset your uboot env to something working.

regards,

Koen

SvenWilksen

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Jul 29, 2010, 7:39:45 AM7/29/10
to Beagle Board
Thank you,

that really solved the problem.
The error seemed so strange, as it only occured on one of two Rev C4
board.

Thank you very much (again),
Sven

On 28 Jul., 15:53, Koen Kooi <k...@beagleboard.org> wrote:
> Sven,
>
> Type this into u-boot:
>
> nand erase 260000 20000
>
> That will reset your uboot env to something working.
>
> regards,
>
> Koen
>
> Op 28 jul 2010, om 15:46 heeft SvenWilksen het volgende geschreven:
>
> > Now I got also a problem with the Angstrom demo. I wanted to show a
> > workmate the demo image.
>
> > I downloaded all files from the angstrom site, formatted the SD-card
> > as required and copied (in this order)MLOand u-boot.bin to the boot
> > the angstrom project page. (I also flashed theMLOto the NAND).
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