Second Boot Never Works

[StiNKz]

Hi all.

I ordered my DE 10 straight from Terasic, and ordered some parts from misterfpga.co.uk, but am having issues getting up and running.

I've reduced my setup back to only the DE 10, no sdram, no additional boards, only HDMI plugged in. I flash my sdcard in linux with Mr Fusion 2.5 using dd. I boot the DE 10 and get the Mr Fusion splash screen, wait, and it completes the setup to the menu with the static background. I pull the power cable on the DE 10, wait, and plug it back in. Nothing, my monitor recognises the HDMI is plugged in, but no HDMI signal.

I've done this several times now from scratch, I've also plugged the USB board in with a wifi dongle and run the update script, but still eventually the same result.

Any suggestions on what to try?
Thanks.

[AngelicLiver]

I would first check your micro SD card with Htest2w (this will format it). Then I would check that the switches on your DE10-Nano are set correctly. Then flash your SD card with Mr. Fusion.

There's a good video guide to the process here in case you're missing something.

[StiNKz]

Thanks for the advice.

I'd been using two micro sd cards so far: the 8GB "Team" sd card that came with the nano, and a 32GB Sandisk I had lying around. I had already tested them both with f3probe and they both had no issues, so I tested them both with h2testw and again both worked fine.

I haven't touched the switches since the board arrived, but they're configured in the correct positions.

So it looks like Mr Fusion version 2.5 and 2.4 have the issue, version 2.3 and 2.2 work fine for me, they take a minute on second boot but they work.

One interesting thing is if I try version 2.5 or 2.4, after the Mr Fusion setup if I try and put the sd card in my windows 10 machine, windows doesn't identify the sd card at all and it actually hangs the disk manager. Linux (Raspberry Pi specifically) handles it a bit better, but the tool 'parted' doesn't identify the partitions, but 'cfdisk' does.

So I think something funky may have made its way in to Mr Fusion v2.4 to do with the sd card setup process. I'm not an FPGA pro, but I don't need to flash an updated sd controller on the nano or something do I?

Thanks again.

[AngelicLiver]

Give the switches a wiggle just in case. I flashed an SD card with the Mr. Fusion v2.5 image a few minutes ago, once in Win32DiskImager on Win10 and again with dd on Manjaro. Both booted just fine and ran update_all.sh with no problems, so I don't think it's the image. You shouldn't need to do anything with your DE10-Nano besides follow the setup instructions.

Potentially your DE10-Nano could be faulty but before jumping to that conclusion I would have a read of this thread.

[StiNKz]

Well that's an improvement! I got the second boot, I'm unsure what exactly helped, but I did a bunch of things:

• flipped all the switches back and forth
• pushed all the push buttons
• I also ssh'd in and ran a "sync" after the initial Mr Fusion setup
• I waited a lot longer after the setup before pulling the power cable
• I waited a lot longer before plugging the power cable back in
• I kept the HDMI unplugged the whole time

I ran "sfdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0" after Mr Fusion installed on both v2.3 and v2.5 and the results were the same.

With all that said, third boot failed. I'm not sure if I'm pulling the power cable at a bad time or if I'm plugging it back in too soon or something, it feels really temperamental.
I can see that led0 and led4 alternating indicates the system is up and running, but I see other leds flashing in that array of 8 leds as well as a neighbouring led flash on the board, and an orange light on the other side of the board, what do these all mean?
When I boot it unsuccessfully, all 8 leds in the array are on but quite dim, does this mean anything significant?

[StiNKz]

I really have no idea what's going on with this thing, the DE 10 board appears to be flaky as hell. Without touching anything, sometimes it boots, sometimes it doesn't. I was starting to think that if I wasn't making a super clean connection with the power cable when plugging it in that it wouldn't boot properly, but now I'm unsure. But I cannot explain why with a freshly reimaged sd card it boots every time.

[StiNKz]

Here's a 90 second video of me just turning it off and on repeatedly until it just magically works: https://youtu.be/ohqT8gH1iFk
I really feel like I should be taking this up with Terasic, but since it works fine like 95% of the time with a fresh sd card, I don't know. Any suggestions?

Better yet, is there any way to debug the boot sequence? I assume the CPU is booted first, which boots the FPGA?

