Update firmware from TFTP

U-Boot bootloader allows you to update the firmware of your ConnectCore 6UL device over Ethernet. U-Boot uses the TFTP protocol to get the firmware images from a TFTP server running on your computer and program them into the NAND flash of the device.

This update process requires a TFTP server running on your computer with a configured exposed folder. The devices look for the firmware files in this folder when performing the update.

These instructions do not include setting up a TFTP server on your computer. You must have already installed and configured a TFTP server.

Once you have the TFTP server running on your computer, you can start the update process:

  1. Copy the Yocto firmware files (previously downloaded or compiled) in your TFTP server's exposed folder (typically /tftpboot):
    • <u-boot-file>.imx
    • <boot-file>.boot.ubifs

    • <recovery-file>.recovery.ubifs

    • <rootfs-file>.ubifs

    After building the Yocto firmware, you can find the image files inside the project directory at:

    <project>/tmp/deploy/images/ccimx6ulsbc

  2. Connect the board to your host computer. See Step 2: Set up the hardware for instructions.
  3. Open a serial connection to the serial port to which the ConnectCore 6UL is connected. Use the following settings:
    • Port: Serial port where your ConnectCore 6UL board is attached
    • Baud rate: 115200
    • Data Bits: 8
    • Parity: None
    • Stop Bits: 1
    • Flow control: None

    CAUTION! Due to an incompatibility between the USB/serial driver and the PuTTY terminal program, you must use another serial terminal program such as Tera Term, Minicom, CoolTerm, or HyperTerminal.

  4. Reset the device (press the Reset button on the board) and immediately press a key in the serial terminal to stop the auto-boot process. You will be stopped at the U-Boot bootloader prompt:
U-Boot dub-2015.04-r4.3 (Jul 29 2016 - 11:39:40)
CPU: Freescale i.MX6UL rev1.1 528 MHz (running at 396 MHz)
CPU: Industrial temperature grade (-40C to 105C) at 35C
Reset cause: POR
I2C: ready
DRAM: 256 MiB
MCA: HW_VER=1 FW_VER=0.6
PMIC: PFUZE300 DEV_ID=0x30 REV_ID=0x11
NAND: 256 MiB
MMC: FSL_SDHC: 0
In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
ConnectCore 6UL SOM variant 0x02: Industrial Ultralite 528MHz, 256MB NAND, 256MB DDR3, -40/+85C, Wireless, Bluetooth
Board: ConnectCore 6UL SBC, version 2, ID 135
Net: FEC0
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
=>
  1. Configure the network settings of the ConnectCore 6UL device by doing one of the following:
    • Use a DHCP server executing the dhcp command, where a.b.c.d is the IP address of your device:
      => dhcp
    • Configure a static IP address:
      => setenv ipaddr a.b.c.d
  2. Configure the IP address of the machine where the TFTP server is running and save the configuration as follows, where w.x.y.z is your machine IP address where the TFTP server is running:
    => setenv serverip w.x.y.z
=> saveenv
  3. Update the U-Boot image (optional):
    1. Execute the following command to update the U-Boot image:
      => update uboot tftp <u-boot-file>.imx
    2. Reset the board to boot into the recently updated U-Boot, and press any key to stop the autoboot process.
    3. Reset the U-Boot environment to default values (this will not reset protected variables like the MAC address). To do so, issue this command:
      => env default -a
    4. Configure the network and TFTP settings on your ConnectCore 6UL device again and save the configuration. (See step 5 and step 6.)

  1. Update the boot image (extension .boot.ubifs) by executing this command:

    => update linux tftp <boot-file>.boot.ubifs

  1. Update the root file system image (extension .ubifs) by issuing this command:

    => update rootfs tftp <rootfs-file>.ubifs

  1. Update the recovery image (extension .recovery.ubifs) by executing this command:

    => update recovery tftp <recovery-file>.recovery.ubifs

  1. You can format the update partition or directly boot the new firmware:

    • To format the update partition, run the following commands. They boot in recovery mode to format the partition and then boots the device normally with the new firmware:
    2. => setenv recovery_command wipe_update
=> saveenv
=> run recoverycmd
    • If the update partition is already formatted or you want to preserve its contents, boot the device with the firmware you have just programmed:
    => boot