Rock Pi S won't boot with custom builds

[chmorroni]

I'm trying to get Armbian running on a Rock Pi S, but my custom builds aren't booting (see output below). I can successfully boot with the Buster image from here, but I need a custom custom build that will eventually include a few added scripts and be flashed to the NAND flash on the board, instead of using an SD card.

 

When I run a custom-built image, I never see the Armbian splash on in the serial console, instead I get the following output:

DDR Version V1.26
REGFB: 0x00000032, 0x00000032
In
589MHz
DDR3
 Col=10 Bank=8 Row=15 Size=512MB
msch:1
Returning to boot ROM...
INFO:    Preloader serial: 0
NOTICE:  BL31: v1.3(release):3a579d3
NOTICE:  BL31: Built : 09:09:17, Jan 29 2019
INFO:    Lastlog: last=0x100000, realtime=0x102000, size=0x2000
INFO:    ARM GICv2 driver initialized
INFO:    Using opteed sec cpu_context!
INFO:    boot cpu mask: 1
INFO:    plat_rockchip_pmu_init: pd status 0xe
INFO:    BL31: Initializing runtime services
WARNING: No OPTEE provided by BL2 boot loader, Booting device without OPTEE initialization. SMC`s destined for OPTEE will return SMC_UNK
ERROR:   Error initializing runtime service opteed_fast
INFO:    BL31: Preparing for EL3 exit to normal world
INFO:    Entry point address = 0x600000
INFO:    SPSR = 0x3c9


U-Boot 2017.09-armbian (Nov 18 2020 - 11:04:16 -0700)

Model: Radxa ROCK Pi S
PreSerial: 0
DRAM:  510 MiB
Sysmem: init
Relocation Offset is: 1f918000
vdd-core init 1044000 uV
MMC:   dwmmc@ff480000: 0, dwmmc@ff490000: 1
Using default environment

In:    serial@ff0c0000
Out:   serial@ff0c0000
Err:   serial@ff0c0000
Model: Radxa ROCK Pi S
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc1 is current device
Bootdev(atags): mmc 0
MMC0: Legacy, 50Mhz
PartType: DOS
rockchip_get_boot_mode: Could not found misc partition
boot mode: None
CLK: (sync kernel. arm: enter 816000 KHz, init 816000 KHz, kernel 0N/A)
  apll 816000 KHz
  dpll 1300000 KHz
  vpll0 1179647 KHz
  vpll1 903167 KHz
  aclk_bus 185714 KHz
  hclk_bus 100000 KHz
  pclk_bus 100000 KHz
  aclk_peri 185714 KHz
  hclk_peri 100000 KHz
  pclk_peri 100000 KHz
  hclk_audio 98303 KHz
  pclk_audio 98303 KHz
Net:   No ethernet found.
Hit key to stop autoboot('CTRL+C'):  0 
Could not find misc partition
ANDROID: reboot reason: "(none)"
load_android_image: Can't find part: boot
Android image load failed
Android boot failed, error -1.
do_boot_rockchip: Could not find mmcsda1 part
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc1 is current device
** No partition table - mmc 1 **
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0 is current device
Scanning mmc 0:1...
Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr
3045 bytes read in 25 ms (118.2 KiB/s)
## Executing script at 00500000
Boot script loaded from mmc 0
138 bytes read in 22 ms (5.9 KiB/s)
** File not found /boot/uInitrd **
10786824 bytes read in 504 ms (20.4 MiB/s)
65592 bytes read in 55 ms (1.1 MiB/s)
** File not found /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay/rk3308-fixup.scr **
Wrong Ramdisk Image Format
Ramdisk image is corrupt or invalid
SCRIPT FAILED: continuing...

Device 0: unknown device
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: pxeuuid
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/00000000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/0000000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/000000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/00000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/0000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/000
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/00
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/0
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/default-arm-rockchip
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/default-arm
No ethernet found.
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/default
No ethernet found.
Config file not found
No ethernet found.
=> 

 

From the console, it looks to me like there might be a boot file missing or something, but I'm a total noob with linux/u-boot, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking at.

