Programming iNVM on i210 via JTAG

[MNM_tm]

For mass production, we need to program four i210's per board. Preferably without booting to an OS first.

So what I'm looking for is a way to program the iNVM of the four i210's. Is that possible via JTAG and if so, what software/hardware tooling do I need?

[CarlosAM_INTEL]

Hello, @MNM_tm​:

Thank you for contacting Intel Embedded Community.

The information that may help is stated in the answers to the questions 2.14, 2.15, and 2.16; on page 8 of the ​Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I210/I211 Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs] document # 335346 that can be found at the following website:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/faqs/ethernet-controller-i210-i211-faq.pdf

We hope that this information is useful.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL​.

[MNM_tm]

Those tools (especially EEUPDATE) may be useful with (very) low volumes, but we're talking about 350+ boards a month! Prepping each board with CPU cooling, memory and storage to boot an OS from locally, is simply insane.

I really can't imagine it is done that way with NIC's (containing one or more i210s) either: plugging each NIC card manually in a computer, power up the computer, boot it to OS, program it with EEUPDATE, power down the computer, and replace the NIC with the next one to program. REALLY?!

Equally, it's not logical at all to boot a system board, containing one or more i210s, to program each i210 on it with EEUPDATE. Besides: with mass production, one would also be able to keep track of the assigned MAC addresses in a local database. It is extremely impractical to enter every MAC address that is programmed, into the database manually. With eight i210s per board and 350+ boards per month, that's just plain stupidity.

Therefore, there must be a method for programming the iNVM in the i210s without booting the board! The most logical method would be via JTAG.

So again, my question is: how can I program the iNVM of several i210s WITHOUT booting the system board that has the i210s on it?

[CarlosAM_INTEL]

Hello, @MNM_tm​:

Thanks for your clarification.

You may use an external SPI flash programmer that better fit to your needs to load the image. You can review as a reference the following website:

https://www.dediprog.com/category/spi-flash-solution https://www.dediprog.com/category/spi-flash-solution

We hope that this information may answer your question.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL​. 

[MNM_tm]

Can the DeDiProg SPI Flash Programmer be used to program the INTERNAL NVM of the i210's ??

We don't want to add an extra SPI flash chip to every i210 on the board. The internal iNVM has sufficient capacity for our needs (just MAC address and LED configurations).

[CarlosAM_INTEL]

​Hello, @MNM_tm​:

Thanks for your update.

The Internal NVM should be programmed with Lanconf or EEUpdate. You can confirm this information in the answer to question 2.14, on page 8 of the ​Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I210/I211 FAQs document # 335346 that can be found in the website stated on our communication of the past January, 28th, 2019.

We hope that this information may help you.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL​.