Welcome! Log In Create A New Profile

Advanced

Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot

Posted by Hans Peter 
Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 14, 2017 02:24PM
First of all, sorry for the question but I don't understand the tutorial.

I have an old Zyxel NAS325v2 and want to use a new Debian on it. I have installed the latest original firmware from Zyxel.
I detached the NAS and only have the mainboard in front of me with the power cable, the network cable and the serial cable connected to the board.

From my PC (Linux) I have a serial connection via "screen" to the Zyxel mainboard. I interruppted the autostart an the command "version" gave me the following output:

U-Boot 1.1.4 (Jul 18 2013 - 10:47:29) Marvell version: 3.5.9

That is the uBoot version of the original firmware from Zyxel. I read the uBoot tutorial many times but I didn't know how to start.

I have downloaded the uboot.2016.05-tld-1.nsa325.bodhi.tar file. But what is the next step the commands described in the tutorial are not known in the serial connection.

I think I need a Linux on the NAS but that is the goal, I haven't had this for now.
Do I need a working Linux on an USB-Stick to update uBoot or has the original firmware from Zyxel the possibility to run the described commands for updating uBoot on the NAS?
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 14, 2017 04:43PM
Hans Peter,

> I have downloaded the
> uboot.2016.05-tld-1.nsa325.bodhi.tar file. But
> what is the next step the commands described in
> the tutorial are not known in the serial
> connection.

You can install u-boot from stock OS.

1. In the u-boot installation, there is a link to download the tarball that contains all those binaries:


Quote

A. Flashing Instruction:


Installation is the same for each u-Boot image, the instruction below is written to include all boxes. So choose the platform name that you are installing for, and copy/paste the appropriate commands.

If you are running kernel that do not provide mtd-utils and uboot-tools (fw_setenv, fw_printenv, flash_erase, nandwrite), you can download the NAND and U-Boot tools binaries here in this thread.

2. Since you will also install Debian then I recommend you dowload the rootfs tarball first. The kernel/rootfs thread:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

Quote

Updated 24 Jul 2017:

Basic Debian stretch Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:
.......

Download at Dropbox:

Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2

Create the USB rootfs as instructed in the kernel/rootfs thread. And then install u-boot at the same time, before reboot.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 15, 2017 07:11AM
Thanks bodhi.

I followed the tutorial from the Linux Kernel / Debian site https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

1. Formated my USB stick (Scandisk 32GB) complete with ext3 and named it rootfs
2. sudo tar xvfj Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 -C /run/media/icke/rootfs
3. no changes to fstab
4. no need of changes because I want to update uBoot
5. Done

After that I followed the uBoot tutorial
1. I controlled the /etc/fw_env.config on the usb stick, everything is okay. The can't control the cat /proc/mtd because the system is not booted yet, but the stnadard fw_Env / mtd0 is 2 MB.
2. I startetd a serial connection to the NAS mainbaord an interrupted the autostart and type printenv. it shows me that the ethaddr 00:50:43:00:02:02 is set.
3. I logged the output from printenv to a logging file
4. ???
5. I unpack the uboot.2016.05-tld-1.nsa325.bodhi.tar to the /tmp folder on the usb stick
6. ???
7. ???

How can I check for bad blocks in the first 1MB?
In the uBoot Tutorial are there three different (A, B, C) tutorials, wich one is for the uboot installation with the usb-stick on the first start?
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 15, 2017 04:00PM
> 1. Formated my USB stick (Scandisk 32GB) complete
> with ext3 and named it rootfs

Not sure exactly what you did in the above step. So I cannot tell if it was correct.

> 2. sudo tar xvfj
> Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2
> -C /run/media/icke/rootfs

This was done incorrectly. You must log in as root as instructed

Quote
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096
Installation:

Installation can be done on any Linux box, with a fresh USB drive (SD card or HDD would work fine too).

Note: all steps below must be done while logging in as root user (not sudo). If you are not the root user then don't continue, because the rootfs will not work.

> How can I check for bad blocks in the first 1MB?

