ZedBoard VxWorks bootloader

Hi Support et al,

We got recently at our HQ the ZedBoard board, which came with an SD card that has a VxWorks bootloader in it. Specifically, this is its content:

BOOT.BIN
BOOT.BIN-original
devicetree_ramdisk.dtb
ramdisk8M.image.gz
README
vxWorks
zImage

Before starting up the board, I made sure that the jumpers were set as follows:

MIO 6: set to GND
MIO 5: set to 3V3
MIO 4: set to 3V3
MIO 3: set to GND
MIO 2: set to GND

VADJ Select: Set to 1V8

JP6: shorted
JP2: shorted

Once I did that, I connected through the serial UART (microUSB) port to a Linux (centOS) host, and I was able to see that it correctly identified and created a device in /dev/ttyACM0.

After that, I tried to connect to it as follows:

cu -l /dev/ttyACM0 -s 115200

It connected, and it started to show info, until I just saw squares symbols...nothing like a VxWorks bootloader. This is what is appears:

[root@serialc ~]# cu -l /dev/ttyACM0 -s 115200
Connected.
Xilinx First Stage Boot Loader
Release 2014.3 Oct 17 2014-17:19:57
Devcfg driver initialized
Silicon Version 3.1
Boot mode is SD
SD: rc= 0
SD Init Done
Flash Base Address: 0xE0100000
Reboot status register: 0x60600000
Multiboot Register: 0x0000C000
Image Start Address: 0x00000000
Partition Header Offset:0x00000C80
Partition Count: 2
Partition Number: 1
Header Dump
Image Word Len: 0x0001DDFC
Data Word Len: 0x0001DDFC
Partition Word Len:0x0001DDFC
Load Addr: 0x0FC00000
Exec Addr: 0x0FC00000
Partition Start: 0x000065D0
Partition Attr: 0x00000010
Partition Checksum Offset: 0x00000000
Section Count: 0x00000001
Checksum: 0xE079FDDA
Application
Handoff Address: 0x0FC00000
In FsblHookBeforeHandoff function
SUCCESSFUL_HANDOFF
FSBL Status = 0x1

u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592u2592

I don't see anything else afterwards. And I don't get any prompt back.

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot!
Best.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

The ZedBoard does not ship with a VxWorks boot loader. Where did you get the bootloader files? Were they generated for ZedBoard or another Zynq based board?

-Gary
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0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Hi Gary!

I believe we got it from AVNET. As you can see, the board start with what it is called "Xilinx First Stage Boot Loader", which is neither u-boot nor VxWorks bootloader.

But this "Xilinx First Stage Boot Loader" is not working out of the box, since I cannot get a prompt, and I am unsure why.
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0 Former Member over 11 years ago

The Xilinx First Stage Boot Loader is created from an application template within the Software Development Kit. Typically the FSBL initializes registers in the PS that were not set up by the BOOTROM, optionally loads a bitstream to the PL, and then passes control to the next application. In a standalone system, that would be your custom application, or in the case of an OS it would be a second stage boot loader - for example, for booting Linux, the FSBL hands off to U-boot. The source code for the FSBL is available and can be viewed in the SDK Eclipse GUI.
The line in your log that indicates FSBL Handoff is successful is the last action performed by the FSBL prior to performing a long jump to the entry point of the next application. So in fact it appears the FSBL is working correctly, but it may have an incorrect jump address, or the image loaded at that location may be invalid.
VxWorks is a commercial pay-for real time operating system from Wind River, and to my knowledge Avnet does not supply any binaries for the ZedBoard to boot this OS. Xilinx does support VxWorks on Zynq, so perhaps the image originated from the Xilinx website.
Ron
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0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Hello everyone,

I want to boot the Vxworks kernel from QSPI flash. i.e. the initial location of the kernel should be the QSPI while starting the board instead of SD card or Ethernet connection from host. I want to know the configuration I need to do, so Vxworks boot loader can find the kernel inside the QSPI flash and then load it to RAM for execution.

Thank you.
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0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Have you tried looking in this document?
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/application_notes/xapp1258-vxworks-7-bsp.pdf
Ron
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0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Thank you Ron. I actually did go through this document and it talks about booting from SD card or a host PC only. I didn't stumble across any document that talks about booting Vxworks kernel from QSPI flash except for one but that refers to u-boot instead of Vxworks bootloader and is not pertinent.

Ali
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0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Sorry Ali, that's about all I have on the VxWorks area. We don't have any VxWorks designs for our boards, although I know Xilinx and Wind River have a Zynq BSP that is used in their XAPP. Unless there is someone else in the community with more familiarity, you may want to try the Xilinx community forum, or contact Wind River. Since VxWorks is a proprietary RTOS, if you are developing with it as an official trial or have a license, you should be entitled to register with the Wind River Support Network.
Ron
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