imx93evk cannot boot from sd-card

[djernaes]

Working with an imx93evk (marked MCIMX93-EVKCM - date 2317) I've not been able to successfully boot from an SD-card.

The board comes with an image pre-loaded into the eMMC and it boots fine. I see text output on the debug UART (number 3 out of 4 COM ports created when connected to the DBG USB-C).

Trying to boot from SD-card I see no debug UART output at all. I've tried booting the following images from both a 4G and 64G SD-card:
- Pre-built image downloaded: imx-image-multimedia-imx93evk.wic
- Image built from Yocto SDK: imx-image-multimedia-imx93evk.wic
- Image built by Buildroot (which we normally use) - preliminary patches from https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/?series=377108&state=*

I've set SW1301 according to the Quick Start Guide:
SW1301-1: 0
SW1301-2: 0
SW1301-3: 1
SW1301-4: 0

Based on https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors/i-mx93-evk-boot-from-sd-card/m-p/1707596#M211066 I've also tried:
SW1301-1: 0
SW1301-2: 1
SW1301-3: 0
SW1301-4: 0

I've tried flashing the SD-card both using BalenaEtcher (Windows) and according to https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/user-guide/IMX_YOCTO_PROJECT_USERS_GUIDE.pdf with "zstdcat <image_name>.wic.zst | sudo dd of=/dev/sd<partition> bs=1M conv=fsync"

I've not tried to re-flash the eMMC since I don't want to do that before I have something else to bring the board to life.

I already have an additional imx93evk ordered, so when this arrives I can test with another board.

Any idea what the problem could be?

Can you point to a pre-built SD-card image that is certain to work with the imx93evk?

Regards

[Harvey021]

I download and flash the one (https://www.nxp.com/webapp/Download?colCode=L6.1.36_2.1.0_MX93&appType=license) on i.MX93 EVK A1 and then boot it successfully with BMODE as SW1301-1: 0, SW1301-2: 1, SW1301-3: 0, SW1301-4: 0

uuu.exe -b sd_all .\imx-image-multimedia-imx93evk.wic

Regards

Harvey

[djernaes]

Hi

Trying to use the UUU utility I get the following error.
uuu.exe -b sd_all .\imx-image-multimedia-imx93evk.wic
uuu (Universal Update Utility) for nxp imx chips -- libuuu_1.5.125-0-gaeb3490
Success 0 Failure 1
1:3 1/ 1 [HID(W):LIBUSB_ERROR_PIPE ] SDPS: boot -scanterm -f .\imx-image-multimedia-imx93evk.wic -scan

Note that the BMODE setting indicated in your response and the BMODE setting for UUU to detect the EVK board is wrong in the paper Quick Start Guide delivered with my EVK. It has been corrected in the current online version (dip switch order reversed).

While googling on this the above issue I noticed the "Migration Guide from imx93 A0 to A1". This indicates that later images might not work with A0.
The marking on my EVK imx93 MCU is "PIMX9352CVUXMAA" - is it an A0 then?

Regards

[gauravsharma7]

Yes looks like the bootloader on A0 doesn't support flashing the newer linux packages. With imx93 A0, you can successfully flash images of Linux 6.1.22_2.0.0​ [https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/software/embedded-software/i-mx-software/embedded-linux-for...]

[djernaes]

I've received a new eval board with with an A1 and have everything running.

Thanks
Kim

[eldorr]

Hello!

I have an "MCIMX93-EVK" on my desk with the same "symthoms" as you are describing ... boot(s) OK from eMMC (prebuilt image delivered with board), and also from Yocto-based uSD/MMC Card (.wic image) but *not* from my own Buildroot-based "2024.02.1" (freescale_imx93evk_defconfig) build. No indications on console - i.e. board seem dead. I assume it is related to A0-processor, and am awaiting av A1-based evaluation board.

Anyway; just wanted to check with you whether you put any effort into getting the A0-board up-and-running, and possibly which tweaks you did to the Buildroot-based solution?

Appreciate it.

Thanks.

/Eldor

[djernaes]

Hi

I haven't done any further attempts with the A0 revision, but I have noted that Buildroot has the following target configuration options:
BR2_PACKAGE_FIRMWARE_SENTINEL_A0
BR2_PACKAGE_FIRMWARE_SENTINEL_A1

which selects different images in the firmware-sentnel package through BR2_PACKAGE_FIRMWARE_SENTINEL_AHAB_CONTAINER_IMAGE

Regards
Kim

[eldorr]

Excellent - thanks!

I have at least some movement on the terminal now; but stops at

U-Boot SPL 2022.04-g92d918d0 (Apr 02 2024 - 15:49:58 +0200)

SOC: 0xa0009300

LC: 0x40010

M33 prepare ok

Normal Boot

Trying to boot from BOOTROM

Boot Stage: Primary boot

image offset 0x8000, pagesize 0x200, ivt offset 0x0

Load image from 0x4cc00 by ROM_API

U-Boot SPL 2022.04-g92d918d0 (Apr 02 2024 - 15:49:58 +0200)

SOC: 0xa0009300

LC: 0x40010

M33 prepare ok

Normal Boot

Trying to boot from BOOTROM

Boot Stage: Primary boot

image offset 0x8000, pagesize 0x200, ivt offset 0x0

Load image from 0x4cc00 by ROM_API

[eldorr]

FYI; remaining part of this issue was related to wrong format/build of bl31.bin (wrong make-options used). Correct was "make PLAT=imx93 bl31". Issue resolved.

[Harvey021]

Yes, this (PIMX9352CVUXMAA) is A0.

Regards

Harvey

[djernaes]

Could this result in the pre-built images not booting?
Could this result in the uuu utility not working?

[Harvey021 · Accepted solution]

Yes, could result in not working for both cases.

Regards

Harvey