Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

YOYO

2024-09-18 10:30:01 UTC

Hello everyone,
Recently I bought a Gigabyte MP30-AR0 (rev 1.1) motherboard in a online
second-hand market. But I encountered a lot of difficulties when installing
Debian 12 arm64 on it.

I've tried the official system image (Ubantu 14.02) provided by Gigabyte first.
But after I flashed the image to USB storage using Win32DiskImaginer,
I couldn't see any Partition using the newest Diskgenius, which had already
support Ext2/3/4.
(Actually I couldn't see any partition when I load the img
file in Diskgenius as a Virtual Disk either.)

Then I turned to Debian 12.I've tried "debian-12.7.0-arm64-DVD-1.iso",
flashing it to USB storage using UltraISO 9. However, I couldn't boot from the
USB storage under u-Boot at all. Actually, I have no idea about how to
manually select boot device and boot from the Debian install CD/DVD imagine
in u-Boot.

Finally, I tried to install Debian using the built-in linux X-Gene
(Applied Micro Linux), following the instructions on
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/arm64/apds03.en.html,
but there's no ar availiable on X-Gene. After getting a aarch64 gnu tool-chain,
I installed debootstrap successfully. But error occurs again and it turns out
that debootstrap needs perl to run. With no package manager (like dpkg, apt,
yum) or compile toolchain (including make, cmake and etc.), I don't know if
there's any way I can install Debian 12 on the Gigabyte MP30-AR0.

I know there are alreadly plenty mails in Debian Mailing List, but they all
focused on Gigabyte MP30-AR1, which is in UEFI boot mode, but the MP30-AR0
I have works in u-Boot mode. I've tried all the ways for MP30-AR1, but none of
them worked on my MP30-AR0.

Thank you again for your generous help.

Yours,
Richard Zhang

Lennart Sorensen

2024-09-18 13:30:01 UTC

Permalink

Post by YOYO
Hello everyone,
Recently I bought a Gigabyte MP30-AR0 (rev 1.1) motherboard in a online
second-hand market. But I encountered a lot of difficulties when installing
Debian 12 arm64 on it.
I've tried the official system image (Ubantu 14.02) provided by Gigabyte first.
But after I flashed the image to USB storage using Win32DiskImaginer,
I couldn't see any Partition using the newest Diskgenius, which had already
support Ext2/3/4.
(Actually I couldn't see any partition when I load the img
file in Diskgenius as a Virtual Disk either.)
Then I turned to Debian 12.I've tried "debian-12.7.0-arm64-DVD-1.iso",
flashing it to USB storage using UltraISO 9. However, I couldn't boot from the
USB storage under u-Boot at all. Actually, I have no idea about how to
manually select boot device and boot from the Debian install CD/DVD imagine
in u-Boot.
Finally, I tried to install Debian using the built-in linux X-Gene
(Applied Micro Linux), following the instructions on
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/arm64/apds03.en.html,
but there's no ar availiable on X-Gene. After getting a aarch64 gnu tool-chain,
I installed debootstrap successfully. But error occurs again and it turns out
that debootstrap needs perl to run. With no package manager (like dpkg, apt,
yum) or compile toolchain (including make, cmake and etc.), I don't know if
there's any way I can install Debian 12 on the Gigabyte MP30-AR0.
I know there are alreadly plenty mails in Debian Mailing List, but they all
focused on Gigabyte MP30-AR1, which is in UEFI boot mode, but the MP30-AR0
I have works in u-Boot mode. I've tried all the ways for MP30-AR1, but none of
them worked on my MP30-AR0.
Thank you again for your generous help.

I have seen some people have managed to convert their AR0 to UEFI. As far
as I can tell the uboot version is completely useless at this point.

https://rwmj.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/gigabyte-mp30-ar0-flashing-uefi/

--
Len Sorensen

YOYO

2024-09-18 13:50:01 UTC

Permalink

So, you mean that u-Boot is almost useless on this motherboard? 
It really sounds strange, is it because of u-Boot's poor compatibility?
But I've seen many DIYers using u-Boot on their ARM-Linux demo boards.
(Though I know UEFI definitely has a better compatibility on PC and servers.)

