USRP X410 Recovery: Flashing eMMC Using Serial Connection

Issue Details

My X410 is not booting properly, and I can't access it over the network or via the usual interfaces. I think the filesystem might be corrupted or missing. I need a way to reflash the device and restore it to a working state. 

Solution

This article provides step-by-step instructions for reflashing the eMMC storage of the USRP X410 using a serial connection. This method is useful when the device cannot boot normally or requires a fresh filesystem image

Steps:

1. Connect the Console JTAG and USB to the PS USB ports of the USRP X410 to your Linux host (Red marked in image below).
   

2. Open a terminal and list available serial devices:

   $ ls /dev/serial/by-id

   Identify the device ending with -if03, which connects to Linux running on the RFSoC APU. 

3. $ sudo screen /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Digilent_Digilent_USB_Device_XXXXXXXXXXXX-if03-port0 115200 

   Note: Replace XXXXXXXXXXXX with your actual device ID.
4. Once connected, log in to USRP with username root and type:
   

   $ reboot

5. After rebooting the device, it will attempt to boot normally and display a 5-second countdown. During this time, you must quickly type: 
   

   $ noautoboot

   and after pressing Enter. This stops the autoboot process and gives access to the U-Boot prompt. 
6. At the U-Boot prompt, type:
   

   $ ums 0 mmc 0 

   This exposes the X410’s eMMC as a USB mass storage device to your host. 
7. Open the Disks utility on your Linux desktop.
   Locate the newly mounted device (typically /dev/sdb).
8. Run the following command on your Host PC to download the latest UHD filesystem image:
   

   $ uhd_images_downloader -t sdimg -t x4xx

   This will place the image file usrp_x4xx_fs.sdimg in /usr/local/share/uhd/images/
9. Use the dd command to write the image to the eMMC:
   

   $ sudo dd if=/usr/local/share/uhd/images/usrp_x4xx_fs.sdimg of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

   Note: Replace /dev/sdb with the correct block device for the X410’s eMMC as shown in your system logs or Disks utility (red marked). 
   
10. After using Ctrl+C in serial console communication to stop sharing eMMC storage.
11. Power Cycle the device.