Unable to flash linux image to iMX7

Dear Community;

I am trying to install Toradex Linux BSP to a Colibri iMX7D 1GB RAM. I am following this tutorial. I can write the image to the SD card successfully. I can also access to u-boot and run this command:

  1. run setupdate

But the SD card is not recognized and I can not flash the image. This is the response I get:

Colibri iMX7 # run setupdate                                                    
reading colibri_imx7/flash_blk.img                                              
** Unable to read file colibri_imx7/flash_blk.img **                            
starting USB...                                                                 
USB0:   Port not available.                                                     
USB1:   USB EHCI 1.00                                                           
scanning bus 1 for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found                             
       scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found            
** Bad device usb 0 **                                                          
Using FEC0 device                                                               
TFTP from server 192.168.10.1; our IP address is 192.168.10.2                   
Filename 'colibri_imx7/flash_eth.img'.                                          
Load address: 0x80800000                                                        
Loading: T T T T T T                                                            
Abort                                                                           
Colibri iMX7 # run setupdate                                                    
reading colibri_imx7/flash_blk.img                                              
** Unable to read file colibri_imx7/flash_blk.img **                            
** Bad device usb 0 **                                                          
Using FEC0 device                                                               
TFTP from server 192.168.10.1; our IP address is 192.168.10.2                   
Filename 'colibri_imx7/flash_eth.img'.                                          
Load address: 0x80800000 
Retry count exceeded; starting again

What’s wrong? Any help is welcomed. Thank a lot.

Thanks @jaski.tx ;

Thats is a good idea and I have already tried it; but what happens if I want to install Ubuntu rootfs instead of Toradex ones? For example we have some Colibri T30 working with Ubuntu 14.04 by extracting Toradex BSP and replacing old rootfs with Ubuntu rootfs. Is it possible to make someting similar with the iMX7?

Thanks a lot.

yeah, you can customize the Tezi-Image (Toradex Easy Installer) as you want. This is described at the following link.

Hi @Andermutu

As described in the tutorial you are following, legacy update is not working for iMX7 eMMC devices. You should use Toradex Easy Installer to flash the image on the module.

Thank you for the provided information. I will try that tutorial as soon as possible.

You are welcome.

Hi @jaski.tx;

I am trying to complete the image installation, but I am stuck. I have unpacked Toradex BSP and replaced the rootfs folder. I also managed to load the easy installer into RAM memory using a evaluation board. In the Easy Installer I can see some Linux images. Although I have read the link you provided I can not understand properly what to do. My question is what do I have to do once I have ready my “Custom” image with Ubuntu rootfs?

I have created a file called image_list.json and added the directory of the the Ubuntu image. I have also created a tezi_config.json file and put it on a SD card. When I plug the SD car in the evaluation board I can see my Custom server in the feeds. These feeds has the directory to my image_list.json file:

http://192.168.11.2:8008/home/ander/Documentos/Easy_Installer/Colibri-iMX7_ToradexEasyInstaller_1.6-20180619/image_list.json

iMX7 has 192.168.11.1 IP with USB RNDIS and my host machine 192.168.11.2. The connection seems good, but I can not see my linux image with Ubuntu rootfs.

In the image_list file I have this directory to linux image:

/home/ander/Documentos/Ubuntu_iMX7/Colibri_iMX7_LinuxImageV2.6/image.json

Do I have to create a .json file in my Linux image directory in the host machine?

Thanks for your help.

Could you share your image.json file?

Usually you can extract the prepared tezi image to a USB disk or SD card and plug it in to the module. If everything was done correctly, then you should see your image in the list of Images to be installed.

Hi @jaski.tx ;

The idea of the USB disk is good. I have downloaded iMX7 tezi image into a USB disk. I have extracted it and I replaced the old Rootfs “Colibri-iMX7-eMMC_LXDE-Image.rootfs.tar.xz” with the new one “ubuntu-trusty-14.04-armhf.com-20140603.tar.xz”

I am trying with Ubuntu 14.04 because worked in the past with Colibri T30. I have also modified the image.json file, I will attach it.

When I plug the USB disk installation starts automatically (autoinstall=true). When it finishes Ubuntu 14.04 boot starts, but it fails at this point:

  • Starting configure network device[ OK ]
  • Stopping userspace bootsplash[ OK ]
    The disk drive for / is not ready yet or not present.
    keys:Continue to wait, or Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery
  • Starting Mount network filesystems[ OK ]
  • Starting configure network device[ OK ]
  • Stopping Mount network filesystems[ OK ]

Any idea or help is appreciated. Thanks a lot.

link text

did you take exact the same ubuntu files which ones worked on Colibri-T30? Did you see any error during Installation?

Yes, I have taken the same Ubuntu Rootfs, but with Colibri T30 the installation process was different (with legacy scripts). So with the Colibri T30 I extracted the Ubuntu rootfs and replaced Toradex ones, but here I have only replaced Toradex.rootfs.tar.xz with ubuntu-trusty-14.04-armhf.com-20140603.tar.xz

But yes, the Rootfs is the same as in the T30.

Regarding to the installation process everything went well without any error.

As I posted before the error is this:

The disk drive for / is not ready yet or not present.
keys:Continue to wait, or Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery

Pressing M I can start Ubuntu but only in read mode, I can not write anything in the hard disk.

I understand that this is not a supported OS for Toradex, so it doesn’t matter to much. The important thing was to be able to install a “Custom” image with the Toradex Easy Installer (custom kernel is at all necessary for us), something we have achieved.

Thanks a lot.

Hi
Thanks for the feedback.
You are right, we don’t have experience in installing Ubuntu on Imx7.
However I found these two links (link1 and link 2), you could try them out.