Is is possible to run vim3 off of an external ssd drive? (u-boot mainline is not working)

Electr1 · July 28, 2020, 6:04am

You can try to install mainline-uboot with Krescue…

compress the Uboot.img file to *.img.gz format with gzip
and copy to Krescue SD card and flash it to eMMC…

numbqq · July 28, 2020, 6:04am

I have send a patch to fix this issue. Please update and try again.

$ git pull

hyphop · July 28, 2020, 7:47am

no need compress anything
just start krescue with internet connection - download and install mainline uboot via krescue - its absolutely easy

PS: if u can start Krescue - its always must be easiest way

Electr1 · July 28, 2020, 8:05am

oh ok, if it present in online installation, it isn’t a problem, suppose it is not available from online, and is only available in.img format, it can be done…

biohumans · July 29, 2020, 4:45am

Having an issue entering upgrade mode based on the documentation:

Keys Mode (U-Boot is Running Normally)

and

TST Mode (Recommended)

Neither of which seem to work,
Have done the steps repeatedly with and without a krescue sd card inserted.

Electr1 · July 29, 2020, 4:50am

What is the firmware on your device ?
If it is Linux, you can try to overwrite the bootloader partition with Zeros causing it to fail to boot and force boot from SD card…

Is you computer fast enough to support a VM ?

biohumans · July 29, 2020, 5:07am

Electr1 · July 29, 2020, 5:08am

So it has booted now ?

biohumans · July 29, 2020, 5:10am

biohumans · July 29, 2020, 5:16am

Blockquote Check The USB Driver

You must now place your VIM board into “Upgrade Mode”.See VIM1/VIM2/VIM3 to enter Upgrade Mode.
Check to see if Ubuntu has detected your VIM1/VIM2 as a connected USB-device.

After typing $lsusb grep Amlogic

I do not see:
BUS 002 Device 036: ID 1b8e:c003 Amlogic, Inc. ← This doesn’t appear to me because I’m using VIM3?

*I noticed that it didn’t mention VIM3 for detection as USB-device.

Though I can see the VIM3 partitions are mounted:
Krescue.RAM
Krescue.SD
Krescue.MMC

After going through the steps:

Keys Mode (U-Boot is Running Normally)

and
TST Mode (Recommended)

And entering the command in the terminal:

591G:/mnt/Crucial_SSD/Storage/ISOs/img_burning_tools/utils$ aml-burn-tool -b VIM3 -i /mnt/Crucial_SSD/Storage/ISOs/Khadas_images/emmc_images/vim3/uboot/VIM3.uboot-mainline.emmc.aml.img
ERROR: You should put your board enter upgrade mode!

Electr1 · July 29, 2020, 5:20am

If it is causing too much fuss in linux, just try using a Windows VM, for the time sake…

hyphop · July 30, 2020, 9:29am

[quote=“Electr1, post:97, topic:7561”]
it is not available from online

OK! which OS was writen on USB or SD ?

Spikerguy · July 30, 2020, 4:59pm

This is not true as rpi have straight forward or fixed boot process and it is because they have their own firnware which is not open sourced while khadas using open sourced uboot which have many advantages and possibility.

Yes it is a tool from amlogic so we have to follow what they provide. That’s a sad truth. But it can be updated like its done by khadas team.

Looks like @biohumans you’re not following what @hyphop is saying. He clearly mention that you can write mainline uboot to emmc using krescue but I don’t think he can give you steps by step guide as it is not an easy task.

I think it is not too complicated to achieve what you’re trying to achieve but missing steps in between is making it complicated.

I would recommend you to read the documentation again and try to understand what ever step is trying to do and follow from there as I see you are a linux user already so it should not be too hard for you.

Feel free to tag me if you get stuck again but try to explain in detail what steps you have done so far and which step gets you stuck.

Good luck.

biohumans · August 2, 2020, 12:58am

if u need stark ubuntu from ssd - everything is easy

write https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/VIM3/Ubuntu/SD_USB/VIM3_Ubuntu-gnome-focal_Linux-5.7-rc7_arm64_SD-USB_V0.9-20200530.7z to SDD
write mainline uboot to emmc (start krescue and write only mainline uboot images)
reboot and enjoy

write https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/VIM3/Ubuntu/SD_USB/VIM3_Ubuntu-gnome-focal_Linux-5.7-rc7_arm64_SD-USB_V0.9-20200530.7z to SDD

I already have an sdd on stand by, it’s been copied from an actively used sd card running VIM3_Ubuntu-server-bionic_Linux-5.5-rc2_arm64_SD-USB_V0.8.2-20200103.img to usb sdd drive. Wrttten via Balena Etcher, extremely easy and reliable software, no issues. I’ve used this with Raspberry pi’s, Laptops, SDD’s and other devices, no issues whatsoever.

write mainline uboot to emmc (start krescue and write only mainline uboot images)

I insert an sd card into my vim3, attach network cable to vim3 I found tethered to my laptop, power it up and it looks cool to look at:

But it doesn’t really do anything. I can’t go online with it, I can’t install via emmc via select menu, can’t get a listings of emmc images to install via select menu.

