Boot radxa via USB

#1

Is any possibility to boot radxa a5e v1.20 via USB .

#2

Yes, there is a fairly simple way. When I installed the system image from here, and entered the “rsetup” command, the configuration menu appeared. There in the menu there is an option to install the bootloader into SPI-flash memory. After installing the bootloader, it became possible to boot the operating system from USB.

2 Likes
#3

Thats amazing. After updating the bootloader, It also boots from NVME too :slight_smile:

Thanks

1 Like
#4

can you guide how to update bootloader in radxa 1.20

#5

balena etcher failed not successfully flashing which tool used toflashed img

#6

Balenaetcher does a great job of recording these images to a microSD card. This is the only program I use. Check the checksum of the downloaded image, update balenaetcher. As a last resort, if all else fails, you can try the DD utility for Linux, or Win32DiskImager for Windows.

#7
  1. Write image to a microSD card.
  2. inserting the card into the board.
  3. Connect the USB-UART adapter to the board and to the PC.
  4. Open the MobaxTerm or Putty utility on your PC, connect to the COM port on which the USB-UART adapter is installed.
  5. Turn on the board’s power.
  6. Wait for the boot process to finish in the terminal and log in. (login/password - radxa/radxa).
  7. enter the command “rsetup”. And enter the password again (radxa).
  8. In the menu that appears, go to the “System” item, then to the “Bootloader management” item.
  9. Select “Update SPI bootloader”.
  10. After recording is complete, the bootloader will be ready for use.
#8

Ok I understand that but what is the role of uart connection here ? if spi bootloader updated by terminal.

#9

I use UART so I don’t have to connect a monitor, keyboard and ethernet to the board. And i use MobaxTerm on PC. I’m using MobaxTerm on PC as a board terminal.

#10

I have monitor is spi bootloader file reqired to update or its done automatically ?

#11

I didn’t understand the question. Write the Debian image to the MicroSD card, to which I provided a link above, and do everything step by step, as in my post.

#12

If you are launching the board with a monitor and keyboard connected to it, then you can skip steps 3 and 4. The bootloader files are already on the system, they are located at /usr/lib/u-boot/

#14

Successfuly update spi bootloader now how to select usb for booting?

#15

USB for booting will be selected automatically if you remove bootable microSD and insert bootable USB device.

#16

I have 128 gb ssd connected with usb i already burne image file same as my sd card but it is not booting when i remove the sd card .

#17

Without console output from the USB-UART adapter, it’s hard to say. How and what did you use to record the system on the SSD?

#18

Everything works for me. Perhaps you did something wrong, without the console output you won’t be able to tell.

#19

Ok it means first i have to connect radxa a5e uart pin with usb to ttl converter and tx connect to rx rx connect to tx gnd to gnd and then usb to ttl connect with pc and then open putty baurdate 115200 and see what happens at terminal while booting is i am right?

#20

Yes! Post the boot log here later

#21

[135]BOOT0 commit : 33d8db429a-dirty

[140]periph0 has been enabled
[143]set pll end
[145]PL gpio voltage : 3.3V
[149]PMU: AXP2202
[154]PMU: AXP1530
[159]power mode:33, sys_vol:920
[164]vaild para:1 select dram para0
[167]dram_para[0]:0x4b0
[170]dram_para[1]:0x8
[172]dram_para[2]:0x7070707
[175]dram_para[3]:0xd0d0d0d
[178]dram_para[4]:0xe0e
[181]dram_para[5]:0x84848484
[184]dram_para[6]:0x310a
[186]dram_para[7]:0x10001000
[189]dram_para[8]:0x0
[192]dram_para[9]:0x34
[194]dram_para[10]:0x1b
[197]dram_para[11]:0x33
[199]dram_para[12]:0x3
[202]dram_para[13]:0x0
[204]dram_para[14]:0x0
[207]dram_para[15]:0x4
[209]dram_para[16]:0x72
[212]dram_para[17]:0x0
[214]dram_para[18]:0xe
[216]dram_para[19]:0x0
[219]dram_para[20]:0x0
[221]dram_para[21]:0x26
[224]dram_para[22]:0x80808080
[227]dram_para[23]:0x6060606
[230]dram_para[24]:0x1f0b0503
[233]dram_para[25]:0x0
[236]dram_para[26]:0x3a000000
[239]dram_para[27]:0x802f3333
[242]dram_para[28]:0xc0c0bbbf
[245]dram_para[29]:0x35352f31
[248]dram_para[30]:0xc64
[251]dram_para[31]:0x48484848
[254]board init ok
[277]enable_jtag
[279]boot param - This media is not supported
[283]boot param - Media not supportedsunxi_bootparam_cpu_read…91
[290]boot param - magic error
[293]DRAM BOOT DRIVE INFO: V0.67
[297]DRAM_VCC set to 1100 mv
[424]DRAM retraining ten
[442][AUTO DEBUG]32bit,2 ranks training success!
[471]Soft Training Version: T2.0
[7165][SOFT TRAINING] CLK=1200M Stable memtest pass
[7170]DRAM CLK =1200 MHZ
[7172]DRAM Type =8 (3:DDR3,4:DDR4,7:LPDDR3,8:LPDDR4)
[7184]phy_dfs_clk1 = 800M
[7528]phy_dfs_clk2 = 400M
[7619]phy_dfs_clk3 = 150M
[7739]phy_dfs_clk0 = 1200M
[7742]DRAM MDFS VERSION INFO: V0.660
[7747]DRAM MDFS time =39438 ns
[7750]DRAM SIZE =4096 MBytes, para1 = 310a, para2 = 10001000, tpr13 = 6465
[7780]DRAM simple test OK.
[7783]dram size =4096
[7790]nsi init 2023-2-23
[7794]set spi freq:50000000
[7797]spi sample_mode:0 sample_delay:1f
[7802]spinor id is: ef 60 18, read cmd: 0b
[7807]Succeed in reading toc file head.
[7811]The size of toc is 1a0000.
[8360]Entry_name = u-boot
[8369]Entry_name = monitor
[8373]Entry_name = scp
[8377]Entry_name = dtb
[8380]Jump to second Boot.
NOTICE: BL31: OP-TEE 32bit detected
NOTICE: BL31: U-BOOT 32bit detected
NOTICE: BL31: v2.5(debug):a6e1826c1
NOTICE: BL31: Built : 10:10:43, Mar 28 2025
NOTICE: BL31: No DTB found.
nsi init ok 2022-11-08
ERROR: Error initializing runtime service opteed_fast

U-Boot 2018.07-4-boot-aw2501-ge5dc7dbc115-dirty (Jul 28 2025 - 07:46:23 +0000) Allwinner Technology

[08.531]CPU: Allwinner Family
[08.534]Model: Radxa Cubie A5E
I2C: ready
[08.546]DRAM: 4 GiB
[08.550]Relocation Offset is: 75e60000
[08.614]secure enable bit: 0
[08.617]PMU: AXP2202
[08.646][AXP2202] comm status : 0x0 = 0x20, 0x1 = 0x90
[08.651][AXP2202] onoff status: 0x20 = 0x4, 0x21 = 0x0
[08.656][AXP2202] reboot/charge status: 0xf0 = 0x0
[08.661]PMU: AXP1530
[08.664]CPU=1008 MHz,PLL6=600 Mhz,AHB=200 Mhz, APB1=100Mhz MBus=600Mhz
[08.670]gic: sec monitor mode
SPI ALL: ready
[08.675]flash init start
[08.677]workmode = 0,storage type = 3
[08.682]spi sample_mode:0 sample_delay:1f
[08.687]spi sunxi_slave->max_hz:50000000
SF: Detected w25q128fw( ) with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 64 KiB, total 16 MiB
[08.699]sunxi flash init ok
[08.708]Loading Environment from SUNXI_FLASH… OK
[08.714]No ethernet found.
[08.717]Failed to found available display route
[08.721]Get sunxi drm device fail!
[08.724]get secure storage map err
[08.727]sunxi secure storage is not supported
[08.731]usb burn from boot
delay time 0
weak:otg_phy_config
[08.741]usb prepare ok
[09.044]overtime
[09.049]do_burn_from_boot usb : no usb exist
SF: write offset not multiple of erase size
[09.095]get secure storage map err
[09.098]secure storage init fail
cann’t get the boot_base from the env
[09.107]update part info
[09.118]update bootcmd
Link up timeout
Speed change timeout
PCIe speed of Gen1
[11.454]change working_fdt 0xbbe0fe18 to 0xbbddfe18
[11.461]## error: update_fdt_dram_para_from_bootpara : FDT_ERR_NOTFOUND
[11.467]Invalid phandle:0
[11.470]only find 1073741818 phandle, format:endpoints=<&disp0_out_tcon0 &tcon0_out_rgb0>;
[11.478]Failed to found available display route
[11.483]chip id : 0x0000ff10 0x00004824 0x0000c31c 0x00001e1a
[11.488]chip id : 0x0000ff10 0x00004824 0x0000c31c 0x00001e1a
[11.494]Could not find nodeoffset for used ext pmu:reg-axp1530
[11.499]update dts
curr_device:-1
No MMC device available
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
starting USB…
USB0: start sunxi USB-DRD…
config usb clk ok
sunxi USB-DRD init ok…
USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus 0 for devices… 1 USB Device(s) found
USB1: start sunxi USB1-Host…
config usb clk ok
sunxi USB1-Host init ok…
USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus 1 for devices… 1 USB Device(s) found
scanning usb for storage devices… 0 Storage Device(s) found

Device 0: device type unknown
… is now current device
** Bad device usb 0 **
** Bad device usb 0 **
No MMC device available
Scanning PCI devices on bus 1
BusDevFun VendorId DeviceId Device Class Sub-Class

Device 0: unknown device
No MMC device available
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: pxeuuid
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/00000000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/0000000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/000000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/00000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/0000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/00
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/0
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/default-arm-sunxi
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/default-arm
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/default
No ethernet found.
Config file not found
=>
this output when try to boot usb ssd