[Buildroot] Kernel refuses to boot

[Buildroot] Kernel refuses to boot

[bruce bushby]

Hi

I'm very new to embedded linux and buildroot....although already addicted.

I've spent the past month trying to boot a kernel on one of Telit's modules
(GE863-PRO) and am sad to say I have progressed no further then the first
two hours :) so I must be missing some fundamental key...hence this email.

I have tried various kernel configurations via buildroot, I have also
downloaded pre-compiled kernels from the linux4sam site....think I also
tried a few others which were aimed at "at91sam9260" and they all do exactly
same thing......after uncompressing the kernel they print garbage....and
after a while return to the uboot prompt.

Any hints or pointers would be appreciated. I understand this is perhaps not
the right forum for such a discussion.

I noticed that when I use the vendors "build framework" ...the kernel
".config" boot cmd is different to  my "buildroot" kernel .config:

My "buildroot" /opt/buildroot/output/build/linux-2.6.33.7/.config
contains:
CONFIG_CMDLINE="console=ttyS0,115200 mem=8M rootfstype=jffs2
root=/dev/mtdblock1 rw
mtdparts=spi0.1-AT45DB321x:1221k(ARMboot)ro,- at 1221k(root)"

But the vendors kernel .config has:
CONFIG_CMDLINE="console=ttyS0,115200 mem=64M ver=4384k icofat=257k
rootfstype=jffs2 root=/dev/mtdblock1 rw
mtdparts=at91_nand:7936k(ARMboot)ro,- at 7936k(root)

The module has 64MB RAM and 128MB flash


Because I can't see an error message due to the garbage...I have no idea
whats going wrong....do I need learn about jtag?


Any tips...pointers or even key words I can search for would be appreciated.
The vendors kernel does have custom code and drivers....but I would expect
at least a couple of "kernel version" lines before it starts bombing....I
always get garbage :(  Any help would be much appreciate........feel free to
ssh in and see the garbage first hand :)


This is what I get with every iteration of kernel...with or without the "RT"
patch:

U-Boot> boot
phy_id 22 found at 1
macb0: link up, 100Mbps full-duplex (lpa: 0xcde1)
Using macb0 device
TFTP from server 192.100.1.106; our IP address is 192.100.1.102
Filename 'uImage'.
Load address: 0x20200000
Loading: #################################################################
#################################################################
#################################################################
########################
done
Bytes transferred = 1120756 (1119f4 hex)
## Booting image at 20200000 ...
Image Name: Linux-2.6.33.7.2-rt30
Image Type: ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size: 1120692 Bytes = 1.1 MB
Load Address: 20008000
Entry Point: 20008000
Verifying Checksum ... OK
Loading Kernel Image ... OK

Starting kernel ...

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???





It's supposed to look something like this:




U-Boot> boot
phy_id 22 found at 1
macb0: link up, 100Mbps full-duplex (lpa: 0xcde1)
Using macb0 device
TFTP from server 192.100.1.106; our IP address is 192.100.1.102
Filename 'uImage'.
Load address: 0x20200000
Loading: #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         ############################################################
done
Bytes transferred = 1302236 (13dedc hex)
## Booting image at 20200000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-2.6.24-rc5-akerue
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    1302172 Bytes =  1.2 MB
   Load Address: 20008000
   Entry Point:  20008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK

Starting kernel ...

