Newbie needs help flashing prebuilt Android -> 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB to evaluate MX8-DSI-OLED1 Display

[paulmatz]

I've read thru the Android Quick Start, and get the general idea, but it is not very clear.

Doing development on Windows 10. Want to initialize a uSD card and boot from it to see how well our App runs on the OLED display. (I know I need to change the dip switches to boot from uSD).

I've downloaded android-11.0.0_2.2.0_image_8mmevk.tar.gz ; there are many images in there; probably need dtbo-imx8mn-mipi-panel.img, but which other partitions images are needed, and how do these end up on the uSD card?

I see I am suppose to download UUU which appears to interact with the 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB over USB? Is there a way to initialize the uSD card directly using a USB to uSD card adapter?

Looking for the cliff notes that are more up to date (saw some things in the knowledge base from 2+ years ago...)

Thanks in advance!

[paulmatz]

Hi again, thanks for the help so far; followed your advice; on windows 10, downloaded all the files, set the dip switches to boot in serial download mode, power up, plug in the USB cable, I see 2 COM ports appear (COM37 & 38), and I created a cmd shell as admin, and ran the following with the response:

C:\Users\pmatz\Downloads\NXP>.\uuu_imx_android_flash.bat -f imx8mm -a -e -u trusty -d mipi-panel
This script is validated with uuu 1.4.139 version, it is recommended to align with this version.
dtbo is supported
dual slot is supported
dynamic partition is supported
vendor_boot is supported
generate lines to flash u-boot-imx8mm-trusty.imx to the partition of bootloader0
generate lines to flash partition-table.img to the partition of gpt
generate lines to flash dtbo-imx8mm-mipi-panel.img to the partition of dtbo_a
generate lines to flash vendor_boot.img to the partition of vendor_boot_a
generate lines to flash boot.img to the partition of boot_a
generate lines to flash vbmeta-imx8mm-mipi-panel.img to the partition of vbmeta_a
generate lines to flash super.img to the partition of super
uuu script generated, start to invoke uuu with the generated uuu script
uuu (Universal Update Utility) for nxp imx chips -- libuuu_1.4.139-0-g1a8f760

Wait for Known USB Device Appear...

Searched knowledge base for this, and the note referenced is from 2019 and doesn't seem to apply, or at least it's hard to know what of it does.

I've double checked the switch settings. I've noticed that the status LED on the SOM is not turning on like it does if I boot from emmc...

Any ideas?  Thanks.

[paulmatz]

Thanks so much for the reply!

I see mention of uuu_imx_android_flash.bat in https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/quick-reference-guide/ANDROID_QUICK_START_GUIDE.pdf but have not found that file yet; I assume it is coming from all those uuu files on github? Can you point me to it?

I would assume that, to support the oled1 panel, I would need to include "-d mipi-panel"? I guess what I am looking for is the exact command I need to flash in order to enable the 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB to use the oled1 as the primary display instead of the HDMI.

You mention Table 2; I am looking at this uuu reference: https://github.com/NXPmicro/mfgtools/wiki

Is there a better reference?

With regard to the what is being flashed on the 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB, I have not seen mention of whether the images are being written to the on board emmc or to a uSD card in the slot of the carrier board. It seems handier to program different images in a uSD card so we can have different images in different cards we can boot when needed. But, I see no details on what size card is needed, and if it needs to be prepared in any way.

Thanks,

-PEM

[Zhiming_Liu]

You should unzip two times to get detailed images.

-t target_dev Specifies the target device. For i.MX 8M Mini EVK, it can be "emmc" and "sd". If this option is
not used, images are flashed to eMMC.

All command you need is writted in Table 2; in https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/quick-reference-guide/ANDROID_QUICK_START_GUIDE.pdf

[Zhiming_Liu]

Do you try to use ".\uuu_imx_android_flash.bat -f imx8mm -a -e -u trusty"?

The Table 2. Options for uuu_imx_android_flash tool explains the usage of uuu flash tool

What  does initialize the uSD card mean? Is that format the sd firstly?

[paulmatz]

Hi, maybe I replied to the wrong thread and you didn't see my reply; see the one above. Basically, I am getting this message and hanging:

Wait for Known USB Device Appear...

when I run:

.\uuu_imx_android_flash.bat -f imx8mm -a -e -u trusty -d mipi-panel

Thanks,

-PEM

[Zhiming_Liu]

You need switch to download mode sw1101:1010xxxxx.. Then boot the board , the image will be downloaded.

[paulmatz]

Thank you again for your replies. Yes, I had followed the instructions and done this. Like I said in my post:

I set the dip switches to boot in serial download mode

which was the values you sent which match the printed quick start, the PCB silk screen, and the online docs.

