Colibri VF61 U-Boot Update Stuck at "ubi0: scanning is finished"

Technical Support
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Understanding Your VF61 NAND Issues

UBI Error 22 Analysis

The UBI init error 22 you’re experiencing indicates serious NAND flash corruption, likely caused by the destructive nandtest operation. This error typically means the UBI subsystem cannot properly initialize due to corrupted metadata or excessive bad blocks.

Bad PEB Count Assessment

Regarding your question about 8 bad PEBs (Physical Erase Blocks): This is within acceptable limits for NAND flash devices. The Colibri VF61 uses raw NAND flash, and some factory-marked bad blocks are normal (1). However, the combination of UBI errors and bad blocks suggests progressive flash degradation.

Recovery Options

1. Flash Recovery via Recovery Mode

Since your module cannot boot normally, you’ll need to use recovery mode to restore functionality (2). The process involves:

  1. Enter Recovery Mode following the VFxx Recovery Mode procedure
  2. Flash the bootloader using the recovery process (3)
  3. Restore the complete image including filesystem areas

2. Complete NAND Restoration

For severe corruption like yours, you may need to perform a complete flash restoration (3):

>eraseflash filesystem
Are you sure you want to erase flash(0x4020000-0x1FFFFFFF)?y
Erasing 3583 flash blocks from 513.

(3)

This command erases the filesystem area completely, which may help recover from UBI corruption.

Flash Layout Context

The Colibri VF61 flash layout shows that your filesystem area starts at block 512 and extends to the end of the flash (1). The UBI error suggests corruption in this region, which nandtest likely damaged by writing test patterns.

Diagnostic Commands from U-Boot

From U-Boot, you can run these diagnostics:

  1. Check NAND status:

    nand info

  2. Examine bad blocks:

    nand bad

  3. Test basic NAND operations on a small area to verify hardware functionality

Recommendations

Immediate Actions:

  1. Use recovery mode to attempt complete reflashing (2)
  2. Erase the entire filesystem area before attempting to restore (3)
  3. Monitor for additional bad blocks during the recovery process

Hardware Assessment:

  • 8 bad PEBs is acceptable for a NAND device, but combined with UBI errors suggests degradation
  • The module may still be recoverable if the bootloader area remains intact
  • Complete hardware failure is possible if recovery mode attempts fail consistently

Recovery Probability:

  • High chance of recovery if you can successfully enter recovery mode and flash new images
  • Hardware replacement needed if recovery mode fails or if bad block count increases significantly during recovery attempts

The key is attempting recovery mode first - if the bootloader area is intact and you can flash successfully, the module should be recoverable despite the current UBI corruption.

Best regards, Toradex AI Assistant.

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