imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Cory]

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Hi all,

I've been battling with upgrading the kernel our imx6qdl based custom board using Yocto Thud. We have been happily running the linux-imx 4.1-2 kernel, but it's time to push it forward to the 4.9.x versions. But it's not booting, at all. I've be poring over changes to other imxqdl based device trees and defconfigs, and nothing is making sense as to what change I may have missed (because I can't find many). We are running U-Boot 2017.11 (I know that could also be upgraded, but that shouldn't matter...unless I'm wrong).

I've stripped our kernel customizations down to nothing except for our board device tree, which works fine in kernel 4.1-X. We've never had issues like this with a kernel version bump before. After U-Boot loads the device tree and kernel, there is no output. When I check the HW, I've probed the DDR clock and it's stuck high. All 4.9+ kernels included in meta-freescale behave this same way:

## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 10800000 ...

Image Name:   Linux-4.9.123-imx+g6a71cbc

Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)

Data Size:    5476256 Bytes = 5.2 MiB

Load Address: 10808000

Entry Point:  10808000

Verifying Checksum ... OK

## Flattened Device Tree blob at 11000000

Booting using the fdt blob at 0x11000000

Loading Kernel Image ... OK

Using Device Tree in place at 11000000, end 1100dd66

Starting kernel ...

## NOTHING AFTER THIS ##

My main question is, has anyone else successfully used the linux-imx 4.9.x kernels (4.9.11, 4.9.123, etc), on a board based on the imx6qdl, and if so, do you have any tricks I'm missing? Has something major changed  in 4.9.x that affects the imx6 that I may have missed? (except for the framebuffer, that's another issue I'll deal with later).

I appreciate any guidance!

Cheers,
Cory

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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Marc Ferland]

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On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 9:10 AM Cory <cory@otis8.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've been battling with upgrading the kernel our imx6qdl based custom
> board using Yocto Thud. We have been happily running the linux-imx 4.1-2
> kernel, but it's time to push it forward to the 4.9.x versions. But it's
> not booting, at all. I've be poring over changes to other imxqdl based
> device trees and defconfigs, and nothing is making sense as to what change
> I may have missed (because I can't find many). We are running U-Boot
> 2017.11 (I know that could also be upgraded, but that shouldn't
> matter...unless I'm wrong).
>
> I've stripped our kernel customizations down to nothing except for our
> board device tree, which works fine in kernel 4.1-X. We've never had issues
> like this with a kernel version bump before. After U-Boot loads the device
> tree and kernel, there is no output. When I check the HW, I've probed the
> DDR clock and it's stuck high. All 4.9+ kernels included in meta-freescale
> behave this same way:
>
> ## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 10800000 ...
>
>    Image Name:   Linux-4.9.123-imx+g6a71cbc
>
>    Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
>
>    Data Size:    5476256 Bytes = 5.2 MiB
>
>    Load Address: 10808000
>
>    Entry Point:  10808000
>
>    Verifying Checksum ... OK
>
> ## Flattened Device Tree blob at 11000000
>
>    Booting using the fdt blob at 0x11000000
>
>    Loading Kernel Image ... OK
>
>    Using Device Tree in place at 11000000, end 1100dd66
>
> Starting kernel ...
>
> ## NOTHING AFTER THIS ##
>
> My main question is, has anyone else successfully used the linux-imx 4.9.x
> kernels (4.9.11, 4.9.123, etc), on a board based on the imx6qdl, and if so,
> do you have any tricks I'm missing? Has something major changed  in 4.9.x
> that affects the imx6 that I may have missed? (except for the framebuffer,
> that's another issue I'll deal with later).
>
> Happens to me from time to time. Generally it is something with the kernel
configuration (try deactivating stuff in the kernel until you get something
that boots) or the device tree (again try commenting stuff out until you
see a change, I've seen DTBs working with old kernel and breaking with
recent ones).

