How to boot Manjaro from NVME with uboot on eMMC

[as400]

Edited on 27.03.2020 - due to Manjaro not using boot.scr anymore.

I have taken below steps to achieve booting from NVME. It can be probably mirrored on Debian with some small changes since Manjaro is using boot.scr and Debian extlinux.conf.


First download a package: uboot-pinebookpro-2017.09-2-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz. It has uboot files with @pcm720 patches included. Current Manjaro uboot package does not have nvme support enabled. This is subject to change.

1. Extract the files from the package: idbloader.img, trust.img, uboot.img.
2. Write uboot files (pay attention to your device - it has to be eMMC !!! In my case /dev/mmcblk2):

"dd if=idbloader.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=32k seek=1 conv=fsync"
"dd if=uboot.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=64k seek=128 conv=fsync"
"dd if=trust.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=64k seek=192 conv=fsync"

3. Create partition on your NVME drive to rsync filesystem from eMMC.
4. Mount the partition - lets say in /mnt
5. "cd /mnt"
6. "mkdir dev proc sys mnt"
7. "rsync -aHxv --numeric-ids --progress /* /mnt --exclude=/dev --exclude=/proc --exclude=/sys --exclude=/mnt"
8. chroot to your newly synced partition "chroot /mnt".
9. "cd /boot/extlinux"
9. Edit extlinux.conf and change "root=LABEL=ROOT" to "root=/dev/nvme0n1p1" (if your new partition is first on disk).
10. Exit chroot "exit".
11. On eMMC !!! Rename extlinux directory to something else eg. extlinux.old.
12. Reboot machine - you should boot from NVME.
13. After sucessful reboot check "lsblk" it should be something like:

[root@pbp ~]# lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
mmcblk2      179:0    0  58.2G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1  179:1    0  58.2G  0 part
mmcblk2boot0 179:32   0     4M  1 disk
mmcblk2boot1 179:64   0     4M  1 disk
nvme0n1      259:0    0 894.3G  0 disk
└─nvme0n1p1  259:1    0    20G  0 part /


In case you want to start the system from eMMC just rename extlinux.old to extlinux on eMMC. Opposite to what has been done in step 11.

Enjoy !

[clover]

Are you seeing any performance increases?

[as400]

Not in everyday use. But if I have to move some bigger amount of data between partitions definitely yes.

[mamboman777]

I have taken below steps to achieve booting from NVME. It can be probably mirrored on Debian with some small changes since Manjaro is using boot.scr and Debian extlinux.conf.


First download a package: uboot-pinebookpro-2017.09-2-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz. It has uboot files with @pcm720 patches included. Current Manjaro uboot package does not have nvme support enabled. This is subject to change.

1. Extract the files from the package: idbloader.img, trust.img, uboot.img.
2. Write uboot files (pay attention to your device - it has to be eMMC !!! In my case /dev/mmcblk2):

"dd if=idbloader.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=32k seek=1 conv=fsync"
"dd if=uboot.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=64k seek=128 conv=fsync"
"dd if=trust.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=64k seek=192 conv=fsync"

3. Create partition on your NVME drive to rsync filesystem from eMMC.
4. Mount the partition - lets say in /mnt
5. "cd /mnt"
6. "mkdir dev proc sys mnt"
7. "rsync -aHxv --numeric-ids --progress /* /mnt --exclude=/dev --exclude=/proc --exclude=/sys --exclude=/mnt"
8. chroot to your newly synced partition "chroot /mnt".
9. "cd /boot"
9. Edit boot.txt and change "root=PARTUUID=${uuid}" to "root=/dev/nvme0n1p1" (if your new partition is first on disk).
10. Run "./mkscr" (you might have to chmod +x if it's not executable).
11. Exit chroot "exit".
12. On eMMC !!! Rename boot directory to something else eg. boot.old.
13. Reboot machine - you should boot from NVME.
14. After sucessful reboot check "lsblk" it should be something like:

[root@pbp ~]# lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
mmcblk2      179:0    0  58.2G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1  179:1    0  58.2G  0 part
mmcblk2boot0 179:32   0     4M  1 disk
mmcblk2boot1 179:64   0     4M  1 disk
nvme0n1      259:0    0 894.3G  0 disk
└─nvme0n1p1  259:1    0    20G  0 part /


In case you want to start the system from eMMC just rename boot.old to boot on eMMC. Opposite to what has been done in step 12.

Enjoy !

I have got this working.  Thanks for the tutorial!  Does boot from SD work with this?  I'm having some issues booting from SD.  The PBP boots, then I get a black sreen when the SD card is inserted.  I'm trying to use the Chromium image from the PBP wiki.

Thanks again!
-Josh

[tophneal]

First download a package: uboot-pinebookpro-2017.09-2-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz. It has uboot files with @pcm720 patches included. Current Manjaro uboot package does not have nvme support enabled. This is subject to change.

I'm curious, is this your own modified u-boot, or is the package included by any of the current OS options? Also, what's its boot priority?

[as400]

@mamboman777 I have no problems booting from sd card whatsoever with this uboot.

@tophneal this package was offered once by Manjaro team. Patches are by @pcm720. So all credits go to them. Sd card has priority on boot.

[tophneal]

@mamboman777 I have no problems booting from sd card whatsoever with this uboot.

@tophneal this package was offered once by Manjaro team. Patches are by @pcm720. So all credits go to them. Sd card has priority on boot.

Oh, is this the one they used right before switching to the latest u-boot that has USB boot?

Was the boot priority ever changed from SD>NVMe>eMMC?

[as400]

Oh, is this the one they used right before switching to the latest u-boot that has USB boot?

Was the boot priority ever changed from SD>NVMe>eMMC?

Yes. The one from the first post is last before they switched to mainline uboot.

Actually, right now I am using the one from @pcm720 and booting off SPI flash.

[tophneal]

Oh, is this the one they used right before switching to the latest u-boot that has USB boot?

Was the boot priority ever changed from SD>NVMe>eMMC?

Yes. The one from the first post is last before they switched to mainline uboot.

Actually, right now I am using the one from @pcm720 and booting off SPI flash.

I had to write it back to my CrOS install last night, and noticed for SPI its a simple one line command now. Freaking awesome sauce!I think I might mess around and flash it on mine, since I'm about to get an ANSI. That u-boot would be a nice little surprise to someone if I sell the ISO.

[as400]

I had to write it back to my CrOS install last night, and noticed for SPI its a simple one line command now. Freaking awesome sauce!I think I might mess around and flash it on mine, since I'm about to get an ANSI. That u-boot would be a nice little surprise to someone if I sell the ISO.

I suggest using rkdeveloptool to write it to SPI. I tried dd method on Manjaro (which is recommended) but it didn't work.
Check out this thread ----> https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8927. Note my little correction at the end. It's kind of important

Edit: and it's not needed to press power button fro 10 seconds. It's enough to remove sd card, turn off eMMC and just press power button to get into maskrom mode.