Uncompressing
Linux......................................................................................
done, booting the kernel.
Linux version 2.6.24-rc5-akerue (root at togni) (gcc version 4.2.4) #38 PREEMPT
RT Tue Mar 24 15:22:54 CET 2009 Telit-B0.01.09
CPU: ARM926EJ-S [41069265] revision 5 (ARMv5TEJ), cr=00053177
Machine: Telit CS1275
Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writeback
Clocks: CPU 200 MHz, master 100 MHz, main 6.000 MHz
Clocks: MCK 100 MHz
CPU0: D VIVT write-back cache
CPU0: I cache: 8192 bytes, associativity 4, 32 byte lines, 64 sets
CPU0: D cache: 8192 bytes, associativity 4, 32 byte lines, 64 sets
Real-Time Preemption Support (C) 2004-2007 Ingo Molnar
Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 16256
Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 mem=64M ver=4384k icofat=257k
rootfstype=jffs2 root=/dev/mtdblock1 rw
mtdparts=at91_nand:7936k(ARMboot)ro,- at 7936k(root)
WARNING: experimental RCU implementation.
AT91: 96 gpio irqs in 3 banks
PID hash table entries: 256 (order: 8, 1024 bytes)
Console: colour dummy device 80x30
console [ttyS0] enabled
Dentry cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
Memory: 64MB = 64MB total
Memory: 62116KB available (2388K code, 246K data, 116K init)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
net_namespace: 76 bytes
NET: Registered protocol family 16
AT91: Power Management (with slow clock mode)
SCSI subsystem initialized
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
NET: Registered protocol family 2
IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
TCP established hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
TCP bind hash table entries: 2048 (order: 3, 57344 bytes)
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 2048)
TCP reno registered
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.97 (double precision)
krcupreemptd setsched 0
  prio = 98
JFFS2 version 2.2. (NAND) (SUMMARY)  ??? 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
io scheduler noop registered (default)
io scheduler anticipatory registered
atmel_usart.0: ttyS0 at MMIO 0xfefff200 (irq = 1) is a ATMEL_SERIAL
atmel_usart.1: ttyS1 at MMIO 0xfffb0000 (irq = 6) is a ATMEL_SERIAL
atmel_usart.2: ttyS2 at MMIO 0xfffb4000 (irq = 7) is a ATMEL_SERIAL
atmel_usart.3: ttyS3 at MMIO 0xfffb8000 (irq = 8) is a ATMEL_SERIAL
atmel_usart.4: ttyS4 at MMIO 0xfffd0000 (irq = 23) is a ATMEL_SERIAL
atmel_usart.5: ttyS5 at MMIO 0xfffd4000 (irq = 24) is a ATMEL_SERIAL
RAMDISK driver initialized: 1 RAM disks of 8192K size 1024 blocksize
PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
PPP Deflate Compression module registered
NET: Registered protocol family 24
MACB_mii_bus: probed
eth0: Atmel MACB at 0xfffc4000 irq 21 (92:00:01:02:00:00)
eth0: attached PHY driver [Generic PHY] (mii_bus:phy_addr=ffffffff:01,
irq=-1)
Linux video capture interface: v2.00
atmel_spi atmel_spi.0: Atmel SPI Controller at 0xfffc8000 (irq 12)
m25p80 spi0.0: m25p80 (1024 Kbytes)
DEBUG-CMDLINE-PART: parsing <7936k(ARMboot)ro,-@7936k(root)>
DEBUG-CMDLINE-PART: partition 1: name <root>, offset 7c0000, size ffffffff,
mask flags 0
DEBUG-CMDLINE-PART: partition 0: name <ARMboot>, offset ffffffff, size
7c0000, mask flags 400
DEBUG-CMDLINE-PART: mtdid=<at91_nand> num_parts=<2>
m25p80 spi0.2: m25p80 (1024 Kbytes)
m25p80 spi0.3: m25p80 (1024 Kbytes)
atmel_spi atmel_spi.1: Atmel SPI Controller at 0xfffcc000 (irq 13)
usbmon: debugfs is not available
at91_ohci at91_ohci: AT91 OHCI
at91_ohci at91_ohci: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
at91_ohci at91_ohci: irq 20, io mem 0x00500000
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
at91_rtc at91_rtc: rtc core: registered at91_rtc as rtc0
AT91SAM9 Real Time Clock driver.
at91sam9_wdt: invalid timeout (must be between 1 and 16)
TCP cubic registered
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 17
RPC: Registered udp transport module.
RPC: Registered tcp transport module.
tc_clksrc: tc0 at 12.500 MHz
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[Buildroot] Kernel refuses to boot

[Thomas Petazzoni]

Hello Bruce,

On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:21:22 +0000
bruce bushby <bruce.bushby@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm very new to embedded linux and buildroot....although already
> addicted.
> 
> I've spent the past month trying to boot a kernel on one of Telit's
> modules (GE863-PRO) and am sad to say I have progressed no further
> then the first two hours :) so I must be missing some fundamental
> key...hence this email.
> 
> I have tried various kernel configurations via buildroot, I have also
> downloaded pre-compiled kernels from the linux4sam site....think I
> also tried a few others which were aimed at "at91sam9260" and they
> all do exactly same thing......after uncompressing the kernel they
> print garbage....and after a while return to the uboot prompt.
> 
> Any hints or pointers would be appreciated. I understand this is
> perhaps not the right forum for such a discussion.

What is your hardware exactly ? Which kernel version are you using ?
Which kernel configuration are you using ?

You can't just get a random ~AT91 kernel and have it work on any random
AT91 board. The kernel has to be specifically configured for the
hardware platform you're using. Typically, the hardware vendor (Telit
in your case) provides kernel sources and configuration that work on
their platform.

I haven't seen any Telit board supported in the upstream mainline Linux
kernel. So I don't think you'll have any success with a stock mainline
kernel such as the 2.6.33.7 you're using.

According to
http://www.telit.com/en/products/programming/linux/linux-on-ge863-pro3.php,
they have a Linux kernel running on this platform. So you should ask
the vendor of your hardware platform.

