3.2.1 Initializing Flash Partitions
After booting the AR531x using RedBoot, you must initialize the partitions on the target board's flash
memory. This operation prepares the partitions to store your RFS and kernel images.
Additional information about RedBoot commands is available in the RedBoot User's Guide, which is
available online at http://ecos.sourceware.org/docs-latest/redboot/redboot-guide.html.
There are two steps for initializing the flash memory partitions:
1. Use the fis init command to initialize the flash image system (FIS). Optionally, you can use the -f option
to erase the contents of the flash memory; without the option, the index to the contents is overwritten.
The following example shows the procedure:
RedBoot> fis init
About to initialize [format] FLASH image system -continue (y/n)? y
*** Initialize FLASH Image System
Warning: device contents not erased, some blocks may not be usable
... Unlock from 0x50fe0000-0x51000000: .
... Erase from 0x50fe0000-0x51000000: .
... Program from 0x01fdf000-0x01fff000 at 0x50fe0000: .
... Lock from 0x50fe0000-0x51000000: .
2. Use the fis list command to show the partitions on the flash device. This initialization procedure should
give you a flash device with partitions like the following:
RedBoot> fis list
Name FLASH addr Mem addr Length Entry point
RedBoot 0xBE000000 0xBE000000 0x00050000 0x00000000
RedBoot config 0xBE3C0000 0xBE3C0000 0x00001000 0x00000000
FIS directory 0xBE3D0000 0xBE3D0000 0x00010000 0x00000000
RedBoot>
The exact memory address locations of each partition will vary from board to board.
The flash initialization procedure destroys any information that is stored on the flash device. Only perform these steps once,
the first time that you boot the board.