SMCU NFW

The IGX Thor Developer Kits include a Safety Micro-controller (SMCU) from the Renesas Electronics. This guide provides instructions to flash the SMCU NFW firmware on the IGX Thor Developer Kit Mini (T5000).

Flashing Setup

To update the SMCU firmware on the IGX Thor Developer Kit Mini (T5000), you will need:

• A host PC (x86_64) running Ubuntu OS.

• A monitor connected to the DisplayPort (3) or HDMI port (4) of the Dev Kit.

• Keyboard and mouse connected to the USB ports (1) of the devkit.

• The Debug USB-C port (8) of the Dev Kit connected to the host PC.

Refer to the System Overview page for more details on the HW interfaces.

Download SMCU NFW tarball

Download the SMCU NFW tarball smcu_nfw_R38.5.0_aarch64.tbz2 from the IGX Download Center.

Flashing SMCU FW over UART from host PC

Follow these steps to check and update the SMCU firmware:

1. Make sure the Debug USB-C port (8) of the Dev Kit is connected to the host.

2. Check the UART devices on the host using the command:

   SMCU_SERIAL_DEV=$(ls /dev/serial/by-id/usb-NVIDIA_Tegra_On-Platform_Operator_*-if05)
   TEGEA_SERIAL_DEV=$(ls /dev/serial/by-id/usb-NVIDIA_Tegra_On-Platform_Operator_*-if01)
   
   ls -l /dev/ttyACM*
   ls -l $SMCU_SERIAL_DEV
   ls -l $TEGEA_SERIAL_DEV
   

3. Usually, the Tegra UART device is the first entry (/dev/ttyACM0) and the SMCU UART device is the 3rd entry (/dev/ttyACM2).

4. Connect to the SMCU console:

   sudo minicom -D "$SMCU_SERIAL_DEV"
   

5. Check the SMCU FW version on the SMCU console:

   nfw>
   nfw> version
   Info: Executing cmd: version, argc: 0, args:
   SW Version  2.00.02 rh850_nfw
   Command Executed
   

6. If the version matches with the current release version, then the firmware is up to date already. Otherwise, follow the next steps to update the firmware.

7. Unzip SMCU release tarball file:

   sudo tar -xf smcu_nfw_R38.5.0_aarch64.tbz2
   

8. Close console ports for both SMCU and Tegra (if open).

9. Flash the SMCU firmware HEX file with script:

   cd smcu/nfw/
   
   # Update first partition.
   sudo python3 ./MCU_Flashing.py  921600 "$SMCU_SERIAL_DEV" "$TEGEA_SERIAL_DEV"  ./P3974_rh850_IGX_nfw.hex
   
   # Run again to update the second partition.
   sudo python3 ./MCU_Flashing.py  921600 "$SMCU_SERIAL_DEV" "$TEGEA_SERIAL_DEV"  ./P3974_rh850_IGX_nfw.hex
   

10. Check the SMCU FW version after update:

    nfw>
    nfw> version
    Info: Executing cmd: version, argc: 0, args:
    SW Version  2.00.02 rh850_nfw
    Command Executed
    

11. Power cycle the Dev Kit.

Supported SMCU Commands

The following are the supported SMCU commands:

SMCU Commands

S.NO	Command	Description	Testcase	Notes
1	help	Shows all available commands supported	help	N/A
2	version	Show the current flashed/running firmware version	version	N/A
3	showport	Show the state of port X pin y	showport P x y	N/A
4	showallports	Show the state of all board gpio pins	showallports	N/A
5	setport	Set the state of port x pin y to high/low	setport P x y 1	N/A
6	reset	Reset the system	reset/ reset force	N/A
7	poweron	Poweron the system	poweron	N/A
8	poweroff	Poweroff the system	poweroff	N/A
9	monitor_therm	Enable/disable thermal monitoring	monitor_therm enable	N/A
10	tegrarecovery on	put tegra in recovery mode	“tegrarecovery x1 on” followed by “tegrareset x1”	N/A
11	tegrarecovery off	put tegra out of recovery	“tegrarecovery x1 off” followed by “tegrareset x1”	“N/A”
12	tegrareset	Resets Tegra	tegrareset x1	N/A
13	spiread	Read n data using master spi module x	spiread 0x1 0x300 0x1	N/A
14	inforom	Display smcu inforom contents	inforom dump	N/A
15	vrs12	print VRS12 status	vrs12 status	N/A
16	exitsc7	Exit SC7 sleep	exitsc7	work when system is in sc7 state