DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / plc-utils-extra / ampboot.1.en
ampboot(1) Qualcomm Atheros Open Powerline Toolkit ampboot(1)

ampboot - Qualcomm Atheros AR7x00 Powerline Device Bootstrapper

ampboot [options] -N file -P file [device] [device] [...]

Download and start runtime firmware on a local powerline device when it is in bootloader mode. A device remains in bootloader mode when it cannot load firmware from flash memory for some reason. This can happen if the device has no flash memory or the flash memory is either blank or corrupted. You can use this progrm to start a device or start the device and then, once runtime firmware starts, program flash memory.

The bootloader only recognizes a subset of Atheros message types. This program uses that subset to write runtime firmware and parameters into SDRAM then start firmware execution. Optionally, it can proceed to download the same firmware and parameters again and commit them to flash memory.

Starting a device is a three phase operation. The first phase writes an SDRAM configuration program into TCM and executes it. The second phase writes runtime firmware and parameters as images into SDRAM. The third phase starts firmware execution. Once the runtime firmware starts, the device is operational.

Flashing a device is a two phase operation. The first phase downloads runtime firmare and parameters under firmware control into scratch buffers. The second phase instructs the firmware to write the scratch buffers to flash memory and reboot the device. After flashing the device is self-sustaining.

This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. See the plc man page for an overview and installation instructions.

-e
Redirects stderr messages to stdout. By convention status and error messages are printed on stderr while primary program output is printed on stdout. This option prints all output on stdout in cases where this is desired.

-F[F]
Write previously downloaded MAC and PIB to NVRAM using VS_MOD_NVM. Adding a second F here or another -F anywhere on the command line will force-flash a blank or corrupted NVRAM. Firmware loaded from NVRAM will treat force-flash as an error. This option can be used to create factory settings but cannot be used to change them once created. Subsequent use creates and updates operational settings that can be erased using a factory reset.

-i interface
Select the host Ethernet interface. All requests are sent via this host interface and only reponses received via this host interface are recognized. The default interface is eth1 because most people use eth0 as their principle network connection; however, if environment string "PLC" is defined then it takes precedence over the default interface. This option then takes precedence over either default.

Read the named NVM file and write it to the device. This option and argument are required. Any file having an invalid NVM file format will be rejected. No assumptions are made based on filename and no filename conventions are enforced.

Read the named PIB file and write it to the device. This option and argument are required. Any file having an invalid PIB file format will be rejected. No assumptions are made based on filename and no filename conventions are enforced.

-q
Suppresses status messages on stderr.

Read timeout in milliseconds. Values range from 0 through UINT_MAX. This is the maximum time allowed for a response. The default is shown in brackets on the program menu.

-v
Prints additional information on stdout. In particular, this option dumps outgoing Ethernet packets on stdout.

-?,--help
Print program help summary on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line.

-!,--version
Print program version information on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line. Use this option when sending screen dumps to Atheros Technical Support so that they know exactly which version of the Linux Toolkit you are using.

The Ethernet hardware address of some powerline device. More than one address may be specified on the command line. If more than one address is specified then operations are performed on each device in turn. The default address is local. as explained in the DEVICES section.

Powerline device addresses are 12 hexadecimal digits in upper, lower or mixed case. Individual octets may be separated by colons, for clarity, but colons are not required. For example, "00b052000001", "00:b0:52:00:00:01" and "00b052:000001" are valid and equivalent.

A local device is any Atheros Powerline Device connected directly to a host Ethernet interface. A remote device is any Atheros Powerline Device at the far end of a powerline connection. A foreign device is any powerline device not manufactured by Atheros.

Common device addresses have symbolic names that can be used in place of the actual address value. The following symbolic addresses are recognized by this program and most other toolkit programs.

Equivalent to "broadcast", described next.

A synonym for the Ethernet broadcast address, FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. All devices, whether local, remote or foreign will respond to this address.

A synonym for the Qualcomm Atheros Local Management Address (LMA), 00:B0:52:00:00:01. All local Atheros devices will respond to this address but remote and foreign devices will not.

See the Qualcomm Atheros HomePlug AV Firmware Technical Reference Manual for technical information. See the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit Online Documetation for practical information and examples.

The -N and -P options are always required. Their order is not important. Tne MAC address is not needed because devices default to address 00:B0:52:00:00:01 (the program default address) in bootloader mode. Once this operation completes, firmware is running in SDRAM but the NVRAM, if present, has not been programmed. This operation is common for flash-less devices. If we reset the device at this point then the device will return to bootloader mode.


ampboot -N test.nvm -P test.pib
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write SDRAM Configuration
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write to device memory
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write to device memory
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Start Firmware
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Started.

The next example does the same thing but performs the extra steps needed to program NVRAM. It first downloads the firmware image from file test.nvm and the parameter block image from file test.pib using VS_WR_MEM then starts firmware execution using VS_ST_MAC. Once runtime firmware has started, it downloads the same firmware image and parameter block image (again) using VS_WR_MOD and commits them to NVRAM using VS_MOD_NVM.


ampboot -N test.nvm -P test.pib -F
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write SDRAM Configuration
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write to device memory
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write to device memory
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Start Firmware
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Started.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write MAC as module
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write PIB as module
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Written.
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Flash Device
# eth0 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Flashed.

Atheros HomePlug AV Vendor Specific Management Message structure and content is proprietary to Qualcomm Atheros, Ocala FL USA. Consequently, public information may not be available. Qualcomm Atheros reserves the right to modify message structure and content in future firmware releases without any obligation to notify or compensate users of this program.

plc(1), amptool(1), chknvm(1), chkpib(1), modpib(1)


Charles Maier

November 2013 open-plc-utils-0.0.3