Hope that helps,

Marc

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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Richard Leitner]

Hi,

some things I would try/check:

  * is the kernel not booting or just failing to output to the serial?
    to check this you may for example add a heartbeat LED...
  * enable debug-ll, earlyprintk and similar stuff and see if you get
    more output
  * use a real debugger (if you have one)

hope that helps.

regards;richard.l

On 11/12/2019 16:05, Marc Ferland wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 9:10 AM Cory <cory@otis8.com 
> <mailto:cory@otis8.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi all,
> 
>     I've been battling with upgrading the kernel our imx6qdl based
>     custom board using Yocto Thud. We have been happily running the
>     linux-imx 4.1-2 kernel, but it's time to push it forward to the
>     4.9.x versions. But it's not booting, at all. I've be poring over
>     changes to other imxqdl based device trees and defconfigs, and
>     nothing is making sense as to what change I may have missed (because
>     I can't find many). We are running U-Boot 2017.11 (I know that could
>     also be upgraded, but that shouldn't matter...unless I'm wrong).
> 
>     I've stripped our kernel customizations down to nothing except for
>     our board device tree, which works fine in kernel 4.1-X. We've never
>     had issues like this with a kernel version bump before. After U-Boot
>     loads the device tree and kernel, there is no output. When I check
>     the HW, I've probed the DDR clock and it's stuck high. All 4.9+
>     kernels included in meta-freescale behave this same way:
> 
>     ## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 10800000 ...
> 
>         Image Name:   Linux-4.9.123-imx+g6a71cbc
> 
>         Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
> 
>         Data Size:    5476256 Bytes = 5.2 MiB
> 
>         Load Address: 10808000
> 
>         Entry Point:  10808000
> 
>         Verifying Checksum ... OK
> 
>     ## Flattened Device Tree blob at 11000000
> 
>         Booting using the fdt blob at 0x11000000
> 
>         Loading Kernel Image ... OK
> 
>         Using Device Tree in place at 11000000, end 1100dd66
> 
>     Starting kernel ...
> 
>     ## NOTHING AFTER THIS ##
> 
>     My main question is, has anyone else successfully used the linux-imx
>     4.9.x kernels (4.9.11, 4.9.123, etc), on a board based on the
>     imx6qdl, and if so, do you have any tricks I'm missing? Has
>     something major changed  in 4.9.x that affects the imx6 that I may
>     have missed? (except for the framebuffer, that's another issue I'll
>     deal with later).
> 
> Happens to me from time to time. Generally it is something with the 
> kernel configuration (try deactivating stuff in the kernel until you get 
> something that boots) or the device tree (again try commenting stuff out 
> until you see a change, I've seen DTBs working with old kernel and 
> breaking with recent ones).
> 
> Hope that helps,
> 
> Marc
> 
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Links: You receive all messages sent to this group.
> 
> View/Reply Online (#24160): https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-freescale/message/24160
> Mute This Topic: https://lists.yoctoproject.org/mt/68150691/3617580
> Group Owner: meta-freescale+owner@lists.yoctoproject.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-freescale/unsub  [richard.leitner@skidata.com]
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> 

Re: imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Cory]

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Hi Marc,

Many thanks for the reply, that's exactly what I've been doing for a while now, no luck yet. I've gone as far as using a very generic IMX defconfig and device tree with almost none of our in-house required changes. But, I'll keep at it as well.

Cheers,
Cory

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Re: imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Cory]

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Hi Richard,

It's definitely not a serial issue (I checked that first). I've gone as far as probing the DDR clock line with a logic analyzer...and it it comes to sudden halt as soon as the 4.9+ kernels are loaded by U-Boot.

I don't have access to an ICE at the moment for any hardcore debugging, but I have a logic analyzer, so I'm checking heartbeats with that at the moment.

I'll check earlyprintk, just in case.

