VIM3 Armbian image?

How would I go about writing U-Boot to the SD Card after writing the Armbian image? Can I take the U-Boot from the VIM3 Rescue image?

(I had cleared the bootloader from the eMMC due to the purple screen bug it introduced into the official Ubuntu image (which I won’t be using due to its lack of 3D acceleration as the panfrost driver is not present.))

Why are no prebuilt images provided for things like U-Boot?

my opinion system must work stand alone, why not prepare it for users :wink: ?

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I wrote the mainline UBoot via KRescue then attempted to boot the Armbian image. It failed.

mmc1 is current device
Scanning mmc 1:1...
Found U-Boot script /boot.cmd
840 bytes read in 2 ms (410.2 KiB/s)
[w] Script a:08000000 l:32768 c:1 - wrong header!
script - # run plain script from memory

Usage:
script [addr|check] [bytes] [nochk] [silent] - run script starting at addr
        bytes - read bytes (hex) limit
        nochk - no check #!script header
        silent - be silent

SCRIPT FAILED: continuing...
Found U-Boot script /boot.scr
912 bytes read in 2 ms (445.3 KiB/s)
[w] mkimage Script a:08000000 l:32768 - s:840
[#] Script a:08000000 l:4294967236 c:0 s:0 - run
SCRIPT FAILED: continuing...

yes its my mistake wait a moment i will fix it :wink:

The U-Boot that gets installed by krescue also has the purple/green screen bug when booting krescue. >o<

YES! becouse we have 6 combinations

  • mainline uboot + patched mainline kernel => GREEN
  • mainline uboot + mainline kernel => OK
  • legacy uboot + patched mainline kernel => OK
  • legacy uboot + mainline kernel => GREEN
  • mainline uboot + legacy kernel => GREEN
  • legacy uboot + legacy kernel => OK

if u write uboot to emmc VIM3 VIM3L start always uboot from emmc if it presented on emmc

green screen not big problem for Krescue :wink: all other function works same well and if u install images its must be same ok

3 Likes

There are so many combinations…some times got confused.

So it’s better to boot mainline kernel only with mainline u-boot.
Boot legacy kernel only with legacy u-boot.

sure but its not always possible !

for example if we have already writed uboot on emmc ! and start system from sd card there we can have problem

Yes, this is the problem…

i have find partial solution

mainline uboot can start legacy uboot ( chainloading ), but
legacy uboot cant start mainline ;( something going wrong and goto segfault and reboot

Can i get a mainline uboot which we can ship with manjaro images?
And will having legacy uboot on emmc while having mainline uboot on sd card read the sd card uboot or will it boot from legacy boot and cause green light issue.
Or can we just use uboot on spi fixed so it can do chainloading. As chainloading will again have issue depending which uboot is in emmc and which is on sd card.

i will fix some problems and share soon

OK mainline uboot images fixed!

Yes, there are commands that allow you to add u-boot to the SD card after writing the main image. This is described in the documentation on the Armbian forum in the corresponding topic. But I recommend restoring the regular firmware to eMMC and using the regular u-boot from it. This guarantees normal system operation and the ability to install Armbian in eMMC (while maintaining the ability to use regular tools for working with USB Burn Tool firmware in the future ).

I do not recommend using this option.

The problem of incorrect color has long been solved for Armbian and Libreelec, nothing needs to be deleted from eMMC. This is very bad advice to remove u-boot from eMMC.

Because from the factory, all samples come with a built-in u-boot in eMMC and with standard use (without idiotic tips for removing u-boot from eMMC), you can run Armbian and Libreelec from any external media (please note - including USB) without having to kill your device (remove u-boot). At the same time, you save the regular firmware in eMMC and at the first stage (when you evaluate all the features of new systems), you do not risk anything, just launch any system from an external media, study it, try its functionality. And only after you have found and completely checked all the functions you need on an external media, only after that, you start the automatic procedure for installing the system in eMMC (which itself will correctly install the system in eMMC). Why kill your system (remove u-boot from eMMC) if you don’t know if the new system is suitable for you or not (i.e. you are forced to kill your device just to look at new systems) ?

All Khadas products come with built-in u-boot in eMMC from the factory, and Armbian and Libreelec systems are ready for use on Khadas products, if users are not given stupid tips on removing the built -in u-boot.

And it will fail because these u-boot versions contain errors and cannot work properly with any media.

Wrong advice. The main core works fine with the correct colors with the regular u-boot in eMMC. You need to use the launch system correctly.

There are no problems (if you do everything correctly), this is confirmed by the work of Armbian and Libreelec

For all. Don’t give wrong advice if you don 't know how Armbian and LIbreelec work.

same 4u - Don’t give wrong advice…

send me link to armbian image i can check what wrong …

Are you Armbian or Libreelec developer ? It’s funny, a person who has nothing to do with the development of these systems tries to tell developers how their system works … :slight_smile:

i just check Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205.img.xz image

looks like works …

Armbian 20.02.0-rc1.037 Buster ttyAML0 
    _    __  __ _         ____  ___                   
   / \  |  \/  | |       / ___|/ _ \__  ____  ____  __
  / _ \ | |\/| | |   ____\___ \ (_) \ \/ /\ \/ /\ \/ /
 / ___ \| |  | | |__|_____|__) \__, |>  <  >  <  >  < 
/_/   \_\_|  |_|_____|   |____/  /_//_/\_\/_/\_\/_/\_\
                                                      
Welcome to Armbian buster with Linux 5.5.0-rc6-aml-s9xxx

write to sd

xz -dc < Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205.img.xz | pv > /dev/mmcblk?

mount sd partition 1 & edit uEnv.txt
change FDT for your device for example my is VIM3L

#FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12b-odroid-n2.dtb
FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-sm1-khadas-vim3l.dtb

same works with mainline uboot stored on emmc

u can check just write uboot to emmc via krescue

PS: i can prepare some Armbian images for Krescue soon - which can works out of box + easy installation to emmc for VIMx devices

3 Likes

Armbian images for Krescue would be much appreciated ;-)… especially emmc or nvme boot

2 Likes

I don’t allow such options to be made from my images . There are proven and correctly working installation options in eMMC. I don 't want to rake up heaps of problems and answer questions from users that will be due to improper use of the system with obscure questionable additions.