IMX53 with Android bootup

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-11-2011

I am using IMX53 EVK board.I want to use it for android development.

How to partition the SD card and use it for bootup. Is there any bin file available

without partitioning the SD card.

mmaaxx · ‎07-26-2011

Thank you Lily,

1. Do you know the part number of the switch that was not populated (I can order and solder it)?

2. I was thinking to put everything (bootloader, kernel, linux) to the flash drive and boot from it, but from your reply I feel like I would not be able to do this, right?

LilyZhang · ‎07-26-2011

1. If you want to boot from SD, you can rework the board and set boot pins as "booting from SDHC3". 2. What kind of USB boot you are referring to? Usually USB boot talking into MX53 document refers to serial download mode via USB. This mode can be used to download images via USB.

mmaaxx · ‎07-26-2011

I'm trying to boot imx53 START from either SD or the USB. Can't find a word in the manual saying how to
do this, or if it's possible or not. It looks boot switches on my board are not populated.

>QS doesn´t have switches for choosing the boot mode (like SMD). The default for this board is boot
from microSD slot.

So, this means, that the Board is always looking for the bootloader on the microSD? No easy way to boot
it completely from USB?
Thanks for reply!

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-19-2011

Hi Daiane,

Thank you for all the support. Today i got information from Freescale saying IMX53 EVK can't be used for Android development. Freescale or Adeno are not supporting this.I am trying to install LTIB and work with Linux.

daiane_angolini · ‎07-19-2011

Do you have any CD?

Please, take a look on this file https://www.freescale.com/webapp/Download?colCode=L2.6.35_11.01_ER_SOURCE&appType=license&location=n...

Install LTIB and configure it to build EVK bootloader.

Don´t you have any pre-built binary you can use?

I cannot remember which Android version supported EVK. You will need to search for some old version.

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-18-2011

Where i can find EVK specific bootloader. Whether Android can be used on EVK board?

daiane_angolini · ‎07-18-2011

It´s really important to use the right bootloader.

If you´re using EVK, please, use the EVK bootloader.

Do you want to boot Android on EVK? I think there is no supported version, any more. You can start booting pure linux, in order to see your board alive.

Anuradha Nalge said:

Thank you for the documents sharing. I followed the switch configuration as per the document. But no luck.The software is also different for QSB and EVK?? I am using i.MX53-QSB-Android-Release3.3 from Adeno website.Is this is the correct software? Thanks in advance.

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-17-2011

Thank you for the documents sharing. I followed the switch configuration as per the document. But no luck.The software is also different for QSB and EVK?? I am using i.MX53-QSB-Android-Release3.3 from Adeno website.Is this is the correct software? Thanks in advance.

daiane_angolini · ‎07-15-2011

Yes. they are different. Please, take a look on documentation you got.

Look for this file: i.MX53_EVK_Linux_BSP_UserGuide.pdf it´s inside the tarball L2.6.35_11.05.01_ER_docs.tar.gz (please use your version instead).

Take it from your CD

Or file uboot_mx5x.pdf from https://www.freescale.com/webapp/Download?colCode=IMX53_QSB_1101_LINUXDOCS_BUNDLE&location=null&fpsp... I think.

Anuradha Nalge said:

Hi,
Is IMX53 EVK and QSB are different?? I am using Imx53 EVK board. I am having three switches(SW1,SW2,SW3)
on the board. It is having two SD card slots one on top and one on the bottom.So i am looking for the configuration of
switches to boot from Slot1(SDcard slot on top).Please let me know. Thanks

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-14-2011

Hi,

Is IMX53 EVK and QSB are different?? I am using Imx53 EVK board. I am having three switches(SW1,SW2,SW3)

on the board. It is having two SD card slots one on top and one on the bottom.So i am looking for the configuration of

switches to boot from Slot1(SDcard slot on top).Please let me know. Thanks.

Daiane Angolini said:

QS doesn´t have switches for choosing the boot mode (like SMD). The default for this board is boot from microSD slot.

At least, my QS board is this way.

Dylan said:
I made some progress with this yesterday.

u-boot.bin, uImage and uramdisk are written on to the SD card after the Master Boot Record (MBR) / partition table, and before the start of the first partition. They will not be visible in any of the partitions, but when the board is set to boot from the SD card it will find the bootloader after the MBR, which in turn will load the Kernel and the ramdisk.