Quote
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381
4. Be sure there is no bad block in the first 1M of your NAND (check dmesg). This is very important, if there is bad block in the first 1M (8 blocks), don't flash u-boot, because you will almost certainly brick your box. Please post your question here (there is a work around for it).

Example of bad block in mtd0:
dmesg | grep -i 'bad'

[ 2.413231] Scanning device for bad blocks
[ 2.417731] Bad eraseblock 3 at 0x000000060000

Hans Peter,

You need to reread the instruction a little more carefully before doing it :) It is best that you copy and paste here: the entire log of the session how you create the rootfs on USB.

And then we'll get to u-boot installation.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 20, 2017 03:29PM
to 1.) I used the toll Gparted under Linux to format the usb-stick as described, I deleted all the partion tables and create a new primary one in the format ext3. This new created partition get the name rootfs. The result is shown in the attached file.

to 2.) I recreated the hole stick as root user.

The problem is that I can't copy and paste the session of the usb-stick creation, because it was made with a GUI.
Attachments:
open | download - Bildschirmfoto von »2017-10-20 22-19-22«.png (36.1 KB)
open | download - Bildschirmfoto von »2017-10-20 22-25-49«.png (42.2 KB)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 20, 2017 04:16PM
Hans Peter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> to 1.) I used the toll Gparted under Linux to
> format the usb-stick as described, I deleted all
> the partion tables and create a new primary one in
> the format ext3. This new created partition get
> the name rootfs. The result is shown in the
> attached file.
>
> to 2.) I recreated the hole stick as root user.
>
> The problem is that I can't copy and paste the
> session of the usb-stick creation, because it was
> made with a GUI.


This rootfs partition looks OK.

You can proceed to install u-boot. Part A and B are required. Part C is only when you need it.


Quote

8. Flashing default u-boot envs image:

As described in step 1, u-boot envs must be defined in etc/fw_env.config as

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

A special section (B. Flashing default u-boot envs image) about flashing default u-boot envs is included at the end of this installation procedure. Please follow the instruction in this section B to perform this step before continuing with step 9.



Quote

B. Flashing default u-boot envs image

This default envs image supports booting with multiple disk drives (and hubs) attached. The disk drives could be any type (usb, sata, sd card). The scanning logic and default envs were set to automatically boot the box with the following required configuration:

For whatever reason, if you can't set up your configuration to satisfy the following 4 requirements, then don't flash this defaut envs image. It might not boot properly. In this case, section C below can be used to tailor the envs to your specific configuration.

r1. There must be only one partition among all partitions from all drives that contains the kernel files. The 2 kernel files are /boot/uImage and /boot/uInitrd.
r2. The partition that contains the 2 kernel files must be partition 1 in a disk drive
r3. The partition that contains the rootfs must be labeled rootfs
r4. The rootfs partition is recommended to be type Ext3 (this is not a hard requirement, ext4 should boot OK, but Ext3 will ensure no problem).

So the bottom line is if you have only one rootfs in a single Ext3 partition, which is labeled as rootfs, then you're all set.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 26, 2017 01:38PM
I've prepared the stick and made the configuration to boot from it, after that I had the following error message.

Error: unrecognized/unsupported machine ID (r1 = 0x0000118f).

Available machine support:
ID (hex)	NAME
ffffffff	Generic DT based system
ffffffff	Marvell Kirkwood (Flattened Device Tree)

Please check your kernel config and/or bootloader.


