Before you start

Keep in mind that:

You can always flash the rock, it never bricks

(as the name :)) unless some hardware damage
occurs.

What you will need to flash the board is:

Firmware image, check hardware revision. there are

Pro and Full/Lite, firmware is different

Radxa Rock or Rock Pro or Rock2 Square board

a PC running Windows (XP 32/64bit, Windows 7 32/64

bit) or Linux (32/64bit)

a micro USB cable with one side plugged in to the OTG

port of the board and the other side plugged into the USB
port on PC.

Windows
The Windows tool for flashing the image is provided by
Rockchip. To flash the update.img(you'd better click this link
and read this page,it's very Important for the radxa
beginner), you need to use the RKBatchTool and to flash
the partitions, you will need to use RKDevelopTool. Both
RKBatchTool and RKDevelopTool rely on the RK USB
driver so you will need to install it first as below:

Install driver
1.install using RKDriverAssistant tools - the easy
way(Just for winXp, Vista, Win7,not support Win8)

2.install manually (WinXp,Vista,Win7,Win8)

If you have already installed the USB driver please skip

this step.

a. Install using RK Driver

Assistant tools
Note:The method just support WinXp,Vista,Win7, NOT
SUPPORT Win8

Theres no need to connect your Rockchip device during

this procedure just download and
extract RKDriverAssistant.zip Then double click on
DriverInstall.exe in the RKDriverAssistant directory to start
the utility. If you've previously tried to install the Rockchip
USB drivers for any Rockchip devices make sure you click
Uninstall Driver first.
Then click Install Driver and when the driver has finish
installing then shut down radxa board and connect the
Radxa Rock board to your computer and let the board go
to loader mode, then your computer will detect the board
and you will see it within device manager.

Now the driver should have been installed successfully!

b. Install Manually
Download driver file first. For WinXp,Vista,Win7,Download
the file (usb_driver_v3.5.zip) from here . For Win8
Download the file(usb_driver_v3.7.zip) from here. shut
down the Radxa Rock board then connect the Radxa Rock
board to the computer and let the board go to loader mode.
After your computer should detect the board and you will
see an unknown device within device manager.

Select the Unknown device then right click and select

"Update Driver Software".
Select "Browse the computer for driver software".
Find the file unzipped file you downloaded earlier
(usb_driver_v3.5.zip) and select either the 32/64bit folder
then click "OK" to install.

When the driver is installed successful you will then see a

Rockusb Device in the device manager window.
Now the driver is installed successfully.

Flash Image
Download the tool first AndroidTool_Release_v2.3.zip

There are two methods to flash an image.

1.Flash the whole firmware only, it will erase everything.

2.Flash firmware by partitions, it's very convenient when

debugging part function such as kernel
Flash the whole firmware
Power down the Radxa Rock board and connect the Radxa
Rock board to the computer then let the board go to loader
mode after the program should detect the device.

you can see Found One MASKROM device at the bottom

of the tool when you first flash the board or just unbrick the
board

Or Found One Loader Device at the bottom of the tool

when you flashed image not first time

Then Select an image (rockdev/update.img). For

information on how to make nand image see update.img

After that, Click "Upgrade " to begin flashing

Flash firmware by partation
Power down the Radxa Rock board and connect the Radxa
Rock board to the computer then let the board go to loader
mode after the program should detect the device.

you can see Found One MASKROM device at the bottom

of the tool when you first flash the board or just unbrick the
board

Or Found One Loader Device at the bottom of the tool

when you flashed image not first time.
Then select the partations you need update, and select the
right image which you can find under rockdev or kernel
directory. finally click "Run " to flash

Note: if your address of the partation doesn't the same as

the pic below, you can modify the address by click the
address item.

