RockpiS/dev/sdnand-install

    ROCK Pi S >  Installation >  Install on SD NAND Flash

install from linux

Install on SD NAND Flash

ROCK Pi S supports maskrom mode, which is a special running mode the CPU is waiting for command from USB OTG port. The PC tool we use to communicate with ROCK Pi S in maskrom mode is rkdeveloptool, an open source tool by Rockchip.

Requirement

ROCK Pi S mainboard
ROCK Pi S model with SD Nand on board(Check models)
USB Male A to Male C cable
Linux or other OS image for ROCK Pi S (< 1GB)

ROCK Pi S hardware details can be found here

Step 1: Make sure rkdeveloptool is set up on host computer

Follow https://wiki.radxa.com/RockpiS/dev/otg to install rkdeveloptool tool.

Step 2: Boot the board to maskrom mode

The ROCK Pi S Board presents two buttons. They are Reset key and Maskrom key.

The Reset button serves as the hardware reset button. short press and release the button,the system will be rebooted.

The Maskrom Button is for firmware flash/upgrade.

To boot ROCK Pi S into maskrom mode, you need

plug the ROCK Pi S to Linux desktop with the USB Male A to Male C cable
press and hold the maskrom key, then short press reset key
release maskrom key(important!)

Now on your Linux PC, lsusb command shows the following usb devices

 Bus 001 Device 014: ID 2207:330e

It means the device is in maskrom mode now.

Now we can proceed the next step to flash.

Step 3: Write to SD Nand via USB

On your PC, run the rkdeveloptool

 rkdeveloptool ld        # List the device
 DevNo=1	Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x330e,LocationID=104	Maskrom

Download the loader (flash helper, important) to init the ram and prepare the flashing environment etc. If you don't have it, you can download it from here

 sudo rkdeveloptool db /path/to/rk3308_loader_ddr589MHz_uart0_m0_v2.06.136sd.bin  # will output: Downloading bootloader succeeded.
 sudo rkdeveloptool wl 0 /path/to/system.img    # will output: Write LBA from file (100%)
 sudo rkdeveloptool rd    # will output: Reset Device OK.

Now the device should boot from the SD Nand now.

Optional: Erase image on SD Nand

This step serves for someone who want to boot ROCK Pi S on uSD Card when there is one system image on SD Nand.

To erase images on SD Nand, just need the following steps.

Firstly, follow Step 2: Boot the board to maskrom mode, Case 2: Update system image on SD Nand to boot ROCK Pi S to maskrom mode.

Secondly, on your Linux PC, create zero.img.

 dd if=/dev/zero of=./zero.img bs=4M count=10

Thirdly, flash zero.img to SD Nand.

 rkdeveloptool db /path/to/rk3308_loader_ddr589MHz_uart0_m0_v2.06.136sd.bin
 rkdeveloptool wl 0 zero.img
 rkdeveloptool rd    # will output: Reset Device OK.

Finally, on your Linux PC, lsusb command show show the following usb devices

 Bus 001 Device 014: ID 2207:330e

It means the SD Nand is erased successfully.

install from windows

Firstly, make sure that rockpis is in maskrom mode

secondly, select rk3308_loader*.bin listed above, and ROCK Pi S system image. If you don't have the system image, you can download it from here.

lastly, if see “Download image ok”, that means you are sucessfully install on SD nand from Windows .

FAQs

Troubleshooting

If you have issue with flashing via USB OTG, start a new post on the forum. https://forum.radxa.com/c/dev