I am using a different board so I don't know which switches are which, but the user guide mentions this:

i.MX53 SMD eMMC (SD Slot3) Boot
Switch
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
SW26
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
ON
OFF
SW28
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON

i.MX53 SMD MMC/SD (Slot1) Boot
Switch
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
SW26
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
SW28
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF

I'm guessing that you are using Slot1 to boot? In which case it seems like all switches should be 0, except for D7 of SW26.

Anuradha Nalge said:

When i am copying Uboot.bin and Uimage using dd utility it is saying copied but i am not able to see them in SD card.
Download the u-boot image:
# sudo dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1K skip=1 seek=1; sync
Where this will be stored?

daiane_angolini · ‎07-14-2011

QS doesn´t have switches for choosing the boot mode (like SMD). The default for this board is boot from microSD slot.

At least, my QS board is this way.

Dylan said:

I made some progress with this yesterday.

u-boot.bin, uImage and uramdisk are written on to the SD card after the Master Boot Record (MBR) / partition table, and before the start of the first partition. They will not be visible in any of the partitions, but when the board is set to boot from the SD card it will find the bootloader after the MBR, which in turn will load the Kernel and the ramdisk.

I am using a different board so I don't know which switches are which, but the user guide mentions this:

i.MX53 SMD eMMC (SD Slot3) Boot
Switch
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
SW26
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
ON
OFF
SW28
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON

i.MX53 SMD MMC/SD (Slot1) Boot
Switch
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
SW26
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
SW28
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF

I'm guessing that you are using Slot1 to boot? In which case it seems like all switches should be 0, except for D7 of SW26.

Anuradha Nalge said:

When i am copying Uboot.bin and Uimage using dd utility it is saying copied but i am not able to see them in SD card.
Download the u-boot image:
# sudo dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1K skip=1 seek=1; sync
Where this will be stored?

daiane_angolini · ‎07-14-2011

Comments in line.

Anuradha Nalge said:

Hi Daiane,
I am able to partition my SD card as per user guide. But i am having the leftover part as unallocated.Will that create any problem. All the memory available on SD card need to be partitioned??

Off couse not. But, you will lose SDCard memory for what?
Partition Type/Index
Name
Start Offset
Size
File System
Content
N/A
BOOT
0
10 MB
N/A
bootloader/kernel/uramdiskimages
Primary 1
MEDIA
11 MB
User Defined
VFAT. Mount as /sdcards
Media file storage
Primary 2
SYSTEM
follow MEDIA
>= 200 MB
EXT4. Mount as /system (with read only)
Android system bin/libs(system.img)
Logic 5 (Extended 3)
DATA
follow SYSTEM
> 200 MB
EXT4. Mount as /data
Android data (e.g. installed app)
Logic 6 (Extended 3)
CACHE
follow DATA
> 10 MB
EXT4. Mount as /cache
Android cache
Primary 4
RECOVERY
follow CACHE
> 20 MB
EXT4. Mount as / in recovery mode
Root file system for recovery mode (recovery.img)

When i am copying Uboot.bin and Uimage using dd utility it is saying copied but i am not able to see them in SD card.
Download the u-boot image:
# sudo dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1K skip=1 seek=1; sync
Where this will be stored?

[Daiane] At the first "unalocated partition" that 10M, with 1K offset. I use this command to copy u-boot-no-padding, is you´re using u-boot (with 1K padding you should use another command line, take a look on User Guide)

Finally after connecting the SD card in imx53 board and power on there is no communication between hyper terminal and imx53.Without this i can't set the environmental variables for Uboot.What are the switch configurations(Sw1,Sw2,Sw3) to boot from SD card. What is the software version to be used for making the board up with prebuilt images.

[Daiane] That´s right, you should take care of that u-boot binary you copy to SDCard (and where). In this case, the boot sequence did not found the u-boot binary. Please, copy u-boot again.

i am using i.MX53-QSB-Android-Release3.3 from Adeno website.Is this is the correct software? Thanks in advance.

[Daiane] Yes.

Dylan · ‎07-14-2011

I made some progress with this yesterday.

u-boot.bin, uImage and uramdisk are written on to the SD card after the Master Boot Record (MBR) / partition table, and before the start of the first partition. They will not be visible in any of the partitions, but when the board is set to boot from the SD card it will find the bootloader after the MBR, which in turn will load the Kernel and the ramdisk.

