Is there a newer u-boot for Netgear Stora (RD-88F6281A LE)

Dear all,

hello everyone. I'm wondering if there is any possibility for upgrading a u-boot in my old Netgear Stora?
Right now it's running on U-Boot 1.1.4 (Sep 4 2009 - 09:36:11) Marvell version: 3.4.14 with original kernel.

I want to install Debian Wheezy Grip on a USB and if I'm correct aa need to have a newer u-boot.

A've already tried few u-boots and no luck.
Some of them hangs my stora

Firstly I tftp kbw file to my nand and for testing it...

Marvell>> go 0x800200
## Starting application at 0x00800200 ...

some of them just restart my Stora

Marvell>> go 0x800000
## Starting application at 0x00800000 ...
data abort
pc : [<00800008>]	   lr : [<0062f700>]
sp : 005ff0d4  ip : 005fec64	 fp : 005ff0f0
r10: 00000000  r9 : 00000000	 r8 : 005fffcc
r7 : 005ff513  r6 : 00000002	 r5 : 005ffd0c  r4 : 00800000
r3 : 00000000  r2 : f1012000	 r1 : 005ffd0c  r0 : 00000001
Flags: nZCv  IRQs off  FIQs off  Mode SVC_32
Resetting CPU ...

Kind regards.

The Stora stock uBoot is quite old. Running newer uBoot in memory will not work. I'll take a peek in uBoot source to see if anything is similar to this box. You can also Google it to see if anybody has created uBoot patch.

-bodhi
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Hi,

I know there are patches available for compiling version 1.1.5 => u-boot-marvell-ms2110 <= but the final compiled u-boot.kwb file seems to be too small, something about 150KiB, while the original is much bigger (or maybe it is just a mtd0 backup), something about 400KiB. I will try apply those patches to newer sources and check what then.

Anyway. so... the only way to test a new u-boot is flash it to mtd0 partition -> 0x0
and try to boot, if machine won't boot then simple restore mtd0 partition, and try something other, Is that correct?

I would like to ask few things:
1. to make a backup of mtd0 (u-boot) and also other mtds can I use 'dd' command? Will 'dd in=/dev/mtd0 of=u-boot_copy conc=sync' be enough in my case?
2. then to restore it, in u-boot I should erase nand responsible for mtd0 partition and do write to it, correct?

0x00000000-0x00100000 : "u-boot"
0x00100000-0x00700000 : "uImage"
0x00700000-0x10000000 : "root"

so in u-boot I can do:
- nand erase 0x0 0x00100000
and do
- nand write.e place_in_memory 0x0 'length_of_u-boot_copy in HEX', correct?
does similar steps applies to other mtds?

kiryl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi,
>
> I know there are patches available for compiling
> version 1.1.5 =>
> [url=https://gitorious.org/openstora/u-boot-marvel
> l-ms2110/source/2ddf1269955e3c34c1346451c142f27696
> c6cb31]u-boot-marvell-ms2110[/url] <= but the
> final compiled u-boot.kwb file seems to be too
> small, something about 150KiB, while the original
> is much bigger (or maybe it is just a mtd0
> backup), something about 400KiB. I will try apply
> those patches to newer sources and check what
> then.

150K is too small. Sounds like a bad build.

>
> Anyway. so... the only way to test a new u-boot is
> flash it to mtd0 partition -> 0x0
> and try to boot, if machine won't boot then simple
> restore mtd0 partition, and try something other,
> Is that correct?

No, you should try UART booting first to see if it works
[url]http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,7852[/url]

Without UART booting or JTAG, I would not recommend flashing an untested uBoot image to NAND. Potentials for bricking is quite high. You can not restore mtd0 without UART booting or JTAG.

>
> I would like to ask few things:
> 1. to make a backup of mtd0 (u-boot) and also
> other mtds can I use 'dd' command? Will 'dd
> in=/dev/mtd0 of=u-boot_copy conc=sync' be enough
> in my case?

Don't use dd, it is not a good way to dump NAND mtd. Use nanddump in Linux.

