09. How To Flash Your Portenta X8

Overview

In this tutorial, you will learn how to manually flash your Portenta X8 with the image provided by Arduino. You will flash your board through USB using the Terminal. The instructions below are meant to be used with a Windows Operating System.

Goals

• Learn how to get the required files
• Learn how to set up the correct structure of the files
• Learn how to set up the board
• Learn how to flash the device

Required Hardware and Software

• Arduino Portenta X8
• USB-C® cable (either USB-C® to USB-A or USB-C® to USB-C®)
• Portenta Family Carrier (Optional):
• Arduino Portenta Breakout Board
• Arduino Portenta Max Carrier
• Arduino Portenta Hat Carrier

Instructions

Arduino's Download Repository

Go to Arduino Download repository, and a compressed

.tar.gz

Please extract the files after you have downloaded the compressed file. The extracted contents have the following structure.

Copy
1Unzipped folder
2├── imx-boot-portenta-x8
3├── lmp-partner-arduino-image-portenta-x8.wic.gz **(Compressed)**
4├── mfgtool-files-portenta-x8.tar.gz **(Compressed)**
5├── sit-portenta-x8.bin
6└── u-boot-portenta-x8.itb

After verifying these files are available, you will need to decompress

mfgtool-files-portenta-x8.tar.gz

lmp-partner-arduino-image-portenta-x8.wic.gz

.wic

Copy
1Unzipped folder
2├── mfgtool-files-portenta-x8/
3├── imx-boot-portenta-x8
4├── lmp-partner-arduino-image-portenta-x8.wic
5├── lmp-partner-arduino-image-portenta-x8.wic.gz **(Compressed)**
6├── mfgtool-files-portenta-x8.tar.gz **(Compressed)**
7├── sit-portenta-x8.bin
8└── u-boot-portenta-x8.itb

Setting the Portenta X8 to Flashing Mode

Flashing Mode with Carrier

Connect your Portenta X8 to your carrier of choice, either Portenta Breakout, Portenta Max Carrier, or Hat Carrier, via High-Density connectors. After connecting the Portenta X8, you must set the

BOOT

BTSEL

BOOT/BTSEL

For the Portenta Max Carrier, set the

BOOT SEL

BOOT

For the Portenta Breakout, the

BT_SEL

BOOT

For the Portenta Hat Carrier, the

BTSEL

The

ETH CENTER TAP

You must connect one USB-C® end to the Portenta X8 and the other (USB-C® or USB-A) to your computer. With this, the Portenta X8 is ready to begin the flashing process.

Flashing Mode without Carrier

It is recommended to flash the board with the carrier. If it is not possible, we provide an alternative procedure for advanced users only implying the full flash memory erasing. If something goes wrong during the procedure, you might not be able to recover the board. Proceed with caution.

If Portenta Breakout or Portenta Max Carrier is unavailable, the Portenta X8 can be configured for programming mode using a few command lines inside the Portenta X8's terminal via ADB. Please use the following commands in exact sequence while in the root environment with root permission.

Copy
1echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk2boot0/force_ro

Copy
1dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk2boot0 bs=1024 count=4096 && sync

Copy
1echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk2boot1/force_ro

Copy
1dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk2boot1 bs=1024 count=4096 && sync

This sequence of commands will allow you to reset Portenta X8's bootloader sector, defaulting the internal bootloader to

uuu

Flashing the Portenta X8

To flash the Portenta X8, you need to begin by opening a terminal. Within the terminal, you need to change the directory to where the

mfgtool-files-portenta-x8

cd

Copy
1uuu full_image.uuu

If you have followed the Flashing Mode without Carrier method to flash an OS or a custom image, the

uuu

uuu

When the flashing operation is finished, you should see a similar result as the following figure:

Once you have verified it has successfully flashed the Portenta X8, the

BOOT

If the Portenta X8 was flashed barebone, you will need to recycle the power and be ready with the latest OS image.

After booting, you will need to wait 10 seconds until the Portenta X8 starts blinking Blue LED. The Blue LED indicates it was able to boot successfully.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have learned to flash the Portenta X8 by getting the latest image, setting up the adequate file structure and the board, and finally flashing the board with these files.

Troubleshooting

• If you get an error while it is flashing, make sure your USB is correctly plugged in. Reconnect your board and try to flash it again. You may need to go through a few trials before successful flashing.
• If you get an error related to permissions, try to launch the

  uuu

  command as Super User (

  sudo

  ).