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+Power-On-Self-Test support in U-Boot
+------------------------------------
+
+This project is to support Power-On-Self-Test (POST) in U-Boot.
+
+1. High-level requirements
+
+The key rquirements for this project are as follows:
+
+1) The project shall develop a flexible framework for implementing
+ and running Power-On-Self-Test in U-Boot. This framework shall
+ possess the following features:
+
+ o) Extensibility
+
+ The framework shall allow adding/removing/replacing POST tests.
+ Also, standalone POST tests shall be supported.
+
+ o) Configurability
+
+ The framework shall allow run-time configuration of the lists
+ of tests running on normal/power-fail booting.
+
+ o) Controllability
+
+ The framework shall support manual running of the POST tests.
+
+2) The results of tests shall be saved so that it will be possible to
+ retrieve them from Linux.
+
+3) The following POST tests shall be developed for MPC823E-based
+ boards:
+
+ o) CPU test
+ o) Cache test
+ o) Memory test
+ o) Ethernet test
+ o) Serial channels test
+ o) Watchdog timer test
+ o) RTC test
+ o) I2C test
+ o) SPI test
+ o) USB test
+
+4) The LWMON board shall be used for reference.
+
+2. Design
+
+This section details the key points of the design for the project.
+The whole project can be divided into two independent tasks:
+enhancing U-Boot/Linux to provide a common framework for running POST
+tests and developing such tests for particular hardware.
+
+2.1. Hardware-independent POST layer
+
+A new optional module will be added to U-Boot, which will run POST
+tests and collect their results at boot time. Also, U-Boot will
+support running POST tests manually at any time by executing a
+special command from the system console.
+
+The list of available POST tests will be configured at U-Boot build
+time. The POST layer will allow the developer to add any custom POST
+tests. All POST tests will be divided into the following groups:
+
+ 1) Tests running on power-on booting only
+
+ This group will contain those tests that run only once on
+ power-on reset (e.g. watchdog test)
+
+ 2) Tests running on normal booting only
+
+ This group will contain those tests that do not take much
+ time and can be run on the regular basis (e.g. CPU test)
+
+ 3) Tests running on power-fail booting only
+
+ This group will contain POST tests that consume much time
+ and cannot be run regularly (e.g. I2C test)
+
+ 4) Manually executed tests
+
+ This group will contain those tests that can be run manually.
+
+If necessary, some tests may belong to several groups simultaneously.
+For example, SDRAM test may run on both noarmal and power-fail
+booting. On normal booting, SDRAM test may perform a fast superficial
+memory test only, while running on power-fail booting it may perform
+a full memory check-up.
+
+Also, all tests will be discriminated by the moment they run at.
+Specifically, the following groups will be singled out:
+
+ 1) Tests running before relocating to RAM
+
+ These tests will run immediatelly after initializing RAM
+ as to enable modifying it without taking care of its
+ contents. Basically, this group will contain memory tests
+ only.
+
+ 2) Tests running after relocating to RAM
+
+ These tests will run immediately before entering the main
+ loop as to guarantee full hardware initialization.
+
+The POST layer will also distinguish a special group of tests that
+may cause system rebooting (e.g. watchdog test). For such tests, the
+layer will automatically detect rebooting and will notify the test
+about it.
+
+2.1.1. POST layer interfaces
+
+This section details the interfaces between the POST layer and the
+rest of U-Boot.
+
+The following flags will be defined:
+
+#define POST_ROM 0x01 /* test runs in ROM */
+#define POST_RAM 0x02 /* test runs in RAM */
+#define POST_POWERON 0x04 /* test runs on power-on booting */
+#define POST_NORMAL 0x08 /* test runs on normal booting */
+#define POST_SHUTDOWN 0x10 /* test runs on power-fail booting */
+#define POST_MANUAL 0x20 /* test can be executed manually */
+#define POST_REBOOT 0x80 /* test may cause rebooting */
+
+The POST layer will export the following interface routines:
+
+ o) int post_run(bd_t *bd, char *name, int flags);
+
+ This routine will run the test (or the group of tests) specified
+ by the name and flag arguments. More specifically, if the name
+ argument is not NULL, the test with this name will be performed,
+ otherwise all tests running in ROM/RAM (depending on the flag
+ argument) will be executed. This routine will be called at least
+ twice with name set to NULL, once from board_init_f() and once
+ from board_init_r(). The flags argument will also specify the
+ mode the test is executed in (power-on, normal, power-fail,
+ manual).
