We highly recommend flashing the internal memory as the eMMC will generally provide better performance than booting from an SD card. Furthermore, flashing the eMMC will also update the bootloader which is necessary if the BeagleBone was shipped from the factory with an outdated bootloader which is usually the case.

Flashing the Built-In eMMC Storage (recommended)

Here are the flasher images we recommend using for BeagleBone Black and BeagleBone Blue along with checksums you can optionally use to check the download integrity:

2020-04-06 BeagleBone Flasher Image (checksum)

For BeagleBone Black + Robotics Cape, you'll still need to manually install the device tree overlay as the cape was designed without an identification EEPROM.

You will need a microSD card with at least 4GB of space. We suggest using Etcher to write the image to the microSD card. Feel free to use other tools like dd if you prefer, but don't just copy the image to a microSD card as that won't work.

When you are done writing the image to the SD card, make sure your BeagleBone is powered off completely and insert the SD card. Now apply power through either USB or the DC power jack and watch the Blue USR LEDs. After a few seconds the USR LEDs should start blinking in a regular pattern, bouncing back and forth like a game of pong. When flashing is complete all 4 USR LEDs will stay on for a minute before turning off completely.

If the BeagleBone appears to power on with the SD card inserted but the LEDs flashing pattern does not start, it's possible the eMMC bootloader is old or somehow not configured to favor booting from the SD card automatically. In this case, force the BeagleBone to favor booting from the SD card by applying power while holding the SD button (on blue) or BOOT button (on Black).

At this point flashing is complete and you must remove the microSD card before accidentally starting the flashing process again. Reapply power and let your BeagleBone boot from the fresh eMMC image.

Booting from SD Card Without Flashing

You can boot a BeagleBone Blue or Black from an SD card without flashing over the eMMC memory in the BeagleBone by writing this non-flashing bootable image to an SD card:

2020-04-06 BeagleBone SD Image (checksum)

You will need a microSD card with at least 4GB of space. We suggest using Etcher to write the image to the microSD card. Feel free to use other tools like dd if you prefer, but don't just copy the image to a microSD card as that won't work.

This does NOT update the BeagleBone Bootloader which may result in non-functioning PRU and ADC modules. It is safer to just flash the BeagleBone as described in the previous section.

Once booted, you can check if everything is functioning correctly with the rc_test_drivers program as described in the section Installation & Checking Functionality. If this test indicates that the PRU and ADC are malfunctioning then the bootloader need to be updated by flashing the built-in eMMC storage as described in the previous section.

Additional step for BB Black and Black Wireless with Robotics Cape

After flashing a BeagleBone Black or Black Wireless with a clean image it is necessary to tell it use the Robotics Cape device tree so all of the header pins are configured correctly and all of the necessary drivers will load. Continue to the Installation & Checking Functionality page of the manual for how to do this.

Table of Contents

Flashing the Built-In eMMC Storage (recommended)

Booting from SD Card Without Flashing

Additional step for BB Black and Black Wireless with Robotics Cape