Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2020 14:14:18 -0700 From: Mark Millard <marklmi@yahoo.com> To: Klaus Cucinauomo <maciphone2@googlemail.com> Cc: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 64-bit RPi4B u-boot hangup with modern rpi firmware: some information (but investigative-toolbox limited) Message-ID: <23232AED-BE4E-4E05-8B77-F9946D9B3613@yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <DEE789A4-5342-4D4D-A061-8578CC294DF0@yahoo.com> References: <290E51C0-0AF5-4C75-AA7B-BA56DF1AFDFB.ref@yahoo.com> <290E51C0-0AF5-4C75-AA7B-BA56DF1AFDFB@yahoo.com> <4114B1A0-03ED-4268-BA87-8CF196A935A4@googlemail.com> <F439DCA4-481E-4918-9ED4-2D9ECB2DD03F@yahoo.com> <D63E3FD9-72AD-4C61-BBA6-323D8FCA5775@googlemail.com> <C8A5CA35-A18A-41C0-A18E-2837CED23BB4@yahoo.com> <8EB23BD2-15C0-4679-87A9-87FE5906A7EA@googlemail.com> <02528C74-F23F-46BB-8028-3DE9CB2A8327@yahoo.com> <C84F37F2-44DE-4EEB-8F32-C07A32BCC2D1@yahoo.com> <DEE789A4-5342-4D4D-A061-8578CC294DF0@yahoo.com>
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On 2020-Oct-14, at 05:22, Mark Millard <marklmi at yahoo.com> wrote: > On 2020-Oct-14, at 01:08, Mark Millard <marklmi at yahoo.com> wrote: >=20 >> On 2020-Oct-14, at 00:22, Mark Millard <marklmi at yahoo.com> wrote: >>=20 >>> On 2020-Oct-13, at 23:18, Klaus Cucinauomo <maciphone2 at = googlemail.com> wrote: >>>=20 >>>> Am 14.10.2020 um 07:52 schrieb Mark Millard <marklmi@yahoo.com>: >>>>>=20 >>>>> =E2=80=A6...FreeBSD requires services from >>>>> armstub8-gic.bin that are not otherwise present as things >>>>> are (or that is my understanding). >>>>=20 >>>> as of today: correct understanding >>>>=20 >>>>>=20 >>>>> ... I'll test vintages of start4*.elf and fixup4*.dat >>>>> pairs and see if that identifies a specific set of changes >>>>> to them... >=20 > The 2020-07-17 firmware commit activity (either place's > copies): >=20 > https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/commits/542aceb > and: > https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-firmware/commits/7059841=20 >=20 > appear to be the last firmware update to work with > armstub8-gic.bin and u-boot.bin . Everything more recent > that I've tried fails by hanging with the rainbow showing. >=20 > This matches up with the: >=20 > https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/1445 >=20 > reference. The comments for that issue from one of the fedorapeople.org people note that Fedora is having problems as well. Fedora does not use an armstub*.bin but uses u-boot and grub2. Basically, it looks like all firmware versions after the 2020-07-17 firmware referenced above are problematical and until the firmware has various issues adjusted/fixed, not having a problem is somewhat more accidental than one would hope. At this point, for the known issues, elimination of armstub8-gic.bin is not a general solution to the specific problems. (That need not have long term implications, however.) > A side note is that the ubuntu 2020.04.1 LTS firmware > are actually from 2020-06-01 firmware commit activity: >=20 > https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/commits/f382cc1 > and: > https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-firmware/commits/b2aabc3 >=20 >>>> IIRC =E2=80=9Ewe" can hack armstubs but we cannot hack = start4*.elf & fixup4*.dat , >>>> but you can take a hexdump of start4*.elf to compare changes if = you feel like it, >>>> while I doubt that will easy find the cause(s).. >>>=20 >>> hexdump comparisons is not something I'm likely to do and is >>> not what I said I was going to do. >>>=20 >>> Types of changes are identified by the commit notes. It is >>> possible with what I'm doing that a firmware problem would >>> be identified that the rpi folks would work on. (Not >>> claiming to know it is likely or anything.) >>=20 >> Turns out that FreeBSD is not the only context with problems, >> others not involving armstub8-gic.bin or FreeBSD at all are >> also having (a sequence of) problems. See, for example, the >> sequence of notes in: >>=20 >> https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/1445 >>=20 >> where problems showed up in contexts using edk2's uefi >> for RPi4's and, separately, for RPi3's. >>=20 >> The known issues are being worked on. (I've no evidence >> at this point relative to sufficiency for FreeBSD's context.) >>=20 >>> I've already reported on the lists a patch for u-boot 2020.10 >>> not avoiding stomping on memory owned by the armstub8-gic.bin >>> that FreeBSD uses. (It is not guaranteed to stomp on such >>> memory either: u-boot just does not reserve the memory area >>> that it should and so treats it as available for potential >>> use.) >>>=20 >>> If I had only focused on armstub8-gic.bin I never would have >>> found that problem. (Of course, if armstub8-gic.bin ends up >>> eliminated, the problem I found goes away too.) >>>=20 >>> Unfortunately, the patch does not fix the symptoms that >>> started this effort but the defect could lead to problems. >>=20 >=20 =3D=3D=3D Mark Millard marklmi at yahoo.com ( dsl-only.net went away in early 2018-Mar)
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