Display boot messages?

[DTM]

Hi Guys,

I've been trying to enable the display of boot messages on my CuBox-i4Pro. It used to scroll through the messages on boot but after a system upgrade it stopped. I get the initial SolidRun U-boot splash screen but then blank until it hits the login prompt. A fresh install is the same so I'm assuming it's just a configuration change.

I've tried editing the /boot/uEnv.txt file by adding 'loglevel=5' and running ./mkscr but no change.

Is there anything I'm missing to get this to work? It would probably be useful to figure out why it's hanging on shutdown!

[summers]

Just a though - do the boot options to the kernel line include "quiet"; these days that is usually hidden in the chosen note of the device tree. If quiet is set the kernel is quite quiet about these things ...

[DTM]

No, can't see 'quiet' in there anywhere. I did try putting it in after I read this but no change:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Silent_boot

[DTM]

Some more information I've found: https://wiki.solid-run.com/doku.php?id=products:imx6:software:development:u-boot

Looks like the instructions for flashing the U-boot vary slightly from the official Arch Linux ARM instructions here: https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv7/freescale/cubox-i - although the kernel in the repos does appear to be quite old: https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/linux-imx6

Maybe I'll try a different kernel/U-boot combo and see how it looks.

[summers]

With boot Arm arch has on most platforms moved on a new version. That is worth using, New boot knows about ext so the boot partition can be on the main partition. In the old days it had to be fat. Now there are many things like that, so if you are on a new boot better to stay.

When you say you can't see messages, where exactly. Usually the console is set to a uart, like ttyS0. This means the messages will be on the uart. Check what dmesg says.

[DTM]

I'm not sure what Armagh is sorry. The output on the virtual console tty1 via HDMI is what I'm referring to. I don't have any method of connecting to the UART interface without buying an additional adapter, but maybe you're correct and that's what's happening.

[summers]

Oops auto correct on android! Yes if dmesg says the console is tty, think thats the screen. Not totally sure, all my arm machines are headless.

[summers]

One mistake in my post above. cubox is on *really* old uboot and kernel:

https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/uboot-cubox
https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/linux-cubox


ah but there is mainline kernel:

https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/linux-armv7-cubox

and maybe uboot -don't know if this is for the cubox

https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/uboot-cubox-i

Which are you on?

I wonder why they weren't taken mainline, moonman took most patforms to mainline on uboot and kernel - it makes maintenance of all the machines easier (e.g. far more can be common across all platforms). Anyway I can't see how uboot or kernel would affect the messages, or rather output to the console has been in linux since the year dot ...

Oh course you said this above - my mistake for not reading closely enough ...

Oh yes: check the /boot/boot.txt file:

https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/uboot-cubox/files/boot.txt

By default it has:

console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty1,115200n8

So that should send messages both to a uart, and to tty1 - tty1 I would hope would be the screen ...

mainline uboot has:

http://git.denx.de/?p=u-boot.git;a=blob;f=include/configs/mx6cuboxi.h;

console=ttymxc0 and I have no idea what that is ...

[DTM]

Yes it is old but it's not that kernel, that one is for the original Cubox. This is the one for the Cubox-i: https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/linux-imx6 - with this U-boot: https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/uboot-cubox-i

The mainline kernel is for Marvell not Freescale, but I've found a more up-to-date one here so maybe I could try it: https://github.com/SolidRun/linux-fslc

That said, it's probably more about the U-boot configuration than anything else. Especially as it used to work with whatever kernel I was running 2 years ago when I last updated it.

[summers]

So you are on new uboot. So unless you have changed the console it I think will be ttymxc0. This should be shown in
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'dmesg | grep console')
Now how to change it. /boot/boot.txt you should be able to add to a line line near the beginning:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'setenv bootargs console=${console},${baudrate} root=PARTUUID=${uuid} rw rootwait')
change to:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'setenv bootargs console=tty0 console=${console},${baudrate} root=PARTUUID=${uuid} rw rootwait')
and the "tty0" maybe should be tty1 ...

After updating boot.txt, recreate boot.src using "mksrc". I suspect the confusion is that new uboot changed to using "/boot/boot.txt" and no longer uses "/boot/uEnv.txt"