AM243x MCU+ SDK  09.02.00
Flash a Hello World example using DFU

Table of Contents

Attention
Flashing a application will overwrite the SOC init application that was flashed earlier. So if you want to load and run from CCS again, you will need to do the SOC init steps again. See SOC Initialization for more details.
Note
See also Flashing Tools for more details on the flashing tools.

Introduction

In this step we will flash the application that we have build and run using CCS to the EVM flash using USB DFU USB DFU Uniflash We can then boot this application without being connected to CCS via JTAG.

Getting ready to flash the application

  • A quick recap of steps done so far that are needed for the flashing to work
    • Make sure that you have properly installed dfu-util tool and DFU device is getting enumerated. -If you are using windows make sure that generic usb drivers have been installed correctly dfu-util
    • Make sure python3 is installed as mentioned in Python3
    • Make sure you have the EVM power cable and USB cable connected as shown in Cable Connections
  • Build the hello world application as mentioned in Build a Hello World example
  • As part of the build process in the final step a file with extension .appimage is generated. This is the file we need to flash.
    • When building with makefiles and single-core projects, this file can be found here (shown for hello world example), 
      ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/examples/hello_world/{board}/r5fss0-0_freertos/ti-arm-clang/hello_world.release.appimage.hs_fs
    • When building with CCS and single-core projects, this file can be found here (shown for hello world example), 
      ${CCS_WORKSPACE_PATH}/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang/Release/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.appimage.hs_fs
    • When building with makefiles and multi-core system projects, this file can be found here (shown for IPC Notify example), 
      ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/examples/drivers/ipc/ipc_notify_echo/{board}/system_freertos_nortos/ipc_notify_echo_system.release.appimage.hs_fs
    • When building with CCS and multi-core system projects, this file can be found here (shown for IPC Notify example), 
      ${CCS_WORKSPACE_PATH}/ipc_notify_echo_{board}_system_freertos_nortos/Release/ipc_notify_echo_system.appimage.hs_fs
    • NOTE: The folder name and file name in path can have "release", "Release" or "debug", "Debug" based on the profile that the application is built with.
  • Next, we need to list the files to flash in a flash configuration file. A default configuration file can be found at below path. You can edit this file directly or take a copy and edit this file.
    ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/sbl_prebuilt/{board}/default_dfu_ospi.cfg
  • Edit below line in the config file to point to your application .appimage.hs_fs file. Give the absolute path to the .appimage.hs_fs file or path relative to ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot. Make sure to use forward slash / in the filename path. 
      --file=../../examples/drivers/ipc/ipc_notify_echo/{board}/system_freertos_nortos/ipc_notify_echo_system.release.appimage --operation=flash --flash-offset=0x80000
  • This file will additionally also list the flashing application that is run on the EVM and a OSPI flash bootloader that also needs to be flashed. You can keep this unchanged if you have not modified these applications.
  • Save and close the config file.

Flashing the application using USB DFU

AM243X-LP

  • POWER-OFF the AM243X-LP
  • Set boot mode to DFU BOOTMODE as shown in below image

DFU BOOT MODE
  • POWER-ON the AM243X-LP
  • Open a command prompt or terminal and run the following command. To make sure that DFU device is getting enumerated. 
      $ dfu-util -l

ROM DFU enumeration log
  • Open a command prompt or terminal and run the following command to flash the SOC initialization binary to the EVM. 
      cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot
  python usb_dfu_uniflash.py --cfg=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/default_dfu_ospi.cfg
    • On some Linux systems, one needs to use python3 to invoke python3.x, just python command may invoke python 2.x which will not work with the flashing script.
  • When the flashing is in progress you will see something like below

DFU in progress
  • If flashing has failed, you can see the cause of error displayed in the dfu-util logs.
  • If flashing is successful, do the next steps ...

