iMX Recovery Mode
Introduction
Make sure there is no SD card inserted in the carrier board in order to enter recovery mode properly.
On the SoMs equipped with i.MX SoCs, the shared USB Client/Host port can be used to load Toradex Easy Installer and download a new OS image.
Enter Recovery Mode
Select your computer on module from the tabs below:
Apalis iMX8
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Apalis Evaluation Board
Connect X49 or X50 (USBO1_CL/USBO1)
Ixora Carrier Board
Connect to X9 on the underside of the Carrier Board. Be sure to remove JP2 in order to be able to use X9 in OTG Client mode. Be sure nothing is plugged into the lower connector of X8.
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Using hardware mechanism
Ixora Carrier Board
Make sure the board is turned off.
Connect the 2 pads as shown in the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the pads connected for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the pads.
Other boards
Make sure the board is turned off.
Shorten the pads on the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on.
Apalis iMX6
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Apalis Evaluation Board
Connect X49 or X50 (USBO1_CL/USBO1)
Ixora Carrier Board
Connect to X9 on the underside of the Carrier Board. Be sure to remove JP2 in order to be able to use X9 in OTG Client mode. Be sure nothing is plugged into the lower connector of X8.
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Using hardware mechanism
Apalis Evaluation Board with Mezzanine
Make sure the board is turned off.
Press and hold the Recovery Mode button (SW2)
- Power on the board while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 6 seconds further.
Ixora Carrier Board
Make sure the board is turned off.
Connect the 2 pads as shown in the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the pads connected for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the pads.
Other Boards
Make sure the board is turned off.
Shorten the pads on the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on.
Using a command in the bootloader
Connect the serial port UART1 of the carrier board with your host computer.
- Apalis Evaluation Board
Depending on JP10/12 connect the serial debug console to the lower X28 using a null modem RS-232 cable or X29 using a regular USB cable.
- Ixora Carrier Board
Connect the serial debug console to X22 using a null modem RS-232 cable and a 10 pin IDC to 9 pin D-sub male connector (DTK or Intel standard).
Open a terminal on your host computer (115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop, no hardware/software flow control).
Power cycle the board and immediately press [space] on the terminal
If you are using U-Boot you should see the U-Boot banner and the prompt
Apalis iMX6 #, in this case, type on the U-Boot command line:> bmode usbIf you are using Eboot you should see a menu, in this case, type 'X' to enter the bootloader console, then on the Eboot command line:
> bootfrom USB
> reboot
Colibri iMX8X
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Colibri Evaluation Board
Plug a USB 2.0 Type-B to Type-A cable into the X29 connector (USB_CL) or a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X30 connector (USB_OTG).
Iris Carrier Board
Plug a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X12 connector (close to the Ethernet input).
Aster Carrier Board
Plug a (second) USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X10 connector. Be sure that nothing is plugged at the lower connector of X9.
Make sure that no SD card is in the SD card slot
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Using hardware mechanism
Colibri Evaluation Board
- Make sure the board is turned off.
- Press and hold the Recovery Mode button (SW9)
- Power on the board while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 6 seconds further.
Iris Carrier Board
Make sure the board is turned off.
Connect the 2 pads (Pins 1 and 2 from JP1) as shown in the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on.
Aster Carrier Board and Other Carrier Boards
Make sure the board is turned off.
Shorten the pads on the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on.
Colibri iMX6
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Colibri Evaluation Board
Plug a USB 2.0 Type-B to Type-A cable into the X29 connector (USB_CL) or a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X30 connector (USB_OTG).
Iris Carrier Board
Plug a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X12 connector (close to the Ethernet input).
Aster Carrier Board
Plug a (second) USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X10 connector. Be sure that nothing is plugged at the lower connector of X9.
Make sure that no SD card is in the SD card slot
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Using hardware mechanism
Make sure the board is turned off.
Shorten the pads on the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on
Using a command in the bootloader
Connect the serial port UART_A of the carrier board with your host computer.
