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ZUBoard baremetal SD boot problem

tony56887

I'm unable to boot a simple baremetal app from the SD card. Very strange problem.

  • The ZUB will boot petalinux from the SD card just fine, I've built and booted the ZUB petalinux base and trifecta builds. All using the same SD card, several times.
  • I can build my simple baremetal app in Vitis and boot it over JTAG, as well as QSPI, which works fine. Attempting to boot from SD with FSBL debug messaging enabled, I get:
    • SD: Unable to open file 1:/BOOT.BIN: 3, XFSBL_ERROR_SD_F_OPEN
  • I also have an Ultra96v2. Using the same SD card, I can boot a simple u96 baremetal app from the SD card on the u96.
  • The SD card is a 16GB delkin. I format it FAT and copy my BOOT.bin to it, simple.

Everything works fine on the U96, and the ZUB, except SD boot from the ZUB only. This is very strange and I can't figure what the issue could be. Any ideas?

  • 0 in reply to iksevas

    I only have one currently. It would be strange if a different SD card worked, as this one works fine booting petalinux and on Ultra96. I have a few ordered and will try a new one, but would be surprised if that worked.

  • 0 in reply to tony56887

    I have heard stories of 16Gb cards not functioning on some boards but 8Gb cards working fine. I have heard stories of different manufacturers working better than others. So, I would not be surprised if  a different card worked.

  • 0 in reply to iksevas

    Hi there. Finally got around to trying several new SD cards, a mix of 32G, 16G, 8G from a mix of different vendors (Sandisk, Kingston, PNY, Lexar, Delkin). All the same issue! Not sure what i'm doing wrong here. It clearly attempts to boot as I get the start of FSBL print over UART:

    "Zynq MP First St�".

    And as above if FSBL debug is enabled, XFSBL_ERROR_SD_F_OPEN.

  • 0 in reply to tony56887

    ok - so you say you have copied reference design files to the SD card and they boot fine, so there is something that you are doing in bare metal generation of the boot files.

    How are you creating the FSBL? There is an example FSBL available to be generated using your BSP. It's in the same example designs where you would generate Hello World. You can create that there and then when you go into SDK/Vitis to create the boot image from within the project, you can point it to the FSBL you created along with the ELF executable of your software and the bitstream. Those 3 files makeup the boot.bin file for the bare metal design.

    Are you doing something different than the above??

  • 0

    Hello, you have done a lot of clever things to debug the problem. I did not know about FSBL debug messaging. It is not a bad SD card.

    My guess is that there is a problem with your .bif file.  The FSBL is being added but not the application .elf file.  Is this possible?

  • 0

    Hi tony,

    You mentioned successfully booting a baremetal app from the SD card on the Ultra96v2. I'm trying to do the same thing, but I'm running into issues. I've created a BOOT.BIN that includes the FSBL, bitstream, and my baremetal application. I've also set the boot mode to SD, but it doesn't seem to boot at all.

    Would you mind sharing a bit more about how you set it up on the U96? For example, how you formatted the SD card, where exactly you placed the BOOT.BIN, and if there were any special steps you took in Vitis or when generating the FSBL?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks in advance.

  • 0 in reply to Aymen

    What you listed is what I did that worked on u96.

    Using vivado/vitis version 2023.2. In vitis once you have your platform and app developed and verified booting over jtag, select your app and click the 'create boot image'. FSBL and your app elf should already be listed, add your bitstream. Leave all other settings default. Select output path for bif and image.

    Format SD card FAT32 using host PC, I'm using ubuntu - Disks utility. Simply copy boot.bin right into the SD card. Set boot switch to SD. This process worked fine for me on u96.

  • 0 in reply to iksevas

    Sorry for delay I didn't have notifications turned on for this forum.

    I generate an XSA file in vivado, then in Vitis I create a platform using the XSA. Vitis generates the FSBL here.

    In Vitis I create boot image which includes the 3 files you mentioned, fsbl, application, and bitstream.

    For my FPGA and PS configuration in Vivado, I'm comparing to Avnet ZUBoard TRIFECTA build, for the hw project, to make sure all my configuration matches. As I'm investigating I'm also comparing to Ultra96v2 configuration for it's SD card configuration. I did see some differences in the I/O settings from u96 to zub (Schmitt vs cmos IO type, fast/slow IO speed), I tried the u96 different settings just to test, but no change.

    I'm not sure what you mean by "There is an example FSBL available to be generated using your BSP. It's in the same example designs where you would generate Hello World." Maybe you meant if I'm using avnet provided BSP? I'm using vivado to generate FPGA/PS config, but based on Avnet trifecta project.

  • 0

    Extra info in case anyone sees this and has an idea. I'm attempting side by side debug with my Ultra96 to compare with FSBL debug prints turned on. These designs are simple and using identical hello world bare metal apps, just for the purpose of this SD boot issue.

    Left is u96 which boots successfully. Right is zub. Notice the zub FSBL reads the file as "1:/BOOT.BIN", unlike u96 which is just "BOOT.BIN". Then the zub can't find the file, which might make sense...?

    I'm wondering if this "1:/" is prepended in the FSBL code due to booting from SD1 instead of SD0...

    image

    Vivado/Vitis versions 2023.2