Project

General

Profile

Howto flash » History » Version 3

Eric Krausser, 01/02/2012 01:28 AM
some hints for bootloader

1 2 Eric Krausser
h1. How to flash
2 1 Eric Krausser
3 1 Eric Krausser
If you are aware of OpenWRT or DD-WRT: initial flashing of a ZRouter firmware will be done the same way.
4 1 Eric Krausser
5 1 Eric Krausser
A lot of our work / knowledge is based on the information on their websites. So it's always a good idea to visit https://openwrt.org/ and http://www.dd-wrt.com if our pages suffer information about board details, bootloader tips, flashing tutorials and so on. We thank OpenWRT and DD-WRT for sharing this information and we hope they will benefit from our work as we do.
6 1 Eric Krausser
7 1 Eric Krausser
8 1 Eric Krausser
Flashing depends on board type and it's bootloader. In most cases you have to read board specific instructions which you will hopefully find in zrouter board definitions, in this wiki or on OpenWRT / DD-WRT.
9 1 Eric Krausser
10 1 Eric Krausser
h2. Preparations
11 1 Eric Krausser
12 1 Eric Krausser
* before you open your device be sure you can successfully build a ZRouter firmware for it
13 1 Eric Krausser
* create a serial connection between your workstation and your device (mostly you have to open it and you need a special converter in hardware)
14 1 Eric Krausser
* start an TFTP service in your LAN or on your workstation, the operating system doesn't matter
15 1 Eric Krausser
* connect the ethernet port of your device (if it's a router it's mostly the WAN port) with your switch or workstation, so it can link to the TFTP server
16 1 Eric Krausser
17 1 Eric Krausser
h2. Instructions
18 1 Eric Krausser
19 2 Eric Krausser
h3. Serial connection
20 2 Eric Krausser
21 2 Eric Krausser
Establish the serial connection with a terminal program. You need board specific parameters like speed, stop bit and negation.
22 2 Eric Krausser
23 2 Eric Krausser
On FreeBSD, in most cases
24 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
25 2 Eric Krausser
# /usr/bin/cu -s <speed> -l <serial-port>
26 2 Eric Krausser
e.g.
27 2 Eric Krausser
# /usr/bin/cu -s 115200 -l /dev/cuaU0
28 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
29 2 Eric Krausser
will do.
30 2 Eric Krausser
31 2 Eric Krausser
If you don't know the &lt;speed> (you'll see nothing or garbage when speed is wrong), try 115200, 57600, 38400, 19200 and 9600 until you see something useful after powering up the device. The &lt;serial-port> depends on your converter hardware: use _/dev/cuaU0_ if it's connected via USB and _/dev/cuad0_ for old serial "COM" port. Of course, for every available port on your system the trailing number grows. To exit _cu_ type "~." (tilde, dot) or "~ ." (tilde, blank, dot). It's a bit confusing, but _cu_ is always with you in FreeBSD base system. Never forget the man pages of tools you are using before giving up.
32 2 Eric Krausser
33 2 Eric Krausser
34 2 Eric Krausser
h3. Enter and configure bootloader
35 2 Eric Krausser
36 3 Eric Krausser
What you see in the terminal when powering up the device is the bootloader how it's booting the kernel of the currently installed firmware. The bootloader is a small program in the flash memory of your device, able to start other programs and to boot firmware images.
37 3 Eric Krausser
Before the kernel boots, the bootloader usually gives the possibility to enter it's command-line by hitting a key or key sequence. As you can guess it depends on the bootloader what keys to hit.
38 2 Eric Krausser
39 3 Eric Krausser
If you can see a command-line prompt and the kernel doesn't load, you did it. Within this command-line you can configure some options, e.g. the IP and the TFTP server IP if you flash by this service. Always try "help" or "?" when you get access to such command-line interfaces and "help <command>" to get further usage instructions for a command listed by "help".
40 2 Eric Krausser
41 2 Eric Krausser
h4. u-boot loader
42 2 Eric Krausser
43 2 Eric Krausser
Show configuration
44 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
45 2 Eric Krausser
printenv
46 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
47 2 Eric Krausser
48 2 Eric Krausser
Set IP and TFTP Server IP
49 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
50 2 Eric Krausser
setenv ipaddr 192.168.3.10
51 2 Eric Krausser
setenv serverip 192.168.3.1
52 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
53 1 Eric Krausser
 
54 2 Eric Krausser
h3. Flashing firmware from TFTP
55 2 Eric Krausser
56 2 Eric Krausser
Put the ZRouter firmware to the directory served by the TFTP service.
57 2 Eric Krausser
58 2 Eric Krausser
You can test the download on a workstation:
59 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
60 2 Eric Krausser
# /usr/bin/tftp
61 2 Eric Krausser
tftp> get servername:firmware.bin
62 2 Eric Krausser
Received 8126415 bytes during 1.8 seconds in 15918 blocks
63 2 Eric Krausser
tftp> quit
64 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
65 2 Eric Krausser
66 2 Eric Krausser
Now you do the same on the device with bootloaders capabilities.
67 2 Eric Krausser
68 2 Eric Krausser
h4. u-boot loader
69 2 Eric Krausser
70 2 Eric Krausser
1. Erase area in flash
71 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
72 2 Eric Krausser
> erase <address> +<size>
73 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
74 2 Eric Krausser
75 2 Eric Krausser
2. Fetch firmware (will use server defined with "setenv serverip &lt;address>")
76 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
77 2 Eric Krausser
> tftpboot <target-address-RAM> firmware.bin
78 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
79 2 Eric Krausser
80 2 Eric Krausser
3. Copy firmware from memory to flash
81 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
82 2 Eric Krausser
> cp.b <target-address-RAM> <target-address-flash> <size>
83 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>
84 2 Eric Krausser
85 2 Eric Krausser
4. Boot flashed firmware
86 2 Eric Krausser
<pre>
87 2 Eric Krausser
> bootm <target-address-flash>
88 2 Eric Krausser
</pre>