+
+ o) void post_reloc(ulong offset);
+
+ This routine will be called from board_init_r() and will
+ relocate the POST test table.
+
+ o) int post_info(char *name);
+
+ This routine will print the list of all POST tests that can be
+ executed manually if name is NULL, and the description of a
+ particular test if name is not NULL.
+
+ o) int post_log(char *format, ...);
+
+ This routine will be called from POST tests to log their
+ results. Basically, this routine will print the results to
+ stderr. The format of the arguments and the return value
+ will be identical to the printf() routine.
+
+Also, the following board-specific routines will be called from the
+U-Boot common code:
+
+ o) int board_power_mode(void)
+
+ This routine will return the mode the system is running in
+ (POST_POWERON, POST_NORMAL or POST_SHUTDOWN).
+
+ o) void board_poweroff(void)
+
+ This routine will turn off the power supply of the board. It
+ will be called on power-fail booting after running all POST
+ tests.
+
+The list of available POST tests be kept in the post_tests array
+filled at U-Boot build time. The format of entry in this array will
+be as follows:
+
+struct post_test {
+ char *name;
+ char *cmd;
+ char *desc;
+ int flags;
+ int (*test)(bd_t *bd, int flags);
+};
+
+ o) name
+
+ This field will contain a short name of the test, which will be
+ used in logs and on listing POST tests (e.g. CPU test).
+
+ o) cmd
+
+ This field will keep a name for identifying the test on manual
+ testing (e.g. cpu). For more information, refer to section
+ "Command line interface".
+
+ o) desc
+
+ This field will contain a detailed description of the test,
+ which will be printed on user request. For more information, see
+ section "Command line interface".
+
+ o) flags
+
+ This field will contain a combination of the bit flags described
+ above, which will specify the mode the test is running in
+ (power-on, normal, power-fail or manual mode), the moment it
+ should be run at (before or after relocating to RAM), whether it
+ can cause system rebooting or not.
+
+ o) test
+
+ This field will contain a pointer to the routine that will
+ perform the test, which will take 2 arguments. The first
+ argument will be a pointer to the board info structure, while
+ the second will be a combination of bit flags specifying the
+ mode the test is running in (POST_POWERON, POST_NORMAL,
+ POST_POWERFAIL, POST_MANUAL) and whether the last execution of
+ the test caused system rebooting (POST_REBOOT). The routine will
+ return 0 on successful execution of the test, and 1 if the test
+ failed.
+
+The lists of the POST tests that should be run at power-on/normal/
+power-fail booting will be kept in the environment. Namely, the
+following environment variables will be used: post_poweron,
+powet_normal, post_shutdown.
+
+2.1.2. Test results
+
+The results of tests will be collected by the POST layer. The POST
+log will have the following format:
+
+...
+--------------------------------------------
+START <name>
+<test-specific output>
+[PASSED|FAILED]
+--------------------------------------------
+...
+
+Basically, the results of tests will be printed to stderr. This
+feature may be enhanced in future to spool the log to a serial line,
+save it in non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), transfer it to a dedicated
+storage server and etc.
+
+2.1.3. Integration issues
+
+All POST-related code will be #ifdef'ed with the CONFIG_POST macro.