AM243X-EVM

  • POWER-OFF the EVM
  • Set boot mode to DFU boot mode as shown in below image

ROM DFU BOOT MODE
  • POWER-ON the EVM
  • Open a command prompt or terminal and run the following command. To make sure that DFU device is getting enumerated. 
      $ dfu-util -l

ROM DFU enumeration log
  • Open a command prompt or terminal and run the following command to flash the SOC initialization binary to the EVM. 
      cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot
  python usb_dfu_uniflash.py --cfg=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/default_dfu_ospi.cfg
    • On some Linux systems, one needs to use python3 to invoke python3.x, just python command may invoke python 2.x which will not work with the flashing script.
  • When the flashing is in progress you will see something like below

DFU in progress
  • If flashing has failed, you can see the cause of error displayed in the dfu-util logs.
  • If flashing is successful, do the next steps ...

Running the flashed application

AM243X-LP

  • POWER-OFF the AM243X-LP
  • Switch the AM243X-LP boot mode to OSPI mode as shown below,

OSPI BOOT MODE
  • Re-connect the UART terminal in CCS window as shown in Setup UART Terminal
  • POWER-ON the AM243X-LP
  • You should see the application output in UART terminal as below 
      Starting OSPI Bootloader ...

  DMSC Firmware Version 8.5.3--v08.05.03 (Chill Capybar
  DMSC Firmware revision 0x8
  DMSC ABI revision 3.1

  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Media       : NOR SPI FLASH
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Media Clock : 166.667 MHz
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Image Size  : 114 KB
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Cores present    :
  m4f0-0
  r5f1-0
  r5f1-1
  r5f0-0
  r5f0-1
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] SYSFW init                       :      12230us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] System_init                      :      25111us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Drivers_open                     :        269us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Board_driversOpen                :      21956us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Sciclient Get Version            :      10025us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] CPU load                         :     195358us
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] SBL Total Time Taken             :     264953us

  Image loading done, switching to application ...
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Message exchange started by main core !!!
  [m4f0-0]     0.004012s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f0-1]     0.002105s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f0-1]     2.330708s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  [r5f1-0]     0.003170s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f1-0]     2.332240s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  [r5f1-1]     0.003163s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f1-1]     2.331869s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] All echoed messages received by main core from 4 remote cores !!!
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Messages sent to each core = 1000000
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Number of remote cores = 4
  All tests have passed!!
  [m4f0-0]     3.611907s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  • Congratulations now the AM243X-LP is flashed with your application and you dont need CCS anymore to run the application.

AM243X-EVM

  • POWER-OFF the EVM
  • Switch the EVM boot mode to OSPI mode as shown below,

OSPI BOOT MODE
  • Re-connect the UART terminal in CCS window as shown in Setup UART Terminal
  • POWER-ON the EVM
  • You should see the application output in UART terminal as below 
      Starting OSPI Bootloader ...

  DMSC Firmware Version 8.5.3--v08.05.03 (Chill Capybar
  DMSC Firmware revision 0x8
  DMSC ABI revision 3.1

  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Media       : NOR SPI FLASH
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Media Clock : 166.667 MHz
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Image Size  : 114 KB
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Cores present    :
  m4f0-0
  r5f1-0
  r5f1-1
  r5f0-0
  r5f0-1
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] SYSFW init                       :      12230us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] System_init                      :      25111us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Drivers_open                     :        269us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Board_driversOpen                :      21956us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Sciclient Get Version            :      10025us
  [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] CPU load                         :     195358us
  [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] SBL Total Time Taken             :     264953us

  Image loading done, switching to application ...
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Message exchange started by main core !!!
  [m4f0-0]     0.004012s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f0-1]     0.002105s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f0-1]     2.330708s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  [r5f1-0]     0.003170s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f1-0]     2.332240s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  [r5f1-1]     0.003163s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote Core waiting for messages from main core ... !!!
  [r5f1-1]     2.331869s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] All echoed messages received by main core from 4 remote cores !!!
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Messages sent to each core = 1000000
  [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Number of remote cores = 4
  All tests have passed!!
  [m4f0-0]     3.611907s : [IPC NOTIFY ECHO] Remote core has echoed all messages !!!
  • Congratulations now the EVM is flashed with your application and you dont need CCS anymore to run the application.