Unable to get Working Debian 10 Image on STM32MP1

Embedded Linux Discussions
1

I followed the directions exactly at https://www.digikey.com/eewiki/display/linuxonarm/STM32MP1 and I can not get a booting image for Debian 10. I have an STM32MP157C-DK2 board, which is what I targeted in my build. The red light (next to the Micro USB-B port) slowly pulses and no other lights ever turn on. There is no output from HDMI and the Display never lights up. Is there something I should check to find out what is further wrong? Thanks.

2

Hi @MakerMelissa, welcome to the forum.

Are you getting any debug information over the ST-Link CN11 usb interface?

We are expecting to see something like:

U-Boot SPL 2020.07 (Jul 15 2020 - 16:31:45 -0500)
Model: STMicroelectronics STM32MP157C-DK2 Discovery Board
RAM: DDR3-DDR3L 16bits 533000Khz
Trying to boot from MMC1


U-Boot 2020.07 (Jul 15 2020 - 16:31:45 -0500)

CPU: STM32MP157CAC Rev.B
Model: STMicroelectronics STM32MP157C-DK2 Discovery Board
Board: stm32mp1 in basic mode (st,stm32mp157c-dk2)
Board: MB1272 Var2.0 Rev.C-01
DRAM:  512 MiB
Clocks:
- MPU : 650 MHz
- MCU : 208.878 MHz
- AXI : 266.500 MHz
- PER : 24 MHz
- DDR : 533 MHz
NAND:  0 MiB
MMC:   STM32 SD/MMC: 0
Loading Environment from EXT4... OK
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   eth0: ethernet@5800a000
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Boot over mmc0!
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0 is current device
Scanning mmc 0:4...
Found /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
Retrieving file: /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
292 bytes read in 28 ms (9.8 KiB/s)
1:	Linux 5.8.0-rc5-armv7-lpae-x5.1
Retrieving file: /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-rc5-armv7-lpae-x5.1
10719744 bytes read in 479 ms (21.3 MiB/s)
append: console=ttySTM0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p4 ro rootfstype=ext4 rootwait
Retrieving file: /boot/dtbs/5.8.0-rc5-armv7-lpae-x5.1/stm32mp157c-dk2.dtb
78283 bytes read in 36 ms (2.1 MiB/s)
## Flattened Device Tree blob at c4000000
   Booting using the fdt blob at 0xc4000000
   Loading Device Tree to cffe9000, end cffff1ca ... OK

Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0

Regards,

3

Thanks, I hadn’t realized I could do that. I just tried and the message I am getting is:

U-Boot SPL 2020.07-rc5 (Aug 10 2020 - 10:48:59 -0700)
Model: STMicroelectronics STM32MP157C-DK2 Discovery Board
RAM: DDR3-DDR3L 16bits 533000Khz
Trying to boot from MMC1

4

So it just stops, nothing more? That’s very weird, but it is the transition point between SPL and u-boot:

So when reviewing the directions, it got this far:

sudo dd if=./u-boot/u-boot-spl.stm32 of=${DISK}1
sudo dd if=./u-boot/u-boot-spl.stm32 of=${DISK}2

And then failed here in the boot process…

sudo dd if=./u-boot/u-boot.img of=${DISK}3

What version of sgdisk?

sudo sgdisk --version

What Linux Distribution are you using to writing the files? The STM32MP1 uses a unique partition layout, so i wonder if it’s odd condition i could test locally…

Regards,

5

That’s correct. I have sgdisk version 1.0.3. I used the exact version of Debian 10 specified in the instructions.

6

Oh, I just figured out what you were asking me. I’m using Linux Mint 19.3.

7

So I installed Linux Mint 19.3 to validate the directions, no issues where found.

U-Boot SPL 2020.07-rc5 (Aug 14 2020 - 15:50:06 -0500)
Model: STMicroelectronics STM32MP157C-DK2 Discovery Board
RAM: DDR3-DDR3L 16bits 533000Khz
Trying to boot from MMC1


U-Boot 2020.07-rc5 (Aug 14 2020 - 15:50:06 -0500)

CPU: STM32MP157CAC Rev.B
Model: STMicroelectronics STM32MP157C-DK2 Discovery Board
Board: stm32mp1 in basic mode (st,stm32mp157c-dk2)
Board: MB1272 Var2.0 Rev.C-01
DRAM:  512 MiB
Clocks:
- MPU : 650 MHz
- MCU : 208.878 MHz
- AXI : 266.500 MHz
- PER : 24 MHz
- DDR : 533 MHz
NAND:  0 MiB
MMC:   STM32 SD/MMC: 0
Loading Environment from EXT4... ** File not found /uboot.env **

** Unable to read "/uboot.env" from mmc0:4 **
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   eth0: ethernet@5800a000
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Boot over mmc0!
Saving Environment to EXT4... File System is consistent
update journal finished
done
OK
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0 is current device
Scanning mmc 0:4...
Found /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
Retrieving file: /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
274 bytes read in 29 ms (8.8 KiB/s)
1:	Linux 5.8.1-armv7-lpae-x9
Retrieving file: /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.1-armv7-lpae-x9
10736128 bytes read in 480 ms (21.3 MiB/s)
append: console=ttySTM0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p4 ro rootfstype=ext4 rootwait quiet
Retrieving file: /boot/dtbs/5.8.1-armv7-lpae-x9/stm32mp157c-dk2.dtb
78283 bytes read in 33 ms (2.3 MiB/s)
## Flattened Device Tree blob at c4000000
   Booting using the fdt blob at 0xc4000000
   Loading Device Tree to cffe9000, end cffff1ca ... OK

Starting kernel ...

[    2.131666] stm32-usart 40010000.serial: IRQ index 1 not found
<...>

Regards,

8

Thanks, I’ll try it a third time, but with a different SD card this time.

9

I still haven’t been able to get this working and I might have an idea where it went wrong because I had to diverge from the instructions. When I set up the SD Card Partitions it says that it can’t update the kernel and it will use the old partitions until I reboot. I just ejected the SD Card and reinserted it and it seems to have the correct information, but it may be the cause of the issues On my subsequent attempts, I couldn’t even get it to show any messages and a red light rapidly blinked.

10

This also happens when your distro “auto-mount’s” the microsd card. I usually disable that by default. (it varies on your display manager)… Just unmount what it does and follow the directions.

Regards,