Revision as of 19:44, 9 September 2023

    ROCK 5 >  Installation >  Install the bootloader to the SPI NOR flash

ROCK 5 has a SPI flash on the board, it contains the bootloader for backup booting and supports booting other media that the SoC maskrom mode itself does not direct support (such as NVMe, SATA or USB 3).

This page describe how to write/install the bootloader to the SPI flash on the ROCK 5B.

There are two methods available to flash the SPI:

• simple method - flash the SPI from the ROCK 5 itself
• advanced method - flash the SPI with maskrom mode and an external computer

For advanced users: How to erase the SPI

Simple method

Requirements

• ROCK 5B with proper power
• SD card or eMMC module
• Linux image for ROCK 5B - (Android images are not supported yet)

Procedure

1) Boot linux from µSD card/eMMC

The first step is to boot the ROCK 5 with linux from an µSD card or an eMMC module.

(check this guide to flash a new image to an µSD card or check this guide to flash a new image to an eMMC module)

2) Download required files on the ROCK 5

You can download files by using wget DOWNLOADLINK

for example to download the file to clear the spi: wget https://dl.radxa.com/rock5/sw/images/others/zero.img.gz

Download the required files

• spi clearing file

and the latest spi bootloader:

• normal bootloader, recommend for everything except armbian - (for advanced users: this has the u-boot serial console disabled)
• bootloader for armbian (Use this if you like to boot armbian from the M.2 NVME SSD)

A better approach for armbian is to flash the spi with help of the armbian-install command like discribed here: https://fieldday.io/armbian-rock5b/

or for advanced users the

• debuging bootloader with u-boot serial console enabled (This is an debug bootloader if you need to troubleshoot booting issue with serial)
• EDK2 bootloader for booting UEFI-compatible operating system images (currently experimental)

Check the integrity of the downloaded files:

md5sum zero.img.gz 

it should report back:

ac581b250fda7a10d07ad11884a16834  zero.img.gz

extract/uncompress the previous downloaded spi clearing file (gzip should already be installed otherwise install it):

gzip -d zero.img.gz

md5sum zero.img

it should report back:

2c7ab85a893283e98c931e9511add182  zero.img

and finally check your desired bootloader image: (replace spi-image.img with the name of your downloaded image - eg: rock-5b-spi-image-gbf47e81-20230607.img for the normal bootloader):

md5sum spi-image.img

it should report back one of the following lines:

f91ee74f4e429067a0281c9399537f8d  rock-5b-spi-image-gbf47e81-20230607-debug.img
bd21a6459ad33b8189782e4c904d99b3  rock-5b-spi-image-gbf47e81-20230607.img
1b83982a5979008b4407552152732156  rkspi_loader.img

3) Flash the SPI flash

Make sure the spi flash is available:

ls /dev/mtdblock*

it should report back:

/dev/mtdblock0

completely clear the spi flash: (be patient the flash can take 5mins)

sudo dd if=zero.img of=/dev/mtdblock0

check if the flash was successfully cleared

sudo md5sum /dev/mtdblock0 zero.img

the result should look exactly like this:

2c7ab85a893283e98c931e9511add182  /dev/mtdblock0
2c7ab85a893283e98c931e9511add182  zero.img

now write you desired bootloader to the spi flash (replace spi-image.img with the name of your downloaded image again):

sudo dd if=spi-image.img of=/dev/mtdblock0
sync

check if the flash was successfully (replace spi-image.img with the name of your downloaded image again):

sudo md5sum /dev/mtdblock0 spi-image.img

the checksums should be the same again - if not flash the bootloader again.

4) Reboot

Now you are done flashing a bootloader supporting NVMe booting.

If you do not flashed the NVMe already check this guide to flash it. (again there are two options available)

Otherwise power off the ROCK 5, remove the µSD card or eMMC module and power it back up.

It should boot now from your NVMe. 😉

Advanced (external) method

Requirements

• ROCK 5B with proper power
• Linux image for ROCK 5B, Android image is not supported yet
• SD card or eMMC module
• USB Type C cable
• Windows/linux/macOS PC

Procedure

1) Install Tools & Drivers

Please check this guide, Install rockchip flash tools under Windows/Linux/MacOS PC.

