Flashing SPI Boot Firmware
Radxa Dragon Q8B ships with SPI boot firmware preinstalled. Normally you do not need to flash the boot firmware. If the system fails to boot properly, you can try reflashing the SPI boot firmware.
The core task of SPI boot firmware (BootROM + bootloader) is to initialize hardware in stages (CPU -> memory -> storage), then load the operating system kernel from the storage device.
When the device cannot boot properly, enter EDL Mode, then use the EDL tool to flash the SPI boot firmware.
Go to the Resource Downloads page, download and extract the edl-ng archive, then select the corresponding version for your system platform to download the SPI firmware.
Flashing SPI Boot Firmware
- Windows
- Linux
-
Run the following command to flash the SPI boot firmware
.\edl-ng.exe --memory=spinor --loader C:\path\to\prog_firehose_ddr.elf rawprogram C:\path\to\rawprogram0.xml C:\path\to\patch0.xml
Add the Linux version of the edl-ng tool to the system environment path so that you can run edl-ng from any terminal location.
- Check the path
Open a terminal in the folder that contains the edl-ng tool. Use realpath to view the full path of edl-ng, then create a symbolic link for it.
realpath edl-ng
Example terminal output:
/home/user/edl-ng-dist/linux-x64/edl-ng
- Create a symbolic link
sudo ln -s [edl-ng path] /usr/local/bin/edl-ng
# Example
sudo ln -s /home/user/edl-ng-dist/linux-x64/edl-ng /usr/local/bin/edl-ng
Parameter description:
-
[edl-ng path]: Replace this with the full path to your ownedl-ngtool -
Verify
Open a terminal in any location and run edl-ng --version to view version information.
edl-ng --version
If the terminal prints version information, the symbolic link for edl-ng was created successfully.
-
Flash SPI Boot Firmware
Go to the Resource Downloads page, download the spi firmware file, extract it, open a terminal in the directory containing prog_firehose_ddr.elf, and use edl-ng to flash the SPI boot firmware.
sudo edl-ng --memory=spinor rawprogram rawprogram0.xml patch0.xml --loader=prog_firehose_ddr.elf
Erase SPI Boot Firmware
Erasing the SPI boot firmware will prevent the device from booting. You must reflash the SPI boot firmware before the device can boot normally. Do not erase the SPI boot firmware unless necessary.
- Windows
- Linux
-
Erase SPI Boot Firmware
Open a terminal and run the following commands to erase it:
.\edl-ng.exe --memory spinor erase-part ddr -l C:\path\to\prog_firehose_ddr.elf
.\edl-ng.exe --memory spinor erase-part uefi -l C:\path\to\prog_firehose_ddr.elf
.\edl-ng.exe --memory spinor erase-part devcfg -l C:\path\to\prog_firehose_ddr.elf
.\edl-ng.exe --memory spinor erase-part xbl -l C:\path\to\prog_firehose_ddr.elf
Add the Linux version of the edl-ng tool to the system environment path so that you can run edl-ng from any terminal location.
- Check the path
Open a terminal in the folder that contains the edl-ng tool. Use realpath to view the full path of edl-ng, then create a symbolic link for it.
realpath edl-ng
Example terminal output:
/home/user/edl-ng-dist/linux-x64/edl-ng
- Create a symbolic link
sudo ln -s [edl-ng path] /usr/local/bin/edl-ng
# Example
sudo ln -s /home/user/edl-ng-dist/linux-x64/edl-ng /usr/local/bin/edl-ng
Parameter description:
-
[edl-ng path]: Replace this with the full path to your ownedl-ngtool -
Verify
Open a terminal in any location and run edl-ng --version to view version information.
edl-ng --version
If the terminal prints version information, the symbolic link for edl-ng was created successfully.
- Erase SPI Boot Firmware
Open a terminal in the directory containing prog_firehose_ddr.elf, then run the following commands to erase it
sudo edl-ng --memory spinor erase-part ddr -l prog_firehose_ddr.elf
sudo edl-ng --memory spinor erase-part uefi -l prog_firehose_ddr.elf
sudo edl-ng --memory spinor erase-part devcfg -l prog_firehose_ddr.elf
sudo edl-ng --memory spinor erase-part xbl -l prog_firehose_ddr.elf
FAQ
- If you see Unable to load DLL 'libusb-1.0'
Install vc_redist