AM18x Flash Tool User's Guide

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The following details the procedures required to Flash the AM18x EVM.

USB-based Flash Tool support is not planned for ARM9 based processors.


 * 1) Download serial flashing tool here : http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvflashutils/files/OMAP-L138/. Get the latest version, 2.35.

Version 2.35 is newer than the version included with the Sitara SDK 5.0.3.x.  Version 2.35 has CCS v5.1 projects for the

CCS/JTAG based flash writer tools.

2.  Extract the serial flashing tool onto your Windows machine. It creates a file structure that begins with the folder OMAP-L138_FlashAndBootUtils_2_35.

3. The OMAP-L138_FlashAndBootUtils program requires Microsoft .NET framework v4.0 or later. To see if it is neccessary to update your Microsoft .NET Framework

to v4.0

see How to determine Microsoft .NET Framework version. If v4.0 has NOT been installed, download it from here: Microsoft .NET 4.0 framework and install it. Reboot machine if it asks you.


 * The OMAP Serial Flash Tool has had some issues running on a vmware and virtual box environment, if you are using these environments it is recommended to use the Windows version of the tool.

4. Copy your u-boot binary file into the OMAP-L138_FlashAndBootUtils_2_35\OMAP-L138\GNU folder.

The pre-built UBL and u-boot binary file can be found in the ./board-support/prebuilt-images/  folder in the SDK installation.


 * Note: The UBL binary found in the prebuilts section of the SDK is will run the processor at 456MHz. If your part will not run at that speed please use the UBL binary that ships with the Serial OMAP Flash Tool. This UBL will expect to find U-boot at a pre-defined sector on the SD Card. Please see this article on how to write u-boot for a bootable SD Card on AM180x processors.

See How to Set up a Shared Folder in VMWare or How to Setup a Shared Folder in Virtual Box

for help with moving files between a Linux virtual machine and the Windows OS.

5. Open a command prompt window and navigate to OMAP-L138_FlashAndBootUtils_2_35\OMAP-L138\GNU for a Windows platform and reversing the slashes for a Linux platform OMAP-L138_FlashAndBootUtils_2_35/OMAP-L138/GNU

6. Set the boot pins to UART2 boot mode. This is done by setting switch S7 on the AM18x EVM according to the following table:


 * Note: As a reminder please remember your existing switch settings before changing so you can switch back, this affects boot modes etc.

AM180x EVM (Logic)

AM1810 EVM (Spectrum Digital)

7. Flash uboot using one of the following commands: (Please note, if you are using Windows command prompt, do not copy and past the command, you must type it at the command prompt)           For AM180x EVM (Logic) : Execute the command “sfh_OMAP-L138.exe –flash ubl\ubl_OMAPL138_SPI_MEM.bin u-boot.bin”.

For AM1810 EVM (Spectrum Digital) : Note that for PROFIBUS to work correctly UART1/2 needs to run at 156MHz. http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/AM1810_Frequency_Settings_For_Profibus

UBL which supports variable ARM frequency and fixed EMIF frequency can be found in flashtool version 2.31 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvflashutils/files/OMAP-L138/v2.31/ ) OMAP-L138_FlashAndBootUtils_2_31/OMAP-L138/CCS/UBL_ARM/UBL_AM1810_SPI.ais          Execute the command “sfh_OMAP-L138.exe –targetType AM1810 –flash UBL_AM1810_SPI.ais u-boot.bin”.

8. Press S5 to reset the target board when the serial flasher program requests it.

9. Set the boot pins to SPI1 boot mode. This is done by setting switch S7 on the AM18x EVM according to the following table:

AM180x EVM (Logic)

AM1810 EVM (Spectrum Digital)

10. Reset the platform to obtain the uboot prompt