Thanks for the reply,
Cory

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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Fabio Estevam]

On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 8:07 PM Fabio Estevam <festevam@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Richard,
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 12:37 PM Richard Leitner
> <richard.leitner@skidata.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > we also switched to mainline kernels quite a while ago and now running
> > linux v5.4.y with 3d and 2d acceleration as well as multimedia
> > en-/decoding.
> > Only thing we are currently missing in mainline is a HW JPEG encoder.
>
> Philipp Zabel has submitted the coda jpeg encoder support recently in
> the linux-media list, so hopefully we will get this too.

You can find this series at:
https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg160565.html

Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Fabio Estevam]

Hi Richard,

On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 12:37 PM Richard Leitner
<richard.leitner@skidata.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> we also switched to mainline kernels quite a while ago and now running
> linux v5.4.y with 3d and 2d acceleration as well as multimedia
> en-/decoding.
> Only thing we are currently missing in mainline is a HW JPEG encoder.

Philipp Zabel has submitted the coda jpeg encoder support recently in
the linux-media list, so hopefully we will get this too.

Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Cory]

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Hi Stefan,

The more I read about the lack of new/updated support by NXP for the i.MX6
makes me think the community might be better. The GPU performance is
important to us, so that has been the big driver for staying with Vivante,
but...now...

On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 5:32 PM Stefan Birkholz <Birkholz@systecnet.com>
wrote:

> Hi Cory,
>
>
>
> I had quite a few problems with imx-linux as well as linux-fslc, and we
> also want to use the GPU, but are open to try the etnaviv driver instead of
> vivante … this also simplifies our yocto build considerably! So far, I’ve
> had much less trouble with the 4.19 mainline Kernel from kernel.org.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Stefan
>
>
>
> *Von:* meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org [mailto:
> meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org] *Im Auftrag von *Cory
> *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2019 16:20
> *An:* meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org
> *Betreff:* Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with
> kernel 4.9.x
>
>
>
> Hi Stefan,
>
> I've been also looking at moving to linux-fslc, but we are dependent on
> the vivante GPU, so I am somewhat limited.
>
> I've also completely removed our display subsystem configuration in the
> device tree, just in case, just to try and get things booting.
>
> Thanks for the information, it's good to know.
>
> Cheers,
> Cory
>

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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Cory]

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Hi Fabio,

The more I'm looking at this, the more I'm thinking the mainline kernel
might be our way forward. First step is to get this thing booting. :)

Thanks for the reply!

Cheers,
Cory

On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 5:23 PM Fabio Estevam <festevam@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Cory,
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 12:20 PM Cory <cory@otis8.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Stefan,
> >
> > I've been also looking at moving to linux-fslc, but we are dependent on
> the vivante GPU, so I am somewhat limited.
>
> You can also use GPU with mainline kernel.
>
> Regards,
>
> Fabio Estevam
>

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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Richard Leitner]

Hi,

we also switched to mainline kernels quite a while ago and now running
linux v5.4.y with 3d and 2d acceleration as well as multimedia
en-/decoding.
Only thing we are currently missing in mainline is a HW JPEG encoder.

just my 2 cents ;-)

regards;richard.l

On 11/12/2019 16:32, Stefan Birkholz wrote:
> Hi Cory,
> 
> I had quite a few problems with imx-linux as well as linux-fslc, and we 
> also want to use the GPU, but are open to try the etnaviv driver instead 
> of vivante … this also simplifies our yocto build considerably! So far, 
> I’ve had much less trouble with the 4.19 mainline Kernel from kernel.org.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Stefan
> 
> *Von:*meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org 
> [mailto:meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org] *Im Auftrag von *Cory
> *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2019 16:20
> *An:* meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org
> *Betreff:* Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with 
> kernel 4.9.x
> 
> Hi Stefan,
> 
> I've been also looking at moving to linux-fslc, but we are dependent on 
> the vivante GPU, so I am somewhat limited.
> 
> I've also completely removed our display subsystem configuration in the 
> device tree, just in case, just to try and get things booting.
> 
> Thanks for the information, it's good to know.
> 
> Cheers,
> Cory
> 
> 
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Links: You receive all messages sent to this group.
> 
> View/Reply Online (#24168): https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-freescale/message/24168
> Mute This Topic: https://lists.yoctoproject.org/mt/68150691/3617580
> Group Owner: meta-freescale+owner@lists.yoctoproject.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-freescale/unsub  [richard.leitner@skidata.com]
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> 

Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Stefan Birkholz]

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Hi Cory,

I had quite a few problems with imx-linux as well as linux-fslc, and we also want to use the GPU, but are open to try the etnaviv driver instead of vivante … this also simplifies our yocto build considerably! So far, I’ve had much less trouble with the 4.19 mainline Kernel from kernel.org.

