Rockchip Flash Tool

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Rockchip has provided tools for upgrading within Linux (closed source) since Android 4.4. It's called upgradetool. 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. Upgradetool lf # low format flash upgradetool ef # erase flash rkdeveloptool ¶ rkdeveloptool is an open-source command line flashing tool developed by Rockchip, which is an alternative to the close-source upgradetool. Rockchip tool is used for Android OS installation on Tablet. The installation of operating system on Tablet is termed as Flashing. The Possible reasons for OS installation are maybe the OS might get corrupted, Tablet get stuck at boot menu, processing speed has gone up, tablet hang at various operation, without doing anything it get.

Boot Mode¶

eMMC flash is commonly soldered directly to the board. Some eMMC flash are pluggable, but it is hard to find a reader to use on PC. Therefore, eMMC is generally flashed onboard, that is, running to tiny system on the obard, which reads firmware data from PC and flashes to eMMC.

Depending on the existing data on the eMMC flash, there are two special boot modes: Rockusb Mode and Maskrom Mode.

You usually just need to enter Rockusb Mode for upgrading an existing Android OS or Firefly Ubuntu OS, which is packed with RK Firmware format.

Maskrom Mode is the last resort when Rockusb Mode is not available due to bootloader damage, or you need to flash Raw Firmware to eMMC.

Rockusb Mode¶

If the board powers on and finds a valid IDB (IDentity Block) in the eMMC, it will continue to load the bootloader from the eMMC and pass execution control to it. If the bootloader checks that the Recovery button is pressed and USB connection is made, then it enters the so-called Rockusb Mode, waiting for further instructions from the host.

Requirement:

  • 5V2A power adapter.
  • Micro USB cable to connect power adapter and board.
  • Male to male USB cable to connect host PC and board.
  • eMMC.

Steps:

  1. Pull all the USB cables (including micro USB cable and male to male USB cable) out of the board, to keep the board powering off.

  2. Install the eMMC and pull out the SD card.

  3. Use the male to male USB cable to connect the host PC with the USB 2.0 OTG port (the lower one in the double-decker ports) of the board.

  4. Keep the RECOVERY button on the board pressed.

  5. Plug in the micro USB cable to the board to power up.

  6. Wait about 3 seconds before releasing the RECOVERY button.

Maskrom Mode¶

If anyone of the following conditions is met when the board powers on:

  • eMMC is empty.
  • The bootloader on eMMC is damaged.
  • eMMC read data failed by connecting eMMC data/clock pin to ground.

then no valid IDB (IDentity Block) will be found in the eMMC. The CPU will execute a small ROM code, waiting for the host to upload via USB a small DDR blob to initialize the DDR memory, and later a full bootloader to handle further firmware upgrading. This mode is called Maskrom Mode.

It involves hardware operation to force into MaskRom Mode, which has certain risk and should be carried out VERY CAREFULLY.

Requirement:

  • 5V2A power adapter.
  • Micro USB cable to connect power adapter and board.
  • Male to male USB cable to connect host PC and board.
  • Metal tweezers to connect eMMC clock pin to ground.
  • eMMC.

Steps:

  1. Pull all the USB cables (including micro USB cable and male to male USB cable) out of the board, to keep the board power off.

  2. Install the eMMC and pull out the SD card.

  3. Use a male to male USB cable to connect your host PC and USB OTG port of the board:

  4. Find the reserved eMMC CLK and GND pads on the board, as shown below:

  5. Connect the eMMC CLK and GND pads with metal tweezers and keep holding steadily.

  6. Plug in the micro USB cable to the board to power on.

  7. Wait about 1 seconds before releasing the metal tweezers.

Flashing Tools¶

Please use the eMMC flashing tools according to your OS:

  • To flash to the eMMC:
    • GUI
      • AndroidTool (Windows)
    • CLI
      • upgrade_tool (Linux)
      • rkdeveloptool (Linux)

AndroidTool¶

AndroidTool is used to flash Raw Firmware, RK Firmware and Partition Image to eMMC.

To use AndroidTool, you need to install Rockusb Driver first.

Installing Rockusb Driver¶

Download DriverAssistant, extract the archive and run DriverInstall.exe inside.

Click the “驱动安装” button to install the driver. If you want to uninstall the driver, click the “驱动卸载” button.