Colibri Evaluation Board
Depending on JP17/19 (and JP20/JP21 if you use a Carrier Board with V3.2 and later) connect the serial debug console to the bottom X25 using a null modem RS-232 cable or X27 using a regular USB cable.
Iris Carrier Board
Connect the serial debug console to X13 using a null modem RS-232 cable and a 10 pin IDC to 9 pin D-sub male connector (DTK or Intel standard).
Open a terminal on your host computer (115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop, no hardware/software flow control).
Power cycle the board and immediately press [space] on the terminal
If you are using U-Boot you should see the U-Boot banner and the prompt
Colibri iMX6 #, in this case, type on the U-Boot command line:> bmode usbIf you are using Eboot you should see a menu, in this case, type 'X' to enter the bootloader console, then on the Eboot command line:
> bootfrom USB
> reboot
Colibri iMX7
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
Colibri iMX7 Solo/Dual 256/512MB V1.1A and older are not supported by Toradex Easy Installer.
Colibri iMX7 Dual 1GB V1.1A and newer are using an eMMC flash and are supported by Toradex Easy Installer 1.2, 1.3 and 1.6 or newer.
Toradex Easy Installer 1.4 and 1.5 did now work reliably with these modules.
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Colibri Evaluation Board
Plug a USB 2.0 Type-B to Type-A cable into the X29 connector (USB_CL) or a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X30 connector (USB_OTG).
Iris Carrier Board
Plug a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X12 connector (close to the Ethernet input).
Aster Carrier Board
Plug a (second) USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X10 connector. Be sure that nothing is plugged at the lower connector of X9.
Make sure that no SD card is in the SD card slot
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Colibri Evaluation Board
- Make sure the board is turned off.
- Press and hold the Recovery Mode button (SW9)
- Power on the board while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 6 seconds further.
Iris Carrier Board
Make sure the board is turned off.
Connect the 2 pads (Pins 1 and 2 from JP1) as shown in the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the pads connected for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the pads. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on
Aster Carrier Board and Other Carrier Boards
- Make sure the board is turned off.
- Shorten the pads on the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on
Colibri iMX6ULL
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
Colibri iMX6ULL 512MB Wi-Fi/Bluetooth are only supported by Toradex Easy Installer 1.3 and newer.
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Colibri Evaluation Board
Plug a USB 2.0 Type-B to Type-A cable into the X29 connector (USB_CL) or a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X30 connector (USB_OTG).
Iris Carrier Board
Plug a USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X12 connector (close to the Ethernet input).
Aster Carrier Board
Plug a (second) USB Micro B to Type-A cable into the X10 connector. Be sure that nothing is plugged at the lower connector of X9.
Make sure that no SD card is in the SD card slot
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Using hardware mechanism
Colibri Evaluation Board
- Make sure the board is turned off.
- Press and hold the Recovery Mode button (SW9)
- Power on the board while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 6 seconds further.
Iris Carrier Board
Make sure the board is turned off.
Connect the 2 pads (Pins 1 and 2 from JP1) as shown in the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the pads connected for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the pads. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on
Aster Carrier Board and Other Carrier Boards
- Make sure the board is turned off.
- Shorten the pads on the picture: you can use scissors, tweezers, a paper clip or whatever you have at hand to short circuit the pads. You should not make a permanent short-circuit by e.g. soldering the pads together.
- Power on the board and keep the short circuit for more than 6 seconds, only after that, remove the short circuit. The short circuit should be held only while the board is turning on
Using a command in the bootloader
Connect the serial port UART_A of the carrier board with your host computer.
Colibri Evaluation Board
Depending on JP17/19 (and JP20/JP21 if you use a Carrier Board with V3.2 and later) connect the serial debug console to the bottom X25 using a null modem RS-232 cable or X27 using a regular USB cable.
Iris Carrier Board
Connect the serial debug console to X13 using a null modem RS-232 cable and a 10 pin IDC to 9 pin D-sub male connector (DTK or Intel standard).