> 2. then to restore it, in u-boot I should erase
> nand responsible for mtd0 partition and do write
> to it, correct?
> [code]0x00000000-0x00100000 : "u-boot"
> 0x00100000-0x00700000 : "uImage"
> 0x00700000-0x10000000 : "root"[/code]
> so in u-boot I can do:
> - nand erase 0x0 0x00100000
> and do
> - nand write.e place_in_memory 0x0
> 'length_of_u-boot_copy in HEX', correct?
> does similar steps applies to other mtds?

If you ever need to restore mtd0, use nandwrite in Linux is better.

-bodhi
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I'd be very grateful if you could compile uboot and a debian kernel.

Personally I've attempted many times, but am just not quite finding the problem. I've also uart restored dozens of times.

The best write up I've followed is here
http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kernel_Compile_Howto

The code at gittorious is a tad old. There are also parts of the puzzle here

https://github.com/johnou/debian_stora_kernel

Personally, I have 4 stora's that are waiting for modern kernel/uboot.

Heychris,

> Personally I've attempted many times, but am just
> not quite finding the problem. I've also uart
> restored dozens of times.

So UART booting does work on the Netgear Stora? That would make upgrading uBoot much easier. What was the problem you've seen while booting your new uBoot? and what uBoot version did you build?

-bodhi
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Heychris_1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Personally, I have 4 stora's that are waiting for
> modern kernel/uboot.

Hi, here link you may find working and already compiled 3.9.6 kernel :)
And it works :D

As for uBoot I'm waiting for my another USB-RS232 converter because my current one has burned recently o.0 beacuse of overheat :(
a little off-top. do I even need to connect 3.3v between converter and my Stora? I was using this kind of converter link

kiryl,

Don't connect 3.3V, should connect only TX, RX, and GND.

-bodhi
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hi bodhi,
I have read few topics here so I know now that I shouldn't have connect 3.3V. It's a pity that it took me two burned converters to realize that :/

Anyway each day I'm learning something new :D

The original uboot is quite old. Also the ms2100 at gittourious.

I mostly want to have a latest because I've played with a few other things.

I'll plug in my stora and give it a try with the ms2110 gittorious uboot. By the way.. The uart booting I've done several ways.

1. http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,7852
2. http://www.openstora.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1211&p=8975&hilit=uart#p8975

The kwboot is much easier in my opinion.

Ahh.. the Johnou/debian_stora_kernel.

Unfortunately it's not pre-compiled and assumes that you already have debian running. Unless I'm missing it...

The easiest way in the past to load debian from scratch is detailed here

http://goo.gl/s6hgUK

Unfortunately it's been broken for 10 months or so..

Hi Chris,

I have used this method Debian OS USB image and it worked for me. I was able to run Debian Squeeze from my pendrive :)

After that I have updated kernel to version 3.9.6 downloaded from Johnou/debian_stora_kernel. And sorry, but if I understood you correctly, you are wrong. There is already a pre-compiled kernel for debian :) 'linux-image-3.9.6-ck1-huuhaa_1.0_armel.deb'. Check a second file from the bottom on the list :D

I think I was also able to upgrade my Debian to Wheezy Grip 3.1 but I wasn't able to confirm that because my rs232 converter has been broken. Right now I'm waiting for a new one.

Thanks for that tip. I'd attempted unsuccessfully to use that usb image.

I tried it again as I couldn't recall the outcome. The gittorious uboot that I have uses usbboot instead of extload. I took this manual and the laCie guide and tried to adapt, but wasnt able to get going. Does anyone know the right way to boot with a newer uboot?

Stora>> setenv bootargs $(console) root=/dev/sda1 rootdelay=5; usb reset; usbboot 0x800000 0:1; bootm 0x800000   
(Re)start USB...
USB:   Register 10011 NbrPorts 1
USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found
       scanning bus for storage devices... 1 Storage Device(s) found

Loading from USB device 0, partition 1: Name: usbda1  Type: U-Boot
** Unknown image type
Wrong Image Format for bootm command
ERROR: can't get kernel image!
Stora>> 

Hi heychris,

asuming your pendrive is formatted in ext2 or ext3, this should work :)

setenv bootargs $(console) root=/dev/sda1 rootdelay=8
usb reset
ext2load usb 0 0x200000 /boot/uImage
ext2load usb 0 0x800000 /boot/uInitrd
bootm 0x200000 0x800000

you forgot to load kernel image into memory, not sure if uInitrd is needed

did you also take a look into "Install HowTo". if you can't open it add ".odt" extension to downloaded file



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2014 06:34AM by kiryl.

