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How-To Write eMMC

Description

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 comes with or without onboard eMMC memory. It's main purpose is to replace the SD card as the main start or boot medium. The memory size ranges from 8 GB to 64 GB.

cm5_top_emmc_wifi

Requirements

  • Micro-USB to USB-A cable or adapter
  • 24 volts power supply with 2 pin power plug for the Pi-Tron CM5
  • Development computer or another Raspberry Pi

  • The rpiboot program from https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot

  • For Windows: A Windows installer can be found here: rpiboot_setup.exe

  • Raspberry Pi users will have to build the program, please follow the instructions on the rpiboot Github page.

  • The Raspberry Pi Imager program, to write an image to the eMMC memory of the CM5.

  • Visit https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ to get the program, if not installed.
  • Of course any other SD card writing program can be used, if you feel more comfortable in doing so. This How-To is based on the Raspberry Pi Imager, please adapt the shown steps to fit your image writing program.
  • Optional
    • Keyboard, mouse and HDMI monitor for a non-headless boot, in case the username and password for the Pi-Tron CM5 are not pre-set when using the Raspberry Pi Imager. See the how-to below for more information.

How-To

For Windows development computers:

Download and run the rpiboot Windows installer to install the drivers and boot tool for the Compute Module 5 with eMMC.

Danger of data loss

It is strongly recommended to disconnect any other USB removable storage if possible, before continuing with this How-To. If an SD card image is written by accident to any attached USB storage device other then the CM5 eMMC memory, the data on the device will be lost.

  • Connect the Micro-USB cable to the Pi-Tron CM5 and plug in the other into the development computer. Don't power on the Pi-Tron yet.

  • Run the rpi-mass-storage-gadget64.bat Windows batch program, this launches rpiboot in the correct mode. It is usually found under C:\Program Files (x86)\Raspberry Pi.

  • Now power on the Pi-Tron CM5

    • Verify that the green led next to the OTG port is on as well as the blue led next to the CM5, signaling an active OTG (USB) connection.

pi-tron-cm4-otg-led_320

  • Wait until rpiboot finds the Pi-Tron CM5 and mounts it as a new removable drive in Windows.

rpiboot

  • Start the Raspberry Pi Imager and choose an image from the image list provided or select your own image, if you have a pre-made one.

rpi-imager-program

  • Once you have chosen an image and you click on "WRITE", you will be asked if you want to apply or modify settings applied during first boot. Click "EDIT SETTINGS" to open the settings page.

    rpi-imager-apply-settings

  • On the settings page you can

    • enable the SSH server, needed for remote network login
    • pre-configure Wi-Fi settings, if only Wi-Fi access is available
    • change the default hostname
    • and more...

  • It is recommend pre-setting a username and password as well as enabling the SSH server. This way the Pi-Tron CM5 can be booted and run headless.

  • Under Storage chose the removable drive created by rpiboot, usually the drive to pick has "mmcblk0 USB Device" in it's name.

  • Click on Yes to write the selected image to the eMMC memory of the CM5.

    • Note: The process will take a while!
    • Also keep in mind that after the image is written to the eMMC memory, that the Raspberry Pi Imager also verifies the written data which requires additional time to complete.

  • Once the write process has finished, the removable media is ejected automatically.

  • Power off the Pi-Tron CM5.

  • Unplug the Micro-USB cable from the Pi-Tron CM5.

This concludes the How-To.

You can now power on the Pi-Tron CM5 again and it should boot the OS from the image you have just written to it's eMMC memory.

Restrictions

  • No known restrictions