Board died randomly

sdanfa · June 4, 2024, 6:07pm

Hello,
I flashed the new image on my visionfive v2, and then the board died randomly. I tried recovery tools for bootloader and flash new bootloader and new uboot but nothing works on the board anymore. I’m getting on uart the following error:

�dwmci_s: Response Timeout.
BOOT fail,Error is 0xffffffff
dwmci_s: Response Timeout.
BOOT fail,Error is 0xffffffff

Thank you.

omac777 · June 4, 2024, 11:03pm

I’m pretty sure you didn’t brick the board. You just need to configure the dip switches into recovery mode and then upload the latest official starfive debian spl.out and fw payload back onto the board and then you’ll be ok to boot the latest official starfive debian image again.

sdanfa · June 4, 2024, 11:07pm

Hi, thanks for your reply. I already did that. I changed the dip switches to recovery and flashed both files one after the other by selecting in the menu after for the fw payload. But after setting dip switches to default same thing happens, same error.

kira · June 7, 2024, 7:56am

which mode did you chose？SDbootmode？

sdanfa · June 7, 2024, 9:58am

I tried all the modes.

omac777 · June 8, 2024, 5:41pm

Get the latest recovery image jh7110-devkits-recovery-20230918.bin:

Get the latest version of the two files u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out and visionfive2_fw_payload.img:
https://github.com/starfive-tech/VisionFive2/releases/download/JH7110_VF2_515_v5.12.0/u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out

https://github.com/starfive-tech/VisionFive2/releases/download/JH7110_VF2_515_v5.12.0/visionfive2_fw_payload.img

Then follow the instructions here. I found them very clear:

github.com/starfive-tech/VisionFive2

Unable to recovery U-boot

opened 01:41AM - 22 Dec 22 UTC

closed 03:23PM - 22 Dec 22 UTC

agreenbhm

I built U-boot following the instructions on Github and everything seemed to com…pile properly but after flashing it seems it was a bad build. I’m trying to recover the firmware using the instructions on Github and in the quick-start guide (https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/PDF/VisionFive2_QSG.pdf). I have my jumpers set to 1,1, and when I boot the device I get UART output of “CCCCCCCC” (which is what I understand it should be). However, I’m unable to send the recovery firmware file successfully. I have tried two different USB-serial cables, each that seem fine. I have tried using minicom, picocom, and screen to send the file via xmodem, but no luck with anything. Using picocom (my preferred console app), I get the following: ``` CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC *** file: jh7110-recovery-20221205.bin $ sx -avO jh7110-recovery-20221205.bin Sending jh7110-recovery-20221205.bin, 1291 blocks: Give your local XMODEM receive command now. Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: NAK on sector Retry 0: Retry Count Exceeded Transfer incomplete *** exit status: 128 *** Error ``` I’ve tried resetting the device with both power and the reset button while transferring, and leaving it as is. I’ve tried with MacOS and with Kali (Kali is a VM, if that makes a difference). Still no luck though. Can someone post step-by-step instructions for what to run software-wise? Everything I’ve seen says “send the file via xmodem” but there are many possibilities of how to do that, so I’d appreciate if someone can tell me how they’ve done it.

OK. I did this on Sunday 9 June 2024.
This worked for me.

PHYSICALLY CHANGE DIP SWITCHES BOTH SET TO HIGH 1
This sets the board in UART FIRMWARE RECOVERY MODE

sudo minicom -b 115200 -D /dev/ttyUSB0

###HELP
ctrl a z
###CONFIG
o
###file transfer protocols
So all this stuff is ok.
Serial port setup--->>>Software Flow Control--->>>YES
Serial port setup--->>>Hardware Flow Control--->>>NO
Save config

###get the minicom help menu
Ctrl a z
###send file
s
###choose the xmodem protocol
xmodem
###select the file to upload
jh7110-recovery-20230918.bin
press space to tag it
press enter to start the send
NOTE: it will beep to say it sent it successfully then please wait until you get the menu back.  It takes time.

###To send the spl file, we want to use the menu item "Update SPL in FLASH"
0
ctrl a z
s
xmodem
u-boot-spl.bin.normal.out
press space
press enter to start the send
NOTE: it will beep to say it sent it successfully then please wait until you get the menu back.  It takes time.

###To send the fw payload, we want to use "Update UBOOT in FLASH"
2
ctrl a z
s
xmodem
visionfive2_fw_payload.img
press space
press enter to start the send
NOTE: it will beep to say it sent it successfully then please wait until you get the menu back.  It takes time.

PHYSICALLY CHANGE DIP SWITCHES BOTH SET TO LOW 0
This sets the board in DEFAULT MANUFACTURER BOOT MODE

Done. This worked for me. I hope it works for you too.

After all this however, when I insert any sdcard, any distro, none boot up.
I get this:

U-Boot 2021.10 (May 09 2024 - 22:45:24 +0800), Build: jenkins-github_visionfive2_6.6-1

CPU:   rv64imacu_zba_zbb
Model: StarFive VisionFive V2
DRAM:  8 GiB
MMC:   sdio0@16010000: 0, sdio1@16020000: 1
Loading Environment from SPIFlash... SF: Detected gd25lq128 with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 16 MiB
OK
StarFive EEPROM format v2

--------EEPROM INFO--------
Vendor : StarFive Technology Co., Ltd.
Product full SN: VF7110B1-2253-D008E000-00002621
data version: 0x2
PCB revision: 0xb2
BOM revision: A
Ethernet MAC0 address: 6c:cf:39:00:36:43
Ethernet MAC1 address: 6c:cf:39:00:36:44
--------EEPROM INFO--------

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Model: StarFive VisionFive V2
Net:   eth0: ethernet@16030000, eth1: ethernet@16040000
starting USB...
No working controllers found
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
Unknown command 'bootflow' - try 'help'
StarFive #

omac777 · June 10, 2024, 1:19am

One very crucial step I forgot to do after all this:

env default -f -a
env save

This helped get rid of the uboot environment customizations I did for the fedora 40 image. This brought it back to the default uboot debian engineering starfive environment.