### Ingenic Cloner Utility

The ingenic cloner application is a PC side utility that interfaces with the "USB-Boot" mode built into Ingenic SOCs.  By placing the SOC into "USB-Boot" mode, you are able to use the ingenic clonger application to directly flash the firmware chip without physically removing, or interfacing to the flash chip.

This guide is a work in progress.  


#### Shorting pins on flash chip

The first thing to do is locate the flash memory chip on the camera circuit
board. Typically this is a square chip with 8 pins labeled 25Q64 or 25Q128,
rarely 25L64 or 25L128. If you have trouble locating the chip, try taking
some pictures of your board from both sides. Then ask for help
[in our Telegram channel](https://t.me/openipc).
__Do not try to short-circuit any random chip! It will most likely burn your camera circuit.__

Short-circuit pins 5 and 6 of the flash chip with a small metal object,
a screwdriver or tweezers, right after the bootloader starts but before it
calls up the Linux kernel.

Pins 5 and 6 of the SOIC8 chip are on the opposite corner of pin 1, indicated
by the embossed or drawn dot next to it.

![](../images/flash-pins.webp)
![](../images/flash-pins-2.webp)


![image](https://github.com/OpenIPC/wiki/assets/12115272/632e5cb9-0b5d-406b-a268-7c4b65781828)
![image](https://github.com/OpenIPC/wiki/assets/12115272/5b9fed70-031e-42ea-89b6-292cc2f34458)
![image](https://github.com/OpenIPC/wiki/assets/12115272/27f0d101-059d-41a1-a444-43bd137cf1b9)
![image](https://github.com/OpenIPC/wiki/assets/12115272/69c6f79d-1c88-45d9-b6a7-003345d72e56)

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# Download Cloner: [OpenIPC Utilities](https://openipc.org/utilities)

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**OpenIPC Cloner Application Guide**

1. **Accessing Cloner**: 
   - Navigate to the "cloner-2.5.xx-ubuntu_alpha" directory, with "xx" indicating your downloaded version of Cloner.

2. **Preparing for Firmware**: 
   - Create a new folder named `0_OpenIPC_Firmware` in this directory.

3. **Launching Cloner**: 
   - Open the `cloner` application. Ensure you are using version 2.5.43 or later for compatibility.

4. **Initial Setup**: 
   - Click "Load Image" and select the "openipc_cloner_bundle_xxx.zip" file.
   - If the lock level is "2", change it to "0". Enter '!@#' (exclamation, at symbol, number sign, without any quotation marks) as the password. The 'Config' button should reappear.

5. **Configuration Settings**: 
   - Click the 'Config' button in the top-right corner.

6. **Navigating Configuration**: 
   - In the Config window, under the "Info" tab, access various configuration menus.

7. **Device Specific Settings**: 
   - Select 'Platform T'.
   - Choose the appropriate SOC version for your device next to Platform 'T'.
   - Under 'Board', select the relevant operation:
     - `txxx_sfc_nor_reader_8MB.cfg` for 8MB flash chip devices.
     - `txxx_sfc_nor_reader_16MB.cfg` for 16MB flash chip devices.
     - `txxx_sfc_nor_writer.cfg` for writing individual partitions.
     - `txxx_sfc_nor_writer_full.cfg` to flash the entire chip.
   - Click "Save" to return to the main screen.

8. **Starting the Program**: 
   - With your desired profile loaded, click "Start" on the main screen.

9. **Device Recognition Procedure**:
   - Plug the USB cable into the device, leaving the other end unplugged.
   - Short pins 5-6 ON THE FLASH CHIP, not SoC or any other chip, use the photos as a reference, as described earlier in this document.
   - While maintaining the short, connect the USB cable to the computer. Wait 2 seconds, then release the short.
   - It may take up to 30 seconds for Cloner to recognize the device. Progress bars on the main screen will indicate ongoing operations.

10. **Completion**: 
   - Once all progress bars turn green, the operations are complete.

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Carefully follow these steps to ensure the Cloner application is set up correctly and operates as expected.