Here is the video you can refer

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjkzNDk3MjEy.html

Troubleshooting
FlashTool can not recognize the
board
This often happened by the follow reasons:

1) Not enter the loader mode (refer to [rock loader

mode] [rock2 square loader mode])

Note:

In general, When you connect to PC with radxa( in loader

mode), the PC can recongize radxa as Rockusb
Device(windows)

2) the used usb port of pc is usb3.0 (please change usb2.0

port)

3) the OS of PC is windows 8 (if windows 8,please

use http://dl.radxa.com/rock/tools/windows/Rockusb
%20Driver%20v3.7.zip)

4) bad quality usb cable, you can change a short and good
quality one to try again

If the problem still exists, you can refer to the topics

in talk.radxa.com, create a new topic on it or send email to
support@radxa.com

Flashing failed
For rock pro
After flashing, the uart print

DDR Version 1.04 20130517 In DDR3 300MHz Bus

Width=32 Col=10 Bank=8 Row=15 CS=2 Die Bus-
Width=16 Size=2048MB Memory OK OUT
BUILD=====6 SdmmcInit=0 20 F:32 1061 0 0 40
FlashReadRetry error!!,row = fff000 FlashReadRetry
error!!,row = fff000

and not boot.

If flashing failed, try to format the nand flash before flashing

it.

AndroidTool V2.3 -> Upgrade firmware - click "Erease

Flash" button to format the nand flash

AndroidTool V2.3 -> Download Image - click

"LowerFormat" to format the nand flash

For rock2 square

you can press reset key and reflash , if still failed ,you can
refer to http://talk.radxa.com/topic/957/bricked-rock2/19 or
send mail to support@radxa.com

Preparing IDB failed

This happens at upgrading bootloader, if you need to
upgrade the bootloader or the update.img contains a new
bootloader, you probably will meet this. The rock is
"bricked". Follow this unbrick instructions to unbrick it.
Win8.1 and USB 3.0
If you have problem with Win8.1 and USB 3.0, please
check: http://talk.radxa.com/topic/1026/solution-rk-
batchtool-problem-with-64bit-windows-8-1-usb3

Linux
Rockchip has provided tools for upgrading within Linux
(closed source) since Android 4.4. It's called upgrade_tool.
It supports update.img, parameter, bootloader and other
partitions, and it's command line based.

rkflashkit is an open source GUI version flashing tool for

rockchip devices. It can not flash bootloader or parameter,
only supports kernel and other partitions, but it supports
backup the partitions.

For developers: The initial RE work of the Rockchip

bootloader updating protocol is by naobsd and has been
improved by some in rkflashtool. linuxerwang has made a
GUI version of the rkflashtool called rkflashkit. Please
note: both rkflashtool and rkflashkit can not flash
the rock/update.img and can only flash
within rock/bootloader mode and not rock/mask rom mode
because the rock/mask rom updating protocol is not RE yet.
If you are interested in the RE protocol ping naobsd at
#radxa on IRC. Since therock/bootloader has remained
unchanged for a long time it's enough for normal usage. If
you don't know what this means, just ignore it.

Upgrade_tool from
Rockchip
Download the Rockchip linux upgrade tool here. Unzip it
and you will get a file called upgrade_tool which is a binary
executable file under Linux.

Note: there are two ways to flash the android image.

1> Just flash one image file. refer to the "Flash

update.img" ,The image you can download
here prebuilt_image . or you can build the image by
yourself refer toAndroid_Build

2>Flash image by partitions,this methods you need flash

serveral images depends on the partitions and your
requirement. refer to "Flash parameter ", "Flash bootloader
","Flash the kernel(boot.img)"

Flash all-in-one nand/emmc

image file(Recommended)
Let the board go to loader mode [Rock Loader
mode], [Rock2 Square Loader mode] and run the following
command to flash the update.img:

sudo ./upgrade_tool uf /path/to/update.img

#(UF Upgrade Flash)

If you have an error with upgrading you can low level format
the nand flash first with the following command:

sudo ./upgrade_tool lf #(LF Lowlevel Format) This

will erase everything on nand

Flash by partitions
The whole files you should flash
are"parameter","bootloader","boot.img","recovery.img""syste
m.img" , all the file you can find under the rockdev/ after you
build the android successful.

How to flash the file and images.

