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Turbine Stations - Image recovery

From Zenitel Wiki

This article describes how the flash image of a Turbine station ("Compact" and "Extended" versions) can be recovered.

Requirements

  • Download and install VS-Tools.msi. The PC application VS-Turbine.ImageUpgrade is a part of this package. This software runs both a TFTP server, and USB boot of target.
  • A DHCP server handing out TFTP address to Turbine board using DHCP Option 66 (TFTP server address)
  • A USB Mini B plug cable.
USB cable with Mini B plug



Optional requirements

The process can be run without these, but it helps monitoring the process.

  • A terminal emulator program. PuTTY is recommended
  • A USB to Serial cable for serial connection from the PC to the Turbine Compact board

Preparation of the optional USB to Serial converter cable

The Turbine station has a TTL level serial interface which we need to connect to during the upgrade process. For this purpose a USB to Serial converter cable can be used. Recommended cable is TTL-232R-3V3, available from Farnell.

This cable needs to be slightly modified as per photo below:

  • Pin 1 = Black (GND)
  • Pin 2 = Orange (Turbine RX)
  • Pin 3 = Yellow (Turbine TX)
Original cable


Modified cable



Insert the USB connector in the PC. The unit will now install itself. Make a note of which COM port number it is assigned to. You will also find it in the Device Manager. Baud rate: 115200.

USB Serial Port in the Device Manager


Setup and connections

TurbineRecovery1.PNG



Prepare the VS-Turbine.ImageUpgrade application

  • Make sure no other TFTP server is running on PC.
  • Launch VS-Turbine.ImageUpgrade application from Windows start menu.
  1. Load a vsft-prod-x.x.x.x.zip image using the Image Archive button.
  2. Activate tab Production Programming
  3. Insert input fields Operator Name, Programming Device and Serial Number

Your application should look something like below programming a TCIS-1 Station:

Upgrade application prepare.PNG


Note icon
  • The Operator Name and Serial Number can be anything (only used in production)
  • Take care to select the correct Programming Device from drop down
  • To reselect Programming Device double click in the label Programming Device
  • If not in factory production you can disregard the mac address (only programmed once)


Prepare the DHCP server

You can use any DHCP server, but you need to be able to configure DHCP option 66/Nextserver (TFTP server address) to point to the IP of the PC running VS-Turbine.ImageUpgrade.


Example using "DHCP Server for Windows"

This is a simple and easy to use server that works good for this setup. Note! make sure you are not connected to other networks while doing this.

Download and install from: http://www.dhcpserver.de/cms/

Configure your computer with static ip 10.0.1.10.

Example of config file dhcpsrv.ini

[SETTINGS]
IPPOOL_1=10.0.1.100-120
IPBIND_1=10.0.1.10
AssociateBindsToPools=1
Trace=1
DeleteOnRelease=0
ExpiredLeaseTimeout=3600
 
[GENERAL]
LEASETIME=86400
NODETYPE=8
SUBNETMASK=255.255.255.0
NEXTSERVER=10.0.1.10
ROUTER_0=0.0.0.0
 
[DNS-SETTINGS]
EnableDNS=0
 
[TFTP-SETTINGS]
EnableTFTP=0
ROOT=C:\Programs\dhcpsrv2.5.2\wwwroot
WritePermission=0

[HTTP-SETTINGS]
EnableHTTP=0
ROOT=C:\Programs\dhcpsrv2.5.2\wwwroot
Note icon Notice that parameter NEXTSERVER is set to 10.0.1.10 which in this example is the computer running the VS-Turbine.Imageupgrade application.


Prepare USB boot from PC

Use the USB Mini B plug cable.

  • Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the station (you might leave USB to Serial converter cable connected, so you can view progress on PuTTY)
  • Connect one end of the USB cable to the PC
  • Push the "Recovery button" on the station (switch S200), and keep it pressed for 5 sec while connecting the USB cable to the station (connector J2)
  • The PC will indicate new USB Device
New USB device discovered


  • Connect the Ethernet cable. Now you have the following setup: (The usb-to-serial cable is optional)
Setup - ready to boot from PC


Run USB recovery programming of device(s)

When all above is prepared all is set to start the full clean programming of the device(s).

Phase one - Program the bootloader prepared for auto IP/tftp upgrade

  • In the prepared VS-Turbine.ImageUpgrade do press the big green button USB Boot Intercom Station
  • You might want to switch tab to tftp Image Transfer Status
  • If serial cable connection you can also observe the progress and see status
  • This programming will finish after just a couple of seconds.
  • Remove USB and Ethernet cable.
  • You can now chose to go to phase two for this board, or continue for next board if you have many boards to re-program.
Note icon To streamline the process first do phase one for all boards. Then do phase two with a number of boards connected to switch (phase two can run in parallel)


03.07.2018 09:45:26 - Starting transfer of file sti_boot
03.07.2018 09:45:26 - Ended transfer of file sti_boot
03.07.2018 09:45:27 - Starting transfer of file sti_bareboxenv_prod
03.07.2018 09:45:27 - Ended transfer of file sti_bareboxenv_prod
03.07.2018 09:45:27 - Starting transfer of file sti_oftree <- imx28-st-compact.dtb
03.07.2018 09:45:27 - Ended transfer of file sti_oftree
03.07.2018 09:45:27 - Starting transfer of file tsu_status


Phase two - Run full tftp image upgrade

  • Have the prepared VS-Turbine.ImageUpgrade running
  • Switch tab to tftp Image Transfer Status to monitor progress
  • Connect any number of "phase one prepared" boards to the PoE switch (do not connect USB cable)
  • The upgrade should commence automatically, observe progress in Current Full Image Programming Status


Final phase

3.07.2018 09:45:55 - Starting transfer of file sti_info.txt
03.07.2018 09:45:55 - Ended transfer of file sti_info.txt
03.07.2018 09:45:55 - Starting transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_boot
03.07.2018 09:45:56 - Ended transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_boot
03.07.2018 09:45:56 - Starting transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_bareboxenv
03.07.2018 09:45:56 - Ended transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_bareboxenv
03.07.2018 09:45:56 - Starting transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_kernel
03.07.2018 09:45:58 - Ended transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_kernel
03.07.2018 09:45:58 - Starting transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_rootfs
03.07.2018 09:46:41 - Ended transfer of file sti-4.7.3.2_rootfs
03.07.2018 09:47:01 - Starting transfer of file tsu_status
Starting New Image Upgrade process
macaddress=00:13:CB:08:28:6A
tftp:Server OK
Image sti-4.7.3.2_boot downloaded and verified
Image sti-4.7.3.2_bareboxenv downloaded and verified
Image sti-4.7.3.2_kernel downloaded and verified
No ubifs image, checking for root.ubi image
Image sti-4.7.3.2_rootfs downloaded and verified
Image sti-4.7.3.2_boot succsessfully written to Flash
Image sti-4.7.3.2_boot succsessfully written to Flash
Image sti-4.7.3.2_bareboxenv succsessfully written to Flash
Image sti-4.7.3.2_kernel succsessfully written to Flash
Image sti-4.7.3.2_rootfs succsessfully written to Flash
Note icon When doing image recovery to 5.1.3.0, the station must be reset manually by typing "reset" and pressing Enter in the Putty command window of the serial connection