Before that I prepared the stock firmware to boot from usb-stick with this commands

fw_setenv arcNumber 4495
fw_setenv mainlineLinux yes
fw_setenv bootargs_stock 'console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=nand_mtd:0x100000(uboot),0x80000(uboot_env),0x80000(key_store),0x80000(info),0xA00000(etc),0xA00000(kernel_1),0x2FC0000(rootfs1),0xA00000(kernel_2),0x2FC0000(rootfs2) root=/dev/nfs rw init=/init'
fw_setenv bootargs_linux 'console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=nand_mtd:0x100000(u-boot),0x400000(uImage),0x2000000(rootfs),0xDB00000(data), root=LABEL=rootfs loglevel=8'
fw_setenv bootcmd_linux 'setenv bootargs $(bootargs_linux); mw.l f1010100 0020c000; usb reset; ext2load usb 0:1 $(loadaddr) /boot/uImage; ext2load usb 0:1 0x01100000 /boot/uInitrd; bootm $(loadaddr) 0x01100000'
fw_setenv bootcmd_stock 'setenv bootargs $(bootargs_stock); nand read.e $(loadaddr) $(kernel_addr) 0xA00000; bootm $(loadadr)'
fw_setenv to_stock "setenv mainlineLinux no; setenv bootcmd \'run bootcmd_stock\'; saveenv; reset"
fw_setenv to_linux "setenv mainlineLinux yes; setenv bootcmd \'run bootcmd_linux\'; saveenv; reset"
fw_setenv bootcmd 'run to_linux'


--------

Moderator: edited to use code tags. If not sure how, please ask.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2017 04:41PM by bodhi.
Attachments:
open | download - Bootprocess.log (3.9 KB)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 26, 2017 05:05PM
Hans Peter,

First, please use code tags when posting log output or any commands. It helps people to read it correctly. Without code tags, the post is usually not readable.

And when the log is short such as a boot log, include it in the post with code tags. Don't attach it.


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

OK so now the problem solution.

This error becaus the kernel file /boot/uImage does not have the DTB embbeded inside.


Quote
Instruction
4. Create uImage with embedded DTB for booting with older u-boots (2012 or earlier). Skip this step if you have installed the latest U-Boot for Kirkwood (or are installing this u-boot at the same time).

Please replace kirkwood-goflexnet.dtb below with the correct DTB name for your box (see the folder /media/sdb1/boot/dts for the exact spelling of your Kirkwood box name).

Generate the uImage with DTB embedded inside:
cd /media/sdb1/boot
cp -a zImage-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1 zImage.fdt
cat dts/kirkwood-goflexnet.dtb >> zImage.fdt
mv uImage uImage.orig
mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x00008000 -e 0x00008000 -n Linux-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1 -d zImage.fdt uImage
sync

You are booting with stock u-boot. So uImage needs to have DTB embedded inside. The NSA325 sock u-boot is quite old (U-Boot 1.1.4 ) so even it was compiled later, the source code is still a lot older than what I've released in this forum.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 27, 2017 03:51AM
Okay bodhi same error but with the new u-boot image. The DTB can't be the problem, because now I have the new uboot installed.

U-Boot 2016.05-tld-1 (Jun 12 2016 - 13:48:40 -0700)
ZyXEL NSA325 2-Bay Power Media Server

SoC:   Kirkwood 88F6282_A1
DRAM:  512 MiB
WARNING: Caches not enabled
NAND:  128 MiB
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   egiga0
MV88E1318 PHY initialized on egiga0
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 10 ### 9 ### 8 ### 7 ### 6 ### 5 ### 4 ### 3 ### 2 ### 1 ### 0 
starting USB...
USB0:   USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus 0 for devices... 3 USB Device(s) found
       scanning usb for storage devices... 1 Storage Device(s) found

Partition Map for USB device 0  --   Partition Type: DOS

Part	Start Sector	Num Sectors	UUID		Type
  1	2048      	62527488  	57b31209-01	83
loading envs from usb 0 ...
** File not found /boot/uEnv.txt **
3821592 bytes read in 418 ms (8.7 MiB/s)
7245696 bytes read in 519 ms (13.3 MiB/s)
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 00800000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1
   Created:      2017-07-20   8:11:24 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    3821528 Bytes = 3.6 MiB
   Load Address: 00008000
   Entry Point:  00008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 01100000 ...
   Image Name:   initramfs-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1
   Created:      2017-07-24   0:18:23 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    7245632 Bytes = 6.9 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
Using machid 0x118f from environment

Starting kernel ...