Flash bootloader
sudo ./upgrade_tool ul /path/to/bootloader #(UL
Upgrade Loader)

Other partitions can be flashed by di command. You can

use upgrade_tool di partition_name image_name to
flash the image to the partition. There are some shortcuts
for certain image name.
 partition name short name

parameter -p

boot -b

system -s

recovery -r

misc -m

Flash parameter
sudo ./upgrade_tool di parameter
/path/to/parameter

or for short

sudo ./upgrade_tool di -p /path/to/parameter

#(DI Download Image)

Flash the kernel(boot.img)

sudo ./upgrade_tool di boot /path/to/boot.img
or for short

sudo ./upgrade_tool di -b /path/to/boot.img

Flash the rootfs

sudo ./upgrade_tool di linuxroot /path/to/rootfs.img

Others
There are other commands in the upgrade_tool, such as:

EF: erease the nand flash

FAQ

1) why I must flash this file?

The android image is constructed by this files.

2)what's the paration info?

The partations info you can get from the paramteter file
under the rockdev/ which in the android source code.

CMDLINE:console=ttyFIQ0
androidboot.console=ttyFIQ0
init=/init initrd=0x62000000,0x00800000
mtdparts=rk29xxnand:0x00002000@0x00002000(misc
),
0x00006000@0x00004000(kernel),
0x00006000@0x0000a000(boot),
0x00010000@0x00010000(recovery),
0x00020000@0x00020000(backup),
0x00040000@0x00040000(cache),
0x003FC000@0x00080000(userdata),
0x00002000@0x0047C000(metadata),
0x00002000@0x0047E000(kpanic),
0x00180000@0x00480000(system),
-@0x00600000(user)

3) why other parations do have image to flash?

Other parations are used to store data.

4) why not flash the kernel.img ?

The kernel.img is packed into boot.img . more info you can

refer to Android_Build

5) Other questions

Post on the talk.radxa.com or send email to

support@radxa.com
Flash with
rkflashtool(Advanced)
rkflashtool is an open source tool to write nand flash via the
loader mode for rockchip platform.

To install rkflashtool:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libusb-1.0-0-dev

git clone https://github.com/linux-rockchip/rkflashtool
cd rkflashtool
make
sudo cp rkflashtool rkcrc rkunpack rkunsign
/usr/local/bin

To read/write parameter:

rkflashtool p > param

rkflashtool P < param

To read/write partitions:

rkflashtool r boot > boot.img

rkflashtool w boot < boot.img
rkflashtool r linuxroot > linuxroot.ext4
rkflashtool w linuxroot < linuxroot.ext4
Rkflashkit with GUI
You can download the pre-built rkflashkit here or build it
yourself with the following command:

git clone https://github.com/linuxerwang/rkflashkit

cd rkflashkit
./waf debian

And install it with the following command

sudo apt-get install python-gtk2

sudo dpkg -i rkflashkit_0.1.1_all.deb

Run it with the following command

sudo rkflashkit

You can see the interface looks like this:

Connect the Radxa Rock board to the computer and let the
board go into loader mode you will then see the the
program detect the board in loader mode.

1.Click the Nand partition and you will see the partitions
of the board listed then choose the one you want to
flash.

2.Choose the location of the image you want to flash to

that partition.

3.Click the "Flash image" button and it will start flashing

4.After it's finished click "Reboot Device" button to reboot

the board.
Troubleshooting
Creating Comm Object failed!
that's udev issues You can solve this by creating a new
file in /etc/udev/rules.d/ with the rule for the rock.

To do that, copy and paste these commands:

echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2207",

MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"' | sudo tee
/etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Finally, just remove and reinsert the USB cable.

What's verision of My board and

Which Image should I flash!
refer to update.img

Install the image on

RR without PC
If you want to write the image on RR without any other host
PC, you can download the image and write with dd:

sudo dd if=XXX.img of=/dev/block/mtd/by-name/XXX

bs=16384 conv=sync,fsync
Videos tutorial
Flashing the image to nand
flash https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=r20lOKu2E1s&feature=youtu.be

External Reference
http://www.hagensieker.com/styled-26/index.html