[bazza_12]

is that power supply second barrel shorting anything, cos it looks like it's touching one of the standoffs on the de10? (long shot i know)
also I wouldn't recommend using the SDCard that came with the DE10.

[StiNKz]

No it's just touching the glass table, it was a weird setup to film it. I have been mostly using the sd card that came with the nano, I'll swap to my sandisk and see if that helps.

[bazza_12]

if that fails you might try doing an install without using mr fusion, see if you get any different results?

[StiNKz]

Yeah I've been trying that for the past hour, I think the "MiSTer SD Card Utility" utility appears to be working, it puts two partitions on the sd card and windows doesn't throw a hissy fit about it, yet. But I can't seem to boot the sd card with the nano.

I've been following the manual installation method here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... etup-Guide , but I think they might be a little out of date.
I haven't been updating the MiSTer (elf?) file, nor the menu.rbf, just using the ones that get written by the tool in the latest release 7z file. I've also been skipping over installing a core, I don't need to do that to just get the basic static background and menu up and running, right?

[bazza_12]

i'd d/load the latest mister firmware, just to be sure then update the mister and menu.rbf files so you have the most upto date. you should get the static screen from this yes.

[StiNKz]

I hooked up the UART cable and opened a putty session to the com port, here's what got sent on a bad boot:

Code: Select all

U-Boot SPL 2017.03+ (Oct 18 2021 - 19:11:36)
Trying to boot from MMC1


U-Boot 2017.03+ (Oct 18 2021 - 19:11:36 +0800)

       Watchdog enabled
DRAM:  1 GiB
socfpga_bridges_reset: FPGA not ready, aborting.
MMC:   dwmmc0@ff704000: 0

And from a good boot:

Code: Select all

U-Boot SPL 2017.03+ (Oct 18 2021 - 19:11:36)
Trying to boot from MMC1


U-Boot 2017.03+ (Oct 18 2021 - 19:11:36 +0800)

       Watchdog enabled
DRAM:  1 GiB
socfpga_bridges_reset: FPGA not ready, aborting.
MMC:   dwmmc0@ff704000: 0
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Autoboot in 0 seconds
reading menu.rbf
2467916 bytes read in 260 ms (9.1 MiB/s)
reading /linux/zImage_dtb
6765321 bytes read in 704 ms (9.2 MiB/s)
## Flattened Device Tree blob at 0166ecd8
   Booting using the fdt blob at 0x166ecd8
   reserving fdt memory region: addr=0 size=1000
   Loading Device Tree to 03ff8000, end 03fffe30 ... OK

Starting kernel ...

[    0.307905] rtc-pcf8563 2-0051: pcf8563_write_block_data: err=-6 addr=0e, data=03
[    0.315400] rtc-pcf8563 2-0051: pcf8563_probe: write error
[    0.332681] rtc-m41t80 2-0068: Can't clear HT bit
Starting syslogd: OK
Starting klogd: OK
Populating /dev using udev:
Minimig by Dennis van Weeren
ARM Controller by Jakub Bednarski
MiSTer code by Sorgelig

Version 220413

Looking for root device...
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/device.bin, error: No such file or directory.
Using SD card as a root device
Identified 8BIT core*** SDRAM config not found
Core name is "MENU"
** altcfg: no cfg
INI_PARSER : Start INI parser for core "MENU"(MENU), video mode "0x0@0.0".
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/MiSTer.ini, error: No such file or directory.
get cfgstring 0 = MENU
get cfgstring 1 = UART31250,MIDI
Got UART speeds: 31250 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Got MIDI speeds: 31250 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
get cfgstring 2 = V,v220413
get cfgstring 3 = NULL

// Status Bit Map:
//              Upper                          Lower
// 0         1         2         3          4         5         6
// 01234567890123456789012345678901 23456789012345678901234567890123
// 0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV 0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV
// X

