old uboot update

hi,
i have some goflex net with the doozan uboot from 2010.
U-Boot 2010.09 (Oct 23 2010 - 11:53:10)
Marvell-GoflexNet by Jeff Doozan, Peter Carmichael

unfortunately there is no rescue in flash and i dont have an old debian usb stick (ext2 lenny i think) anymore.

so i cant boot anything to update the uboot and use a new debian system.

how can i manage to update the uboot?
i have a serial cable and an tftp server.

tia
jay

jay,

> how can i manage to update the uboot?
> i have a serial cable and an tftp server.

It is easy. There are 2 alternatives:

1) Boot with serial console and change uboot envs to make it boot the latest Debian rootfs: Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 (https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096).

Quote

Updated 25 Aug 2019:

Basic Debian buster Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:

This requires you to do Step 4 during rootfs creation.

Quote

4. Create uImage with embedded DTB

2) Kwboot the new uboot for GoFlex Net (https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381). And boot straigth into the Debian-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 rootfs.

This requires you to skip Step 4 during rootfs creation.


With either approach 1 or 2, you can boot into the new Debian roots, then you can flash new u-boot easily.

There is also a 3rd method in that you can flash u-boot in serial console, but that is not as elegant as 1st or 2nd method.

-bodhi
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"There is also a 3rd method in that you can flash u-boot in serial console"
would describe this too?
i would prefere to try this.
tia
jay

jay,

> "There is also a 3rd method in that you can flash
> u-boot in serial console"
> would describe this too?
> i would prefere to try this.

Before doing this, you need to connect serial console. And then try kwboot the new u-boot to make sure it is available as your recovery method. And then verify the mtd parts in u-boot console that you can flash it.

Since you want to run Debian, method 2 would be better, where the process is much easier.

Method 3 is for when you have no other choice (which is rare).

-bodhi
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bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

easiest way would be to get an image of an old debian usb stick (ext2 lenny i think) to boot from with the current uboot.

"1) Boot with serial console and change uboot envs to make it boot the latest Debian rootfs"
the link lacks the envs and settings to change.

the easiest way was 3 as i thought.

2 minutes and recovery complete...
tftp, serial connect and 6 commands:
https://cyanlabs.net/tutorials/recovering-a-seagate-goflex-via-serial/
the home kwb works for the net too...

so: resolved :-)

thanks anyway.

jay



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2020 08:19PM by jay.

The oldest rootfs that I can find is Debian jessie. You should be able to boot that rootfs without changing any u-boot env.

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096,12098#msg-12098

Quote

Updated 24 Feb 2015:

This rootfs is the first Debian jessie rootfs in my Kirkwood kernel/rootfs release series, and to keep in sync with kernel Linux-3.18.5-kirkwood-tld-1.

Basic minimal Debian Kirkwood rootfs for most Kirwood plugs:
- tarball size: 134M
- install size: 388M
- a basic jessie rootfs.
- The init system used in this rootfs is sysvinit (same as in the previous wheezy rootfs). To boot with systemd, see note 4 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

Make sure that you do Step 4 (append the DTB to uImage). This will allow the kernel file uImage to match what is expected from Jeff's u-boot circa 2012 or earlier.

Quote

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

-bodhi
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