I notice that when set in this way, when I turn on the power, the Status LED on the SOM does not turn on like it does when booting from emmc.

I am still hanging on Wait for Known USB Device Appear...

What can I look at next? I noticed that the COM ports that show up when I plug in the Dev Kit changed from 37 & 38 to 45 & 46.

[Zhiming_Liu]

You shoud check  if you can hear sound from your pc when you turn on evk with download mode.

[paulmatz]

If you are asking about the "sound" when the USB ports enumerate, that happens when I plug the USB cable into the computer so long as the dev board has power, not when the dev board is switched on. The COM ports work. When set to boot from emmc, I am seeing the console messages on one of the 2 COM ports.

Note that the COM ports are > 10. Some windows utilities don't like that. Can UUU handle ports > 10?

[Zhiming_Liu]

uuu uses  type-c port to download images, not com.So you should make sure that your board in correct download mode again.And change a PC to try again.

If you still can't download images,  you can contact the sales that if they can check and replace evk.

[paulmatz]

I don't know what you mean by type-c, not COM. All USB ports, whether USB 2.0 or 3.0/3.1, show up as COM ports to windows. And, besides, when setting the dip switches to boot from the emmc, I am seeing the console messages on one of the 2 COM ports via realterm. Obviously realterm can handle COM ports above COM9, but can UUU?

I am sure the dip switches are correct.

When set to boot into SWDL mode, should I see anything on those COM ports to indicate it is in that mode?

[Zhiming_Liu]

The com ports you see , one is for uuu serial port to print log ,one is for m4 core to print log(one micro-usb will display two com ports in pc).Type-c port is not using for print log.When you enter correct download mode, the uuu will use fastboot to download images. 

So there will be two reasons for this abnormal issue:

1.You didn't set correct download mode or maybe your pc's issue(You can try different system to download, like switch to linux)

2.The evk's issue, you can contact sales to replace a new board.

Normally, if user folllow user guide , there will be no issue about downloading images.

You really need consider to contact sales if this is the quality issue of evk.

[paulmatz · Accepted solution]

Hi,

 So, it turns out my issue was simply I didn't have the 2nd correct USB port on the EVK (the USB-C) connected to the PC. The instructions do say to do this:

 3. Power on the board. Use the USB cable on the board OTG port to connect your PC with the board. 

 (https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/quick-reference-guide/ANDROID_QUICK_START_GUIDE.pdf)

but I was thinking the debug cable attached to the micro B when I read that. The thing is, the OTG port on the EVK is needed to provide input to the Android running on it (mouse); that is what I thought that port was for. It was not that clear it was used for a device port of SWDL.

But, that does explain why you asked if “I heard the sound” when I turned on the EVK. When set in SWDL mode, it now does make the USB enum sound when I turn on the EVK, so long as a cable is attached to the EVK's USB-C port (labeled on the quick start as USB2.0 OTG).

A block diagram in the docs might show this better - the EVK with 2 separate cables attached to the PC.

So, definitely was my mistake! Thanks for bearing with me.

Regards,

-PEM

[paulmatz]

Wanted to let you know I changed the COM ports of the NXP dev board to COM1 & COM2, and that didn't make any difference.

I've tried to back up and boot from emmc and use the HDMI port, and that is not working either. It reboots in a loop. It had worked initially, but I had followed directions in this reference :

https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/quick-reference-guide/ANDROID_QUICK_START_GUIDE.pdf

in section: 3.4.1 Booting with Single MIPI-DSI-to-HDMI or MIPI panel display

I set the bootargs via u-boot:

U-Boot > setenv bootargs console=ttymxc1,115200 earlycon=ec_imx6q,0x30890000,115200 init=/init androidboot.console=ttymxc1 androidboot.hardware=nxp cma=800M@0x400M-0xb80M androidboot.primary_display=imx-drm firmware_class.path=/vendor/firmware loop.max_part=7 androidboot.vendor.sysrq=1 transparent_hugepage=never androidboot.wificountrycode=CN moal.mod_para=wifi_mod_para_sd8987.conf androidboot.lcd_density=240

U-Boot > saveenv

thinking this might allow the emmc OS to talk to the panel instead of the HDMI, but it didn't work. So, now even HDMI doesn't work, as it just reboots, due to probably an issue with the bootargs.

For the image released in the emmc, do you know what the bootargs should be? I could reset them back so at least the HDMI works.

Don't know if this could be causing the other issue with SWDL. Let me know.

Thanks,

-PEM

[paulmatz]

There is no sound.