Rockchip Production Firmware Flashing: USB, SD, Programmers and Troubleshooting

Chinese and English sources are V1.2.3. All production methods, tool steps and troubleshooting are retained. Source scope: RK3326/RK3399/RK3368/RK3288 with Linux 4.4/4.19; RK3328 additionally lists Linux 3.10. ArmSoM platform reference only: verify the board, SDK/BSP, loader, tool version and storage device. No flashing, erasure, power-cycle operations or hardware tests were performed.

Flashing, creating upgrade media and erasing Flash overwrite existing data. Back up and verify the target, loader, image and power supply; do not run examples directly on production devices.

Chinese uses Chinese figures; EN/RU/DE use corresponding English figures. The Chinese Prepare IDB failure section has two images, combined into one in English; each source layout is retained. Screenshot commands are also transcribed as copyable source examples.

ArmSoM Docs · Rockchip tools

1. Production flashing methods

1.1 USB upgrade

1. Create update.img upgrade firmware.
2. Flash devices in batches with FactoryTool.

1.2 SD upgrade

1. Create update.img.
2. Create a firmware-upgrade SD card with SD_Firmware_Tool.
3. Insert the card and cycle power to flash the firmware.

1.3 Programmer upgrade

1. Create update.img.
2. Use SpiImageTool to create programmer files.
3. Connect the storage chip to the programmer and flash it.

2. Tool usage

2.1 FactoryTool batch flashing

English-source tool screenshot

Usage:

1. Click Firmware and select upgrade firmware.
2. Optionally check Demo and select a Demo image; see OemTool below for image creation.
3. Click Start to detect upgrade devices automatically.
4. Connect the devices; flashing starts automatically when detected.

2.2 OemTool: Demo image creation

English-source tool screenshot

Demo image creation steps:

1. Click Select… and choose the Demo directory.

2. Check Fat32; currently only Fat32 images are supported.

3. Set Disk Size larger than the user partition capacity, aligned to 100M.

4. Click Start; after success, OemImage.img appears in the tool directory.

2.3 SD_Firmware_Tool: SD upgrade cards

English-source tool screenshot

SD upgrade card creation:

1. Select the target SD card or USB drive from the dropdown.

2. Check Firmware Upgrade.

3. Click Select Firmware and choose update.img.

4. Click Create.

2.4 SpiImageTool: programmer images

English-source tool screenshot

Programmer image creation:

1. Click Select Firmware and choose update.img.

2. For Emmc storage, check Reserve Data Area.

3. Select blank fill 0 for Emmc, or 0xFF for nandflash.

4. Click Generate File. On success, boot0.bin and data.bin appear in the tool directory. Emmc uses only data.bin; nandflash requires both boot0.bin and data.bin.

3. Create upgrade firmware

3.1 Steps

1. In the Android source directory, run mkimage.sh with the ota argument to generate system.img, boot.img, recovery.img and other files. Copy them into rockdev/image.

2. In AndroidTool/rockdev, run mkupdate.bat to generate update.img; on Ubuntu run mkupdate.sh. The screenshot shows mkupdate.bat:

English-source tool screenshot

Afptool -pack ./ Image\update.img
RKImageMaker.exe -RK31 RK3188Loader(L)_V2.10.bin Image\update.img update.img -os_type:androidos

Pay particular attention to -RK31: it must match the device. If unknown, open AndroidTool, enter Advanced Functions, select the platform loader file and click Download.

English-source tool screenshot

Click Read Chip Info below. The information appears on the right; Image Chip Flag is the required parameter.

English-source tool screenshot

4. Programmer configuration

4.1 EMMC programming data

EMMC has USER, BOOT1 and BOOT2 areas. Only USER needs programming, using data.bin generated by SpiImageTool.

4.2 EMMC EXT_CSD settings

Use all default values; no configuration is required.

EXT_CSD[167] = 0x1f（默认值）

EXT_CSD[162] = 0x0 (默认值)

EXT_CSD[177] = 0x0 (默认值)

EXT_CSD[178] = 0x0 (默认值)

EXT_CSD[179] = 0x0 (默认值)

5. Common upgrade problems

5.1 Download Boot failure: case 1

English-source tool screenshot

Log message:

English-source tool screenshot

Possible causes:

1. Poor USB signal: check USB-line capacitor/resistor values and USB power.

2. Poor solder joints on the controller or a power-supply problem.

5.2 Download Boot failure: case 2

English-source tool screenshot

Possible cause: DDR components or routing.

5.3 Prepare IDB failure

English-source tool screenshot

Possible cause: poor Flash solder joints or an unsupported chip.

5.4 Download IDB failure

English-source tool screenshot

Possible causes:

1. USB communication problem: power-cycle and retry; use a powered USB hub.

2. DDR stability problem: run stability tests with the DDR test tool.

5.5 Firmware download failure

English-source tool screenshot

Possible causes:

1. USB communication problem: power-cycle and retry; use a powered USB hub.

2. Flash problem: erase Flash with AndroidTool and retry.