If your device is in Rockusb Mode or Maskrom Mode, you’ll find a RockusbDevice in the device manager:

Rockchip Firmware Tool

Installing AndroidTool¶

Download AndroidTool, extract it. Locate the file named config.ini, and edit it by changing the 4th line from Selected=1 to Selected=2, in order to select English as the default user interface language.

Launch AndroidTool.exe:

If your device is in Rockusb Mode, the status line will be “Found One LOADER Device”.

If your device is in Maskrom Mode, the status line will be “Found One MASKROM Device”.

Flashing Raw Firmware¶

Raw Firmware needs to be flashed to offset 0 of eMMC storage. However, in Rockusb Mode, all LBA writes are offset by 0x2000 sectors. Therefore, the device has to be forced into Maskrom Mode.

To flash Raw Firmware to the eMMC using AndroidTool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Maskrom Mode.
  2. Run AndroidTool.
  3. Switch to the “Download Image” tab page.
  4. Keep the first line of the table unchanged, using the default loader file.
  5. Click the right blank cell on the second line, which will pop up a file dialog to open the Raw Firmware file.
  6. Click the “Run” button to flash.

Flashing RK Firmware¶

To flash RK Firmware to the eMMC using AndroidTool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Rockusb Mode or Maskrom Mode.
  2. Run AndroidTool.
  3. Switch to the “Upgrade Firmware” tab page.
  4. Click the “Firmware” button, which will pop up a file dialog to open the RK Firmware file.
  5. The firmware version, loader version and chip info will be read and displayed.
  6. Click the “Upgrade” button to flash.

Flashing Partition Image¶

To flash Partition Image to the eMMC using AndroidTool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Rockusb Mode or Maskrom Mode.

  2. Run AndroidTool.

  3. Switch to the “Download Image” tab page.

  4. Keep the first line of the table unchanged.

  5. Delete all others unused rows by selecting “Delete Item” from the right-click popup menu.

  6. Add partition image to flash by selection “Add Item” from the right-click popup menu.

    • Check on the checkbox on the first cell.
    • Fill in the address with the sector offset (plus 0x2000 if in Maskrom Mode) of partition in parameter.txt file.
    • Click the right blank cell to browse to the Partition Image file.

  7. Click the “Run” button to flash.

Note:

  • You can add multiple partitions to flash by repeating step 6.
  • You can skip the partition flashing by checking off the checkbox in front of the address cell.
  • In Maskrom Mode, you must add 0x2000 to the sector offset of the partition in parameter.txt. See Partition Offset for more detail.

upgrade_tool¶

upgrade_tool is a close-sourced command line tool provided by Rockchip, which supports flashing Raw Firmware, RK Firmware and Partition Image to the eMMC.

Installing upgrade_tool¶

Download upgrade_tool, and install it to your Linux host:

Then add udev rules by instructions here, in order to have permission for the normal user to flash Rockchip devices. If you skip this, you must prefix the following commands with sudo to have the right permission.

Flashing Raw Firmware¶

Raw Firmware needs to be flashed to offset 0 of eMMC storage. However, in Rockusb Mode, all LBA writes are offset by 0x2000 sectors. Therefore, the device has to be forced into Maskrom Mode.

To flash Raw Firmware to the eMMC using upgrade_tool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Maskrom Mode.

  2. Run:

Note:

  • rk3328_loader_ddr786_v1.06.243.bin is the copied loader file after compiling U-Boot. It can also be downloaded from here (choose rk3328_loader_xxx.bin file).
  • system.img is Raw Firmware after packing, which can also be Raw Firmware downloaded from official site (decompress first).

Flashing RK Firmware¶

To flash RK Firmware to the eMMC using upgrade_tool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Rockusb Mode or Maskrom Mode.

  2. Run:

Flashing Partition Image¶

You can write individual Partition Image to the eMMC. Depending on the original content of the eMMC, the instructions can be somewhat different.

Raw Firmware

If the original firmware format is raw, chances are that it is using the GPT partition scheme, and the predefined offset and size of each partition can be found in build/partitions.sh in the SDK. See Partition Offset for more detail.

To flash Partition Image to the eMMC using upgrade_tool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Maskrom Mode.

  2. Use upgrade_tool to flash the Partition Image:

RK Firmware

If the original firmware format is Rockchip, it is using the parameter file for partition scheme, and you can use the partition name to flash Partition Image directly.

