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I am currently trying to get a Linux running on a IFC6410 single board computer. For that purpose I followed the instructions found in this guide here: https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Fedora to get a Fedora running on the board. The procedure described in the guide works well until the step when the filesystem has to be booted.

The basic steps that I made were:

  • I backuped the firmware from the IFC6410 into an archive on my host laptop (step 3 in the guide)
  • I downloaded the Fedora armhfp filesystem (I tried both versions listed in the guide and some other versions that I found)
  • I dumped the filesystem on a USB stick, changed the size of the rootfs partition and copied the firmware that I saved in the first step into the lib folder on the rootfs on the USB stick (steps 4, 5, 6 in the guide)
  • I unmounted the USB stick and plugged it into the IFC6410
  • (also I plugged in a monitor on the micro HDMI port)

Now comes the part where I am stucked.

In the next step I am supposed to boot from the filesystem on the USB stick that I just prepared. For that purpose I downloaded the prebuilt Kernel for the IFC6410 linked in the guide and booted the device into fastboot.

Using fastboot I loaded the kernel:

fastboot boot ifc6410-boot-f20.img

which seemed to work well:

downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  1.346s]
booting...
OKAY [  0.003s]
finished. total time: 1.349s

After this step however, I get no feedback from the device at all. As in the next step in the guide the author seems to presume a running Linux system, I assume that after this step I should normally get feedback from my monitor and see normal booting process.

As I get no feedback at all I am a little bit lost what to try, what to check or what to search for. Therefore, I would be glad for any suggestions.

One additional thing that might be relevant is that I also followed a tutorial (which I unfortunately didn't find again) to setup an emergency android system on an ARM device. While folloging that tutorial I typed in a "fastboot flash boot" command, which failed. I am not sure if this caused a permanent change to the system and might be a part of my problem.

4 Answers 4

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Zwackelmann,

The IFC6410 probably is booting - the message you're seeing after the fastboot command means that the board has successfully rebooted, the kernel has been downloaded to it and it'll be proceeding with the boot process.

However, what the board won't do is display a text console on a monitor connected via HDMI whilst it is booting. If the Freedreno driver is properly installed on the Fedora root filesystem it would ultimately boot to X but I'm not sure it is with the default filesystem that is supplied at the moment.

However, a text console is outputted over the serial link when booting - you can use this to log in as root and do the rest of the setup - that's what the 'login as root via serial terminal' means in step 8 in the instructions. Therefore, you need to build a serial cable as per the 'making a serial cable' section here:

https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Ifc6410

This needs to be connected to either an RS232 port on your computer (which is getting rare now), or through a USB to RS232 converter. You can then use a program like minicom (linux) or Hyperterminal (Windows) to view what's coming out over the serial port. That'll let you see the kernel output as it boots, log into the console and go through the rest of the instructions.

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  • I now have managed to build a serial cable with the given instructions using a DB09 serial cable and a DB09 to USB converter. I connected the ground, in and out cable as instructed to a 3 pin connector housing and plugged it on the debug UART connector on the board. I then used minicom on my /dev/ttyUSB0 device and ensured that the Bps Rate / Paraty Bits option in minicom was set to 115200 / 8N1 (in the instruction it is called "115200, n8") the instructions futher mention "console=ttyHSL0" in context with the debug UART, which I cannot interpret - therefore I ignored that information. Apr 23, 2014 at 7:44
  • I then repeated the boot process but still I get no feedback to the console via the serial cable. I noticed that the LEDs, (probably) indicating that the USB stick is read, are only flashing for about a second after fastboot finished booting. After that nothing happens. Could this mean that the filesystem is not set up properly? Apr 23, 2014 at 7:45
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I was previously in the same situation as you. My IFC6410 was reaching a blank screen and going unresponsive while booting fedora from fastboot, as listed in step 7 on https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Fedora.

There were issues with the rootfs's / partition needing a file system check after the xzcat command completed. This worked without issue after a few attempts.

I do not have a serial cable but was able to complete the installation of xorg, gnome, etc. This can be done using the Android terminal / adb shell on the IFC6410 and the busybox binary in order to chroot into the Fedora rootfs. Commands I used to setup the chroot:

$ busybox mount -o remount,rw /

$ busybox blkid (to list partitions)

$ busybox mount /dev/block/sda3 /mnt/chroot/

$ busybox mount /dev/block/sda1 /mnt/chroot/boot

$ busybox mount -o bind /dev/ /mnt/chroot/dev/

$ busybox mount -t proc proc /mnt/chroot/proc/

$ busybox mount -t sysfs sysfs /mnt/chroot/sys/

$ busybox mount -t devpts devpts /mnt/chroot/

$ echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /mnt/chroot/etc/resolv.conf

$ busybox chroot /mnt/chroot/bin/bash

After this you are able to run commands from within the rootfs, however I had to call them directly from /bin and /usr/sbin. After this I was able to boot into Fedora and login without any issues.

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  • This does not appear to be an answer as it stands now. Please expand the answer or delete the current "comment" May 3, 2014 at 20:23
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Zwackelmann,

I'd definitely recommend getting a UART cable working.. makes it much easier to debug when you can see the kernel traces. Do note that it is 5V levels, and some earlier board revisions reversed RX and TX (gnd is center pin).

I've never tried a usb stick. But as long as the rootfs is still /dev/sda3 then it should work. Otherwise you may need to edit bootargs (ie -c "..." arg to fastboot)

If you are still having problems if you could post kernel traces then perhaps I could spot something.

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just wanted to let you know that Inforce has launched a new version of the 6410 called as 6410Plus at the same price with the same Snapdragon 600 SoC, but with new GPS, MIPI-CSI, and MIPI-DSI features, and more. You can check the specs of the new one at Inforce Single Board Computer 6410Plus

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