In message 065ACD8E84315E4394C835E398C8D5EB5DAF8A@cossmgmbx02.email.corp.tld you wrote:
FAQ. Yes, but it is difficult, unsupported, and fraught with peril. You= are on your own if you choose to do it.
Ummm... This is not quite correct.
The precise answer to the original question:
before i commit myself to reflashing with u-boot, i'd like to know if it's possible to just load it into RAM and use the current bootloader to jump to it, just to see the menu come up, nothing more.
... is a plain NO.
You cannot load the same image first to RAM, run and test it, and then program it to flash.
These will be two different images, and because of that the image you write to flash will always be an untested one.
[But yes, it's true, you can make U-Boot run from RAM. But this is a different issue.]
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk