Qualcomm SOC flashing
Prepare host PC
A PC running either Windows or Linux is required. A virtual machine is not recommended here, as the USB-passthrough may lead to problems.
Devices based on Qualcomm® SOCs need the Qualcomm® Device Loader tool (referred to from now as QDL) to install images using a USB connection to the Host PC and a builtin Serial Downloader mode on the device. This method of flashing applies to:
- SOM-SMARC-QCS6490 (E81)
- Modular Vision QCS6490
The instructions provided below refers to the usage of the Qualcomm® Device Loader tool under Linux OS. The same instructions can be applied to Windows by downloading and using the respective software variant instead, namely qdl.exe. The bash commands on any part of this guide can be replaced by their respective Windows commands.
Please create a directory with an appropriate name such as below and enter it:
mkdir clea-os-e81
cd clea-os-e81
Download Qualcomm® Device Loader
The QDL utility can be downloaded via the Qualcomm® Software Center.
The downloaded file will be in zip format, named QDL_X.X_Linux_x64.zip. Please unpack the archived file with an appropriate application, such as 7zip. The executable needed for flashing, namely qdl, will be inside the unpacked folder. Please move the file to the current working directory.
Afterwards, run the following command to give the executable the access rights needed for using it.
chmod a+x qdl
Download release image
The actual device image needs to be downloaded from the specific Clea OS release. Check the Download Links page for further details. Qualcomm® specific downloaded artifacts will be in .tgz format.
Download the relevant archive for your hardware combination and place it in the current working directory.
Decompress files
Unpack the archive by running the following command:
tar -zxvf {archive_name}.tgz
Prepare USB Connection to the device
The flashing process using the qdl tool needs a USB connection to the device. On most devices either a USB-A to micro-USB or USB-A to USB-C cable is required. You can directly connect this to the related interface on the device and to the host PC.
Flashing the device
The flashing procedure may vary slightly from device to device due to how Serial Download mode is enabled. The user is therefore requested to read the documentation below and then also refer to the specific documentation for the board in his possession.
Serial Downloader mode
The device must be forced to start into the USB Serial Downloader mode. The actual way how this is achieved depends on the device. Please consult the subpages for each device to view the steps needed.
Flashing the image
After entering Serial Downloader Mode, the device can be flashed with the following command:
./qdl --storage ufs prog_firehose_ddr.elf rawprogram*.xml patch*.xml
The command will exit upon completion. The output will look similar to below:
waiting for programmer...
flashed "sys_boot" successfully at 44373kB/s
flashed "bootfs" successfully at 62804kB/s
flashed "rootfs" successfully at 41592kB/s
flashed "PrimaryGPT" successfully
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
flashed "xbl_a" successfully
flashed "xbl_config_a" successfully
flashed "PrimaryGPT" successfully
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
flashed "xbl_a" successfully
flashed "xbl_config_a" successfully
flashed "PrimaryGPT" successfully
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
flashed "cdt" successfully
flashed "PrimaryGPT" successfully
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
flashed "aop_a" successfully
flashed "dtb_a" successfully at 32768kB/s
flashed "xbl_ramdump_a" successfully
flashed "uefi_a" successfully
flashed "tz_a" successfully
flashed "hyp_a" successfully
flashed "devcfg_a" successfully
flashed "qupfw_a" successfully
flashed "uefisecapp_a" successfully
flashed "imagefv_a" successfully
flashed "shrm_a" successfully
flashed "multiimgoem_a" successfully
flashed "cpucp_a" successfully
flashed "toolsfv" successfully
flashed "PrimaryGPT" successfully
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
flashed "PrimaryGPT" successfully
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
66 patches applied
partition 1 is now bootable
The device is ready to use and will boot to Clea OS after performing a power cycle operation.
Device specific variants of the flashing process
Please consult the subpages for information on devices that require additional steps.