ROM_EXT Rescue Protocol

Introduction

The ROM_EXT rescue protocol permits the chip owner to perform device diagnostic and management actions when there is no functional application firmware.

These actions include:

Flashing a new application image.
Interacting with Boot Services.
Requesting the Boot Log data.
Performing Ownership Transfer.

Currently, the rescue protocol uses the console UART as the main communication channel. In the future, rescue operations may be available via additional interfaces.

Basic Operation

In order to interact with the rescue protocol, the user needs to signal to the ROM_EXT that rescue a rescue operation is desired.

Once signalled, the ROM_EXT will acknowledge entry into rescue mode and the user can then specify a specific rescue action and either upload or download any data block associated with that action.

Rescue mode is exited via either an in-band or out-of-band reset signal.

In order to signal to the ROM_EXT that a rescue operation is desired, the user should assert the serial break condition for at least 350us while the ROM_EXT boots. When the ROM_EXT detects the serial break condition, it will respond with an acknowledgement:

rescue: remember to clear break

Upon entry into rescue mode, the user should clear the serial break condition to allow further interaction with rescue mode.

Rescue Operations

By default, rescue will enter firmware rescue mode and will prompt the user to upload a new firmware image via the Xmodem-CRC protocol. Alternate modes are requested by sending the mode’s 4-byte code followed by a newline character.

NOTE: All of the mode codes avoid using capical C (ASCII 0x43) because that character is part of Xmodem-CRC’s signaling.

The following sections detail each of the supported alternate modes.

Firmware Rescue (`RESQ`)

The firmware rescue mode may be requested with the 4-byte code RESQ. The ROM_EXT will acknowledge entry of this mode with the following message:

mode: RESQ
ok: send firmware via xmodem-crc

The ROM_EXT will then prompt for the transfer to start by sending the Xmodem-CRC start character (which is the ASCII character C).

Request Boot Log Data (`BLOG`)

The user may request a copy of the Boot Log with the 4-byte code BLOG. The ROM_EXT will acknowledge this request with the following message:

mode: BLOG
ok: receive boot_log via xmodem-crc

The ROM_EXT will then transmit the boot log data structure to the user via the Xmodem-CRC protocol. After completing this action, the ROM_EXT will switch back to firmware rescue mode.

Send a Boot Services Request (`BREQ`)

The user may request to send a Boot Services request to the ROM_EXT with the 4-byte code BREQ. The ROM_EXT will acknowledge this request with the following message:

mode: BREQ
ok: send boot_svc request via xmodem-crc

The ROM_EXT will then will prompt for the transfer to start by sending the Xmodem-CRC start character (which is the ASCII character C). After completing this action, the ROM_EXT will switch back to firmware rescue mode.

Request the last Boot Services Response (`BRSP`)

The user may request the last boot services response with the 4-byte code BRSP. The ROM_EXT will acknowledge this request with the following message:

mode: BRSP
ok: receive boot_svc response via xmodem-crc

The ROM_EXT will then transmit the boot services response data structure to the user via the Xmodem-CRC protocol. After completing this action, the ROM_EXT will switch back to firmware rescue mode.

Send an Owner Block (`OWNR`)

The user may request to send an Owner Block to the ROM_EXT with the 4-byte code OWNR. The ROM_EXT will acknowledge this request with the following message:

mode: OWNR
ok: send owner_block via xmodem-crc

Note: the ROM_EXT will only accept the Owner Block if the chip is in an ownership transfer state and the receive owner block meets all validity criteria.

Request a Reboot (`REBO`)

The user may request a reboot operation with the 4-byte code REBO.

The ROM_EXT will acknowledge this request with the following message:

mode: REBO
ok: reboot

The ROM_EXT will then exit rescue mode and reboot the chip.

Error Conditions

Bad Mode

A bad mode request will result in the following message:

mode: <4-byte code>
error: unrecognized mode

The current rescue mode will remain unchanged.

Xmodem-CRC errors

The following errors and error responses can occur during Xmodem-CRC.

An invalid start-of-packet: the transfer is aborted.
An invalid block number: the transfer is cancelled.
An invalid CRC checksum: the frame is NAKed and the sender should retry the frame.