Open a terminal on your host computer (115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop, no hardware/software flow control).
Power cycle the board and immediately press [space] on the terminal
If you are using U-Boot you should see the U-Boot banner and the prompt
Colibri iMX6ULL #, in this case, type on the U-Boot command line:
> bmode usb
Verdin SoM Family
Follow precautions for handling electrostatic sensitive devices (ESD)
The Verdin Family Specification defines an always compatible recovery mode pin on the edge connector of the SoM. The method for entering recovery mode on all Verdin SoMs is the same.
Connect the Module to your Development PC
Connect the Carrier Board USB OTG port to your Linux or Windows host machine
Verdin Development Board
Plug a USB Type-C to Type-A cable into the X34 connector.
Dahlia Carrier Board
Plug a USB Type-C to Type-A cable into the X3 connector.
Yavia Carrier Board
Plug a USB Type-C to Type-A cable into the J7 connector.
Enter recovery mode
Some rare cases with specific combinations of HW requires that you remove the USB or HDMI cables due to backfeeding to complete a proper power-cycle. If you cannot enter recovery mode for the second try in a row, consider disconnecting and reconnecting all of the cables or even remove the SoM from the carrier board and shorten all its pins.
Using hardware mechanism
For the Verdin Computer on Modules, there is just one way to enter Recovery Mode, which is by the dedicated recovery pin (SODIMM pin 246), which needs to be pulled down with ≤1kΩ during the initial power on (cold boot) of the module.
Toradex carrier boards for Verdin come with a dedicated button to manipulate the Recovery Mode mechanism, which is described in detail below for each available model.
Verdin Development Board
Make sure the board is turned off.
Press and Hold the Recovery Mode Button (SW3)
- Power on the board, pressing the ON/OFF Button (SW2) while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 10 seconds further. Only after that, release the Recovery Mode Button (SW3)
Dahlia
Make sure the board is turned off. Make sure that the JP3 jumper is opened.
Press and hold the Recovery Mode Button (SW5).
- Power on the board, pressing the ON/OFF Button (SW3) while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 10 seconds further. Only after that, release the Recovery Mode Button (SW5).
Yavia
Make sure the board is turned off.
Press and hold the Recovery Mode Button (B3).
- Power on the board, plugging the power supply cable into the power input (J1) while keeping the Recovery Mode button pressed for 10 seconds further. Only after that, release the Recovery Mode Button (B3).
Other Boards
Custom-made carrier boards for Verdin SoMs shall expose in its design access to the SODIMM Pin 246 present in the module in a way that, if necessary, this signal can be pulled down with ≤1kΩ during the initial power on (cold boot) of the module. For further information, check the Recovery Mode section of your SoM datasheet.
With that, a process similar to the ones presented previously can be followed:
Make sure the board is turned off.
Pull down SODIMM Pin 246 with ≤1kΩ
Power on the board and keep the pull-down at SODIMM Pin 246 with ≤1kΩ for more than 10. seconds. Only after that, remove the pull-down at SODIMM Pin 246.
There are no available pads on the Verdin SoMs to enter Recovery Mode. SODIMM Pin 246 is the only supported method, so your design may take this into consideration!
To check if your Computer on Module has entered recovery mode correctly, you can compare the output of lsusb on your computer before and after entering recovery mode. A new entry will be present if the procedure has been successful.
Flash an Image
After you have entered recovery mode:
- Load Toradex Easy Installer on the computer on module.
- Flash an image to the computer on module.
Legacy
There is another way to flash images to the module: the Legacy flashing method. Check out the articles listed in the See Also section on the Toradex Developer Archives website.
Legacy flashing method does not imply that the embedded Linux image is legacy. There are pre-built Toradex images that are provided in both legacy and Toradex Easy Installer formats. Consult the image releases for a list of images in both formats.
The following is not related to the article and just for test purposes: 341uT6im3t13w62y98Z2