Flash u-boot from running WinCE6.0

Technical Support
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Hi all,

we started to move our devices from Windows CE 6.0 to an embedded linux base. Basically the product does the same, but now with an embedded linux as operation system.

When we use embbeded linux, we need to change the bootloader from eboot to u-boot. As far as i know.

We have done this for now using the serial console like described in an article we found here. This working like expected.

We want to be able to update existing devices, which are currently running WinCE6.0 to the new embedded linux based image, without the need of access to the serial bootloader console.

I know there is the Update.exe tool for Windows CE6.0. I tried to flash uboot with this tool by just providing the path to the generated u-boot image file. But the module wasn’t booting anymore. I’ve done a recovery flash and now its working again.

Is it somehow possible to create a micro sd card, which boots WinCE6.0 and just flashes the bootloader?

I thought about some kind of autoexec.bat, which just calls the Update tool that flashes u-boot as bootloader.

Has anybody done something like this before?

Any hint is appreciated.

Kind regards,
Sebastian Holzgreve

2

Dear @seho85

The UpdateTool is expected to work for flashing U-Boot. If you had troubles doing this, I assume you either used an outdated Update Tool, or a U-Boot which was for some reason incompatible.
To make sure the basic process is working, please try the following:

  • Use the latest UpdateTool: download the latest Windows CE OS Image package
    Use the update.exe which is part of that package
  • Download the latest Linux image
    Use the u-boot.imx which is part of that package

With these components, flashing U-Boot from WinCE should work.

The next step is automating this process, which is rather simple:
Run a batch script automatically, using our AutoRun feature.
The batch script should contains a call to update.exe, with appropriate command line parameters.

Regards, Andy