This is the mail archive of the ecos-discuss@sources.redhat.com mailing list for the eCos project.


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
Other format: [Raw text]

RE: [iPAQ] Restore CE (or bootldr) from Redboot?


On Tue, 2002-02-05 at 09:15, Hicks, Jamey wrote:
> Noel,
> 
> The problem is that in this step redboot is overwritten and that you
> cannot test the WinCE installation until after redboot is overwritten.
> 
> > > If you're running a recent ROM RedBoot (with Parrot loader intact):
> > >   RedBoot> load -r -b 0x100000 flash_00000000.bin
> > >   RedBoot> fis write -f 0x50040000 -b 0x140000 -l 0x003c0000
> > > If you're running an original ROM RedBoot (with no Parrot loader):
> > >   RedBoot> load -r -b 0x100000 flash_00000000.bin
> > >   RedBoot> fis write -f 0x50000000 -b 0x100000 -l 0x00400000
> 
> If the installation was not successful, and it is often unsuccessful the
> first time, you will be left with only the parrot firmware to restore
> the image.  If you have a PCMCIA or CF sleeve, then there are other
> instructions for restoring WinCE, but that is also quite error prone.
> My experience is that this path often leads to bricks arriving in my
> office for reflashing.
> 

Would it also not be this step that could fail when installing bootldr?

> However, if first you replace parrot with bootldr, then you can restore
> the entire WinCE image and test it while maintaining bootldr in flash,
> yielding the opportunity to load it multiple times or to find a working
> image if the saved image was corrupted by xmodem or whatever.

What do you mean by "test" the WinCE image?

Notice that since RedBoot does not write to the FLASH directly during
the load command (it's a separate step/process), there is always the
opportunity to "test" or "verify" what's been downloaded.  Just use the
"cksum" command, which performs the same checksum operation as the Linux
program of the same name.  If the checksums match, then it should be 
safe to continue and write the image to FLASH.  Additionally, since 
there is sufficient RAM to hold the entire WinCE image, you can reduce
the FLASH writing step to a single command (I didn't do it here for 
clarity of what was being done) which reduces the possibility of typos
even more.

> 
> In addition, bootldr-2.18.01 enables you to load a gzipped image in one
> shot, which increases the speed and decreases the chance of error.

RedBoot also supports downloading gzip'd images.  Just add the "-d" 
switch to the "load" command.


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]