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MRS Android Automotive

Flash OS

This guide covers flashing a built Android Automotive OS image onto the NXP i.MX8 QuadMax MEK board.

This workflow is intentionally focused on the following setup:

  • C-series i.MX8 QuadMax MEK board
  • the multi-display image set with HDMI infotainment output

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”

Make sure you have:

  • a completed build published on the build server
  • physical access to the MEK board
  • uuu and fastboot available on your laptop PATH
    • If you use nix, you can use nix develop to access the packages
  • a USB cable connected to the board’s USB 3.0 Type-C / OTG port
  • optional but strongly recommended: a second USB cable connected to the board’s micro-USB debug UART port so you can watch boot logs

The MEK uses two different USB connections in this workflow:

  • use the USB 3.0 Type-C / OTG port for uuu, fastboot, and normal device enumeration
  • use the micro-USB debug UART port for serial console access during boot

Pull the published artifacts from the build server by running the following on your laptop:

Terminal window
just pull-build-artifacts user@host

After that, the images should be under:

/tmp/imx-automotive-16.0.0_1.1.0/mek_8q

Verify the local artifact set with:

Terminal window
just verify-deploy-artifacts

Full flash from serial download mode

Section titled “Full flash from serial download mode”

This is the most reliable path when you want to replace the full OS image on the board.

Put the board into serial download mode

Section titled “Put the board into serial download mode”
  1. set SW2 to 001000
  2. connect the board for flashing

Flash from the laptop

Section titled “Flash from the laptop”

If the OTG port does not re-enumerate after setting SW2, press SW3 to force USB re-enumeration, then, from the repo root on your laptop, run:

Terminal window
just flash-android-automotive

That command verifies the local published artifacts, starts the flash process, and wipes userdata.

Switch the board back to eMMC boot

Section titled “Switch the board back to eMMC boot”
  1. set SW2 to 000100
  2. press SW3 to reboot the board into normal eMMC boot

The first boot takes about 2.5 minutes. Later boots usually take less than a minute.

Verify the new boot

Section titled “Verify the new boot”

After switching back to eMMC boot and powering the board on:

  1. confirm the board reaches Android on the attached display or in the UART boot log
  2. watch the boot on the attached display or over the debug UART if you have it connected
  3. wait through the first boot, which can take several minutes after a full flash

Once Android finishes booting, verify the device is reachable from your laptop:

Terminal window
adb devices
adb shell getprop ro.build.fingerprint

You should see the board listed by adb devices, and getprop should return a non-empty build fingerprint from the newly flashed image.

If you have a specific change to validate, this is the right point to confirm it on the device before moving on.

Common failure points

Section titled “Common failure points”
  • Wrong SW2 boot-mode setting for the current step
    • Use 001000 for serial download flashing and 000100 for normal eMMC boot.
  • USB cable connected to the wrong port
    • Use the board’s USB 3.0 Type-C / OTG port for flashing.
  • Missing required published artifacts under /tmp/imx-automotive-16.0.0_1.1.0/mek_8q
    • Rerun just pull-build-artifacts user@host and just verify-deploy-artifacts.

References

Section titled “References”