Unable to use autoboot.txt

[levi]

I've got a copy of 1.60 on my SD card, and booting it using a boot.txt and holding the R shoulder works fine. I'd like to make this the default boot though, so I renamed the boot.txt to autoboot.txt in the same location (a separate boot partition on my SD card, as it happens). But now the system doesn't see it and boots to the NAND OS. Holding R gets me the options to boot the old kernel in the NAND OS or to power off etc., but no option to boot my SD card.


What am I missing? How can I get it to autoboot my SD OS?

 

[Linux-SWAT]

What is the content ?

What is your exact partition layout ?

 

[levi]

Okay, on my OS SD card, after the initial unallocated block I have, in media sequence:


An ext2 partition, 1.99GB in size labelled 'boot', identified by the partition table as p3


An ext4 partition, 14GB in size labelled 'pandora_os', identified as p1


An unformatted partition, ~41.5GB in size, identified as p2


A spare bit on the end.


In the first partition, p3, 'boot', contains my boot.txt in the root and the kernel(s) in a folder also called 'boot'. The boot file contains:


setenv bootargs root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rw rootwait vram=6272K omapfb.vram=0:3000K mmc_core.removable=0


ext2load mmc 0:3 0x80300000 /boot/uImage-3


bootm 0x80300000


I have the active kernel in /boot/uImage-3.


In p1 (the second partition) I have a copy of SZ1.60, minus the kernel(s).


My OS SD card is installed in the left slot. This setup works if I call the boot file boot.txt and have it in the root of my 'boot' partition, then reboot the machine with the R button held down. If however I rename the file as 'autoboot.txt', the system automatically boots the OS in the NAND (an SZ1.54 install IIRC), and booting the machine with R held down doesn't list the SD card in the options.


Edit: Got my boot partition number mixed up in one place - it's p3, not p2.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

I think boot _must_ be p1, and ext2 or fat.

 

[levi]

Hmm, that's interesting if true. Seems odd that uboot can read boot.txt from p3, but not read the same content from a file called autoboot.txt in the same location.


FWIW, in the uboot menu, the option comes up as 'Boot from SD1:3'.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Maybe there's further info on the wiki...

 

[levi]

Yes, possibly - although the fact I can boot fine from a boot.txt in p3 (although it is physically the first partition) would suggest the wiki is wrong or at least incomplete on the matter.


I wonder if I can delete my partition table and reset it up on the same cylinder numbers, and assume that the data inside will survive? I may give that a go when I have the time.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

I think someone on these boards managed to rename the partitions with sfdisk.

Be careful with that axe, though.

 

[comradekingu]

http://pandorawiki.org/Boot_setup

 

[levi]

Yes, that's the page I'm referring to (and which I'm pretty familiar with, having done a chunk of editing on it last year). It says the partition with your [auto]boot.txt must be the first partition, but it doesn't clarify whether that means the first one on the card, or the first one in the partition table. Demonstrably, on my system, I've got a boot.txt running from the third partition in the partition table, although it is the first one on the card. Although it doesn't seem to get picked up as a partiton you can autoboot from. Whether that's because it's p3 I don't know, but I'll find out sooner or later, and can update the wiki then.