Incorrect amount of items in video_mode parameter: 0
Calculate PLL for 74.2500 MHz:
Fvco=445.500000, C=6, M=8, K=0.910000(3908420239) -> Fpix=74.250000
Incorrect amount of items in video_mode parameter: 0
Calculate PLL for 74.2500 MHz:
Fvco=445.500000, C=6, M=8, K=0.910000(3908420239) -> Fpix=74.250000
Incorrect amount of items in video_mode parameter: 0
Calculate PLL for 74.2500 MHz:
Fvco=445.500000, C=6, M=8, K=0.910000(3908420239) -> Fpix=74.250000
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/MENU_gamma.cfg, error: No such file or directory.
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/MENU_scaler.cfg, error: No such file or directory.
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/filters/, error: No such file or directory.
Filter '', phases: 0 adaptive: false
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/filters/, error: No such file or directory.
Filter '', phases: 0 adaptive: false
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/filters/, error: No such file or directory.
Filter '', phases: 0 adaptive: false
video_set_filter: flt_flags=7
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/filters/, error: No such file or directory.
Filter '', phases: 0 adaptive: false
Send HDMI parameters:
video: 1280(1280), 110(110), 40(40), 220(220), 720(720), 5(5), 5(5), 20(20), -hsync, -vsync
PLL: 0x4, 0x404, 0x3, 0x10000, 0x5, 0x303, 0x9, 0x2, 0x8, 0x7, 0x7, 0xE8F5C28F, Fpix=74.250000
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/MENU_shmask.cfg, error: No such file or directory.
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/shadow_masks/, error: No such file or directory.
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/MENU_afilter.cfg, error: No such file or directory.
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/Volume.dat, error: No such file or directory.
sending keymap: 0
Loading config MENU.CFG
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/MENU.CFG, error: No such file or directory.
Switch to core frame buffer
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/uartmode.MENU, error: No such file or directory.
FileOpenEx(open) File:/media/fat/config/uartspeed.MENU, error: No such file or directory.
UART bauds: 31250/31250/31250
ttyS1: 31250
ttyS1: 31250
Open up to 30 input devices.
make_unique(289B,0057,-1)
make_unique(0E8F,3013,1)
make_unique(16C0,05E1,1)
make_unique(045E,02A1,1)
make_unique(8282,3201,1)
make_unique(1209,FACA,1)
pFileExt = (null)
Start to scan dir: /media/fat/
Position on item:
Got 0 dir entries
*** Got SDRAM module type: 0
INFO: Video resolution: 529 x 240, fHorz = 15.7KHz, fVert = 59.8Hz, fPix = 10.00MHz
INFO: Frame time (100MHz counter): VGA = 1671559, HDMI = 1666665
done
Starting system message bus: done
Starting network: Failed to bring up wlan0.
Failed to bring up wlan1.
FAIL
Starting dhcpcd...
dhcpcd-9.4.0 starting
sandbox unavailable: seccomp
dev: loaded udev
sandbox unavailable: seccomp
forked to background, child pid 587
Checking for Bluetooth storage
32+0 records in
32+0 records out
2097152 bytes (2.1 MB, 2.0 MiB) copied, 0.355341 s, 5.9 MB/s
mke2fs 1.45.6 (20-Mar-2020)
*** reset bt ***
Creating filesystem with 2048 1k blocks and 256 inodes

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (1024 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Starting bluetoothd: OK
Starting ntpd: OK
Starting ProFTPD: done
Starting sshd: OK

Welcome to MiSTer (www.MiSTerFPGA.org)
login:

Yes it appears to say "FPGA not ready, aborting" on a good boot, I think I'm now even more confused.

[StiNKz]

Basically it looks like U-Boot is dying in the middle of booting, I'll probably have to build my own U-Boot image with extra debugging and use that. If anyone can point me in the direction of how MiSTer builds its U-Boot image, it'd be greatly appreciated.

[StiNKz]

So I've built my own uboot image: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... for-MiSTer
I flashed it directly from my pc to the sdcard with dd.
Now I have 100% boot rate success (10/10).
Something must be wonky with the uboot image in the release packages, surely?

[bazza_12]

i'm glad you've managed to get it sorted.

[LamerDeluxe]

This is really odd. I wonder what the difference is between the package version and your version. Have you opened a ticket about this yet?

[Malor]

FWIW, my DE-10 is from January, and has been flawless with Mr. Fusion.

One thought: are you still using the stock power supply? You generally want a 5V/4A replacement anyway, so if you haven't already gotten one, that might be a good troubleshooting step.

[StiNKz]

i'm glad you've managed to get it sorted.

Thanks for your help!

This is really odd. I wonder what the difference is between the package version and your version. Have you opened a ticket about this yet?

