Debian on Sabre Lite (SD card or SATA)

You most likely need to follow the instructions on that page under "SPI -> SD u-boot.imx bootloader" to get an SD card based on Roberts scripts to work.

By default the sabre-lite comes with an old version of uBoot installed in the nand flash which is pre-devicetree. Your image likely has a recent kernel which requires uBoot to pass a sane devicetree before it'll boot. There will be a working version of uBoot on your card, but unless you overwrite the version in nand flash with the SDcard bootloader it'll never get used.

Ok, I have completed "SPI->SH u-boot.imx bootloader" stuff. But I still don't get how to put debian software into the SD CARD. If I use the "

./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdc --uboot mx6qsabrelite" recipe from

http://alastordmcblog.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/how-to-install-debian-on-pandaboard-do.html

I get an SD Card. But If I put that card on the full size SD slot I get:

U-Boot 2013.01-00005-g9febdfc (Jan 21 2013 - 15:52:15)

CPU:   Freescale i.MX6Q rev1.0 at 792 MHz

Reset cause: POR

Board: MX6Q-Sabre Lite

DRAM:  1 GiB

MMC:   FSL_SDHC: 0, FSL_SDHC: 1

*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

auto-detected panel HDMI

enable_hdmi: setup HDMI monitor

Display: HDMI (1024x768)

In:    serial

Out:   serial

Err:   serial

Net:   FEC [PRIME]

Warning: failed to set MAC address

Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

mmc0 is current device

mmc0 is current device

253 bytes read in 34 ms (6.8 KiB/s)

Running bootscript from mmc ...

## Executing script at 12000000

boot.scr -> uEnv.txt wrapper...

1009 bytes read in 40 ms (24.4 KiB/s)

** File not found uImage **

bad MBR sector signature 0x0000

** Invalid partition 1 **

** File not found /dtbs/imx6q-sabrelite.dtb **

Booting from mmc ...

Wrong Image Format for bootm command

ERROR: can't get kernel image!

Could you please tell me which should be the next step.

Thank you

Have you tried the exact same image in the microSD slot ? 

I can't find details on which is which right now, but one of the SD slots is mmc0, the other is mmc1. So it may simply be that your boot script is looking for the kernel and devicetree files in the empty sd slot and failing. 

From the messages it certainly seems that whatever it's looking at doesn't have any partitions, so either wrong slot, or you somehow built the card incorrectly. Given you're getting the new uBoot off the card, I'm assuming it's built ok, but just in the wrong slot.

Yes I have tried to. If I put the micro-sd (without the full size adapter) in the small slot, I get nothing from the serial port. Also I have tried changing the default file system for the image (with ext2 or other) like:

./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdb --uboot mx6qsabrelite --rootfs btrfs

Doing any of these I get two partition labeled at the SD card: boot and rootfs. Nevertheless I still keep getting:

U-Boot 2013.01-00005-g9febdfc (Jan 21 2013 - 15:52:15)

CPU:   Freescale i.MX6Q rev1.0 at 792 MHz

Reset cause: POR

Board: MX6Q-Sabre Lite

DRAM:  1 GiB

MMC:   FSL_SDHC: 0, FSL_SDHC: 1

*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

auto-detected panel HDMI

enable_hdmi: setup HDMI monitor

Display: HDMI (1024x768)

In:    serial

Out:   serial

Err:   serial

Net:   FEC [PRIME]

Warning: failed to set MAC address

Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

mmc0 is current device

mmc0 is current device

253 bytes read in 34 ms (6.8 KiB/s)

Running bootscript from mmc ...

## Executing script at 12000000

boot.scr -> uEnv.txt wrapper...

1010 bytes read in 40 ms (24.4 KiB/s)

** File not found uImage **

** File not found uInitrd **

** File not found /dtbs/imx6q-sabrelite.dtb **

Booting from mmc ...

Wrong Image Format for bootm command

ERROR: can't get kernel image!