+This macro will be defined in the config_<board>.h file for those
+boards that need POST. The CONFIG_POST macro will contain the list of
+POST tests for the board. The macro will have the format of array
+composed of post_test structures:
+
+#define CONFIG_POST \
+ {
+ "On-board peripherals test", "board", \
+ " This test performs full check-up of the " \
+ "on-board hardware.", \
+ POST_RAM | POST_POWERFAIL, \
+ &board_post_test \
+ }
+
+A new file, post.h, will be created in the include/ directory. This
+file will contain common POST declarations and will define a set of
+macros that will be reused for defining CONFIG_POST. As an example,
+the following macro may be defined:
+
+#define POST_CACHE \
+ {
+ "Cache test", "cache", \
+ " This test verifies the CPU cache operation.", \
+ POST_RAM | POST_NORMAL, \
+ &cache_post_test \
+ }
+
+A new subdirectory will be created in the U-Boot root directory. It
+will contain the source code of the POST layer and most of POST
+tests. Each POST test in this directory will be placed into a
+separate file (it will be needed for building standalone tests). Some
+POST tests (mainly those for testing peripheral devices) will be
+located in the source files of the drivers for those devices. This
+way will be used only if the test subtantially uses the driver.
+
+2.1.4. Standalone tests
+
+The POST framework will allow to develop and run standalone tests. A
+user-space library will be developed to provide the POST interface
+functions to standalone tests.
+
+2.1.5. Command line interface
+
+A new command, diag, will be added to U-Boot. This command will be
+used for listing all available hardware tests, getting detailed
+descriptions of them and running these tests.
+
+More specifically, being run without any arguments, this command will
+print the list of all available hardware tests:
+
+=> diag
+Available hardware tests:
+ cache - cache test
+ cpu - CPU test
+ enet - SCC/FCC ethernet test
+Use 'diag [<test1> [<test2>]] ... ' to get more info.
+Use 'diag run [<test1> [<test2>]] ... ' to run tests.
+=>
+
+If the first argument to the diag command is not 'run', detailed
+descriptions of the specified tests will be printed:
+
+=> diag cpu cache
+cpu - CPU test
+ This test verifies the arithmetic logic unit of CPU.
+cache - cache test
+ This test verifies the CPU cache operation.
+=>
+
+If the first argument to diag is 'run', the specified tests will be
+executed. If no tests are specified, all available tests will be
+executed.
+
+It will be prohibited to execute tests running in ROM manually. The
+'diag' command will not display such tests and/or run them.
+
+2.1.6. Power failure handling
+
+The Linux kernel will be modified to detect power failures and
+automatically reboot the system in such cases. It will be assumed
+that the power failure causes a system interrupt.
+
+To perform correct system shutdown, the kernel will register a
+handler of the power-fail IRQ on booting. Being called, the handler
+will run /sbin/reboot using the call_usermodehelper() routine.
+/sbin/reboot will automatically bring the system down in a secure
+way. This feature will be configured in/out from the kernel
+configuration file.
+
+The POST layer of U-Boot will check whether the system runs in
+power-fail mode. If it does, the system will be powered off after
+executing all hardware tests.
+
+2.1.7. Hazardous tests
+
+Some tests may cause system rebooting during their execution. For
+some tests, this will indicate a failure, while for the Watchdog
+test, this means successful operation of the timer.
+
+In order to support such tests, the following scheme will be
+implemented. All the tests that may cause system rebooting will have
+the POST_REBOOT bit flag set in the flag field of the correspondent
+post_test structure. Before starting tests marked with this bit flag,
+the POST layer will store an identification number of the test in a
+location in IMMR. On booting, the POST layer will check the value of
+this variable and if it is set will skip over the tests preceding the
+failed one. On second execution of the failed test, the POST_REBOOT
+bit flag will be set in the flag argument to the test routine. This
+will allow to detect system rebooting on the previous iteration. For
+example, the watchdog timer test may have the following
+declaration/body:
+
+...
+#define POST_WATCHDOG \
+ {
+ "Watchdog timer test", "watchdog", \
+ " This test checks the watchdog timer.", \
+ POST_RAM | POST_POWERON | POST_REBOOT, \
+ &watchdog_post_test \
+ }
+...
+
+...
+int watchdog_post_test(bd_t *bd, int flags)
+{
+ unsigned long start_time;
+
+ if (flags & POST_REBOOT) {
+ /* Test passed */
+ return 0;
+ } else {
+ /* disable interrupts */
+ disable_interrupts();
+ /* 10-second delay */
+ ...
