Rock 3A fails to start UBoot from Flash on official images

#1

Hi,
My intention is to configure device so that I could upload OS/tested application through TFTP/NFS during UBoot. I did it some time ago on different ARM device and I would like to continue to work like this.
MY STEPS:
I’ve connected device to PC (serial console and USB OTG).
rkdeveloptool ld shows device DevNo=1 Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x350a,LocationID=303 Maskrom - which from me means I can upload idbloader and u-boot.itb. No short-circuited pins, neither SD card.
Following this instruction - https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock3/install/spi.

  • Downloaded given images (RK356X loader, ROCK 3A idbloader, ROCK 3A u-boot.itb)
  • created spi_image (sequence of dd and parted calls)
  • upload the loader (flash helper) rkdeveloptool db rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.12.109_no_check_todly.bin
  • erase flash rkdeveloptool ef
  • upload created spi_image rkdeveloptool wl 0 spi_image.img
  • then reset
    In result - serial console content ends with

cs 1:
the read training result:
DQS0:0x38, DQS1:0x37, DQS2:0x3b, DQS3:0x36,
min : 0x8 0x8 0xb 0x8 0x1 0x3 0x5 0x3 , 0x6 0x4 0x1 0x1 0xb 0x9 0x9 0x6 ,
0xb 0xb 0x9 0x8 0x3 0x1 0x3 0x4 , 0x8 0x6 0x6 0x1 0xc 0xb 0x9 0xb ,
mid :0x25 0x25 0x27 0x25 0x1e 0x20 0x21 0x1f ,0x22 0x21 0x1e 0x1e 0x27 0x26 0x25 0x23 ,
0x29 0x29 0x26 0x26 0x21 0x1f 0x20 0x21 ,0x25 0x23 0x22 0x1f 0x28 0x29 0x26 0x29 ,
max :0x42 0x42 0x44 0x42 0x3b 0x3e 0x3e 0x3c ,0x3f 0x3f 0x3b 0x3c 0x44 0x44 0x42 0x40 ,
0x48 0x47 0x44 0x44 0x3f 0x3e 0x3d 0x3f ,0x43 0x41 0x3f 0x3e 0x45 0x48 0x44 0x47 ,
range:0x3a 0x3a 0x39 0x3a 0x3a 0x3b 0x39 0x39 ,0x39 0x3b 0x3a 0x3b 0x39 0x3b 0x39 0x3a ,
0x3d 0x3c 0x3b 0x3c 0x3c 0x3d 0x3a 0x3b ,0x3b 0x3b 0x39 0x3d 0x39 0x3d 0x3b 0x3c ,
the write training result:
DQS0:0x42, DQS1:0x35, DQS2:0x39, DQS3:0x2c,
min :0x61 0x64 0x66 0x63 0x5a 0x5e 0x5e 0x5f 0x5f ,0x53 0x53 0x50 0x4f 0x58 0x58 0x55 0x56 0x51 ,
0x59 0x5a 0x58 0x57 0x50 0x4f 0x4f 0x53 0x54 ,0x4c 0x4b 0x4a 0x47 0x50 0x51 0x4d 0x51 0x48 ,
mid :0x7d 0x7f 0x81 0x7e 0x76 0x79 0x79 0x7a 0x7a ,0x6f 0x6e 0x6b 0x6b 0x74 0x73 0x71 0x71 0x6d ,
0x75 0x76 0x73 0x72 0x6c 0x6a 0x6a 0x6e 0x70 ,0x68 0x67 0x66 0x63 0x6d 0x6e 0x69 0x6e 0x65 ,
max :0x9a 0x9b 0x9d 0x9a 0x92 0x95 0x95 0x95 0x95 ,0x8c 0x8a 0x86 0x88 0x90 0x8e 0x8e 0x8c 0x8a ,
0x92 0x92 0x8f 0x8e 0x89 0x86 0x86 0x8a 0x8c ,0x85 0x83 0x82 0x80 0x8b 0x8c 0x85 0x8b 0x83 ,
range:0x39 0x37 0x37 0x37 0x38 0x37 0x37 0x36 0x36 ,0x39 0x37 0x36 0x39 0x38 0x36 0x39 0x36 0x39 ,
0x39 0x38 0x37 0x37 0x39 0x37 0x37 0x37 0x38 ,0x39 0x38 0x38 0x39 0x3b 0x3b 0x38 0x3a 0x3b ,
CA Training result:
cs:0 min :0x45 0x40 0x3f 0x37 0x40 0x33 0x40 ,0x45 0x3d 0x3f 0x35 0x3d 0x33 0x40 ,
cs:0 mid :0x81 0x82 0x7c 0x7a 0x7b 0x76 0x6f ,0x81 0x7e 0x7a 0x77 0x77 0x76 0x6e ,
cs:0 max :0xbe 0xc5 0xb9 0xbe 0xb6 0xba 0x9f ,0xbe 0xc0 0xb5 0xb9 0xb2 0xba 0x9d ,
cs:0 range:0x79 0x85 0x7a 0x87 0x76 0x87 0x5f ,0x79 0x83 0x76 0x84 0x75 0x87 0x5d ,
cs:1 min :0x44 0x41 0x3c 0x3b 0x3d 0x36 0x3f ,0x42 0x3f 0x3b 0x37 0x39 0x36 0x3f ,
cs:1 mid :0x82 0x81 0x7b 0x7b 0x7b 0x76 0x6f ,0x81 0x7f 0x79 0x77 0x77 0x77 0x6f ,
cs:1 max :0xc0 0xc1 0xbb 0xbb 0xb9 0xb7 0xa0 ,0xc0 0xbf 0xb8 0xb8 0xb6 0xb8 0x9f ,
cs:1 range:0x7c 0x80 0x7f 0x80 0x7c 0x81 0x61 ,0x7e 0x80 0x7d 0x81 0x7d 0x82 0x60 ,
out

