Allwinner / Sunxi A10 stuck in "Starting kernel ..."

[Francisco_xf]

Hi, guys. I'm using the last Armbian Cubieboard image (Armbian_23.11.1_Cubieboard_bookworm_current_6.1.63.img.xz) on my "Gemei G9" Allwinner A10 tablet. But via serial/UART the boot process stuck forever in "Starting kernel ...". Any tips on how to get the kernel to start? Thanks in advance

Here is my boot log:

U-Boot SPL 2023.10-armbian (Oct 13 2023 - 22:19:41 +0000)
DRAM: 1024 MiB
CPU: 1008000000Hz, AXI/AHB/APB: 3/2/2
Trying to boot from MMC1
ns16550_serial serial@1c28000: pinctrl_select_state_full: uclass_get_device_by_phandle_id: err=-19


U-Boot 2023.10-armbian (Oct 13 2023 - 22:19:41 +0000) Allwinner Technology

CPU:   Allwinner A10 (SUN4I)
Model: Cubietech Cubieboard
DRAM:  1 GiB
Core:  68 devices, 23 uclasses, devicetree: separate
WDT:   Not starting watchdog@1c20c90
MMC:   mmc@1c0f000: 0
Loading Environment from FAT... Unable to use mmc 0:1...
Unknown monitor
Unknown monitor
In:    serial,usbkbd
Out:   serial,vidconsole
Err:   serial,vidconsole
Net:   Could not get PHY for emac: addr 1
No ethernet found.

230454 bytes read in 12 ms (18.3 MiB/s)
Unknown monitor
starting USB...
Bus usb@1c14000: USB EHCI 1.00
Bus usb@1c14400: USB OHCI 1.0
Bus usb@1c1c000: USB EHCI 1.00
Bus usb@1c1c400: USB OHCI 1.0
scanning bus usb@1c14000 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus usb@1c14400 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus usb@1c1c000 for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus usb@1c1c400 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
       scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found
Autoboot in 1 seconds, press <Space> to stop
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0 is current device
Scanning mmc 0:1...
Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr
4121 bytes read in 2 ms (2 MiB/s)
## Executing script at 43100000
U-boot loaded from SD
Boot script loaded from mmc
154 bytes read in 2 ms (75.2 KiB/s)
10691398 bytes read in 451 ms (22.6 MiB/s)
8420880 bytes read in 356 ms (22.6 MiB/s)
Found mainline kernel configuration
33617 bytes read in 8 ms (4 MiB/s)
Working FDT set to 43000000
4832 bytes read in 6 ms (786.1 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT fixup script (sun4i-a10-fixup.scr)
## Executing script at 45000000
Kernel image @ 0x42000000 [ 0x000000 - 0x807e10 ]
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 43400000 ...
   Image Name:   uInitrd
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    10691334 Bytes = 10.2 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Flattened Device Tree blob at 43000000
   Booting using the fdt blob at 0x43000000
Working FDT set to 43000000
EHCI failed to shut down host controller.
   Loading Ramdisk to 495cd000, end 49fff306 ... OK
   Loading Device Tree to 4955c000, end 495ccfff ... OK
Working FDT set to 4955c000
DE is present but not probed

Starting kernel ...

 

[Werner]

moved to aw

[Gunjan Gupta]

Interesting...I tested the 32-bit Allwinner kernel before we release on a H3 board and it was booting.

 

1 hour ago, Francisco_xf said:

Any tips on how to get the kernel to start?

You can give images from the archive a try. You can also try creating image yourself, Use branch as edge and it will create an image with 6.6 kernel. Instructions for building an image can be found here - https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/

[Francisco_xf]

I built the kernel but the problem still remains. Maybe this is an issue with u-boot?

[Gunjan Gupta]

if you can mount the sdcard and see the contents, then try editing boot/armbianEnv.txt file and the following at the end of. the file

 

earlycon=on
extraargs=debug
verbosity=7
console=serial

 

This will get you more output on your serial port and then we can proceed based on the same

[Gunjan Gupta]

Probably, it will also be a good idea to add

fdtfile=sun4i-a10-gemei-g9.dtb

Just to make sure that your device specific device tree is used.

[Francisco_xf]

I just found the problem! I just commented the parameter CONFIG_DRAM_CLK from u-boot defconfig (sunxi_Gemei_G9_defconfig) and the problem is gone. Thank you very much for yours tips Gunjan!

[Gunjan Gupta]

9 minutes ago, Francisco_xf said:

I just found the problem! I just commented the parameter CONFIG_DRAM_CLK from u-boot defconfig (sunxi_Gemei_G9_defconfig) and the problem is gone. Thank you very much for yours tips Gunjan!

Just for the sake of curiosity, Could you please share the output that you got on uart with the problematice value of CONFIG_DRAM_CLK set?

[Francisco_xf]

This is all the boot log when CONFIG_DRAM_CLK is set