FELix

FELix is a multiplatform tool for Allwinner processors handling FEL and FES protocol written in Ruby

• Uses libusb1.0 / ruby 2.0+
• More powerful than fel tool from sunxi-tools

Features

• Write / read memory
• Execute the code at address
• Flash LiveSuit image (at this moment only newer image are supported)
• Extract single item from LiveSuit image
• Format the device NAND / Write new MBR
• Enable NAND
• Dump/flash single partition
• Display the device info
• Reboot the device
• Boot device using given u-boot

Installation

1. Install ruby 2.0+ (you can use ruby-installer on Windows)

    $ sudo apt-get install ruby2.0 ruby2.0-dev
    $ sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/ruby2.0 /usr/bin/ruby
    $ sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/gem2.0 /usr/bin/gem
   

2. Install bundler

    $ gem install bundler
   

3. Install libraries (Linux only)

    $ sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0.0-dev libffi-dev
   

4. Run bundler in application directory (You may need to edit Gemfile to match your ruby version)

    $ bundle
   

5. Switch to FEL mode (adb reboot efex) and install a usb filter (Windows only) over the default USB driver. Use Zadig.

Usage

See (ruby) felix --help for available commands

Howtos

• Dump/flash single partition

  1. Boot to FES

      $ felix --tofes <firmware.img>
     

  2. Enable NAND

      $ felix --nand on
     

  3. Flash or dump partition

      $ felix --write boot.img --item boot
      $ felix --read boot.img --item boot
     

  4. Disable NAND

      $ felix --nand off
     

• Write new boot0/boot1 (Warning: this may brick your device if you write incorrect file)

  1. Boot to FES

      $ felix --tofes <firmware.img>
     

  2. Write new boot0 using fes context and boot0 tag

      $ felix --write boot0_nand.fex -c fes -t boot0 -a 0 (for boot1 use boot1 or uboot tag)
     

  3. Optionally reboot device

      $ felix --reboot
     

Issues

As I have limited access to Allwinner devices, I encourage you to report issues you encounter in Issues section. As far I tested the tool on A13, A23, A31, A31s and A83.

Todo

There's a lot of things to do. The most important are:

• Support for legacy image format (partially done)
  • Boot to FES
  • Flash legacy image
  • Extract legacy image
• Validation of files before flash
• Improve error handling (may be troublesome)
• Separate command for reading/writing NAND partitions
• Improve speed of libsparse / rc6 algorithm
• Partitioning support without sunxi_mbr
• Handle every available FEL/FES command
• Some kind of GUI