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KnowledgeBase
296 Posts |
 Posted - 08 Apr 2002 : 14:53:29
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Q: I upgraded my Bitsy's CE image and now it won't boot. The system hangs up when the debug port reports "Initialize JIT".
In mid-December 2001, ADS upgraded the revision of the FlashFX Disk.
When the new image boots, it can see that there is a flash disk available but it can't make sense of its format. The driver gets hung up and stops the boot. This issue seems to only apply to Bitsy builds of CE.
Because the system restarts itself after a high-level format of the flash disk, it ends up reformatting the disk with the old format. There are two solutions for this:
1. Use EraseFXdisk.exe (recommended):
- Put your ATA card with the new nkload.bin in the system.
- Set the DIP switches in position to reload the image (1 & 2 ON, others OFF).
- Connect the debug port to your PC
- Execute \Windows\EraseFXdisk.exe
- When the system restarts, CE will try to reformat the flash disk (watch the debug port output)
- At this point, press the reset button.
This will load the new CE image.
- When the load is complete, set the DIP switches back to their Run
configuration (2 ON, others OFF)
When the newly-loaded image boots, the FlashFX disk driver will see that the flash disk has been corrupted (partial erasure) and will reformat it using the new driver
2. Reformat using the debug port:
WARNING!!
Erasing parts of the Flash disk can erase or corrupt the Boot ROM, rendering the device inoperable without returning it to ADS. Make sure you know and fully understand the implications of erasing parts of the Flash disk before proceeding with this step
Users who are familiar with performing a low-level format from the debug menu can perform the following. ADS generally recommends using high-level commands from the operating system rather than using the debug port.
- On the debug menu, erase at least the first sectors of the flash disk to "corrupt" it
- Reload the CE image
The flash disk will be formatted with the new flash disk format.
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ADS Knowledge Base |
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akidder
1519 Posts |
Posted - 28 Feb 2003 : 14:46:34
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#feb03update
Update: Bitsy Boot "Fails to Validate Unit Headers"
Customers transitioning to more current builds of CE for Bitsy have reported getting the following error message:failed to scan the partition and validate the unit headers. formatting flash disk. Even when the flash disk region is low-level-formatted from the boot menu, the problem persists. The system may also hang up after CE reformats the flash disk following low-level formatting.
If you get this error message, the cause may be that you are still reloading an older build of CE. Follow the procedure described above, but try loading the most current release for Bitsy that matches your application.
Some builds of CE created during the transition of flash disk drivers also include more than one version of the driver. If you are experiencing the issue described above, but want to keep using a specific build of CE, contact us for details about how to enable other versions of the flash disk driver. |
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Susan
123 Posts |
Posted - 15 Apr 2003 : 09:51:26
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Referring to your initial post under this topic, we have had a Bitsy returned to us which is hanging at the 'Initialize JIT' message. The serial number of this board is 47350004, received on 12Mar2002.
How can I tell if this board falls under the above category?
Regardless of whether or not this board falls under the above category, we are concerned that the board failed in user hands especially since we perform a number of image installs in-house on every board prior to release. We would have believed that the above problem would have manifested itself here, not in user hands.
Since I don’t know whether or not the board in question falls into old or new FlashFX disk category, I am postponing a reformat until I hear from you.
I have serial port output which I can forward.
Susan |
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akidder
1519 Posts |
Posted - 15 Apr 2003 : 15:07:40
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End-user field upgrades of CE images for the Bitsy could be tricky given this issue. Here are some ideas:
1. One solution would be to test each version-to-version upgrade to make sure that the versions are compatible.
2. Alternatively, since you're already familiar with direct access of the flash, you could perform a "low-level" format of the flash disk region yourself, writing 0xFFFFFFFF to the regions of flash designated for the flash disk. After the format, your end users would perform the image upgrade procedure and the new CE image would format the flash disk appropriately.
3. Finally, you could just force the system to always use the older flash disk format. I think it's just a registry key entry for the Bitsy. I wouldn't generally recommend this as flash disk drivers do improve, but you could just do this for your Bitsy-based designs.
Well, those are a couple options available! There's no need to send us the debug output, but you might make a record of the version that's loaded (and, hopefully, the one that they had on the system before). That way you can reproduce the issue inhouse to test any solutions you come up with. Remember to low-level format the flash before starting a new round of tests so you're sure you've got the right flash disk format selected. |
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Susan
123 Posts |
Posted - 15 Apr 2003 : 16:10:37
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Hi Drew,
We were not making an end-user upgrade of the CE image. I should have made that clear in my initial post. We did provide the user with a new ADSLoad.reg and a new application program. I have performed this upgrade literally hundreds of times in-house on my Bitsy development system. All the user has to do is power-down the device, insert the card, then turn on power.
I can possibly convince myself that I remember doing a 'low-level' format of the Bitsy on my development system when I first got it. Was it the very first time I reloaded the image, or was it the third, fourth, etc. time? I don't remember back that far. But since then, that Bitsy has been image-reloaded hundreds of times with no problem.
Is the ‘hang problem’ on “Initialize JIT” a sporadic problem, or does it happen religiously on every Bitsy with the new FlashFx Disk?
Regarding your second comment, we would just perform the ‘low-level’ format on the Bitsy in-house before ever sending it out. This is assuming that once the ‘low-level’ format has been done that it solves the problem forever…???
We are still curious though, as to whether the above mentioned board falls into the before mid-December category or the after category? And since we weren’t reloading an image, we are still concerned as to why the ‘hang’ occurred. We have customers in foreign countries, and some of the countries make it difficult to send equipment back to us.
Thanks, Susan |
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System hangs up at "InitializeJit".
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