I believe this is the crux of the problem, krescue is not a reliable tool in my usage of it, it’s suppose to be able to download images for emmc from online via “.CHECK_ONLINE_IMAGES.list” via krescue. But I have selected that option more times than I can count and nothing seems to activate or download. Screen shot for context below:

reboot and enjoy

I really would, I really would like to get this over with and work on other projects, but unfortunately Krescue is a solution which is also a problem in my opinion

I’d would like to find another way to write to emmc that doesn’t involve Krescue, USB_Burn_Tool_V2.2.0 and the Burn Card Maker. No offense but Krescue, USB_Burn_Tool_V2.2.0 and the Burn Card Maker seems to add another complicated unreliable tools, when compared to other more mature, tools out there e.g. (dd, balena etcher).

Note I’ve also tried the USB burn tool on windows 10 VirtualBox. I’m able to detect the VIM3 but it will not connect in the burn tool via upgrade Vim3 button sequence as instructed per the documentation. See screen shot below for context.

Is there a possibility that I have a stack of vim3’s that has defective hardware? At this point I’m not ruling out anything.

But I can confirm this, booting the vim3’s via an sd card: VIM3_Ubuntu-gnome-focal_Linux-5.7-rc7_arm64_SD-USB_V0.9-20200530 seems to work fine as per documentation. Everything else I’ve tried so far does not.

Spikerguy · August 2, 2020, 1:08am

AFAIK, You have to download the images from the link Here and copy it to the dump partition on sd card which have krescue flashed.

After you copy the .kresq to dump partition boot into krescue and follow same like in the screenshot you shared then you will be able to see the image and flash it to emmc.
Please use the image meant for emmc only if you plan to flash it to emmc
Please relax and read the instruction properly before you attempt something.

Looks like you’re connecting the device with operating system already running on it, Please follow the steps mentioned on this tutorial carefully, looks like you have missed step no. 3.

I don’t think that is possible, as we all have the same hardware and it works as described, Please don’t give-up so early as these are DIY boards which comes along with a steep learning curve, I understand it can get annoying at time but this is how it is, all arm devices are somewhat similar when it comes to getting operating system to boot on it.

Good luck.

biohumans · August 2, 2020, 9:49pm

Ok, just to update

Made progress via usb burn tool, I was burning the image (VIM3.uboot-mainline.emmc.aml.img) directly from machine host (remote) shared drive and I copied it directly into the VM’s desktop and then I also saw a USB device filter called Amlogic, Inc [007] I didn’t see in the list of VirtualBox usb devices appear before, which I then added. Was able to go through the process and burn the image: VIM3.uboot-mainline.emmc.aml.img to Vim3 emmc.

*Next steps

Connected the usb 3.0 ssd external drive containing the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe M.2 Internal SSD

1.) https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-970-evo-plus-nvme-m-2-250gb-mz-v7s250b-am/

usb 3.0 external drive casing

2.) https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07TJT6W8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I wanted to start fresh, so I followed what Hyphop recommended so I burned a fresh VIM3_Ubuntu-gnome-focal_Linux-5.7-rc7_arm64_SD-USB_V0.9-20200530.img to the usb ssd external drive. Then I connected to the Vim3’s usb 3.0 port. And powered it up and waited, attached screenshots below, but it looks like the normal boot process for os installation isn’t happening.

Any insights as to what is going on?

Spikerguy · August 2, 2020, 9:53pm

Yes it is booting fine but you presses any key and it stopped at uboot cli.

Please start again in the same way and don’t press any key and wait for it to load completely.

Good luck.

biohumans · August 2, 2020, 10:05pm

But I’m not pressing any keys at all during boot.

hyphop · August 3, 2020, 1:21am

looks like are using old krescue ! plz write last krescue from https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/Krescue/dump/ to yout sd (krescue system changing very fast - becouse under active developing )

last krescue have auto dhcp ethernet conection and wifi
before check online images u can check networks status
if krescue have internet connection u can install any online images
last krescue images have system autoupdate

PS: i will check your problem again very very soon

xmesaj2 · November 21, 2022, 11:07am

I try to boot from HDD but similar scenario not working [Official OS] Home Assistant OS - Vim3 - #12 by xmesaj2