I was expecting something like U-Boot SPL board init.
I seen it when I flash SD card with your ubuntu XFCE image (this image had problem with X) - started when Recovery PINS 1-2 where connected.

What am I doing wrong? How to reach state when UBoot tells about press button to stop autoboot?

#2

Hi Sebastian,

Make sure you short the emmc pin as shown below:

%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E6%88%AA%E5%9B%BE_17286480416041
企业微信截图_17286480416041.jpg1346×918 570 KB

Please use the attached file
rock-3a-spi.zip (901.5 KB)

After unzipping you will get the following three files as shown below:

%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E6%88%AA%E5%9B%BE_17286486392962
企业微信截图_17286486392962.png1382×156 6.86 KB

then follow the steps below:

%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E6%88%AA%E5%9B%BE_17286483199924
企业微信截图_17286483199924.png2409×787 72.8 KB

#3

I’ve followed above sequence. Erased Flash, upload idbloader and u-boot and restart.
Then repeat it all with MASKROM pins shorted, then with MASKROM and 2-3 Recovery shorted (then recovery removed and flashed).
When I was flashing anything (db/wl commands - no Recovery pins were shorted).
The same results - serial console ends with OUT word (as in above console print).
According to above mentioned instructions - executing them should lead to blue light. I reached blue light only with the SD with the debian b25 image.

PS: Executing rkdeveloptool db rk3.... printed

Boot1 Release Time: Jun 10 2021 09:22:08, version: 1.09
support nand flash type: slc
...nandc_flash_init enter...
No.1 FLASH ID:ff ff ff ff ff ff
sfc nor id: ef 80 18
UsbBoot ...8988
powerOn 10956

Why UBoot isn’t moving further? I was expecting to see at least attempts to read anything from other drives (mmc/sd).
Question - is it even possible to reach UBoot console only from SW in SPI Flash?

PSS: When I attached SD card with rock-3a_ubuntu_jammy_xfce_b25.img (sha256sum 1b0de7b128d735716958b6cc46a0c392e8068c6a8650d4467a2e5021f3be30dd) - it moved till

U-Boot latest-2023.07.02-3-b1eb2bde-gb1eb2bde (Aug 29 2023 - 10:43:04 +0000)

Model: Radxa ROCK3 Model A
DRAM:  4 GiB (effective 3.7 GiB)
PMIC:  RK8090 (on=0x40, off=0x00)

and then power off (green light gone).

Running with SD with rock-3a_debian_bullseye_xfce_b25.img (ac2d54e3858a486404e6e2fabbe78e5792c9051f621e58835d7d0ccf67978e2b) it went up to Light DM (X display manager).