 

More information:

• Build environment: Windows 10 using Ubuntu 20.04 WSL
• Repo was checked out this morning
  • Tried deleting the whole local copy and starting from scratch to no avail
• Build command: 

./compile.sh KERNEL_ONLY="no" KERNEL_CONFIGURE="no" KERNEL_KEEP_CONFIG="no" BUILD_MINIMAL="" BUILD_DESKTOP="no" BOARD="rockpi-s" BRANCH="legacy" RELEASE="buster"

• Tried using Rufus and Etcher to write the SD image, also tried formatting using tool from Getting Started Guide
  • Also, writing the SD card from Windows
• Reading console from UART0 on the board
• Image file (just in case I'm using the wrong one) is output/images/Armbian_20.11.0-trunk_Rockpi-s_buster_legacy_4.4.243_minimal.img

 

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[piter75]

28 minutes ago, chmorroni said:

** File not found /boot/uInitrd **

I remember building the ROCK Pi S image a few day ago and it was working fine. I will build again to verify it.

 

Refer to the output/debug/install.log to see if there are any errors during initramfs build.

[chmorroni]

Quote

Refer to the output/debug/install.log to see if there are any errors during initramfs build.

 

I don't see any errors, but the last couple lines do look a little weird:

Adding module /lib/modules/4.4.243-rockpis/kernel/drivers/md/dm-mod.ko
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-premount/ORDER ignored: not executable
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-bottom/ORDER ignored: not executable
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-top/ORDER ignored: not executable
Building cpio /boot/initrd.img-4.4.243-rockpis.new initramfs
mode of '/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools' changed from 0644 (rw-r--r--) to 0755 (rwxr-xr-x)

 

I don't see a way to attach a file, but I can try to do that, if it would be helpful.

 

I have had a little success by doing some hacking. When I mounted the img file, I did notice that /boot/uInitrc didn't exist. By running the following command, I was able to make the file, and the image does now boot!

mkimage -A arm -T ramdisk -C none -n uInitrd -d initrd.img-4.4.243-rockpis uInitrd

 

This isn't ideal, though, so am I missing something when building that would do this step for me?

[piter75]

9 hours ago, chmorroni said:

I don't see any errors, but the last couple lines do look a little weird:

This script: https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/packages/bsp/common/etc/initramfs/post-update.d/99-uboot does not run or it fails while sourcing /etc/armbian-release.

There is no "update-initramfs: Converting to u-boot format" message in your log after "Building cpio...".

 

Is the file /etc/initramfs/post-update.d/99-uboot executable in the output image? Does it exist?

Can you provide the content of /etc/armbian-release from the output image?

[Heisath]

Compare with the current posts in this thread: 

Might be a common problem?

[piter75]

46 minutes ago, Heisath said:

Might be a common problem?

IMO it is rather unrelated.

The other issue (introduced by me ) affects a single file and causes not updating initramfs after kernel update at all.

[chmorroni]

On 11/19/2020 at 3:50 AM, piter75 said:

Is the file /etc/initramfs/post-update.d/99-uboot executable in the output image? Does it exist?

Can you provide the content of /etc/armbian-release from the output image?

 

Not sure if it's because I'm building the legacy kernel, but I don't have the /etc/initramfs directory or /etc/armbian-release.

[piter75]

2 hours ago, chmorroni said:

Not sure if it's because I'm building the legacy kernel, but I don't have the /etc/initramfs directory or /etc/armbian-release.

Legacy is the only sensible option for ROCK Pi S for now so this was a good choice ;-)

 

This function definitely did not go well. Consult the console output during build (after kernel compilation) to see if there aren't any errors.

[chmorroni]

On 11/20/2020 at 12:51 PM, piter75 said:

This function definitely did not go well. Consult the console output during build (after kernel compilation) to see if there aren't any errors.

 

Ah, yeah, I think this is probably the issue:
 

cp: cannot stat '/home/chris/build/.tmp/rootfs-legacy-rockpi-s-buster-no-yes/etc/armbian-release': No such file or directory

 

The only other things I see are some warnings when compiling the sunxi_tools, but here's the console output in the area where it's calling the function you mentioned:

 

