... So in my case I solved the problem, by popping the HDD, and plugging it in another machine. Then writing to the /boot/uEnv.txt file: root=PARTUUID=94a2dc27-01 You can get the PARTUUID by using blkid and get the value for root partition (/) which has /boot inside it. Anyway that was enough ...

... fi; if run loadimage; then if env exists root; then echo root has been defined by user; else part uuid ${devtype} ${bootpart} uuid; setenv root PARTUUID=${uuid}; fi; run mainargs; if run loadfdt; then if run loadrd; then bootz ${loadaddr} ${rdaddr}:${filesize} ${fdtaddr}; else bootz ${loadaddr} ...

Whats strange is on my NSA325 I'm HDD MBR (dos) + PARTUID, and that boots fine. PARTUUID = disk UUID + "-" + two digit part number. So fidks shows the Disk identifier as : Disk identifier: 0x94a2dc27 Root is /dev/sda1 and has id: PARTUUID="94a2dc27-01" ...

If you set root via PARTUUID then it should boot the usb even with the hdd in place...

... is the robust version of setting the uEnv.txt file. rootfs=`mount | sed -n 's/^\([^ ]*\).* \/ .*/\1/p'` rootuuid=`blkid $rootfs | sed -n 's/^.*\(PARTUUID=\)\"\(.*\)\"$/\1\2/p'` echo root=${rootuuid} > /boot/uEnv.txt It removes the quotes from the PARTUUID, and I'm not 100% if that is ...

... so as these were passed to the kernel, it tried to mount root before it was able to access the UUID numbers. Hence why it suggested that you use PARTUUID, which kernel knows at boot time. This said though you sould be able to use root=/dev/sda1 Which was the old way of doing it, and not as robust ...

... (when lilo could only access the start of HDD). 2) the kernel has many an varied ways of identifying the root file system, labels, UUID, PARTUUID, device. So as these two are so different, uboot boot directory, and kernel root fs, is why they get set up separately. As to can PARTUUID ...

... boot without, command something like: part uuid ${devtype} ${devnum}:${bootpart} uuid setenv bootargs "console=tty0 console=${console} root=PARTUUID=${uuid} rw rootwait" load ${devtype} ${devnum}:${bootpart} ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/zImage load ${devtype} ${devnum}:${bootpart} ${fdt_addr_r} ...

... fi; if run loadimage; then if env exists root; then echo root has been defined by user; else part uuid ${devtype} ${bootpart} uuid; setenv root PARTUUID=${uuid}; fi; run mainargs; if run loadfdt; then if run loadrd; then bootz ${loadaddr} ${rdaddr}:${filesize} ${fdtaddr}; else bootz ${loadaddr} ...

... else setenv bootpart 1; fi part uuid ${devtype} ${devnum}:${bootpart} uuid setenv bootargs "console=tty0 console=${console} root=PARTUUID=${uuid} rw rootwait" if load ${devtype} ${devnum}:${bootpart} ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/zImage; then gpio set 54 echo fdt: ${fdtfile} if ...