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.

Error: unrecognized/unsupported machine ID (r1 = 0x0000118f).

Available machine support:

ID (hex)	NAME
ffffffff	Generic DT based system
ffffffff	Marvell Kirkwood (Flattened Device Tree)

Please check your kernel config and/or bootloader.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 27, 2017 05:24PM
Hans Peter,

> Okay bodhi same error but with the new u-boot
> image. The DTB can't be the problem, because now I
> have the new uboot installed.

It is still DTB related problem.

See this error:

> *** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment


The reason is because you did not flash the default envs image while installing new u-boot.

Quote

8. Flashing default u-boot envs image:

As described in step 1, u-boot envs must be defined in etc/fw_env.config as

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

A special section (B. Flashing default u-boot envs image) about flashing default u-boot envs is included at the end of this installation procedure. Please follow the instruction in this section B to perform this step before continuing with step 9.


See here how to populate the default envs in serial console:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,29362,29390#msg-29390

Remember to adjust the dtb_file env to the correct one for NSA325.

setenv dtb_file '/boot/dts/kirkwood-nsa325.dtb'

Now it should boot into Debian.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 29, 2017 03:18PM
It is done. Thanks bodhi for your help and for your patience.

I downloaded the script "uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.scr" from the side and placed it in the folder /boot on the stick.
I interrupted the boot and then tipped in the following commands:

usb start
ext2load usb 0:1 0x800000 /boot/uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.scr
source 0x800000
printenv
setenv devices 'usb ide'
setenv ethaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (replaced with my adress)
setenv dtb_file '/boot/dts/kirkwood-nsa325.dtb'
boot

After that Debian was starting. I logged in as root with passwort root. I controlled the /etc/fw_env.config and installed the mtd-utils to get the commands flash_erase and nandwrite with
apt-get install mtd-utils
I downloaded the uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.bodhi.tar to my desktop pc an untar it with
tar -xf uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.bodhi.tar

after that I copied it via ssh to the NAS box and start a ssh connection parallel to the serial connection
scp uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.img root@ip-adress:/tmp

then I do the following
fw_printenv > current_envs.txt
/usr/sbin/flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0xc0000 1
/usr/sbin/nandwrite -s 786432 /dev/mtd0 uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.img
fw_setenv arcNumber 4495
fw_setenv machid
fw_setenv mtdparts 'xxxxxxxxx' (forgotten :-()
fw_setenv ethaddr 'xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx' (replaced with my adress)
fw_setenv dtb_file '/boot/dts/kirkwood-nsa325.dtb'
fw_printenv
reboot

Now Debian 9 with Linux Kernel 4.12.1 is booting on my Zyxel NSA325v2 and I can go on create a backup box.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
October 29, 2017 06:29PM
> Now Debian 9 with Linux Kernel 4.12.1 is booting
> on my Zyxel NSA325v2 and I can go on create a
> backup box.

Cool! and very good that you have documented a summary of these steps, too. It will be handy to help others in the future!

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Martin K.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
May 06, 2019 10:06AM
Great work guys! But I'm still afraid to "touch" my NSA325v2.
Any chance to get a real step-by-step howto to install Debian on this appliance?
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
May 06, 2019 12:46PM
... wait a few days. I'm about to write it down - but there are still a few issues. Get a serial cable in the meantime! ;-)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
May 06, 2019 04:54PM
Martin K. ,

> Great work guys! But I'm still afraid to "touch"
> my NSA325v2.
> Any chance to get a real step-by-step howto to
> install Debian on this appliance?

Take a look at the first post of my released threads:

Debian:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

U-Boot:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

See if you are comfortable wih the instruction.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
fgh
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 01, 2019 06:13AM
Im feeling very fragmented about the info on installing a Debian system on the NSA325. I would need a more straight forward howto to follow as my knowledge is too low to be able to put bits and peaces from here and there together. :(

Also what serial cable should I have? Was hoping my DKU-5 cable that I use for my openwrt routers would work but it seems it does not.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 01, 2019 01:07PM
fgh,

> Im feeling very fragmented about the info on
> installing a Debian system on the NSA325. I would
> need a more straight forward howto to follow as my
> knowledge is too low to be able to put bits and
> peaces from here and there together. :(
>

Take a look at the first post of my released threads:

Debian:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

U-Boot:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

See if you are comfortable wih the instruction. Basically create a rootfs and install new u-boot (do both in one SSH session, from inside stock OS).


