Does i.MX SoloLite EVK board support class 10 SD Cards?

[billbigelow]

It won't read mine (Kingston 16 GB microSDHC class 10).  Ok with Class 4.

[gusarambula]

The characteristics of the i.MX6SL uSDHC are listed on Table 2 of the Data Sheet (link below).

http://cache.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/data_sheet/IMX6SLCEC.pdf

The controller supports up to UHS-I SDR104 mode so class 10 speed should work fine. The capacity should also not be an issue according to specs.

Hopefully Sinan Akman can update us on his tests and perhaps you could try with another card? It sounds like you’re using a microSD with an adapter. Perhaps you can try with a regular SD or with another adapter.

[billbigelow]

New information.  Thanks for the replies.

Briefly:

Freescale's MfgTool can read/write the class 10 SD card inserted on the board.  However that card can't be read when booting from itself or from good class 4 SD Card (from Freescale). This must be a driver thing...

Details:

Using Freescale's MfgTool2.exe (runs on a Windows PC), I can successfully read/write to a class 10 uSDHC card.  It creates the expected 8 partitions.  I verified the existence of these partitions on another machine.

However, when that class 10 SD card attempts to boot Android, U-boot fails to read the partitions.  Here's the complaint from u-boot:

booti: device don't have such partition:boot

fastboot is in init......flash target is MMC:1

Bad partition index:1 for partition:boot

Bad partition index:2 for partition:recovery

Bad partition index:5 for partition:system

Since the SoloLite has another SD Card slot, I booted from the factory SD Card (class 4) but stopped it at the "Hit any key to stop autoboot:" prompt. [i.e. from the TTY connection to the UART port).

Then I used mmc to inspect the partitions. Sanity check: The booted SD Card (from Freescale) displays the partitions by selecting the booted SD card ("mmc dev 1" then "mmc part").  The class 10 SD Card got the above errors ("mmc dev 0" then "mmc part").  I am certain that it's dev 0 since other SD Cards can be read from that SD slot.

Conclusion:
The u-boot image that is provided on Freescale's SoloLite SD Card (labeled MX6SLEVK LCD Android r12.10.02 110-77558 A) is not compatible with class 10 even though the hardware is compatible.  the u-boot image file that is included in the MfgTool2.exe package does support class 10.

So next (when I get some time), I will try creating an SD Card using the u-boot file that's in the MfgTool package (u-boot-mx6sl-evk.bin) instead of the one that came with the SoloLite release: GA Tool's "u-boot-mx6sl.bin" (see "android_kk4.4.2_1.0.0-ga_core_image_6slevk.gz")

[sinanakman]

Hi Bill

Thanks for the update. You might want to

just try the mainline u-boot. AFAIK SoloLite

is supported so you should be able just

config the mainline uboot and give it a try.

If there was a bug in the driver in that FSL

uboot version it is more likely that it was fixed

in the mainline.

Hope this helps

Regards

Sinan Akman

[sinanakman]

Hi Bill, did you try with some other class 10 cards ?

Regards

Sinan Akman

[billbigelow]

Yes.

Details:

I tried two class 10 SD cards; same brand and size.  Both brand new.  Both work (can read/write) on Windows 8.1 laptop.

I tried reformatting (FAT32) both cards.  Can't read partition table using U-boot's MMC utility. e.g. "mmc dev 0" then "mmc partition" commands. Exact mmc error: "## Unknown partition table".  I tried the "boot" SD slot and both of the extra SD slots on the SoloLite.

I tried using Freescale's "i.MX6SL_EVK_LCD_SD_Demo_Image.exe" using Win 8.1.  This exe writes both SD Cards successfully on Win 8.1 laptop but neither can be read on SoloLite (thus neither will boot).

That exe successfully writes a 16 GB SDHC class 4 (an off-brand) and that SD card can be read by the SoloLite and can boot up Android OS.

I was hoping someone would know a place on the Freescale site that states whether compatible so I'd know for sure before I order some class 4 for SD cards.  We'd prefer the speed of class 10 for our design.

Thanks for your response.

[sinanakman]

Hi Bill

I am inclined to think that this is rather size related than the class but

I don't have any data to back this up. I don't have my eval board right here

today but I thought we had tested this with Class 10 4G Kingston in the past.

I'll run few tests in the coming week. Just to make sure, did you try a 32M

class 4 card and that worked fine ?

Regards

Sinan Akman