PCENGINES APU[1-7] Coreboot SeaBIOS Open Source Firmware

[slemoal@tiscom.fr]

Changelog 4.6.X
https://github.com/pcengines/release_manifests/blob/coreboot-4.6.x/CHANGELOG.md

[fhloston]

I have also managed to compile the recent BIOS versions 4.6.5 and 4.6.6.

I have 2 issues with these:

a) memtest does beep when it is entered, but there is no console output - have you tested the memtest feature in 4.6.5 or 4.6.6? Did I miss something when I compiled this?

b) the apu2 does sporadically hang during reboot - sometimes the first time, sometimes it takes 20 reboots to hang. The original 4.6.1 also shows this behaviour. 4.5.5 seems to reboot reliably. I have contacted pcengines' support for this. I am interested in your experience regarding this issue.

Cheers

Martin

[Evil_Sense]

I'm running 4.6.0 and reboots sometimes are also failing.
It hangs up but boots fine after replugging power.

Loading kernel is slow, read an issue on github that this is related to disabled UDMA.

Didn't build 4.6.5 or 4.6.6, the later should include enabled UDMA..

[smawuascht]

Hey guys,

I' now here and new to the APU2 board.

I'm just wondering as you guys are running BIOS versions such as 4.5/4.6
The PCEngines site states that for APU2 the legacy BIOS should be used.

Is there any specific reason running the mainline version?

Thanks.
Greets
Michi

[fhloston]

I am comiling anyhow to have the default console output on COM3. Background: I am trying to build a dual APU2 box with COM3/COM4 internally crossconnected. COM1 is then free to connect switches or other serial stuff.

Other than that i think the occasional USB errors are gone with 4.6.6

I mitigated the reboot hang problem with a simple usb-hid based watchdog [1] - my apu2 with self-compiled 4.6.6 booted reliably ~600 times over night - with the help of that watchdog.


[1] https://www.ebay.de/itm/Interne-USB-Watchdog-Reset-Controller-PC-Stick-Crash-Blue-Screen-automatisch/263490474653

[mayo]

Same situation for me.
Every reboot stops at bios startup, the only way is to unplug the power and reconnect.
I also tried to boot with TinyCore from USB but, when loading, it stops at the beginning of the process:

PC Engines apu2
coreboot build 07/24/2017
BIOS version v4.6.0
4080 MB ECC DRAM

SeaBIOS (version rel-1.10.2.1)

Press F10 key now for boot menu

Booting from Hard Disk...

and nothing else.
Any advice?

[fhloston]

Try an older BIOS Version. For me 4.5.5 or older did the trick.

[mayo]

I tried, but how to install an older bios if TinyCore doesn't boot?

[mayo]

Same situation for me.
Every reboot stops at bios startup, the only way is to unplug the power and reconnect.
I also tried to boot with TinyCore from USB but, when loading, it stops at the beginning of the process:

PC Engines apu2
coreboot build 07/24/2017
BIOS version v4.6.0
4080 MB ECC DRAM

SeaBIOS (version rel-1.10.2.1)

Press F10 key now for boot menu

Booting from Hard Disk...

and nothing else.
Any advice?

soved downgrading to 4.0.7 following this guide: https://howdoilinux.com/2016/05/flash-bios-of-apu2c4/

[smawuascht]

Hey guys,

I' now here and new to the APU2 board.

I'm just wondering as you guys are running BIOS versions such as 4.5/4.6
The PCEngines site states that for APU2 the legacy BIOS should be used.

Is there any specific reason running the mainline version?

Thanks.
Greets
Michi

Anyone?

[wget]

Hi smawuascht.

I was in the same situation as you and read a lot about this topic. From my understanding, here are the pieces of info I have been able to gather:

- Back in the days, when they launched the APU boards, PCEngines forked the coreboot project and modified it in order to support their APU board (CPU, ACPI tables, etc.)
- They submitted a patch upstream, to the coreboot project, in order to have their changes integrated in the coreboot project directly.
- Their patch has been integrated around version coreboot 4.5.1.
- But in the meanwhile, they still supported their old forked version. The coreboot firmware has payloads (SeaBIOS, memtest, etc.) that are continuously upgraded by PCEngines (cf. version 4.0.16 released just yesterday).

So from my understanding, as of 2018, there is no reason to upgrade to the 4.6 branch (and onward). The board is stable enough with this 4.0.X versions an the payload are up to date. Changes in coreboot mainly concerns adding support for new boards and refactoring the coreboot code to support new board additions, nothing much. And I think if modifications concerning or impacting explicitly APU2 were to happen in the coreboot official branch, PCEngines would be more than happy to backport them to their own 4.0.X version, if this doesn't require too much work/hassle for them.

Regards,

[wget]

You can also make you own opinion by reading this page: https://pcengines.github.io/ which is a bit more complete than the Markdown file hosted on their github page: https://github.com/pcengines/release_manifests/blob/coreboot-4.6.x/CHANGELOG.md

[miroco]

ECC is fixed on the APU-platform effective 2018-10-04 BIOS v4.8.0.5 Mainline release.

https://pcengines.github.io

https://3mdeb.com/firmware/enabling-ecc-on-pc-engines-platforms/#.W8eUoKeHKuM

[Ricardo]

I would be more cautious to conclude so quickly, that the ECC support has REALLY been completed 100%. Knowing the history of this topic dates back to more than 2 yrs in fact, with many miscommunication and blind guessing!

[Evil_Sense]

I would be more cautious to conclude so quickly, that the ECC support has REALLY been completed 100%. Knowing the history of this topic dates back to more than 2 yrs in fact, with many miscommunication and blind guessing!

Well at least the guy from the blog seems to know what he's talking about and there are some changes to the code.

I just hope they finally fix the reboot hang issue (and the newly discovered frequency issue).