+ /* if we've reached this, the watchdog timer does not work */
+ enable_interrupts();
+ return 1;
+ }
+}
+...
+
+2.2. Hardware-specific details
+
+This project will also develop a set of POST tests for MPC8xx- based
+systems. This section provides technical details of how it will be
+done.
+
+2.2.1. Generic PPC tests
+
+The following generic POST tests will be developed:
+
+ o) CPU test
+
+ This test will check the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) of CPU. The
+ test will take several milliseconds and will run on normal
+ booting.
+
+ o) Cache test
+
+ This test will verify the CPU cache (L1 cache). The test will
+ run on normal booting.
+
+ o) Memory test
+
+ This test will examine RAM and check it for errors. The test
+ will always run on booting. On normal booting, only a limited
+ amount of RAM will be checked. On power-fail booting a fool
+ memory check-up will be performed.
+
+2.2.1.1. CPU test
+
+This test will verify the following ALU instructions:
+
+ o) Condition register istructions
+
+ This group will contain: mtcrf, mfcr, mcrxr, crand, crandc,
+ cror, crorc, crxor, crnand, crnor, creqv, mcrf.
+
+ The mtcrf/mfcr instructions will be tested by loading different
+ values into the condition register (mtcrf), moving its value to
+ a general-purpose register (mfcr) and comparing this value with
+ the expected one. The mcrxr instruction will be tested by
+ loading a fixed value into the XER register (mtspr), moving XER
+ value to the condition register (mcrxr), moving it to a
+ general-purpose register (mfcr) and comparing the value of this
+ register with the expected one. The rest of instructions will be
+ tested by loading a fixed value into the condition register
+ (mtcrf), executing each instruction several times to modify all
+ 4-bit condition fields, moving the value of the conditional
+ register to a general-purpose register (mfcr) and comparing it
+ with the expected one.
+
+ o) Integer compare instructions
+
+ This group will contain: cmp, cmpi, cmpl, cmpli.
+
+ To verify these instructions the test will run them with
+ different combinations of operands, read the condition register
+ value and compare it with the expected one. More specifically,
+ the test will contain a pre-built table containing the
+ description of each test case: the instruction, the values of
+ the operands, the condition field to save the result in and the
+ expected result.
+
+ o) Arithmetic instructions
+
+ This group will contain: add, addc, adde, addme, addze, subf,
+ subfc, subfe, subme, subze, mullw, mulhw, mulhwu, divw, divwu,
+ extsb, extsh.
+
+ The test will contain a pre-built table of instructions,
+ operands, expected results and expected states of the condition
+ register. For each table entry, the test will cyclically use
+ different sets of operand registers and result registers. For
+ example, for instructions that use 3 registers on the first
+ iteration r0/r1 will be used as operands and r2 for result. On
+ the second iteration, r1/r2 will be used as operands and r3 as
+ for result and so on. This will enable to verify all
+ general-purpose registers.
+
+ o) Logic instructions
+
+ This group will contain: and, andc, andi, andis, or, orc, ori,
+ oris, xor, xori, xoris, nand, nor, neg, eqv, cntlzw.
+
+ The test scheme will be identical to that from the previous
+ point.
+
+ o) Shift instructions
+
+ This group will contain: slw, srw, sraw, srawi, rlwinm, rlwnm,
+ rlwimi
+
+ The test scheme will be identical to that from the previous
+ point.
+
+ o) Branch instructions
+
+ This group will contain: b, bl, bc.
+
+ The first 2 instructions (b, bl) will be verified by jumping to
+ a fixed address and checking whether control was transfered to
+ that very point. For the bl instruction the value of the link
+ register will be checked as well (using mfspr). To verify the bc
+ instruction various combinations of the BI/BO fields, the CTR
+ and the condition register values will be checked. The list of
+ such combinations will be pre-built and linked in U-Boot at
+ build time.
