Flash ROM Info
VM
Labs SDK Internal Release 0.86.2
Important Upgrades |
The following changes are recommended for the SDK release.
If these upgrades are not performed, the development tools and downloaded code may produce unexpected results or fail to operate. |
WARNING: These instructions are for revision 5.x systems only! Revision 4.x and prior systems are no longer supported by VM Labs. If you have a revision 4.x or earlier system, please contact your VM Labs support contact for an upgrade.
For this release of the SDK, there have been changes to the Flash images and scripts included. These are:
Before you update anything, please make sure you understand the difference between the two parts of your NUON development system which use FLASH ROM. They are:
Debug / Ethernet Interface Card - The debug card in your development system uses a flash ROM so that the debugging stub may be updated when needed. However, as a general rule, the NUON documentation does not refer to this as "flash ROM". Instead, we normally refer to this simply as the "stub". We would say "update your stub" instead of "update your debug card flash ROM".
The debug card contains a PowerPC 860 processor, and most of the code on the stub's ROM is intended for that processor, not the NUON chip on the motherboard. This code does not have anything to do with the BIOS or the startup code, except that it must safely co-exist on those occasions when it must ask one of the NUON processor's MPEs to do something. In those cases, it may download a small piece of code to an MPE to facilitate some debugging function, or to speed up transfers over the Ethernet interface.
Please see "Debug Stub Info" for information how to update your stub.
Boot ROM / BIOS ROM - The NUON development system has a 4mb Flash ROM built into the motherboard. The motherboard also has a socket for a ROM or EPROM. A jumper (labeled "FLASH" and "ROM") selects which one of these is active. (Normally it's set to FLASH). See the next section for info on how to locate and set this jumper.
This is what we usually mean when we refer to the "Flash", the "Flash ROM", or the "Boot ROM".
This Flash ROM contains the BIOS (if a ROM BIOS is
installed) as well as whatever startup code is installed. Older
versions of the NUON startup code displayed color bars or a NUON logo
graphic. The newest version which ships with this SDK draws an
animated fractal image.
The boot code does not really interact
with the stub. The BIOS only interacts to the degree that the
stub may occasionally download a small piece of code to do some
debugging function or to speed up a data transfer.
Other than
the BIOS and startup code, the items which may optionally be
installed into your Flash ROM would be the DVD player firmware and a
copy of the NUON Synth's wavetable data.
Please see the remainder of this document for information on how to update your Boot/BIOS ROM.
The FLASH/ROM jumper is a three pin jumper switch located on the printer circuit board of your development system. The exact location of this jumper varies widely, depending on the board revision. Click on the following pictures for a (really large) expanded view of the two example boards.
This
jumper is in a clear case system, using a 5.3 board. It is set for FLASH.
This
jumper is in a "white box" (PC case) development system, using a 5.1
board. It is set for ROM.
Note that these are just given as examples, the jumper in your system may be located elsewhere!
To select FLASH memory using the FLASH/ROM jumper, configure the jumper as shown in the diagram below.
To select ROM memory using the FLASH/ROM jumper, configure the jumper as shown in the diagram below.
Note that it is safe to "hot switch" the jumper while the system is powered on. In fact, this will be required if the FLASH memory is uninitialized or if the boot image becomes corrupted. In that case, you will have to perform the following steps:
The ROM-based BIOS and startup boot code for your Revision 5.x system may be updated by following these instructions:
- Make sure your SDK is properly installed and that your MD_PORT environment variable is set correctly.
- Change to the %VMLABS%\bin\NUON\ directory (Windows) or $VMLABS/bin/NUON/ directory (Linux).
- Reset your development system and wait for the reset process to complete.
- To install the latest combination of boot code and the ROM-based BIOS for MPE 3, you can do one of the following:
- Use the nuon-flash.tcl script:
- On Linux systems, you can execute the script by typing: wish nuon-flash.tcl
- On Windows systems, you will need to install TCL 8.1 by executing bundled\windows\tcl811.exe. Once this is installed, you can run the nuon-flash.tcl script by typing start nuon-flash.tcl or by double clicking on it.
For more information, see the nuon-flash.tcl documentation.
- Use one of the scripts:
- For the NTSC version, execute the flash-dev.bat batch file (Windows) or flash-dev (Linux).
- For the PAL version, execute the flash-dev-pal.bat batch file (Windows) or flash-dev-pal (Linux).
These steps will result in a program being downloaded to your development system, followed by the data to be programmed into the Flash ROM. Your development system's display will indicate the current status of the update. When it is finished, you should reset your development system.
Note that if your system locks up at either the Clearing or Programming stages, it probably means your FLASH/ROM jumper is set for ROM. Follow the instructions given earlier in this document to correctly set the jumper to FLASH. |
Linux failure note: if this fails to execute, check the permissions on the script to ensure that you have execute permission. Type chmod +x <filename> to add execute permission.
This is not the recommended mode. However, if you want your system to come up in DVD player mode, you can execute the nuon-flash.tcl script, then on the resulting window, set the Developer toggle to "No". Click the Flash button to begin flashing the system.
If you flashed to Developer mode, you can find out the BIOS version by doing the following:
Please email comments or questions to SDK-Release@vmlabs.com
This page © Copyright 2001 VM
Labs, Inc. Mountain View, CA. All rights reserved.
This page and the
directories it links to contain information Confidential and Proprietary to
VM Labs, Inc. Unless otherwise noted, all contents are covered by non-disclosure
agreement.
All contents, unless otherwise noted, are:
Copyright © 1997-2001 VM Labs, Inc. All Rights Reserved
For VM Labs internal use only.