U-boot doesn't start when start button is pressed

5CoFrancois · March 7, 2017, 9:19am

Sometimes when I start the Apalis iMX6 on the Ixora Carrier Board, U-boot is stuck somewhere, it turns on the led1 in Green, the LED4 and the LED5 in red and green, but nothing is sent on the rs232 console.
If I press the reset button, u-boot starts normally.
U-Boot version : U-Boot 2015.04 (May 18 2015 - 13:08:37)
Board :
Apalis iMX6Q 2GB IT V1.1B
Ixora V1.0A

marcel.tx · March 7, 2017, 12:05pm

Yes, this is probably the following known issue long since fixed. Please update to our stable release V2.6 or our latest V2.7 beta 1.

5CoFrancois · March 10, 2017, 7:05am

Thank you for your reply. Updating uboot greatly reduces the problem. But the problem has not completely disappeared. The problem reappeared 2 times after a thousand restarts.

marcel.tx · March 10, 2017, 7:42am

Some more questions for you:

What exact version of things did you now update to?
Under what conditions do you see the issue (e.g. ambient temperature)?
Are you sure you flashed/fused the module for eMMC Fast Boot Mode (e.g. what does the U-Boot command fuse sense 0 5 report)?
Has this been observed on just a single module or do you have a wider test set (serial numbers thereof)?

5CoFrancois · March 10, 2017, 12:18pm

I upgrade u-boot version from U-Boot 2015.04 (May 18 2015 - 13:08:37) to U-Boot 2015.04+fslc+g46aa70c (Sep 29 2016 - 21:46:54).
With the termal camera, I see a maximal temperature on the apalis card of 72°C.

Apalis iMX6 # fuse sense 0 5
Sensing bank 0:

Word 0x00000005: 00005072

After the upgrading on 40 boards, the error is observe on only one board. (~25 restarts on each boards). It’s serial number is 05058765 for the Apalis and 00003299 for the Ixora.

marcel.tx · March 10, 2017, 2:05pm

I upgrade u-boot version from U-Boot 2015.04 (May 18 2015 - 13:08:37) to U-Boot 2015.04+fslc+g46aa70c (Sep 29 2016 - 21:46:54).

OK, against my recommendation to update either to stable V2.6 or latest V2.7 beta 1 you updated to unsupported V2.6.1 beta 1, correct?

With the termal camera, I see a maximal temperature on the apalis card of 72°C.

I did ask for the ambient temperature at the time of failure. Are you running it in a temperature chamber at 72°C?

Apalis iMX6 # fuse sense 0 5 Sensing bank 0:
Word 0x00000005: 00005072

OK, so you indeed are running it in the eMMC fast boot mode.

After the upgrading on 40 boards, the error is observe on only one board. (~25 restarts on each boards). It’s serial number is 05058765 for the Apalis and 00003299 for the Ixora.

OK, but before you mentioned 2 times after a thousand restarts.

Anyway as you are using Apalis iMX6Q 2GB IT V1.1B aka the industrial temperature (IT) variant of said module did you actually update to the IT variant of the software (e.g. doing run update_it) as suggested here? Alternatively you may try our latest V2.7 beta 1 version which will handle the distinction between regular commercial temperature and industrial temperature versions automatically via SPL.

5CoFrancois · March 13, 2017, 12:03pm

OK, against my recommendation to
update either to stable V2.6 or latest
V2.7 beta 1 you updated to unsupported
V2.6.1 beta 1, correct?

Yes, Could this be the source of this problem?

With the termal camera, I see a
maximal temperature on the apalis card
of 72°C.

I did ask for the ambient
temperature at the time of failure.
Are you running it in a temperature
chamber at 72°C?

No as I said 72°C is the temperature of the Apalis card, the temperature chamber is at 25°C.
This Apalis boad is not the only source of heat in its immediate environment, so it seemed more accurate to give the temperature of the board.