Since my board is brand spanking new direct from the manufacturer, I'm curious to see if any more people with booting issues pop up, or if my board is just special. But no I haven't opened a ticket yet, do you mean with Terasic?

FWIW, my DE-10 is from January, and has been flawless with Mr. Fusion.

One thought: are you still using the stock power supply? You generally want a 5W/4A replacement anyway, so if you haven't already gotten one, that might be a good troubleshooting step.

January was still 7 months ago! Yes I am using the stock power supply, but I'm also not running any extension boards or sd ram, I removed all those just to try and get a baseline working.

I might also just add, since my previous post I started from absolute scratch rebuilding my sd card. I used linux to setup the MBR, to partition it, to copy all the files in the latest release to the exFAT, updated to the latest MiSTer elf and menu.brf, and used linux to flash the releases uboot image, it didn't boot. I then flashed my own built uboot image, and it booted fine. I flashed the releases uboot image back on, didn't boot.

I assume some devs read this forum, I would implore them to look in to how they build and/or how old the uboot image is they bundle with the releases.

[LamerDeluxe]

This is really odd. I wonder what the difference is between the package version and your version. Have you opened a ticket about this yet?

Since my board is brand spanking new direct from the manufacturer, I'm curious to see if any more people with booting issues pop up, or if my board is just special. But no I haven't opened a ticket yet, do you mean with Terasic?

No, I meant at the repositories where the releases come from that have the u-boot image that doesn't work for you. Maybe they could figure out the difference between your image and theirs.

[StiNKz]

No, I meant at the repositories where the releases come from that have the u-boot image that doesn't work for you. Maybe they could figure out the difference between your image and theirs.

Done: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SD-Inst ... /issues/14

[Malor]

For running the DE-10 alone, the stock supply is fine.... if it's working correctly. The way your board is being weird reminds me a little of flaky power problems. If you were planning to get a replacement supply anyway, doing it now might help you troubleshoot. If you weren't, I wouldn't spend the money yet.

[StiNKz]

For running the DE-10 alone, the stock supply is fine.... if it's working correctly. The way your board is being weird reminds me a little of flaky power problems. If you were planning to get a replacement supply anyway, doing it now might help you troubleshoot. If you weren't, I wouldn't spend the money yet.

I need to decide on an I/O board to get as well as a case, so I'll pickup a better power supply at the same, and can reevaluate the uboot image then.

In the meantime, can someone share with me their UART log when booting? I'm curious to compare.

[StiNKz]

FWIW, my DE-10 is from January, and has been flawless with Mr. Fusion.

I'm curious, can you tell me your board version number that you got in January?
Mine is 10-01610140-C1.

[batboy]

FWIW, my DE-10 is from January, and has been flawless with Mr. Fusion.

I'm curious, can you tell me your board version number that you got in January?
Mine is 10-01610140-C1.

Hey, sorry to bump this thread, but I am also having this issue. Initial Mr. Fusion screen displays, then the board reboots and no video. Tried a couple SD cards, and hdmi cables with no luck. The included DE10 linux sd boots fine and outputs video. My tv can see that something is connected but it never picks up a signal. I can ssh in, and ran an update but still no video.

My board revision is very similar: 10-01610140-C0.

Just wondering if it's possible for you to post your working version of boot.img? Not sure if I want to go through setting up all of the software tooling to build my own. Thanks!

[batboy]

FWIW, my DE-10 is from January, and has been flawless with Mr. Fusion.

I'm curious, can you tell me your board version number that you got in January?
Mine is 10-01610140-C1.

Hey, sorry to bump this thread, but I am also having this issue. Initial Mr. Fusion screen displays, then the board reboots and no video. Tried a couple SD cards, and hdmi cables with no luck. The included DE10 linux sd boots fine and outputs video. My tv can see that something is connected but it never picks up a signal. I can ssh in, and ran an update but still no video.

My board revision is very similar: 10-01610140-C0.

Just wondering if it's possible for you to post your working version of boot.img? Not sure if I want to go through setting up all of the software tooling to build my own. Thanks!

Sorry, I re-read the initial post closer and realized that my issue is different. I never was able to see the menu/static screen after the initial Mr. Fusion splash screen, and I think my de10 is booting up fine (since ssh is always up and responsive) it just never outputs video. Seems like a different problem; apologies for cluttering up the thread!