To flash the Partition Image to the eMMC using upgrade_tool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Rockusb Mode.

  2. Use upgrade_tool to flash the Partition Image:

Note:

  • -b is a predefined shortcut for boot partition. If no shortcuts are available, use partition name instead (resource in above example).
  • You can customize kernel parameters and partition layout according to Parameter file format. Once the partition layout is changed, you must flash the parameter file first, before reflashing other changed partitions.

FAQ¶

Rockchip flash tool&driver

If errors occur due to flash storage problem, you can try to low format or erase the flash by:

rkdeveloptool¶

rkdeveloptool is an open-source command line flashing tool developed by Rockchip, which is an alternative to the close-source upgrade_tool.

rkdeveloptoolDOES NOT support proprietary RK Firmware.

Rockchip Flashing Tool V1.7

Installing rkdeveloptool¶

First, download, compile and install rkdeveloptool:

Then add udev rules by instructions here, in order to have permission for the normal user to flash Rockchip devices. If you skip this, you must prefix the following commands with sudo to have the right permission.

Rockchip Flash Tool&driver

Flashing Raw Firmware¶

Raw Firmware needs to be flashed to offset 0 of eMMC storage. However, in Rockusb Mode, all LBA writes are offset by 0x2000 sectors. Therefore, the device has to be forced into Maskrom Mode.

To flash Raw Firmware to the eMMC using rkdeveloptool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Maskrom Mode.

  2. Run:

Note:

  • rk3328_loader_ddr786_v1.06.243.bin is the copied loader file after compiling U-Boot. It can also be downloaded from here (choose rk3328_loader_xxx.bin file).
  • system.img is Raw Firmware after packing, which can also be the Raw Firmware downloaded from official site (decompress it first).

Flashing Partition Image¶

The following instructions ONLY APPLIY to boards which are flashed with Raw Firmware and use GPT partition scheme. The predefined offset and size of each partition can be found in build/partitions.sh in the SDK. See Partition Offset for more detail.

To flash Partition Image to the eMMC using rkdeveloptool, follow the steps below:

  1. Force the device into Maskrom Mode.

  2. Run:

udev¶

Create /etc/udev/rules.d/99-rk-rockusb.rules with following content1. Replace the group users with your actual Linux group if neccessary:

Reload the udev rules to take effect without reboot:

Partition Offset¶

GPT Partition¶

The offset of partition image can be obained by following command(assuming you are in the directory of Firefly Linux SDK):

which gives result of:

parameter¶

Rockchip Flash Tool 1.37 Download

If RK Firmware is used, parameter.txt is used to define partition layout.

Here’s a handy script to list the partition offsets in parameter.txt:

Save it as a script in /usr/local/bin/show_rk_parameter.sh and give the script executing permission.

Here’s an example of showing partition offsets defined in RK3328AndroidSDK:

Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7 is a small application for windows computer created by KS Rockchip Mobile Inc, which allows you to flash the stock fimwware on rockchip based device. Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7 is a very useful tool if you want to upgrade the software or completely replace it with a newer version.

If you own a device that uses Rockchip chipset and you want to update or replace its firmware, Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7 allows you to do it quickly and efficiently. The interface of Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7 is very simple and easy to use. During the upgrade process you can view the progress in the main window.

In order to use the Rockchip Batch Tool, you need to install the Universal ADB Driver on your computer.

After installing the Android Universal Driver on your computer you need to connect your Android device to the computer using the USB data cable. And once your Android device is detected by the computer, you need to launch the Tool.

Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7

Package Name: Rockchip_Batch_Tool_v1.7.zip
Alternative Name: Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7
Package Version: v1.7
Previous Version: Rockchip Batch Tool v1.5
Package Size: 31 MB

Rockchip Flash Tool 1.4

Readme Once:

[*] Compatibility: The Rockchip Batch Application runs perfectly on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (32 bit and 64 bit).

Rockchip Android Tool

[*] Take a Backup: If you are willing to try the above tool, then please take a backup of your personal data from your Android Smartphone or Tablet. As flashing any Firmware or recovery may brick the device.

[*] Other Tools: If you are searching for other useful tools then follow our Tools Section to download free GSM Tools.

[*] Credits: Rockchip Batch Tool is created and distributed by Rockchip Mobile Inc (developer). So, full credits goes to Rockchip Mobile Inc (developer) for sharing the tool for free.