How to load u-boot and kernel image

Technical Support
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Hi team,

I have been working on a project which uses the Toradex Colibri IMX6ULL. I have built a custom Linux distro to the SOM using Yocto.
Now I want to load the u-boot alone to the system, without Tezi.
Similarly after the loading of u-boot, I need to load the kernel image (created using Yocto).

Kindly suggest any method for the above scenario?
Note: I do not think we can use Tezi in this case, for loading u-boot alone first and then from there loading the image.

Thanks in Advance

2

Hi, I’m the Toradex AI Assistant. I’m in early beta, and I would appreciate your feedback.
The Toradex Support team will follow up with you shortly!

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Hello,

To load U-Boot and the kernel image onto a Toradex Colibri iMX6ULL module without using Toradex Easy Installer (Tezi), you can follow these steps. This process involves using U-Boot’s USB mass storage gadget mode or using an SD card directly if your setup allows it.

Loading U-Boot:

  1. Prepare a Bootable SD Card with U-Boot: Use the dd command to write the U-Boot binary (u-boot.imx) to an SD card. The U-Boot binary is typically found in the deploy/images/colibri-imx6ull directory of your Yocto build output. The command should look something like this:

    dd if=u-boot.imx of=/dev/sdX bs=512 seek=2 conv=fsync

    Replace /dev/sdX with the correct device for your SD card. Be very careful to select the correct device to avoid overwriting any of your system disks.

  2. Insert the SD Card and Boot: Insert the SD card into the Colibri iMX6ULL’s SD card slot and power on the module. If everything is set up correctly, U-Boot should start.

Loading the Kernel Image:

Once U-Boot is running, you have a few options to load the kernel image:

  • Through U-Boot Environment Variables: If your kernel and root filesystem are on an SD card or accessible over the network, you can set U-Boot environment variables to tell it where to find and how to load the kernel. This involves setting the bootargs and using commands like fatload (for SD card) or tftpboot (for network) to load the kernel into memory and then booting it with bootm or similar commands.

  • Using U-Boot USB Mass Storage Gadget Mode: This allows you to expose the device’s storage (e.g., eMMC, SD card) as a USB mass storage device to a host computer, enabling you to directly copy the kernel image and any other necessary files.

    1. Connect a USB cable from your host PC to the USB OTG port on the Colibri module.
    2. In the U-Boot command prompt, enter:
      ums 0 mmc 0
      This command assumes that mmc 0 is the device you want to expose. Adjust the command if your setup differs.

Please, also check if these links can help you solve your problem:

TorizonCore Builder Tool - Commands Manual | Toradex Developer Center.

3

Hi @Divakaran,

You may check the document i.MX Linux User’s Guide for other flashing methods.
Please note that we recommend only Toradex Easy Installer and not tested other methods