Previously I wrote an article entitled “How to Flash Rockchip RK3066 / RK3188 Firmware in Linux” explaining how to use a graphical tool called RkFlashKit to upgrade firmware on Rockchip devices using a Linux computer. This tool had some limitations, and it would just have a subset of features of RkAndroidTool (Windows), and it was not possible to flash “update.img” type of firmware which are often provided and flashed with RkBatchTool in Windows.
Luckily there’s now a command line tool called upgrade_tool that allows you to flash the “update.img” firmware files directly from Linux. I’ve already shown how to use it with Radxa Rock, but it’s buried with other instructions, so I’ve decided to make a separate post. This has been tested in Ubuntu 14.04 with Radxa Rock (RK3188) and Measy U2C (RK3066).
Ready? Let’s start by downloading and extracting upgrade_tool. You may want to add the installation path to your PATH, or copy it to /usr/local/sbin directory.
Now download the firmware for your device, let’s call it “android-5.0_rk3xxx.img”, and enter recovery more in your device. This is usually done by connecting a USB to micro USB cable between the OTG port of your device and your PC, and press a “recovery” or “reset” button on your device with a sharp object (e.g. toothpick) and turning on the device.
Now complete the firmware upgrade with the two command below:
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sudo ./upgrade_tool lf sudo ./upgrade_tool uf android-5.0_rk3xxx.img |
Done. It’s that easy. Now just restart your device to boot the new firmware.
The full output during the firmware update procedure should look like:
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$ sudo ./upgrade_tool lf Lower Format Device,total(2048),current(2044) Lower Format Device OK. $ sudo ./upgrade_tool uf android-5.0_rk3xxx.img Loading firmware... Support Type:RK30 FW Ver:5.0.02 FW Time:2014-11-27 17:19:47 Loader ver:3.23 Loader Time:2014-10-03 18:08:37 Upgrade firmware ok. |
You can also flash individual files (parameter, boot.img, system.img, etc…) with upgrade_tool utility, as well as do some checks with the NAND flash. More details can be found in the PDF file found in the zip file used for installation.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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