I suppose I'm missing "other" thing rather than using the script. By the way this is the log of the script that builds the SD cart (it may help you, to understand what I'm doing wrong):

Debug: ARM rootfs: armhf-rootfs-debian-wheezy.tar

Debug: /sbin/fdisk version:

fdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2)

Downloading Device's Bootloader

-----------------------------

attempting to use rcn-ee.net for dl files [10 second time out]...

2013-02-27 22:31:26 URL:http://rcn-ee.net/deb/tools/latest/bootloader-ng [4389/4                                                         389] -> "/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/dl/bootloader-ng" [1]

--2013-02-27 22:31:26--  http://rcn-ee.net/deb/tools/mx6qsabrelite/u-boot-mx6qsa                                                         brelite-v2013.01-r0.imx

Resolving rcn-ee.net... 69.163.130.148

Connecting to rcn-ee.net|69.163.130.148|:80... connected.

HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK

Length: 321172 (314K) [text/plain]

Saving to: â/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/dl/u-boot-mx6qsabrelite-v2013.01-r0.imxâ

100%[======================================>] 321,172     45.0K/s   in 8.8s

2013-02-27 22:31:36 (35.6 KB/s) - â/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/dl/u-boot-mx6qsabrelite-v                                                         2013.01-r0.imxâ

UBOOT Bootloader: u-boot-mx6qsabrelite-v2013.01-r0.imx

Unmounting Partitions

-----------------------------

Using dd to place bootloader on drive

-----------------------------

627+1 records in

627+1 records out

321172 bytes (321 kB) copied, 0.0656674 s, 4.9 MB/s

Creating rootfs btrfs Partition

-----------------------------

Formating Boot Partition

-----------------------------

mke2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)

Filesystem label=boot

OS type: Linux

Block size=1024 (log=0)

Fragment size=1024 (log=0)

Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks

12240 inodes, 48828 blocks

2441 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user

First data block=1

Maximum filesystem blocks=50069504

6 block groups

8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group

2040 inodes per group

Superblock backups stored on blocks:

        8193, 24577, 40961

Writing inode tables: done

Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 22 mounts or

180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

Formating rootfs Partition as btrfs

-----------------------------

WARNING! - Btrfs Btrfs v0.19 IS EXPERIMENTAL

WARNING! - see http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org before using

fs created label rootfs on /dev/sdb2

        nodesize 4096 leafsize 4096 sectorsize 4096 size 14.59GB

Btrfs Btrfs v0.19

Populating Boot Partition

-----------------------------

Image Name:   wrapper

Created:      Wed Feb 27 22:31:37 2013

Image Type:   ARM Linux Script (uncompressed)

Data Size:    189 Bytes = 0.18 kB = 0.00 MB

Load Address: 0x00000000

Entry Point:  0x00000000

Contents:

   Image 0:      181 Bytes =    0 kB = 0 MB

`/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/disk/boot.scr' -> `/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/disk/backup/boot.scr                                                         '

Copying uEnv.txt based boot scripts to Boot Partition

-----------------------------

`/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/bootscripts/normal.cmd' -> `/tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/disk/uEnv.t                                                         xt'

-----------------------------

kernel_file=uImage

initrd_file=uInitrd

initrd_high=0xffffffff

fdt_high=0xffffffff

#Video: Uncomment to override U-Boots value:

framebuffer=mxcdi1fb

dvimode=RGB24,1280x720M@60

console=ttymxc1,115200

mmcroot=/dev/mmcblk0p2 ro

mmcrootfstype=btrfs rootwait fixrtc

boot_fstype=ext2

xyz_load_image=${boot_fstype}load mmc 0:1 0x10000000 ${kernel_file}

xyz_load_initrd=${boot_fstype}load mmc 0:1 0x12000000 ${initrd_file}; setenv ini                                                         trd_size ${filesize}

xyz_load_dtb=${boot_fstype}load mmc 0:1 0x11ff0000 /dtbs/${dtb_file}

xyz_mmcboot=run xyz_load_image; run xyz_load_initrd; run xyz_load_dtb; echo Boot                                                         ing from mmc ...