Regards,

Thomas
-- 
Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
Kernel, drivers, real-time and embedded Linux
development, consulting, training and support.
http://free-electrons.com

[Buildroot] Kernel refuses to boot

[bruce bushby]

Hi Thomas

Thanks for the reply!

The hardware is Telit's GE863-PRO module. I'm using Round Solutions STK4
evaluation kit which comes with the GE863-PRO Telit module.

The module contains the following:
64MB RAM
128MB NAND flash
CPU: ARM926EJ-S [41069265] revision 5 (ARMv5TEJ), cr=00053177

Kernel: 2.6.33.7 with "RT" patch-2.6.33.7.2-rt30

Telit do provide a working kernel....they also provide a "build framework"
to rebuild their kernel and busybox, they also provide u-boot
source....however their framework doesn't cater for rebuilding uClibc. My
applications require uClibc to have "posix_spawn". My "buildroot" has a
posix_spawn patch and it compiles my applications...hence the interest in
trying to get a "buildroot" kernel booting.

I think I understand now....when I boot Telit's kernel, it says "Machine:
Telit CS1275" .... I guess this is what I need to focus on.

I have contacted Telit and am in the process of asking them to provide
patches/support for "buildroot"....rather then their custom build framework.

Thinking about what you said and Telit's kernel saying "Macine: Telit
CS1275"......makes me realize the mainstream uboot and/or kernel will never
work and I need to start at the basics...ie uboot board definition for
"Machine: Telit CS1275"

I tried making a kernel patch....but the latest kernel's
"...drivers/mtd/nand/nand_bbt.c"  has change a lot since Telit's 2.6.24
version..... conceivably beyond a simple diff patch.

I'll try and focus on uboot board definition as a start. Looking through
Telit source for their uboot there is a fair bit of "product specific" code:

root at varm:/opt/Telit-uboot/221.00.0000# grep -ir telit * | grep "\.c" | awk
-F":" '{print $1}' | sort -u
board/cs1275/at91sam9260.c
board/cs1275/flash.c
CHANGELOG
common/cmd_flash.c
common/cmd_gpsflash.c
common/cmd_mem.c
common/cmd_nand.c
common/cmd_nvedit.c
common/cmd_ota.c
common/cmd_ptser.c
common/cmd_rtc.c
common/cmd_usbser.c
common/env_common.c
common/env_flash.c
cpu/arm926ejs/at91sam9260/spi.c
drivers/at45.c
drivers/flash.c
drivers/nand/nandflash.c
drivers/spi_flash.c
drivers/stm_M25Pxx.c
root at varm:/opt/Telit-uboot/221.00.0000#


Thanks again for clearing things up!!!!!

Bruce













On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Thomas Petazzoni <
thomas.petazzoni@free-electrons.com> wrote:

> Hello Bruce,
>
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:21:22 +0000
> bruce bushby <bruce.bushby@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm very new to embedded linux and buildroot....although already
> > addicted.
> >
> > I've spent the past month trying to boot a kernel on one of Telit's
> > modules (GE863-PRO) and am sad to say I have progressed no further
> > then the first two hours :) so I must be missing some fundamental
> > key...hence this email.
> >
> > I have tried various kernel configurations via buildroot, I have also
> > downloaded pre-compiled kernels from the linux4sam site....think I
> > also tried a few others which were aimed at "at91sam9260" and they
> > all do exactly same thing......after uncompressing the kernel they
> > print garbage....and after a while return to the uboot prompt.
> >
> > Any hints or pointers would be appreciated. I understand this is
> > perhaps not the right forum for such a discussion.
>
> What is your hardware exactly ? Which kernel version are you using ?
> Which kernel configuration are you using ?
>
> You can't just get a random ~AT91 kernel and have it work on any random
> AT91 board. The kernel has to be specifically configured for the
> hardware platform you're using. Typically, the hardware vendor (Telit
> in your case) provides kernel sources and configuration that work on
> their platform.
>
> I haven't seen any Telit board supported in the upstream mainline Linux
> kernel. So I don't think you'll have any success with a stock mainline
> kernel such as the 2.6.33.7 you're using.
>
> According to
> http://www.telit.com/en/products/programming/linux/linux-on-ge863-pro3.php
> ,
> they have a Linux kernel running on this platform. So you should ask
> the vendor of your hardware platform.
>
> Regards,
>
> Thomas
> --
> Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
> Kernel, drivers, real-time and embedded Linux
> development, consulting, training and support.
> http://free-electrons.com
> _______________________________________________
> buildroot mailing list
> buildroot at busybox.net
> http://lists.busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
>
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