Hi Bodhi,

can you please help me with something?

at start please take a look at this guide - OpenStora Wiki - Compile the kernel. The author is using 'gitk' utility to obtain necessary patches, that later can be applied to kernel source for Netgear Stora.

Would it be possible to use this utility for obtaining patches from this git - u-boot-marvell-ms2110 for the newest u-Boot?

The problem is that I don't know which comments should I export.

kiryl,

Sorry, I'm not familiar with gitk! I've download this patch and tried to compile it on the 2013.10 U-Boot. Because this patch was for on an older U-Boot, so I am having some errors. I will try again when I have time.

-bodhi
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For what it's worth...

I admit to be an amateur at uboot compiling. I used meld to do a three way diff between ms2100 on gitorious, the exact uboot it was built from, and the current. My thought was find the diff between ms2100 and marvell uboot. Then apply that to the current uboot. Unfortunately, the way boards were defined changed after the ms2100 was built. I spent too much time piecing back together the files. After all that, I still couldn't get the build to load properly. I'm hoping someone with a little more experience can help that one out. If someone could point to a good tutorial, I'd be interested in doing any possible heavy lifting.

Guys, sorry for a little off top but I need some help here.
For compiling binaries to arm I'm using 'arm-none-linux-gnueabi-' cross compiler. I know it works because I was able to recompile 3.9.6 kernel with added support for ext4 fs :D

And now I have problems with compiling u-boot sources. I've made few changes in few files and know I want to check the results. But when I execute './MAKEALL -a arm -v Marvell' I see that bash tries to use 'arm-linux-' cross compiler which gives me an error "command not found". Is there a way to fix that?

-------------------

actually what I have done is add the Netgear Stora board configuration files to the latest u-boot sources, add this board to boards.cfg file and make a change in... don't remember well mmp_something file. I think it contains a list of available parameters for u-boot.
So now I'm able to choose netgear_ms2110 config but still can't compile it because of 'error 1' message :(

But I'm wondering, would it be possible to use config for rd6281a board with a kwbimage.cfg from netgear stora?

Bodhi, is it ok to bother you with this all compiling stuff or should I rather contact with the maintainer of this board in u-boot - Prafulla Wadaskar <prafulla@marvell.com>



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2014 02:41AM by kiryl.

kiryl,

I had the same problem. I finally went the code sourcery route. I added that portion to the wiki once I got it working
http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kernel_Compile_Howto

I did all my make's with cross_complile to select the arm-none-linux-gnueabi from code sourcery

make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabi-

Also.. I tried to merge the rd2681a board.. It seems like it's almost there. Something small is missing though.

@kiryl,

Which system do you compile on? the Stora itself? or cross compile on another box?

-bodhi
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I just noticed something interesting.. When I compiled U-boot from the link above's instruction. It loads, but doesn't have the ext2load command. I guessed it was depreciated to support newer file systems. It turns out the reference that matches the instruction set is circa 2006. I know my devices with newer u-boot seem much different than the one I compiled. I wonder how that happened.

To confirm, I took a new virtual server, loaded code sourcery, pulled ms-2110, compiled, then kwbooted via uart. It is exactly the same as above..

Bohi,

That's a important point. I use a clean install of the latest Ubuntu 32-bit. I've done it in 64 bit, but the 32-bit libraries are problematic at the moment. Sadly the kwboot tool is compiled as 64 and won't run 32.
I also am not very familiar with Git or the gtk client. However, I did stumble upon giggle. When you open the ms2110 source code with giggle, you see the point where it was branched from git.denx.de. Also you can create a patch from each change which closely resembles Jeff's patches located at https://github.com/doozan/uBoot

These patches are quite similar to what I made from the gitorious ms2110. I could add a 'mach-stora.patch' if that made sense. Before doing that I'd like to find out if those patches can still be refactored to mainline code that's recent.