I am using a different board so I don't know which switches are which, but the user guide mentions this:

i.MX53 SMD eMMC (SD Slot3) Boot

Switch	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8
SW26	OFF	ON	OFF	OFF	ON	ON	ON	OFF
SW28	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	ON

i.MX53 SMD MMC/SD (Slot1) Boot

Switch	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8
SW26	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	ON	OFF
SW28	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF

I'm guessing that you are using Slot1 to boot? In which case it seems like all switches should be 0, except for D7 of SW26.

Anuradha Nalge said:

When i am copying Uboot.bin and Uimage using dd utility it is saying copied but i am not able to see them in SD card.
Download the u-boot image:
# sudo dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1K skip=1 seek=1; sync
Where this will be stored?

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-13-2011

Hi Daiane,

I am able to partition my SD card as per user guide. But i am having the leftover part as unallocated.Will that create any problem. All the memory available on SD card need to be partitioned??

Partition Type/Index	Name	Start Offset	Size	File System	Content
N/A	BOOT	0	10 MB	N/A	bootloader/kernel/uramdiskimages
Primary 1	MEDIA	11 MB	User Defined	VFAT. Mount as /sdcards	Media file storage
Primary 2	SYSTEM	follow MEDIA	>= 200 MB	EXT4. Mount as /system (with read only)	Android system bin/libs(system.img)
Logic 5 (Extended 3)	DATA	follow SYSTEM	> 200 MB	EXT4. Mount as /data	Android data (e.g. installed app)
Logic 6 (Extended 3)	CACHE	follow DATA	> 10 MB	EXT4. Mount as /cache	Android cache
Primary 4	RECOVERY	follow CACHE	> 20 MB	EXT4. Mount as / in recovery mode	Root file system for recovery mode (recovery.img)

When i am copying Uboot.bin and Uimage using dd utility it is saying copied but i am not able to see them in SD card.

Download the u-boot image:
# sudo dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=1K skip=1 seek=1; sync

Where this will be stored?

Finally after connecting the SD card in imx53 board and power on there is no communication between hyper terminal and imx53.Without this i can't set the environmental variables for Uboot.What are the switch configurations(Sw1,Sw2,Sw3) to boot from SD card. What is the software version to be used for making the board up with prebuilt images.

i am using i.MX53-QSB-Android-Release3.3 from Adeno website.Is this is the correct software? Thanks in advance.

daiane_angolini · ‎07-13-2011

Tell us what are making you sad.

What´s the error you´ve been facing?

Past here the procedure you´ve beem following.

Dylan said:

Struggling with the same thing, except for the IMX51 EVK.

The user guide specifies the size (in megabytes) of the partitions. When fdisk asks for the final sector / cylinder of a partition, you can specify the size in megabytes by entering +50M to create a 50 megabyte partition for example.

I *think* I am creating the partitions correctly, but trying to format them and copy the images onto them has been giving me a lot of grief.

daiane_angolini · ‎07-13-2011

It´s my 4G sdcard. I have one 1G sdcard that I "part" the same way. I always use gparted, because I get confused with fdisk, because my system is based on proportion, not size.

I always take first 20M (gray on picture) for MBR+u-boot+uImage+uramdisk.

My next step is to take 1/4 for the first partition - FAT

more 1/4 for first ext4 partition - system

more 1/4 for extended partition - 1/2 and 1/2 each ext4 inside it

and, everything else (another 1/4) for last ext4 partition.

Even then I have this sdcard partition, my Ubuntu detects every partition (and mount it automaticaly). Please, make sure your ubuntu create /dev/sdX even if ubuntu cannot mount it on /media. You can dmesg and see if it´s right.

Try to not recreate MBR (partition table).

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-13-2011

Hi Dylan,

I am able to partition the SD card with Gparted. But after disconnecting and connecting it back Ubuntu is not

detecting the SD card. How to resolve this problem. If i format SD card in windows then it is detected in Ubuntu.For flashing the images there is a script available in 3.3 release.

Dylan · ‎07-13-2011

Struggling with the same thing, except for the IMX51 EVK.

The user guide specifies the size (in megabytes) of the partitions. When fdisk asks for the final sector / cylinder of a partition, you can specify the size in megabytes by entering +50M to create a 50 megabyte partition for example.

I *think* I am creating the partitions correctly, but trying to format them and copy the images onto them has been giving me a lot of grief.

AnuradhaNalge · ‎07-12-2011

Thank you Daiane. I tried that option. But in the user guide the size of each partition is not clearly given.

If i tried with approx calculation it is throwing errors. Could you please let me know the size of each partition in terms of sectors.

daiane_angolini · ‎07-12-2011

You can follow the partition table on User Guide. You can use gparted instead of fdisk