After the upgrading on 40 boards,
the error is observe on only one
board. (~25 restarts on each boards).
It’s serial number is 05058765 for the
Apalis and 00003299 for the Ixora.

OK, but before you mentioned 2
times after a thousand restarts.

40 boards * 25 restarts = 1000 restarts

I update the module with the run update_it command.

5CoFrancois · March 27, 2017, 2:10pm

I try with the latest V2.7 beta 1 image, but I did not find the “update_it” environment variable si I update with the “update” environment variable.

The problem still appears, but when it appears the console show the first two lines :

              Industrial temperature grade DDR3 timings.
Trying to boot from MMC1

Any idea to solve the problem ?
We can send you back the defective card if you think it will help you to find a solution.

marcel.tx · March 27, 2017, 2:43pm

I try with the latest V2.7 beta 1 image, but I did not find the “update_it” environment variable si I update with the “update” environment variable.

Yes, as mentioned above starting with V2.7 beta 1 we are using the U-Boot SPL mechanism to auto detect industrial temperature modules and initialise their RAM accordingly.

The problem still appears, but when it appears the console show the first two lines :

Industrial temperature grade DDR3 timings.
Trying to boot from MMC1

Any idea to solve the problem ?

Not really, resp. this just means that our RAM timing configuration does not quite work with that module (or anything else on the hand over from SPL to full U-Boot failed).

We can send you back the defective card if you think it will help you to find a solution.

Yes, we are still in the process of running full validation & verification of BSP V2.7 beta 1 on Apalis iMX6 IT and it would be good to get as many problematic units analysed as possible. Please find our RMA form here.

aktay · February 21, 2018, 9:03am

The same problem started today.

Commercial temperature grade DDR3 timings. 
Trying to boot from MMC1

What can I do about it, should I fill out the RMA form?

jaski.tx · February 21, 2018, 9:34am

what did you do exactly? Which bsp version are you using? can you send a log of the errors?

aktay · February 21, 2018, 11:40am

I am using Version 2.8 and compiled the X11_Qt5 image.I then compiled Core-image and update u-boot and rotfs, but I got the following error.

Commercial temperature grade DDR3 timings. 
 Trying to boot from MMC1

When I press the button, I get the above error, u-boot screen does not come up.

jaski.tx · February 21, 2018, 11:50am

Is this the same module sample as before (March 2017) or are you talking about a new sample?

aktay · February 21, 2018, 12:11pm

Sorry I did not understand what you wanted to ask. But modul information is as follows.

Apalis iMX6Q 1GB
V1.1B
05095083

jaski.tx · February 21, 2018, 3:22pm

Thanks for the information.
For the OpenEmbedded Build, what did you change exactly? Can you log all the differences between 2.8 repository from Toradex and your local build?

aktay · February 21, 2018, 3:52pm

SPL, u-boot.imx-spl, imx6q-apalis-eval.dtb, imx6q-apalis-ixora.dtb, imx6q-apalis-ixora-v1.1.dtb, rootfs

jaski.tx · February 21, 2018, 4:15pm

I meant the building parameters, so i can do the build myself and test the image.

aktay · February 21, 2018, 4:23pm

Ahh sorry, I have not made any changes.
I followed the instructions on this link and I gave instructions the local.conf file to add some Qt modules and CAN module.

marcel.tx · February 22, 2018, 7:13am

As mentioned before we recommend testing with our latest stable stock demo image to rule out any kind of misconfiguration. Plus make sure on that particular module the fast boot mode is properly enabled. We really tested hundred thousands of power cuts across the whole tested temperature range without seeing any further such issues. Of course that particular module could also be defective in some ways which may mandate an RMA in order for us to have a closer look at it.

aktay · February 22, 2018, 7:48am

After your comment I downloaded the image of Apalis-iMX6_LXDE-Image_2.8.1 from this link. I wrote on SD Card with the ./update.sh -o /media/… command. However, when I start the device, only the following warning is given to the serial console.I can not see the u-boot screen in any way.If there are any other steps to follow, I would ask you to guidance me.