Cheers,
Stefan

Von: meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org [mailto:meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org] Im Auftrag von Cory
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2019 16:20
An: meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org
Betreff: Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

Hi Stefan,

I've been also looking at moving to linux-fslc, but we are dependent on the vivante GPU, so I am somewhat limited.

I've also completely removed our display subsystem configuration in the device tree, just in case, just to try and get things booting.

Thanks for the information, it's good to know.

Cheers,
Cory

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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Fabio Estevam]

Hi Cory,

On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 12:20 PM Cory <cory@otis8.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Stefan,
>
> I've been also looking at moving to linux-fslc, but we are dependent on the vivante GPU, so I am somewhat limited.

You can also use GPU with mainline kernel.

Regards,

Fabio Estevam

Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Stefan Birkholz]

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Hi Cory,

we are currently working with mainline Kernel 4.19 (on i.MX6DL), but I also successfully (aside from some problem with the IPUv3/DRM display driver, which seems to have some problems starting with 5.1) run Kernels in the 5 series (latest Kernel I tested was 5.4.2). We also upgraded from 4.1.x to 4.19 and switched from imx-linux to mainline in the process due to encountering various problems with imx-linux. I had to rework the devicetree (mostly the display subsystem), and in the next step have to modify some of our in-house device drivers.


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Re: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x

[Stefan Birkholz]

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Hi,

just a quick guess – the Load Address / Entry Point looks suspicious; for i.MX6DL I usually build the Kernel with “LOADADDR=10008000”.

Regards,
Stefan

Von: meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org [mailto:meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org] Im Auftrag von Cory
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2019 15:10
An: meta-freescale@lists.yoctoproject.org
Betreff: [meta-freescale] imx6qdl based board won't boot with kernel 4.9.x


Hi all,

I've been battling with upgrading the kernel our imx6qdl based custom board using Yocto Thud. We have been happily running the linux-imx 4.1-2 kernel, but it's time to push it forward to the 4.9.x versions. But it's not booting, at all. I've be poring over changes to other imxqdl based device trees and defconfigs, and nothing is making sense as to what change I may have missed (because I can't find many). We are running U-Boot 2017.11 (I know that could also be upgraded, but that shouldn't matter...unless I'm wrong).

I've stripped our kernel customizations down to nothing except for our board device tree, which works fine in kernel 4.1-X. We've never had issues like this with a kernel version bump before. After U-Boot loads the device tree and kernel, there is no output. When I check the HW, I've probed the DDR clock and it's stuck high. All 4.9+ kernels included in meta-freescale behave this same way:

## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 10800000 ...

   Image Name:   Linux-4.9.123-imx+g6a71cbc

   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)

   Data Size:    5476256 Bytes = 5.2 MiB

   Load Address: 10808000

   Entry Point:  10808000

   Verifying Checksum ... OK

## Flattened Device Tree blob at 11000000

   Booting using the fdt blob at 0x11000000

   Loading Kernel Image ... OK

   Using Device Tree in place at 11000000, end 1100dd66

Starting kernel ...

## NOTHING AFTER THIS ##

My main question is, has anyone else successfully used the linux-imx 4.9.x kernels (4.9.11, 4.9.123, etc), on a board based on the imx6qdl, and if so, do you have any tricks I'm missing? Has something major changed  in 4.9.x that affects the imx6 that I may have missed? (except for the framebuffer, that's another issue I'll deal with later).

I appreciate any guidance!

Cheers,
Cory

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