I put the patch files at github for now.

https://github.com/heychris1/netgear-stora-u-boot

hi bodhi, I'm doing this on Ubuntu x64

Heychrist & kiryl,

Here is a test version for 2013.10 U-Boot for Netgear Stora. Please only run it with UART booting (Do not flash to NAND). If it works OK, I will rebuild with clean patch and publish it.

Let me know if you can boot with it and see if any problem. The patch is quite old, so I did a major surgery on it to fit with the new u-Boot source code structure!

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2014 03:12PM by bodhi.

Hey now!! that's much more than I've been able to do. Let me see if I can boot to USB now.



U-Boot 2013.10 (Feb 16 2014 - 12:24:16)-tld-2
Netgear-MS2110

SoC:   Kirkwood 88F6281_A1
DRAM:  128 MiB
WARNING: Caches not enabled
NAND:  256 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   egiga0
Warning: failed to set MAC address

PHY reset timed out
88E1116 Initialized on egiga0
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0x400000
 4194304 bytes read: OK

Cool!

I also forgot to mention that the uBoot env is defined at location 0xC0000 (to be consistent with other Kirkwood plugs).

# MTD device name	Device offset	Env. size	Flash sector size	Number of sectors
/dev/mtd0 0xc0000 0x20000 0x20000

That was the reason for the error

*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

Since there is no envs there yet, hence no checksum.

UPDATE:

So you will need to cut/paste from the old uBoot envs settings to set the envs while booting with UART. Once it booted into Debian, the rest is easy. In order to see the stock uBoot envs, temporarily change the address in /etc/fw_env.config to 0x40000 to see if you can get a listing of the old uBoot envs.

-bodhi
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2014 07:02PM by bodhi.

Using your rootfs I was able to boot to debian via usb.

It appears there is an issue with the network driver.

Would you mind sharing your source code for the patch? I spent more time than I'd like to admit. I didn't get as far as you did.

   21.657227] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[   21.674375] libphy: orion_mdio_bus: probed
[   21.678600] mv643xx_eth: MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet driver version 1.4
[   21.685607] libphy: PHY orion-mdio-mii:00 not found
] libphy: PHY orion-mdio-mii:00 not found
[   36.041553] platform mv643xx_eth_port.0: Driver mv643xx_eth_port requests probe deferral
[   36.069547] orion_wdt: Initial timeout 21 sec
[   36.095265] libphy: PHY orion-mdio-mii:00 not found

I'd just assume use the other kirkwood environmental variables. I pasted in the ones on doozan/uboot github.

FYI.
here are the default variables
https://www.toxicwaster.com/stora/enviroment.txt

Also there is a copy of the boot sequence if that helps
http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=Boot_sequence_information

heychris1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Using your rootfs I was able to boot to debian via
> usb.
>
> It appears there is an issue with the network
> driver.
>
> Would you mind sharing your source code for the
> patch? I spent more time than I'd like to admit.
> I didn't get as far as you did.
>
>

>    21.657227] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
> [   21.674375] libphy: orion_mdio_bus: probed
> [   21.678600] mv643xx_eth: MV-643xx 10/100/1000
> ethernet driver version 1.4
> [   21.685607] libphy: PHY orion-mdio-mii:00 not
> found
> ] libphy: PHY orion-mdio-mii:00 not found
> [   36.041553] platform mv643xx_eth_port.0: Driver
> mv643xx_eth_port requests probe deferral
> [   36.069547] orion_wdt: Initial timeout 21 sec
> [   36.095265] libphy: PHY orion-mdio-mii:00 not
> found
>

You need to boot with either the rootfs 3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2, or install this kernel on top of your rootfs. I found a problem in the latest kernel initrd and this version will fix it by starting the network driver in the kernel early on.

Sure about the netgear_ms2011 patch. I'll create it and post it here. It is not cleaned up as I would like to (still some legacy stuff in there that I did not want to take out just yet before you and kiryl test this uBoot image).

-bodhi
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I double checked and my rootfs came from Debian-3.13.1-kirkwood-tld-2-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2