Re: [microblaze-uclinux] System Ace access before uClinux boots

[Michal Simek <monstr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim,

> I have a custom board running uClinux 2.4, which uses a System Ace
> controller and Card Flash.  So far we have been using the ace file on
> the card flash to load up both the bitstream into the FPGA and then the
> uClinux kernel into RAM.  Works fine but the ace files are huge (>116MB). 
> Obvious thing to do is write a smaller bootloader that can be loaded
> with the bitstream, which will then find the image.bin file at a nice
> location on the card flash, load it into memory and start it up. 
>  
> Operating this way, the system flashes the green System Ace LED
> (STATLED) during loading of the ace file, and then it goes solid green
> and stays that way, even while uClinux accesses the (mounted) card flash
> during use later.
>  
> Problems creep in when I write the beginnings of the
> bootloader.  Whenever I use the xilfatfs to access the card flash, the
> green LED goes out and stays out.  I can read the file fine, read the
> image.bin file into memory, and jump to it.  It starts up the kernel
> normally, but when uClinux tries to initialize the System Ace driver,
> the red LED (ERRLED) comes on and the kernel reports: "Partition Check:
> xsysacea:<3>JTAG controller couldn't read configuration from the
> CompactFlash xsysacea1" and hangs later when trying to mount the Card
> Flash to /tmp/sysace.
>  
> When I check the System Ace registers, the status reg reports the
> CFGDONE bit true for normal uClinux operations, but false after using
> xilfatfs.  I tried doing set and clear of the CFGRESET bit in my
> bootleader before jumping to the kernel, but that didn't seem to help.
>  
> Obvioiusly xilfatfs is accessing the System Ace is some different
> fashion from how it is used in uClinux, but the uClinux driver is based
> on essentially the same low-level Xilinx driver files, and I've compared
> the files and found nothing I would call significantly different at the
> driver level.
>  
> Anyone run into similar issues?
> Jim Law
> Iris Power LP

I know this issue. I had the similar problem in systemace driver for U-BOOT.
I don't remember if I solved both problems. This can be one way which you can
try because I think that powerpc guys use systemace and seem that this driver
works.

Can you tested U-BOOT with your linux kernel? U-BOOT can load your linux kernel
from CF and then you can start it.

U-BOOT from denx.de. More information about setting is on www.monstr.eu/wiki/

Cheers,
Michal Simek


___________________________
microblaze-uclinux mailing list
microblaze-uclinux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Project Home Page : http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~jwilliams/mblaze-uclinux
Mailing List Archive : http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~listarch/microblaze-uclinux/