[ .... ] Checking out
[ o.k. ] Creating board support package [ rockpi-s legacy ]
[ .... ] Fingerprinting
[ o.k. ] Building package [ linux-buster-root-legacy-rockpi-s ]
[ o.k. ] Building desktop package [ armbian-buster-desktop_20.11.0-trunk_all ]
[ o.k. ] Starting rootfs and image building process for [ rockpi-s buster ]
[ o.k. ] Checking for local cache [ buster-minimal-arm64.e1c...107.tar.lz4 ]
[ .... ] searching on servers
[ .... ] downloading using torrent network [ buster-minimal-arm64.e1cd7687d09272680f29797678682107.tar.lz4 ]
[ o.k. ] Verified [ PGP ]
[ o.k. ] Extracting buster-minimal-arm64.e1c...107.tar.lz4 [ 0 days old ]
[ .... ] buster-minimal-arm64.e1c...107.tar.lz4:  213MiB [ 205MiB/s] [===============================================================================================>] 100%
[ o.k. ] Adding Armbian repository and authentication key [ /etc/apt/sources.list.d/armbian.list ]
[ o.k. ] Applying distribution specific tweaks for [ buster ]
[ o.k. ] Applying common tweaks
[ .... ] Updating [ package lists ]
[ .... ] Temporarily disabling [ initramfs-tools hook for kernel ]
[ .... ] Installing [ linux-u-boot-legacy-rockpi-s_20.11.0-trunk_arm64.deb ]
[ .... ] Installing [ linux-image-legacy-rockpis_20.11.0-trunk_arm64.deb ]
[ .... ] Installing [ linux-dtb-legacy-rockpis_20.11.0-trunk_arm64.deb ]
[ .... ] Installing [ armbian-firmware_20.11.0-trunk_all.deb ]
[ .... ] Installing from repository [ wireguard-tools --no-install-recommends ]
[ o.k. ] Enabling serial console [ ttyS0 ]
[ o.k. ] Enabling serial console [ ttyGS0 ]
cp: cannot stat '/home/chris/build/.tmp/rootfs-legacy-rockpi-s-buster-no-yes/etc/armbian-release': No such file or directory
[ o.k. ] Building kernel splash logo [ buster ]
[ o.k. ] Calling image customization script [ customize-image.sh ]

 

[Igor]

18 minutes ago, chmorroni said:

Ah, yeah, I think this is probably the issue:

Reboot the host and clean the output/deb content. It is possible that one of your files is bad or previous build was not cleanly unmounted.

 

On 11/18/2020 at 9:01 PM, chmorroni said:

include a few added scripts

Or something is wrong here.

[chmorroni]

On 11/23/2020 at 11:17 AM, Igor said:

Reboot the host and clean the output/deb content. It is possible that one of your files is bad or previous build was not cleanly unmounted.

 

Or something is wrong here.

 

Interesting, I guess this could be it, I'll try to narrow down if there is something I'm doing that is breaking the build process. I'm really only doing a couple fairly simple things, though:

• installing some packages using apt
• echoing a couple things to /boot/armbianEnv.txt and /etc/rc.local
• adding a user
• copying a couple files
• adding a systemctl service

A coworker is borrowing my board for a while, but I'll loop back when I can. For those interested, this is my customize-image.sh:
 

#!/bin/bash

# arguments: $RELEASE $LINUXFAMILY $BOARD $BUILD_DESKTOP
#
# This is the image customization script

# NOTE: It is copied to /tmp directory inside the image
# and executed there inside chroot environment
# so don't reference any files that are not already installed

# NOTE: If you want to transfer files between chroot and host
# userpatches/overlay directory on host is bind-mounted to /tmp/overlay in chroot
# The sd card's root path is accessible via $SDCARD variable.

RELEASE=$1
LINUXFAMILY=$2
BOARD=$3
BUILD_DESKTOP=$4

Main() {
    # install packages
    apt update
    apt install -y git make mosquitto python3 python3-boto3 python3-paho-mqtt python3-requests python3-serial vim

    # enable UART
    echo "overlays=uart1" >> /boot/armbianEnv.txt

    # free up space
    apt purge -y iozone3 iw wireless-regdb
    rm -rf /usr/share/doc /usr/share/info /usr/share/man
    apt autoremove -y
    apt clean

    # add user account
    useradd -p $(echo mypassword | openssl passwd -1 -stdin) -m -G sudo -s /bin/bash myuser

    # set up ssh key and known_hosts
    mkdir -p /root/.ssh
    cp /tmp/overlay/ssh/* /root/.ssh/
    chmod -R 700 /root/.ssh

    # startup commands
    echo "timedatectl set-timezone America/Denver" >> /etc/rc.local
    echo "apt clean" >> /etc/rc.local
    echo "chmod o+rw /dev/ttyS1" >> /etc/rc.local

    # install service to update gateway
    mkdir -p /home/myuser/bin
    cp /tmp/overlay/myservice/myservice.service /etc/systemd/system
    cp /tmp/overlay/myservice/myservice.sh /home/myuser/bin
    chmod +x /home/myuser/bin/myservice.sh
    systemctl enable myservice
} # Main

Main "$@"