video_args=setenv video video=${framebuffer}:${dvimode}

device_args=run video_args; run expansion_args; run mmcargs

mmcargs=setenv bootargs console=${console} ${optargs} ${video} root=${mmcroot} r                                                         ootfstype=${mmcrootfstype} ${expansion}

optargs=console=tty0

expansion_args=setenv expansion

loaduimage=run xyz_mmcboot; run device_args; bootm 0x10000000 0x12000000:${initr                                                         d_size} 0x11ff0000

-----------------------------

Debug:

#!/bin/sh

format=1.0

board=MX6QSABRELITE_D

bootloader_location=dd_uboot_boot

dd_spl_uboot_seek=

dd_spl_uboot_bs=

dd_uboot_seek=2

dd_uboot_bs=512

boot_image=bootm

boot_script=uEnv.txt

boot_fstype=ext2

serial_tty=ttymxc1

kernel_addr=0x10000000

initrd_addr=0x12000000

load_addr=0x10008000

dtb_addr=0x11ff0000

dtb_file=imx6q-sabrelite.dtb

usbnet_mem=

Debug: Adding Useful scripts from: https://github.com/RobertCNelson/tools

-----------------------------

Cloning into /tmp/tmp.uufgatOv2E/disk/tools...

remote: Counting objects: 417, done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (279/279), done.

remote: Total 417 (delta 243), reused 282 (delta 115)

Receiving objects: 100% (417/417), 58.64 KiB, done.

Resolving deltas: 100% (243/243), done.

-----------------------------

Debug: Contents of Boot Partition

-----------------------------

total 18K

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 1.0K Feb 27 22:31 backup

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  253 Feb 27 22:31 boot.scr

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 1.0K Feb 27 22:31 dtbs

drwx------  2 root root  12K Feb 27 22:31 lost+found

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  352 Feb 27 22:31 SOC.sh

drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 1.0K Feb 27 22:31 tools

-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1010 Feb 27 22:31 uEnv.txt

-----------------------------

Finished populating Boot Partition

-----------------------------

Populating rootfs Partition

Please be patient, this may take a few minutes, as its transfering a lot of file                                                         s..

-----------------------------

/home/user/debian-wheezy-minimal-armhf-2013-02-17/armhf-rootfs-debian-wheezy.tar

296MB 0:00:19 [15.3MB/s] [=================================>] 100%

Transfer of Base Rootfs is Complete, now syncing to disk...

-----------------------------

Finished populating rootfs Partition

-----------------------------

setup_sdcard.sh script complete

-----------------------------

The default user:password for this image:

debian:temppwd

-----------------------------

Thnak you

I don't think there's anything you're doing wrong as such, and the log looks reasonably sane.

Under where it says "Debug: Contents of Boot Partition" I don't see a uImage or uInitrd listed, which might be something to do with it.

I'd start by looking at the card in another system, investigate the contents of uEnv.txt to see where it's trying to load uImage from, then check that there's actually a uImage in that location.

Ok, I was going to do that, but instead of doing it  I asked for some help to Robert here http://www.eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/i.MX6x+SABRE+Lite#i.MX6xSABRELite-Comments . He told me to check his net install with

git clone git://github.com/RobertCNelson/netinstall.git,

nevertheless I can now start the installation, but I can't configure Network Interface (as I say on the comments), so, I got stuck at that point...

Thanks

So what happened after this point? Did you give up? :-/

Well,...

After some help of Robert (http://www.eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/i.MX6x+SABRE+Lite+Comments https://github.com/RobertCNelson/netinstall/issues/14).

Yes, I did.

Maybe I'll try in the future.