[U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

[vikas.sontakke at emc.com]

Hi  Wolfgang,

I received the sources from the vendor for the u-boot.  I built it using ELDK.  I want to do sanity check by verifying that my u-boot binary image can work *before* burning it to the flash.  I am presuming that this is possible i.e. test u-boot from RAM before burning to flash.  I have built the image which is specifically built for this board.

The reason I did mkimage on it because I got the following error message when I attempted to boot the u-boot.bin image as it was produced by the "make all".  Here is snippet from the console:-

================
=> tftp 0x400000 u-boot.bin
Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete..... done
ENET Speed is 100 Mbps - FULL duplex connection (EMAC0)
Using ppc_4xx_eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.100.253; our IP address is 192.168.100.22
Filename 'u-boot.bin'.
Load address: 0x400000
Loading: T ###########################
done
Bytes transferred = 393216 (60000 hex)
=> bootm
Bad Header Checksum
ERROR: can't get kernel image!
================

That is why I thought I needed to put a header on it.


I also tried to use "go" command instead of "boot" and I had followuing error:-

================
=> tftpboot 0x1000000 u-boot.bin
Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete..... done
ENET Speed is 100 Mbps - FULL duplex connection (EMAC0)
Using ppc_4xx_eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.100.253; our IP address is 192.168.100.22
Filename 'u-boot.bin'.
Load address: 0x1000000
Loading: T ###########################
done
Bytes transferred = 393216 (60000 hex)
=> go 0x1000000
## Starting application at 0x01000000 ...
NIP: 01000000 XER: 00000000 LR: 7FF6A564 REGS: 7fe52c88 TRAP: 0700 DEAR: 87E003E
7
MSR: 00029000 EE: 1 PR: 0 FP: 0 ME: 1 IR/DR: 00

GPR00: 7FF6A5E8 7FE52D78 7FE52F24 00000001 7FE5873C 7FE5873C 0000000B F71BD70D
GPR08: 7FF5B40C 00000020 05F5E101 3B9ACA0C 00000001 FFBEBFF7 7FFAFB00 00000000
GPR16: 7FFA40F4 7FFAC388 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
GPR24: 00000000 7FE58688 00000000 00000000 7FE5873C 01000000 7FFB03C8 00000002
** Illegal Instruction **
Call backtrace:
01000000 7FF6A5E8 7FF7C3C4 7FF7BAC8 7FF7BC38 7FF7E7F0 7FF5AF68
7FF59710
Program Check Exception
=================

I am using following DULG documentation (5.4.3 Installation using U-Boot) http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/UBootInstallUsingUBoot  which tells how to burn the new u-boot but does not tell me how to run *without* burning.

Please help!  I hope I am not asking something impossible.

Thanks,
- Vikas

-----Original Message-----
From: Wolfgang Denk [mailto:wd at denx.de] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 3:13 PM
To: Sontakke, Vikas
Cc: U-Boot at lists.denx.de
Subject: Re: [U-Boot] How to test a new u-boot image over network?

Dear vikas.sontakke at emc.com,

In message <629D989C137DD040A0A994BD21888F1E75E81D17 at MX29A.corp.emc.com> you wrote:
>
> I have built a new u-boot for a board which is very similar to canyonlands. But I am having problem in running it. Afterwards, I ran mkimage on it.

Why did you do that?

> I then tftp the image "u-boot.bin.load" and bootm it but I am getting following error.
> Error: Bad gzipped data
> GUNZIP: uncompress or overwrite error - must RESET board to recover

What makes you think this could work?

There is no documentation anywhere that desribes such an approach, so
why do you think this could work?


Why don't you simply read the DULG for the canyonlands board an follow
the steps described there to install a new U-Bootimage?

> Board: Mellanox PPC460EX Board

Be careful.  Even if boards are similar the code for one board
(canyonlands) will most certainly NOT run on different hardware (even
if you consider the differences to be small).

Make sure you have a JTAG debugger at hand in case you brick your
board (alternatively, make sure you  have a working boot image in NAND
for recovery).

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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