------------------ Original ------------------
From: "Lennart Sorensen" <***@csclub.uwaterloo.ca>;
Date: Wed, Sep 18, 2024 09:16 PM
To: "YOYO"<***@qq.com>;
Cc: "debian-arm"<debian-***@lists.debian.org>;
Subject: Re: Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

On Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 06:21:42PM +0800, YOYO wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> Recently I bought a Gigabyte MP30-AR0 (rev 1.1) motherboard in a online
> second-hand market. But I encountered a lot of difficulties when installing
> Debian 12 arm64 on it.
>
>
> I've tried the official system image (Ubantu 14.02) provided by Gigabyte first.
> But after I flashed the image to USB storage using Win32DiskImaginer,
> I couldn't see any Partition using the newest Diskgenius, which had already
> support Ext2/3/4.
> (Actually I couldn't see any partition when I load the img
> file in Diskgenius as a Virtual Disk either.)
>
>
> Then I turned to Debian 12.I've tried "debian-12.7.0-arm64-DVD-1.iso",
> flashing it to USB storage using UltraISO 9. However, I couldn't boot from the
> USB storage under u-Boot at all. Actually, I have no idea about how to
> manually select boot device and boot from the Debian install CD/DVD imagine
> in u-Boot.
>
>
> Finally, I tried to install Debian using the built-in linux X-Gene
> (Applied Micro Linux), following the instructions on
> https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/arm64/apds03.en.html,
> but there's no ar availiable on X-Gene. After getting a aarch64 gnu tool-chain,
> I installed debootstrap successfully. But error occurs again and it turns out
> that debootstrap needs perl to run. With no package manager (like dpkg, apt,
> yum) or compile toolchain (including make, cmake and etc.), I don't know if
> there's any way I can install Debian 12 on the Gigabyte MP30-AR0.
>
>
> I know there are alreadly plenty mails in Debian Mailing List, but they all
> focused on Gigabyte MP30-AR1, which is in UEFI boot mode, but the MP30-AR0
> I have works in u-Boot mode. I've tried all the ways for MP30-AR1, but none of
> them worked on my MP30-AR0.
>
> Thank you again for your generous help.

I have seen some people have managed to convert their AR0 to UEFI.  As far
as I can tell the uboot version is completely useless at this point.

https://rwmj.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/gigabyte-mp30-ar0-flashing-uefi/

--
Len Sorensen

Marcin Juszkiewicz

2024-09-18 14:20:01 UTC

Permalink

Post by YOYO
So, you mean that u-Boot is almost useless on this motherboard?

Yes.

Post by YOYO
It really sounds strange, is it because of u-Boot's poor compatibility?

No. This is server board and it would be easier to use with (even such
old) UEFI than with that ancient U-Boot build.

Post by YOYO
But I've seen many DIYers using u-Boot on their ARM-Linux demo boards.

There is a difference between using 2020+ U-Boot with proper
configuration and using 2013 one where you have to adapt to it's
configuration.

Post by YOYO
(Though I know UEFI definitely has a better compatibility on PC and servers.)

It allows you to treat this system more like you would do with PC.

BTW: how much do you paid for it? I am curious.

Michael Howard

2024-09-18 14:20:03 UTC

Permalink

Post by YOYO
So, you mean that u-Boot is almost useless on this motherboard?
It really sounds strange, is it because of u-Boot's poor compatibility?
But I've seen many DIYers using u-Boot on their ARM-Linux demo boards.
(Though I know UEFI definitely has a better compatibility on PC and servers.)
------------------Â OriginalÂ ------------------
*Date:*Â Wed, Sep 18, 2024 09:16 PM
*Subject:*Â Re: Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

I have a working AR0, UEFI is installed and can be reverted if necessary
but using u-bootrather than UEFI I lost some features such as one of the
10gig ports and the internal sdcard slot.

--
Michael Howard.

