Radxa Cubie A7A/A7Z - Allwinner a733

[Nick A]

@Sand_Death I just updated my build with @alexc's BSP changes, which include the latest AIC8800 drivers. I'm building an image right now, so I haven't tested it yet.

I haven't tested Ethernet either. Maybe Alex can help you with that.  

Edited May 22 by Nick A

[alexc]

My board is A7Z so unfortunately I couldn't fully test the Ethernet drivers.

Hi @qq20739111 / @humanus, any luck with the on board Ethernet?

 

FYI, my new version utilizes mainline MMC drivers as well. And I'm looking into PCIE at the moment. 

[alexc]

OK, it looks like the BSP PCIe driver might have some issues related to power management. I’m not entirely sure of the root cause yet, but when I connected an NVMe drive, it got extremely hot and failed to initialize properly.

The NVMe dmesg output suggested adding the following kernel parameters:

nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0 pcie_aspm=off

 

This resolved the NVMe issues on my side. I’ll try to dig deeper into the root cause, but @humanus please give it a try as well.

Edited May 22 by alexc

[Marvin-03]

I tried to boot via EMMC using alexc's/Nick's BSP Kernel (6.18) and had a kernel panic: https://pastebin.com/aPhDfFzr

 

The crash occurs in thread T77 (a background worker) while it is attempting to scan for SD cards (mmc_rescan).

More specifically, the crash occurs when calling sd_uhs2_power_up, which is requested by mmc_attach_sd_uhs2. Here, the kernel is attempting to power up the power supply for the UHS-II SD card protocol.

[alexc]

Hi @Marvin-03, could you try the latest build?

It looks like your board is still using the BSP MMC driver, but we migrated to the mainline MMC driver last week. That should at least resolve the issue you're currently seeing.

Also looking forward to your testing on the eMMC side, since the A7Z does not have eMMC support.

[Marvin-03]

@Nick A I had to modify the "0011-Add-BSP-support-files-afa7aabb90" patch in the "Radxa-mainline-WIP-test" branch to allow compiling. This is the new patch file: https://pastebin.com/3Qc2bGPY

After flashing the image to the emmc I got this bootlog: https://pastebin.com/eqsZ2d1r

It seems like it wont leave the U-Boot.

 

I used this command to flash the image: sudo dd if=/mnt/transcend/Armbian-unofficial_26.02.0-trunk_Radxa-cubie-a7a_trixie_edge_6.18.19_gnome_desktop.img of=/dev/mmcblk1 bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync 

 

@alexc Do you know if the A523 and A733 use the same pcie driver? I've already optimized the A523 pcie driver and its in the mainline armbian.

Edited yesterday at 02:45 PM by Marvin-03

[keegat]

Hello, I am attempting to run armbian off of UFS on an a7z and running into issues.  I don't know if I'm missing something fairly basic.

 

- Board is unmodified by me.  I don't know how commonly sellers mod these boards themselves, but there is a bit of scuffing on the ram and UFS chip.  It has 8gb ram, the official hsf, and the official power supply.  Display over HDMI, USB hub for IO.

- I can boot the official radxa image from the ufs, flashing it with

sudo dd if=<path_to_image> of=/dev/sda bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

- I have successfully built and booted armbian trixie 6.6 kernel with kde on the sd card.  I had to do some tty backflips to get kde to launch once it booted, but it did run.  I have also booted the released armbian xfce build from sd, which I had no problems with at all.

- Currently I have the official radxa image booted off the sd card, and I have been attempting to build and flash armbian for ufs.

- I built with ./compile.sh, board selection: radxa-cubie-a7z-ufs, vendor 6.6, trixie, desktop, kde, no extras

- Flashed to the ufs with the same command from above from my session on the radxa build sd card, and rebooted without the sd card.  The green LED comes on solid, then the fan kicks in, then the LED turns off.  My display comes up out of sleep, black screen for a second, then no signal.

- After about 25 minutes, I disconnected power, and booted back into the sd card.  Here is the boot.log from the ufs: https://pastebin.com/ASpndqVU

[Nick A]

@Marvin-03 that's odd. The test branch I cloned has "0011-Add-BSP-support-files-54e9e5fb62" patch. Compiles fine on my build. Try to clone it again. 

 git clone https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build.git --branch Radxa-mainline-WIP-test

Edited yesterday at 02:48 PM by Nick A

[Marvin-03]

@Nick A My bad, cleaned my build folder and it compiled fine. 

Still, it is still stuck in the bootloader 

Bootlog:

https://pastebin.com/ckqP10Bb

I tried with both of my board with and without emmc installed.

 

UPDATE: After applying Nick's changes it works fine with gnome. The EMMC still doesnt get recognized by the kernel driver. 

Zitat

After flashing the image to the emmc I got this bootlog: https://pastebin.com/eqsZ2d1r

The bootlog is still the same when booting via EMMC with the new image.

Edited 5 hours ago by Marvin-03

[alexc]

@Marvin-03

Just to confirm: for both boards, with and without eMMC, are you using the same microSD card as the boot device?

From the current boot log, it looks like there may be an issue with the microSD card. Both the previous boot log (using the BSP MMC driver) and the current boot log (using the mainline MMC driver) show problems detecting mmc0 (the microSD card).

Could you try a different microSD card, preferably from another brand, and see if the issue persists?

[Nick A]

@Marvin-03 It is past the bootloader. I only tested the build on XFCE, which boots fine. GNOME failing to boot properly might be due to the PowerVR or KMScon install script. 

If you need GNOME. Try removing the function post_family_tweaks__install_powervr_desktop().  

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/blob/Radxa-mainline-WIP-test/config/sources/families/sun60iw2.conf#L467-L1045

Update: 
I removed both post_family_tweaks__install_powervr_desktop() and kmscon install funtions. Gnome works. But you need to use a serial device to fill in the first login information.  

Edited 17 hours ago by Nick A

[Marvin-03]

Zitat

OK, it looks like the BSP PCIe driver might have some issues related to power management. I’m not entirely sure of the root cause yet, but when I connected an NVMe drive, it got extremely hot and failed to initialize properly.

The NVMe dmesg output suggested adding the following kernel parameters:

nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0 pcie_aspm=off

 

This resolved the NVMe issues on my side. I’ll try to dig deeper into the root cause, but @humanus please give it a try as well.

@alexc What pcie hat do you use? I use one from Yahboom made for the RPI 5, but my nvme wont show up and since logs show "sunxi:pcie-rc-6000000.pcie:[ERR]: Speed change timeout" it seems like the hat doesnt work. On the Cubie A5E I only get this timeout if the SSD isnt plugged in.

[alexc]

@Marvin-03 

You're probably right—it may be worth checking the FPC connection. A timeout usually only occurs when the PCIe/NVMe board is not being detected.

I'm currently using an early MCUZone NVMe 2230 HAT. I recently ordered a new Waveshare AIO HAT as well, so once it arrives I'll be able to do some additional testing.