> Also what serial cable should I have? Was hoping
> my DKU-5 cable that I use for my openwrt routers
> would work but it seems it does not.

This Wiki thread talk about serial console:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?8,13263

Specifically this post in that thread:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?8,13263,13264#msg-13264

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
fgh
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 01, 2019 02:30PM
EDIT: Nevermind, it doesnt boot anymore since i followed U-boot info

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Take a look at the first post of my released
> threads:
>
> Debian:
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096
>
> U-Boot:
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381
>
> See if you are comfortable wih the instruction.
> Basically create a rootfs and install new u-boot
> (do both in one SSH session, from inside stock
> OS).

Yes, ive been reading them among others. So maybe its me who's dumb.
But for example, from the Debian install info:
3. And install it with dpkg. Remove flash-kernel first to avoid potential problem: 

cd /boot
apt-get remove flash-kernel 
dpkg -i linux-image-5.1.11-kirkwood-tld-2_2.0_armel.deb
Stocksystem doesnt have apt nor dpkg?

Man, im feeling terribly stupid but cant even find /boot
~ # ls -p /
bin/     etc/     init     mnt/     root/    tmp/     zyxel/
dev/     home/    lib/     proc/    sbin/    usr/
e-data/  i-data/  linuxrc  ram_bin/ sys/     var/
~ #



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2019 04:02PM by fgh.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 02, 2019 12:18AM
fgh,

Quote

Yes, ive been reading them among others. So maybe its me who's dumb.

No :) It's OK. You are just not familiar with how the Linux root file system organized. You need to create a rootfs on USB first. What you've used was the kernel installation.


Up top in the Debian installation thread:


Quote
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096


Linux Kernel 5.1.x Kirkwood package and rootfs for GoFlex Home/Net, Pogoplug E02/Mobile/V4, iConnect, Dockstar, Sheevaplug, NSA320, NSA320S, NSA325, NSA310S, NSA310, Topkick, Netgear Stora, ASUS-M25, Iomega ix4-200d, QiZhiTong 501mv2, HP Thin Client T5325, LG N1T1, Linksys EA4500, Lenovo/Iomega ix2-ng, Toshiba Canvio Home NAS, Lenovo Iomega EZ, Dell KACE M300, Freecom Silverstore HNCN2, DNS-320-B1, Medion P89634, and all other Kirkwood plugs that are already in the mainline.

Latest released kernel: linux-5.1.11-kirkwood-tld-2-bodhi.tar.bz2 (01 Jul 2019)
Latest released rootfs: Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 (24 Jul 2017)

Note: If this is your first time installation, then you need rootfs Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 (this has kernel 4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1 already installed).

So scroll down to the section:

Quote

Updated 24 Jul 2017:

Basic Debian stretch Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:

- tarball size: 188M
- install size: 488M
- The init system used in this rootfs is sysvinit . To boot with systemd, see note 2 below.
- Installed packages: nano, avahi, ntp, busybox-syslogd (log to RAM), htop, isc-dhcp-client, dialog, bzip2, nfs server/client, iperf, ethtool, sysvinit-core, sysvinit, and sysvinit-utils.
- see LED controls in /etc/rc.local, and /etc/init.d/halt
- see some useful aliases in /root/.profile
- root password: root

Download at Dropbox:

Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2

md5:
bf3d29569943875df348fb5ca03b348c
sha256:
4ed5714fdb123cdb40e973f3d0754e91cd199b75a9874018f2b5dc9cfa8ae8bb

And remember to check the hash of what you download, as always.

