Cubieboard root on hard drive

[krovetz]

I successfully installed on my cubieboard following the alarm cubieboard directions. I now want to stop using /dev/mmcblk0p2 as my root and instead use /dev/sda1 (either sata or usb). I'm having trouble making it happen via uEnv.txt.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
[root@alarm ~]# mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/
[root@alarm ~]# ls /mnt
boot.scr cubieboard_512.bin cubieboard.bin evb_1.bin evb.bin LOST.DIR script.bin uEnv.txt uImage
[root@alarm ~]# cat /mnt/uEnv.txt
boot_mmc=fatload mmc 0 0x43000000 ${fexfile}; fatload mmc 0 0x48000000 ${kernel}; bootm 0x48000000
extraargs=rootwait ethaddr=00:CE:39:B7:74:4E
root=/dev/sda1
fexfile=cubieboard_512.bin
[root@alarm ~]# dmesg | grep root
[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 init=/init loglevel=8 rootfstype=ext4 rootwait
')
As far as I can tell, this uEnv.txt isn't doing anything. I keep getting random MAC addresses and dmesg shows root as still /dev/mmcblk0p2.

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong, for both the random MAC address and for specifying my root device?

Thanks.

[krovetz]

Thanks for the advice. If you set up an external root, please let me know how you did it.

[krovetz]

Mea culpa! I botched a step!

I must have accidentally copied more than cubieboard*.bin from from /tmp/boot because I had a boot.scr in my boot directory which was causing all sorts of trouble.

All's well now (once I use the hwpack's uboot and set uEnv's mac_addr).

SATA works too. Be sure your SATA device is properly powered. I was using a SATA SSD powered by the onboard 5V plug, but there was not enough power coming from the USB powered cubie to work properly.