Intel® System Debugger User Guide

ID 648476
Date 06/13/2024
Confidential
Document Table of Contents

Export Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary for Intel(R) Flash Image Tool (Intel(R) FIT)

Firmware images for different boards can be created using Intel(R) Flash Image Tool (Intel(R) FIT). The tool has an option for setting the Intel(R) Trace Hub portion of the firmware image. Normally, trace sources such as, for example, BIOS or CSME are disabled on target by default. The way to enable them is to attach Intel(R) Tracehub Restore image to BIOS firmware. This one can force the target to configure trace sources automatically. The binary file (Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary) can be stitched to the target firmware image using a Intel(R) FIT tool. This enables the sources to be active on a target power-on. The only condition is to be connected to the target and to do the live tracing once it gets powered.

Alternatively, the same file same can be found in any capture/config folder on the file system. Every “start tracing” operation generates this file with a name ith_​restore.bin.

Intel(R) Flash Image Tool requires Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary to generate the firmware image. Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary represents values of all MSRs of the Intel(R) Trace Hub. If the MSR values are set in a way that certain trace sources are enabled then the target will have these trace sources enabled by default.

As an example, an Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary with all trace sources enabled will be created. This can be done with the following steps:

  1. Select all trace sources for SPTLP_​C1_​1.tracecfg in Source and Destination panel.

    43_TraceConfigEditor

  2. Right-click on SPTLP_​C1_​1.tracecfg and go to Export→Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary for Intel(R) FIT

  3. Choose the destination folder (c:TEMP as an example)

    44_Export

    and click to Finish.

    In the destination folder there will be now Trace_​Hub_​Binary_​For_​Intel_​Fit_​SPTLP_​C1_​1.bin file. This file has all trace sources enabled. It can be used in the Intel(R) Flash Image Tool to create a firmware image.

  4. Open the Intel(R) Flash Image Tool

    45_Fit

  5. Set your own configuration manually (by setting every field in the tool manually) or load an existing firmware image.

  6. Loading an existing firmware image can be done by simply opening a firmware.bin file.

    46_Load

    The Intel(R) Flash Image Tool will populate all of its fields.

  7. In the Flash Layout tab set Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary field to the newly created binary.

    47_Fit

    Note:

    If the pre-existing flash image is loaded this field will already have a value set to show the binary section of the loaded firmware image. In that case, change the value to point to the generated Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary file from the Trace tool.

  8. Press the Build Image button to build the firmware image.

    48_BuildImage

    The image is by default stored as output.bin in the FIT root folder.

  9. Flash the image to the target.

  10. Now, when using the Trace tool the “Configure target during capture start and stop” option is unnecessary since the target is already configured.

    Note:

    This option can still be used; however, in this case the target power-on configuration will be overwritten.

49_AutoConfigureOff

Note:

Intel(R) Trace Hub Binary will also be set to trace to the current trace destination.

Important:

Tracing to memory is not supported. One of the probes (for example, Intel(R) Direct Connect Interface (Intel(R) DCI) Out of Band (OOB)) must be selected as a trace destination.