- UART is accessible on a standard connector but with unusual speed: 1500000
- If you want to boot from your SD card you need to hold boot button while powering up/resetting
- Version 7 EspressoBIN (identifiable by sata power connection instead of molex) has ethernet ports in the reverse order. This can be fixed in armbianEnv.txt with the line “fdtfile=marvell/armada-3720-espressobin-v7.dtb”
- manual flashing to latest u-boot is mandatory, again (as part of 2022.05 release)! Download the right boot flash for your board: 512,1G,2G, number of RAM chips (identify by visual inspection – one on each side of the PCB opposite to each other. Later 1GB models have only one chip at the bottom) and appropriate memory speeds. You can obtain numbers from the current boot prompt. Also choose right memory: ddr3 are for V3-V5 EspressoBin’s (i.e. V5, 1g-2cs) and ddr4 images are for v7 EspressoBin’s. Insert ‘ddr3’ or ‘ddr4’ into the bubt command string. Copy this
flash-image-{ddr3,ddr4}-MEM-RAM_CHIPS-CPU_DDR.binto your formatted USB key, plug it into USB3.0 port and execute from u-boot prompt:bubt flash-image-ddr3/ddr4-MEM-RAM_CHIPS-CPU_DDR.bin spi usbIn case you experience instability reflash boot loader with lower CPU speed values! SoC speed can be found printed on the armada chip, under the heat sink. No 1200 chips have been reported, 800 is a safe option, 1000 is a likely option. It can also be found as part of the current u-boot output.
- Updated u-boot (2022.04) needs new default boot environment and boot script. U-boot now respects ethaddr and eth[0,1,2]addr variables. This is what you need to copy/paste into u-boot prompt:
printenv ethaddr env default -a saveenv # Including this line to make sure saveenv is executed.
- If ethaddr was previously changed, it can be set with “setenv ethaddr f0:ad:4e:08:00:00”, then “saveenv”
- If you manage to crash your SPI flash, get appropriate files and proceed with one of the rescue options: SATA, UART,
- if you need USB2 port on your mPCI slot (for Bluetooth or 4G/LTE modems) you need to move both jumpers near to the USB2 port. Position for this function is: away from the port.
- OMV (OpenMediaVault) can be installed on Armbian Bookworm minimal with armbian-config -> software
To boot the image from USB flash:
- Write the image to a USB flash drive
- Insert the flash drive into the USB3.0 port
- Load the modified u-boot (from the Armbian image) using the UART method
- Stop the default boot sequence
- Execute in u-boot prompt:
run usbboot
To flash the image to eMMC:
- Boot the image from USB flash
- Write the image to eMMC using
ddor other methods - Mount the eMMC partition and add a line
emmc_fix=onto/boot/armbianEnv.txtfile – this changes the DT during boot to switch from SD with card detect switch to a non-removable eMMC. - Unmount the eMMC partition and reboot
Please refer to this forum thread for the USB boot details and this thread for a discussion of known eMMC issues.
Notes:
There are some minor problems with specific mPCIe combinations. If you run into problems check this test matrix for some known working/not working combinations.
For more info please check docs.armbian.com
To boot the image from USB flash:
- Write the image to a USB flash drive
- Insert the flash drive into the USB3.0 port
- Load the modified u-boot (from the Armbian image) using the UART method
- Stop the default boot sequence
- Execute in u-boot prompt:
run usbboot
To flash the image to eMMC:
- Boot the image from USB flash
- Write the image to eMMC using
ddor other methods - Mount the eMMC partition and add a line
emmc_fix=onto/boot/armbianEnv.txtfile – this changes the DT during boot to switch from SD with card detect switch to a non-removable eMMC. - Unmount the eMMC partition and reboot
Please refer to this forum thread for the USB boot details and this thread for a discussion of known eMMC issues.