Using a different Linux box, create the Debian-4.12.1-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 rootfs using a USB thumb drive. Follow the instruction very closely (being root user, create an Ext3 partition, and extract the tarball to the drive).

Since you mentioned you already install new u-boot. Just plug in the USB rootfs drive, power up and boot with it,

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 02, 2019 12:24AM
Hi fgh,

The instructions you're looking at are for updating the kernel once Debian is installed. You need to scroll down to see the Debian rootfs instructions. Look for these lines;

Updated 24 Jul 2017:

Basic Debian stretch Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:

- tarball size: 188M
- install size: 488M
- The init system used in this rootfs is sysvinit . To boot with systemd, see note 2 below.
- Installed packages: nano, avahi, ntp, busybox-syslogd (log to RAM), htop, isc-dhcp-client, dialog, bzip2, nfs server/client, iperf, ethtool, sysvinit-core, sysvinit, and sysvinit-utils.
- see LED controls in /etc/rc.local, and /etc/init.d/halt
- see some useful aliases in /root/.profile
- root password: root

The installation instructions follow on from there and are easy to understand. Don't worry about the Kernel packages until everything is up and running.
fgh
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 06, 2019 06:04PM
Thank you very much for pointing me in rigth direction! I've ordered a USB-TTL RS232 cable to hopefully be able to access serial console and make my NSA boot again.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 12:28AM
If you have raspberry pi, you can use raspbian / minicom or picocom and connect rpi's serial port to your device's serial port to make nsa325 great again.
fgh
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 08:09AM
Well, after I found out the hard way the adapter I ordered doesnt work with the NSA325 Im now trying to access serial from my Raspberry Pi3. Ofcourse with no luck. I get a few random characters in console only. This Zyxelbox really testing my limits. :-)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 08:12AM
random characters on the console usually indicates it's working, just that the settings need to be adjusted. Usually it's just the baud rate that must be changed but you should look at stop bits/parity/flow control too.
fgh
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 08:24AM
Thank you for such a fast reply. How do i know what baud rate to use??

1000001101000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> random characters on the console usually indicates
> it's working, just that the settings need to be
> adjusted. Usually it's just the baud rate that
> must be changed but you should look at stop
> bits/parity/flow control too.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 08:46AM
You can find out for sure if you can see the kernel cmdline string either from /proc/cmdline on the running system or by looking at the parameters in the boot loader. You can also usually figure it out from trial and error as there are only a few commonly used settings.

looking at another tread for this device I keep seeing:
bootargs=console=ttyS0,115200 root=LABEL=rootfs

So I would start with 115200.
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 08:52AM
fgh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, after I found out the hard way the adapter I
> ordered doesnt work with the NSA325 Im now trying
> to access serial from my Raspberry Pi3. Ofcourse
> with no luck. I get a few random characters in
> console only. This Zyxelbox really testing my
> limits. :-)

115200 baud rate, no parity, 8 bit, 1 stop bit.

And also try reverse TX and RX connection.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
fgh
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 09:17AM
OK! These settings doesnt give more output than one random character for, what i think is, every reboot. By the sound of the ide-disk it sounds like it is in a reboot-loop. Should I consider it bricked and lost?
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 09:27AM
fgh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK! These settings doesnt give more output than
> one random character for, what i think is, every
> reboot. By the sound of the ide-disk it sounds
> like it is in a reboot-loop. Should I consider it
> bricked and lost?

Not bricked:) very hard to brick this box.

You should run kwboot to load the new uboot to see if it is better.

Let me see if I can find the post. Or you can search the forum for “kwboot” too.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)
Re: Zyxel NSA325 Newbie question for update uBoot
August 07, 2019 09:32AM
See this post:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,82824,82854#msg-82854

Basically, you will run the kwboot command on the rPi command line (instead of running minicom/picocom/screen to connect).

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2019 09:36AM by bodhi.
Author:

Subject:


Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically. If the code is hard to read, then just try to guess it right. If you enter the wrong code, a new image is created and you get another chance to enter it right.
Message: