Using the imx_usb_loader tool

The imx_usb_loader tool is a very helpful utility that allows to download and execute code on NXP i.MX5/i.MX6/i.MX7 and Vybrid SoCs through the Serial Download Protocol (SDP).

It really helps the development process as it provides a simple way to load U-Boot directly to DRAM.

The imx_usb_loader tool can be retrieved from the Boundary Devices git repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/boundarydevices/imx_usb_loader.git
$ cd imx_usb_loader

To build the tool the libusb-1.0 package needs to be installed in the host PC, then simply do:

$ make

Then imx_usb binary is generated.

Using imx_usb_loader tool to load U-Boot on a imx7d-sabresd board

Here are the steps for loading U-Boot on a imx7d-sabresd board via imx_usb_loader tool:

1. Build U-Boot for mx7d-sabresd:

$ make mx7dsabresd_defconfig
$ make -j4

In U-Boot 2017.09 the resultant binary for this board is called u-boot-dtb.imx

The -dtb prefix indicates that this board uses device tree to represent the hardware description to U-Boot.

1. Copy u-boot-dtb.imx into the imx_usb_loader tool directory.

2. Put the imx7d-sabresd board in Serial Download mode, which can be done by removing the SD card from the SD1 boot slot. In this case, when i.mx7 boots the ROM code will not find a valid boot medium and then will enter into serial download mode.

• Connect a USB cable to the debug UART for console and one USB cable between the host PC and the imx7d-sabresd USB OTG port.

• Power on the board. As i.MX7 boots in serial download mode, the following messages can be observed by running dmesg on the host PC:

[89233.440935] usb 2-4: new high-speed USB device number 29 using xhci_hcd
[89233.569562] usb 2-4: New USB device found, idVendor=15a2, idProduct=0076
[89233.569566] usb 2-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[89233.569568] usb 2-4: Product: SE Blank ULT1
[89233.569570] usb 2-4: Manufacturer: Freescale SemiConductor Inc 
[89233.570741] hid-generic 0003:15A2:0076.0005: hiddev0,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Device [Freescale SemiConductor Inc  SE Blank ULT1] on usb-0000:00:14.0-4/input0

From the imx_usb_loader directory run:

$ sudo ./imx_usb u-boot-dtb.imx

and then U-Boot boot message can be seen in the serial console:

U-Boot 2017.09 (Oct 05 2017 - 10:09:20 -0300)

CPU:   Freescale i.MX7D rev1.2 1000 MHz (running at 792 MHz)
CPU:   Commercial temperature grade (0C to 95C) at 40C
Reset cause: POR
Model: Freescale i.MX7 SabreSD Board
Board: i.MX7D SABRESD in non-secure mode
DRAM:  1 GiB
PMIC: PFUZE3000 DEV_ID=0x30 REV_ID=0x11
MMC:
MMC Device 0 not found
*** Warning - No MMC card found, using default environment

Video: 480x272x24
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   FEC0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

The MMC Device 0 not found message is expected because in order to force entering in serial download mode, I simply removed the SD card from the slot.

In case the imx_usb tool is run with no root permission, the following error message is seen:

$ ./imx_usb u-boot-dtb.imx
config file <.//imx_usb.conf>
vid=0x066f pid=0x3780 file_name=mx23_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x004f file_name=mx28_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0052 file_name=mx50_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0054 file_name=mx6_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0061 file_name=mx6_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0063 file_name=mx6_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0071 file_name=mx6_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x007d file_name=mx6_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0080 file_name=mx6_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0076 file_name=mx7_usb_work.conf
vid=0x10c4 pid=0xea70 file_name=mx7ulp_usb_work.conf
vid=0x1fc9 pid=0x0126 file_name=mx7ulp_arm2_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x0041 file_name=mx51_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x004e file_name=mx53_usb_work.conf
vid=0x15a2 pid=0x006a file_name=vybrid_usb_work.conf
vid=0x066f pid=0x37ff file_name=linux_gadget.conf
Could not open device vid=0x15a2 pid=0x80: Access denied (insufficient permissions), err=-3

The method above works well for loading a single U-Boot binary like u-boot-dtb.imx and u-boot.imx, but what if we have a U-Boot system that uses SPL mechanism instead?

Using imx_usb_loader tool to load U-Boot on a imx6-sabresd board

Thanks to the great work from Stefan Agner at Toradex it is now possible to use imx_usb_loader to also load SPL and u-boot.img binaries.

Details can be found on the doc/README.sdp file inside the U-Boot tree.

Here is the patch I did for adding Serial Download Protocal support for the mx6sabresd board which will be part of U-Boot 2017.11:

1. Build U-Boot for mx6sabresd:

$ make mx6sabresd_defconfig
$ make -j4

1. Copy SPL and u-boot.img binaries into the imx_usb_loader tool directory.

$ sudo ./imx_usb SPL

Then the following message is seen on the serial console:

U-Boot SPL 2017.11-rc1-00025-g3e0c8f7 (Oct 05 2017 - 13:48:46)
Trying to boot from USB SDP
SDP: initialize...
SDP: handle requests...

Now it is time to send the U-Boot proper (u-boot.img) binary:

$ sudo ./imx_usb u-boot.img

And the serial console will show:

Downloading file of size 389656 to 0x177fffc0... done
Jumping to header at 0x177fffc0
Header Tag is not an IMX image

U-Boot 2017.11-rc1-00025-g3e0c8f7 (Oct 05 2017 - 13:48:46 -0300)

CPU:   Freescale i.MX6Q rev1.2 996 MHz (running at 792 MHz)
CPU:   Automotive temperature grade (-40C to 125C) at 44C
Reset cause: POR
Board: MX6-SabreSD
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  1 GiB
PMIC:  PFUZE100 ID=0x10
MMC:   FSL_SDHC: 0, FSL_SDHC: 1, FSL_SDHC: 2
MMC: no card present
mmc_init: -123, time 2
*** Warning - MMC init failed, using default environment

PCI:   pcie phy link never came up
No panel detected: default to Hannstar-XGA
Display: Hannstar-XGA (1024x768)
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   FEC [PRIME]
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
=> 

As it is explained in the doc/README.sdp file it is possible to change the mx6_usb_rom.conf and mx6_usb_sdp_spl.conf files so that a single invocation of imx_usb could load and run both SPL and u-boot.img binaries.

This tool is also flexible in allowing cascading more binaries, like zImage, dtb and a ramdisk, which means that it is possible to boot a complete Linux image via serial download protocol.