[Helios4 doesn't boot after upgrading to linux-6.6.71 (linux-image-current-mvebu_25.2.0-trunk.343)]

On 2/27/2025 at 6:03 PM, Igor said:

we haven't heard it from its maintainer for a long time

I am still here  but as we all know our time is precious and I am currently using all my time for other projects. So I am not currently maintaining this board.

On the whole I think armbian is moving too fast, for me, with new features in the build system and kernel which has somewhat discouraged me from further investing my time. ARM is IMHO not a stable platform, unfortunately.

 

@djurny solution looks good - I might test this later and try to integrate it. But everyone else, if you can, please make it a PR on github

 

It should only be necessary to adjust this file https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/bootscripts/boot-mvebu.cmd

[Fan for SOC - heating issues]

You can try to add new thermal paste or a new thermal pad between the heat spreader and the chip. This helped for some of my boards in the past.

[a385: sysclock timedrifting compared to hwclock]

Are you using  dvfs on the board? IIRC changing the CPU core speed did lead to some problems with timekeeping. I think we had a patch for that years ago.

Maybe try a newer kernel?

[Fancontrol service fails to start with kernel version 5.15.72]

This is fixed with PR https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/5392

 

 

[Fancontrol service fails to start with kernel version 5.15.72]

I will investigate this - probably once again either broken fan patch or mismatched device tree / kernel information.

[u-boot for direct sata boot]

@Mangix because u-boot was maintained by the kobol team, which have given up supporting both their boards. I do not currently have the time to switch to another u-boot and test / fix upgrade and new image scenarios. But there are only a few patches https://github.com/armbian/build/tree/master/patch/u-boot/legacy/u-boot-helios4 and so it might be possible to go upstream. You are welcome to try and send a patch. 

 

I might also try, once I find time + motivation for it.

[Updated to 5.15, fancontrol only able to control first fan]

Hi,

 

I just tested this on my helios4 with linux kernel 5.15.80 

uname -a:
Linux helios4 5.15.80-mvebu #22.11.1

 

and both pwm controllers work just fine.

 

Have you tried going back to make sure it is not a HW problem? Or tried swapping fans around? 

 

Also make sure your /dev devices symlink to the correct path:
 

/dev/fan-j10 -> /sys/devices/platform/j10-pwm/hwmon/hwmon3
/dev/fan-j17 -> /sys/devices/platform/j17-pwm/hwmon/hwmon4

 

EDIT:

I just did a fresh build from armbian master, 23.02.0-trunk. PWM on both channels working fine.

uname -a
Linux helios4 5.15.88-mvebu #trunk SMP Sat Jan 14 13:47:38 CET 2023 armv7l GNU/Linux

 

So you'd need to provide more info on how you built your kernel version to get to this problem.

 

["mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt"]

From the error messages I would expect it to be the card. 

 

I have a similar problem but mine is a worn out sd card slot, so I just boot from a different medium now.

[Updated to 5.15, fancontrol only able to control first fan]

Ok I will try to reproduce and look at the patch. Does anyone else experience the same? 5.15 has been out for a while.

[u-boot for direct sata boot]

Ok I checked this and there is no uboot config for 2019 uboot helios4 which has SATA support enabled. Not sure how to best go forth here.

[u-boot for direct sata boot]

Ok I'll look into it this afternoon. 

[Armbian 22.11 (Goral) Release Thread]

ClearfogPro and Helios4 images are working ok. ClearfogBase I expect to do the same (not explicitly tested). 

 

@TheLinuxBug one improvement for the testing form would be a checkbox for "does not apply" on the feature section. My boards don't have wireless but no options really matches

[u-boot for direct sata boot]

Yeah that should be no problem. Just compare these two files:

 

(Clearfog configuration)
https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/config/sources/families/include/mvebu-clearfog.inc 

 

(Helios4 configuration)

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/config/sources/families/include/mvebu-helios4.inc

 

Just provide a PR with added targets here https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/config/sources/families/include/mvebu-helios4.inc#L11
Test it by building locally and we'll have sata uboot on the next release.

[Fancontrol service fails to start with kernel version 5.15.72]

Good to know. I am currently bringing mvebu-edge to 6.0.y, but that will take a bit more time.

[DRDB support in marvell mvebu]

PR is fine. Just adjust the config, test it and make PR. Even these small things help.

 

As for why it is not in the kernel atm probably nobody added it  

[Fancontrol service fails to start with kernel version 5.15.72]

@Dee2022 yeah and a fix is already on the way - read the posts above yours  

[Fancontrol service fails to start with kernel version 5.15.72]

Need review and actual testing on HW

 

https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/4275

[Fancontrol service fails to start with kernel version 5.15.72]

Hey. Yeah I noticed this problem already, see https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/4261
Unfortunately I did not get around to fix it last weekend, working on it right now

 

As for future proofing, unless someone has the energy to get the patches mainlined it will break from time to time...

 

 

[How to configure Clearfog Pro DSA?]

Great - btw. why are you using this old uboot? 

Current armbian has uboot 2018 and linux kernel 5.15 where all  this stuff works ootb.

 

Download here: 

https://www.armbian.com/clearfog/

 

See sources here: 

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/31ac6383e1ac7ebddd0813abc0f1f9632a9c9c40/config/sources/families/mvebu.conf#L18-L20

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/31ac6383e1ac7ebddd0813abc0f1f9632a9c9c40/config/sources/families/include/mvebu-clearfog.inc#L7-L8

[How to configure Clearfog Pro DSA?]

Yeah you need to UP eth1.  You can even see this in your Arch listing, the lan ports are @eth1. Vs in your armbian listing eth1 is down so the dsa is unreachable.

 

Example ip config via /etc/network/interfaces:

 

# Loopback
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# eth0 wan
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet manual

# eth1 switch dsa port
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet manual

# eth2 sfp port
allow-hotplug eth2
iface eth2 inet manual

# lan ports (dsa)
auto lan1 lan2 lan3 lan4 lan5 lan6
iface lan1 inet manual
iface lan2 inet manual
iface lan3 inet manual
iface lan4 inet manual
iface lan5 inet manual
iface lan6 inet manual

# bridge for local ports
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
        bridge_ports eth2 lan1 lan2 lan3 lan4 lan5 lan6
                address 192.168.1.1
                netmask 255.255.255.0
                network 192.168.1.0
                broadcast 192.168.1.255
                gateway 192.168.1.2
                dns-nameservers 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1

 

 

Clean armbian images are using network manager and should have working switched lan ports ootb.

[Upgrade to 22.05]

Thanks

[Shallow Kernel Git trees via GitHub Actions]

I'd guess this https://github.com/rpardini/armbian-git-shallow/blob/6398b50d9ab1fbf9856f93203e10221e97903148/shallow_kernel_tree.sh#L49 takes care of repetitive downloads.

[cpufreq in 22.02 bullseye]

The cpufreq patches have not made it to mainline and our patches cause the driver to misbehave (as stated earlier). You can try the 800- patch series from here https://github.com/armbian/build/tree/master/patch/kernel/archive/mvebu-4.19/disabled

Maybe they work now - but I don't think so. 

[Armbian 22.05 (Jade) Release Thread]

Replying for mvebu:

 

clearfogbase: http://ix.io/3Yh0

clearfogpro: http://ix.io/3YgX

helios4: http://ix.io/3Yh2

 

(all tested with full hardware, SFP, SATA, Wifi, Bridge;  just tested debian bullseye_current_5.15.35)

[Armbian 22.05 (Jade) Release Thread]

I will run mvebu tests tomorrow. Sorry for not being available for the meeting, turns out, building a house is a pretty major thing...