Lennart Sorensen

2024-09-18 21:50:01 UTC

Permalink

Based on what I have read it seems the uboot settings were poorly chosen
on this board causing boot issues with newer kernels, and of course you
need a dtb when booting from uboot, while UEFI can provide the data in
a supported format instead. UEFI just makes for a much better aarch64
system. Much better compatibility.

Essentially the difference between the AR0 and AR1 is that one is a 10
year old unsupported proprietary system and the other is a 10 year old
standards compliant system.

--
Len Sorensen

YOYO

2024-09-19 04:40:02 UTC

Permalink

Thank you for your generous help. Let me search how to flash.

Best Regards,
Richard

------------------ Original ------------------
From: "Lennart Sorensen" <***@csclub.uwaterloo.ca>;
Date: Thu, Sep 19, 2024 05:40 AM
To: "YOYO"<***@qq.com>;
Cc: "debian-arm"<debian-***@lists.debian.org>;
Subject: Re: Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

On Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 09:41:06PM +0800, YOYO wrote:
> So, you mean that u-Boot is almost useless on this motherboard?&nbsp;
> It really sounds strange, is it because of u-Boot's poor compatibility?
> But I've seen many DIYers using u-Boot on their ARM-Linux demo boards.
> (Though I know UEFI definitely has a better compatibility on PC and servers.)

Based on what I have read it seems the uboot settings were poorly chosen
on this board causing boot issues with newer kernels, and of course you
need a dtb when booting from uboot, while UEFI can provide the data in
a supported format instead.  UEFI just makes for a much better aarch64
system.  Much better compatibility.

Essentially the difference between the AR0 and AR1 is that one is a 10
year old unsupported proprietary system and the other is a 10 year old
standards compliant system.

--
Len Sorensen

YOYO

2024-09-18 15:40:01 UTC

Permalink

It seems it a ideal idea to switch from u-Boot to UEFI on AR0.
Would you please share about how you install UEFI and how to revert to 
u-Boot when needed? I've found some tutorials, but the urls of the UEFI 
firmware seemed to be invalid.

Thank you for your generous help.

Best Regards,
Richard Zhang

Original Email

From:"Michael Howard"< ***@dewberryfields.co.uk >;

Sent Time:2024/9/18 22:03

To:"debian-arm"< debian-***@lists.debian.org >;

Subject:Re: Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

On 18/09/2024 14:41, YOYO wrote:

So, you mean that u-Boot is almost useless on this motherboard?
It really sounds strange, is it because of u-Boot's poor compatibility?
But I've seen many DIYers using u-Boot on their ARM-Linux demo boards.
(Though I know UEFI definitely has a better compatibility on PC and servers.)

------------------ Original ------------------
From: "Lennart Sorensen" <***@csclub.uwaterloo.ca>;
Date: Wed, Sep 18, 2024 09:16 PM
To: "YOYO"<***@qq.com>;
Cc: "debian-arm"<debian-***@lists.debian.org>;
Subject: Re: Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

I have a working AR0, UEFI is installed and can be reverted if necessary but using u-boot rather than UEFI I lost some features such as one of the 10gig ports and the internal sdcard slot.
-- Michael Howard.

Michael Howard

2024-09-18 16:40:01 UTC

Permalink

I can't be of much help I'm afraid as it was a long time ago and I just
used the information and files available on the net at the time. I'm not
at home at the moment but when I am I will see if I still have the
relevant files, if nobody else chirps up before then. It will be a long
shot though.

--
Michael Howard.

Steve McIntyre

2024-09-18 17:40:01 UTC

Permalink

Post by YOYO
It seems it a ideal idea to switch from u-Boot to UEFI on AR0.
Would you please share about how you install UEFI and how to revert to
u-Boot when needed? I've found some tutorials, but the urls of the UEFI
firmware seemed to be invalid.
I can't be of much help I'm afraid as it was a long time ago and I just used
the information and files available on the net at the time. I'm not at home at
the moment but when I am I will see if I still have the relevant files, if
nobody else chirps up before then. It will be a long shot though.

I've got the files needed for switching the APM Mustang here at

https://www.einval.com/mustang/easy-uefi/

The instructions are for APM's own Mustang dev board - the Gigabyte
AR0 might be compatible here or it might be different, be careful!