+
+ o) Load/store instructions
+
+ This group will contain: lbz(x)(u), lhz(x)(u), lha(x)(u),
+ lwz(x)(u), stb(x)(u), sth(x)(u), stw(x)(u).
+
+ All operations will be performed on a 16-byte array. The array
+ will be 4-byte aligned. The base register will point to offset
+ 8. The immediate offset (index register) will range in [-8 ...
+ +7]. The test cases will be composed so that they will not cause
+ alignment exceptions. The test will contain a pre-built table
+ describing all test cases. For store instructions, the table
+ entry will contain: the instruction opcode, the value of the
+ index register and the value of the source register. After
+ executing the instruction, the test will verify the contents of
+ the array and the value of the base register (it must change for
+ "store with update" instructions). For load instructions, the
+ table entry will contain: the instruction opcode, the array
+ contents, the value of the index register and the expected value
+ of the destination register. After executing the instruction,
+ the test will verify the value of the destination register and
+ the value of the base register (it must change for "load with
+ update" instructions).
+
+ o) Load/store multiple/string instructions
+
+
+The CPU test will run in RAM in order to allow run-time modification
+of the code to reduce the memory footprint.
+
+2.2.1.2 Special-Purpose Registers Tests
+
+TBD.
+
+2.2.1.3. Cache test
+
+To verify the data cache operation the following test scenarios will
+be used:
+
+ 1) Basic test #1
+
+ - turn on the data cache
+ - switch the data cache to write-back or write-through mode
+ - invalidate the data cache
+ - write the negative pattern to a cached area
+ - read the area
+
+ The negative pattern must be read at the last step
+
+ 2) Basic test #2
+
+ - turn on the data cache
+ - switch the data cache to write-back or write-through mode
+ - invalidate the data cache
+ - write the zero pattern to a cached area
+ - turn off the data cache
+ - write the negative pattern to the area
+ - turn on the data cache
+ - read the area
+
+ The negative pattern must be read at the last step
+
+ 3) Write-through mode test
+
+ - turn on the data cache
+ - switch the data cache to write-through mode
+ - invalidate the data cache
+ - write the zero pattern to a cached area
+ - flush the data cache
+ - write the negative pattern to the area
+ - turn off the data cache
+ - read the area
+
+ The negative pattern must be read at the last step
+
+ 4) Write-back mode test
+
+ - turn on the data cache
+ - switch the data cache to write-back mode
+ - invalidate the data cache
+ - write the negative pattern to a cached area
+ - flush the data cache
+ - write the zero pattern to the area
+ - invalidate the data cache
+ - read the area
+
+ The negative pattern must be read at the last step
+
+To verify the instruction cache operation the following test
+scenarios will be used:
+
+ 1) Basic test #1
+
+ - turn on the instruction cache
+ - unlock the entire instruction cache
+ - invalidate the instruction cache
+ - lock a branch instruction in the instruction cache
+ - replace the branch instruction with "nop"
+ - jump to the branch instruction
+ - check that the branch instruction was executed
+
+ 2) Basic test #2
+
+ - turn on the instruction cache
+ - unlock the entire instruction cache
+ - invalidate the instruction cache
+ - jump to a branch instruction
+ - check that the branch instruction was executed
+ - replace the branch instruction with "nop"
+ - invalidate the instruction cache
+ - jump to the branch instruction
+ - check that the "nop" instruction was executed
+
+The CPU test will run in RAM in order to allow run-time modification
+of the code.
+
+2.2.1.4. Memory test
+
+The memory test will verify RAM using sequential writes and reads
+to/from RAM. Specifically, there will be several test cases that will
+use different patterns to verify RAM. Each test case will first fill
+a region of RAM with one pattern and then read the region back and
+compare its contents with the pattern. The following patterns will be
+used:
+
+ 1) zero pattern (0x00000000)
+ 2) negative pattern (0xffffffff)
+ 3) checkerboard pattern (0x55555555, 0xaaaaaaaa)
+ 4) bit-flip pattern ((1 << (offset % 32)), ~(1 << (offset % 32)))
+ 5) address pattern (offset, ~offset)
+
+Patterns #1, #2 will help to find unstable bits. Patterns #3, #4 will
+be used to detect adherent bits, i.e. bits whose state may randomly
+change if adjacent bits are modified. The last pattern will be used
+to detect far-located errors, i.e. situations when writing to one
+location modifies an area located far from it. Also, usage of the
+last pattern will help to detect memory controller misconfigurations
+when RAM represents a cyclically repeated portion of a smaller size.