The PC tools we use to communicate with ROCK 5 in maskrom mode are the rkdeveloptool on Linux/macOS and RkDevtool on Windows PC.

2) Get RK3588 loader and U-Boot images

• Download the loader image from:
  • RK3588 loader - USB flashing helper

• Download the latest SPI image from:
  • release version with u-boot serial console disabled(Recommend)
  • debug version with u-boot serial console enabled(Use it when you need to troubleshoot booting issue)
  • alternative bootloader based on EDK2 for booting UEFI-compatible operating system images (currently experimental)
  • armbian version (Use it when you need to install the armbian Image to M.2 NVME SSD)

A better approach for armbian is to flash the spi with help of the armbian-install command like discribed here: https://fieldday.io/armbian-rock5b/

3) Boot the board to Maskrom mode

To boot ROCK 5B to maskrom mode is simple:

• Power off the board.
• Remove bootable device like MicroSD card, eMMC module, etc.
• Press the golden (or silver on some board revisions) button and hold it.
• Plug the USB-A to Type-C cable to ROCK 5B Type-C port, the other side to PC.
• Release the golded button.
• Check usb device
  • For macOS host: lsusb a result should be: ... ID 2207:350b Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd. Composite Device
  • For Linux host: lsusb a result should be: ... ID 2207:350b Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Company
  • For Windows host: Open RKDevTool and you would see the device is in Found One MASKROM Device

4) Write u-boot images to SPI NOR flash or erase SPI NOR flash

Option 1: Flash with Linux PC/Mac

On linux or Mac, run the rkdeveloptool

sudo rkdeveloptool ld
DevNo=1	Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x350b,LocationID=106	Maskrom

This will load the loader (flash helper, downloaded from 2) to run on ROCK 5B and init the ram and prepare the flashing environment etc.

sudo rkdeveloptool db /path/to/rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin		 # will output:
Downloading bootloader succeeded.

Next, write SPI image from PC/Mac to ROCK 5B SPI flash

You can use the image download from Step 2.

sudo rkdeveloptool wl 0 rock-5b-spi-image-g49da44e116d.img					
Write LBA from file (100%)

Reboot the device

rkdeveloptool rd

now, the device should boot on SPI Nor Flash. And the blue led is on.

Option 2: Flash with Windows PC

Double click the RKDevTool.exe and you will see the following interface: Double click the RKDevTool.exe and you will see the following interface:

Step 1: confirm that ROCK 5B is in maskrom mode

If your ROCK 5B is in maskrom mode and connects to PC, you can see that the program detects it, as the red arrow below

Step 2: Load Configuration File

Right-click in the list box and select Load Config,Then select the configuration file in the resource management folder（The configuration file and RKDevTool are in the same directory）

Step 3: Select Loader

Next, click the right last columns in the "Loader" row to select rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin

Step 4: Select SPI image

Next, click the right last columns in the "spi" row to select spi-image.

Step 5: Excute

Finally, click the "Excute" button, and you will see the content in the red box on the right. When the progress reaches 100%, the download is completed.

Additional: erase the SPI NOR flash

Option 1: Operate on ROCK 5B

Boot your ROCK 5B with linux running on µSD card or eMMC module:

Make sure the SPI flash is available:

ls /dev/mtdblock*

It should give /dev/mtdblock0 back

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mtdblock0
sync

Option 2: Erase with Linux PC/Mac

Please notice that when you want to erase SPI NOR flash, fire these commands. If you don't have zero.img, download this one please. zero.img And extract it.

rkdeveloptool db rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin
rkdeveloptool wl 0 zero.img
rkdeveloptool rd

Option 3: Erase with Windows PC

Before Erasing, please confirm that ROCK 5B is in maskrom mode

Step 1: Download

Choose the "Advanced features" button, then select rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin, next click the "Download" button

Step 2: Erase all

Click the "erase all" button

Step 3: Reboot device

Troubleshooting

• If you have issue with flashing via USB OTG, start a new post on the forum, https://forum.radxa.com/c/rock5.