--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. ***@einval.com
Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,
Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I...

Michael Howard

2024-09-18 18:00:02 UTC

Permalink

Post by Steve McIntyre

I've got the files needed for switching the APM Mustang here at
https://www.einval.com/mustang/easy-uefi/
The instructions are for APM's own Mustang dev board - the Gigabyte
AR0 might be compatible here or it might be different, be careful!

So, the uefi image needed at the time was 'mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img'
which was provided by Phong Vo, in the archive
mp30ar0_tianocore_binaries.tar.xz. I do still have the file.

The basic process was;

a) Place mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img on a TFTP server as
`mp30ar0/mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img'.
b) Within u-boot run thr following;

setenv ipaddr xx.xx.xx.xx # server's own IP address
setenv serverip yy.yy.yy.yy # IP address of TFTP server
setenv media_img mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img
run spi_load # check this command succeeds
run spi_update
reset

I think that the above instructions rely upon 'user_dir' being set to
'mp30ar0'.

Obviously, as Steve says, be careful.

--
Michael Howard.

YOYO

2024-09-19 05:10:01 UTC

Permalink

Thank you for your instructions.
But I still have some questions to ask.
1. Are following two urls right?
    Tutorial:
    https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/arm-dev/            \
    2016-March/001743.html
    Required UEFI image:
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20403943/    \
    mp30ar0_tianocore_binaries.tar.xz

2. Is the UEFI image burnt into the on-borad SPI flash(or perhaps EEPROM) 
    or I need to re-load it every time I startup the machine.

3. If the image is burnt into the on-board storage, 
    then what should I do if I want to return to u-Boot mode?

4. Is there any way to rescue the motherboard if something unexpected happens 
    during flashing and the board is not bootable? Do I need a BIOS programmer 
    to rescue? If so, which chip is the BIOS program on?

Thank you again for your patient guidance and generous help.

Best Regards,
Richard

BTW: the UEFI image urs seems not working and I can't get access to it. 
    Would you please help me test if it's still working so that I could know 
    whether my network is to be blamed. 

------------------ Origin ------------------
From: "Michael Howard" <***@dewberryfields.co.uk>;
Date: 2024-09-19(Thu) 1:57am
To: "debian-arm"<debian-***@lists.debian.org>;

Subject: Re: Problems about installing Debian on Arm64

On 18/09/2024 18:29, Steve McIntyre wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 05:30:35PM +0100, Michael Howard wrote:
>> On 18/09/2024 16:38, YOYO wrote:
>>
>>     It seems it a ideal idea to switch from u-Boot to UEFI on AR0.
>>     Would you please share about how you install UEFI and how to revert to
>>     u-Boot when needed? I've found some tutorials, but the urls of the UEFI
>>     firmware seemed to be invalid.
>>
>> I can't be of much help I'm afraid as it was a long time ago and I just used
>> the information and files available on the net at the time. I'm not at home at
>> the moment but when I am I will see if I still have the relevant files, if
>> nobody else chirps up before then. It will be a long shot though.
> I've got the files needed for switching the APM Mustang here at
>
>    https://www.einval.com/mustang/easy-uefi/
>
> The instructions are for APM's own Mustang dev board - the Gigabyte
> AR0 might be compatible here or it might be different, be careful!
>
So, the uefi image needed at the time was 'mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img'
which was provided by Phong Vo,  in the archive
mp30ar0_tianocore_binaries.tar.xz. I do still have the file.

The basic process was;

a) Place mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img on a TFTP server as
`mp30ar0/mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img'.
b) Within u-boot run thr following;

   setenv ipaddr xx.xx.xx.xx    # server's own IP address
   setenv serverip yy.yy.yy.yy  # IP address of TFTP server
   setenv media_img mp30ar0_tianocore_media.img
   run spi_load                 # check this command succeeds
   run spi_update
   reset

I think that the above instructions rely upon 'user_dir' being set to
'mp30ar0'.

Obviously, as Steve says, be careful.

--
Michael Howard.