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Zero/install/eMMC

< Zero‎ | install
Revision as of 10:01, 14 September 2021 by Jack-ma (Talk | contribs)

    Radxa Zero >  Installation >  Install image to eMMC

How to install raw images to Radxa Zero eMMC

This guide describes how to install the raw images to Radxa Zero eMMC. Raw images is compared to amlupdate format image(which is a private image format). Raw images can be mount and open on host PCs. Most of the Linux images released are raw images. Currently Android images are released in amlupdate format but this may change in the future.

Requirement

  • Radxa Zero
  • USB A to C cable
  • A PC/laptop running Windows, Linux/macOS.

Windows

Step 1: Install drivers

Download Zagdig, install it and choose libusb-win32, then click Install Driver.

Zagdig-libusb.png

Download the Android driver from Google:

Click here to download the Google USB Driver ZIP file (ZIP)

Unzip it and right click the .inf file to install the driver.

Install-win-android-driver.png

Step 2: Use RZ USB helper to erase eMMC and boot to USB disk mode

RZ USB helper is a tool by Radxa for Windows users to manage Radxa Zero booting easier. Download it from Radxa DL.

Press and hold the USB boot button on the Zero, plug in the USB to PC, Maskrom mode should be detected.

Rz-usb-helper-maskrom.png

Select the loader in the RZ_USB_Boot_Helper zip and click Run.

Rz-usb-helper-fastboot.png

Click Erase to erase the eMMC completely.

Rz-usb-helper-erase.png

Now select the RZ USB disk loader.

Step 3: Use Etcher to write images to eMMC

Download the latest Etcher and install it.


Linux

For Linux, we use amlogic boot tool to download the bootloader and boot the Zero into the USB Disk mode to export the eMMC to host PC as a USB Disk, then we can use dd or other tools to write images to the USB Disk(eMMC).

Step 1: Install pyamlboot tool
   sudo apt install pip3
   sudo pip3 install pyamlboot
Step 2: Install fastboot

Nexus Tools is an installer for the Android SDK Platform Tools package, which includes ADB, Fastboot, and other applications. We use Nexus Tools to install fastboot.

   bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/nexus-tools/master/install.sh)

After it finishes,

   which fastboot

should return you the install location.

Step 3: Boot into fastboot mode

Press and hold the USB boot button on Zero, plug in it to PC, lsusb should see the following:

   Bus 002 Device 030: ID 1b8e:c003 Amlogic, Inc. GX-CHIP

Download the fastboot loader and run it on Zero

   $ wget https://dl.radxa.com/zero/images/loader/factory-loader.img
   $ boot-g12.py factory-loader.img

It should output:

Firmware Version :
ROM: 3.2 Stage: 0.0
Need Password: 0 Password OK: 1
Writing rz-fastboot-loader.bin at 0xfffa0000...
[DONE]
Running at 0xfffa0000...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=16384, offset=65536, seq=0...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=49152, offset=393216, seq=1...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=16384, offset=229376, seq=2...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=49152, offset=245760, seq=3...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=49152, offset=294912, seq=4...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=16384, offset=65536, seq=5...
[DONE]
AMLC dataSize=1406320, offset=81920, seq=6...
[DONE]
[BL2 END]

Now lsusb should show the following device:

   Bus 002 Device 016: ID 18d1:0d02 Google Inc. USB download gadget  Serial: 1234567890
Step 4: Wipe the eMMC
   fastboot devices
   1234567890	fastboot
   fastboot flashing unlock_critical
   fastboot flashing unlock
   fastboot erase bootloader
   fastboot erase bootloader-boot0
   fastboot erase bootloader-boot1
   fastboot reboot

Unplug and plug the power of Zero, lsusb should show the following:

   Bus 002 Device 014: ID 1b8e:c003 Amlogic, Inc. GX-CHIP

the eMMC is wiped and Zero is in maskrom mode now. You can install other OS to eMMC now.

macOS