+
+Being run in normal mode, the test will verify only small 4Kb regions
+of RAM around each 1Mb boundary. For example, for 64Mb RAM the
+following areas will be verified: 0x00000000-0x00000800,
+0x000ff800-0x00100800, 0x001ff800-0x00200800, ..., 0x03fff800-
+0x04000000. If the test is run in power-fail mode, it will verify the
+whole RAM.
+
+The memory test will run in ROM before relocating U-Boot to RAM in
+order to allow RAM modification without saving its contents.
+
+2.2.2. Common tests
+
+This section describes tests that are not based on any hardware
+peculiarities and use common U-Boot interfaces only. These tests do
+not need any modifications for porting them to another board/CPU.
+
+2.2.2.1. I2C test
+
+For verifying the I2C bus, a full I2C bus scanning will be performed
+using the i2c_probe() routine. If any I2C device is found, the test
+will be considered as passed, otherwise failed. This particular way
+will be used because it provides the most common method of testing.
+For example, using the internal loopback mode of the CPM I2C
+controller for testing would not work on boards where the software
+I2C driver (also known as bit-banged driver) is used.
+
+2.2.2.2. Watchdog timer test
+
+To test the watchdog timer the scheme mentioned above (refer to
+section "Hazardous tests") will be used. Namely, this test will be
+marked with the POST_REBOOT bit flag. On the first iteration, the
+test routine will make a 10-second delay. If the system does not
+reboot during this delay, the watchdog timer is not operational and
+the test fails. If the system reboots, on the second iteration the
+POST_REBOOT bit will be set in the flag argument to the test routine.
+The test routine will check this bit and report a success if it is
+set.
+
+2.2.2.3. RTC test
+
+The RTC test will use the rtc_get()/rtc_set() routines. The following
+features will be verified:
+
+ o) Time uniformity
+
+ This will be verified by reading RTC in polling within a short
+ period of time (5-10 seconds).
+
+ o) Passing month boundaries
+
+ This will be checked by setting RTC to a second before a month
+ boundary and reading it after its passing the boundary. The test
+ will be performed for both leap- and nonleap-years.
+
+2.2.3. MPC8xx peripherals tests
+
+This project will develop a set of tests verifying the peripheral
+units of MPC8xx processors. Namely, the following controllers of the
+MPC8xx communication processor module (CPM) will be tested:
+
+ o) Serial Management Controllers (SMC)
+
+ o) Serial Communication Controllers (SCC)
+
+2.2.3.1. Ethernet tests (SCC)
+
+The internal (local) loopback mode will be used to test SCC. To do
+that the controllers will be configured accordingly and several
+packets will be transmitted. These tests may be enhanced in future to
+use external loopback for testing. That will need appropriate
+reconfiguration of the physical interface chip.
+
+The test routines for the SCC ethernet tests will be located in
+cpu/mpc8xx/scc.c.
+
+2.2.3.2. UART tests (SMC/SCC)
+
+To perform these tests the internal (local) loopback mode will be
+used. The SMC/SCC controllers will be configured to connect the
+transmitter output to the receiver input. After that, several bytes
+will be transmitted. These tests may be enhanced to make to perform
+"external" loopback test using a loopback cable. In this case, the
+test will be executed manually.
+
+The test routine for the SMC/SCC UART tests will be located in
+cpu/mpc8xx/serial.c.
+
+2.2.3.3. USB test
+
+TBD
+
+2.2.3.4. SPI test
+
+TBD
+
+2.3. Design notes
+
+Currently it is unknown how we will power off the board after running
+all power-fail POST tests. This point needs further clarification.