Pi Zero 2 W rpiboot

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Chris Burton

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Nov 5, 2021, 6:46:49 PM11/5/21
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Hi,
 For those also trying to get booting without SD cards (rpiboot) working on the Pi Zero 2 W I'll be uploading updated images shortly to https://dist.8086.net/clusterctrl/testing/ which sometimes (see below) work. They can be installed as normal following https://8086.support/index.php?action=faq&cat=23&id=97

Or if you want to update an existing root filesystem replacing X with the pX you've extracted.
cp /var/lib/clusterctrl/nfs/pX/boot/bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb \
   /var/lib/clusterctrl/nfs/pX/boot/bcm2710-rpi-zero-2.dtb

And for the 32-bit version only edit /var/lib/clusterctrl/nfs/pX/boot/config.txt and these two lines above the "[pi1]" section.

[pi02]
initramfs initramfs7.img

But the problem is they don't work on every Pi Zero 2 W. As others have seen some just loop "Sending bootcode.bin" and don't get any further.

0621 1.14 OK
1821 3.9 BAD
I've managed to try these.
2721 1.2  OK
1121 1.11 BAD
1121 3.20 BAD
0121 4.19 OK
2721 4.9  BAD

I don't know what's different between them but hopefully there will eventually be a fix.

I'd be interested to hear what success or failure others have with it.

Chris.

Martin

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Nov 6, 2021, 12:05:39 PM11/6/21
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Thanks for this Chris, the 64bit image worked like a charm on my one good Pi 🎉 no more kernel panics!
Out of interest, is there any benefit/disadvantage to using the bcm2710-rpi-zero-2.dtb provided in the firmware repo vs copying the one for the 3B, or are they always the same file? https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/blob/master/boot/bcm2710-rpi-zero-2.dtb

Also a small note on the boot loop issue. I have noticed that even my good Pi can occasionally get stuck in the boot loop. This usually happens if I reboot the Pi zero 2 or do a clusterctrl off followed by a clusterctrl on p1 quickly after. Turning the Pi Zero 2 off then waiting for a minute before turning it back on again usually gets it working again though. Not sure if that offers any hints as to what the issue could be or if it just muddies the water further.

Chris Burton

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Nov 7, 2021, 6:53:42 AM11/7/21
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Hi,
Thanks for this Chris, the 64bit image worked like a charm on my one good Pi 🎉 no more kernel panics!
Out of interest, is there any benefit/disadvantage to using the bcm2710-rpi-zero-2.dtb provided in the firmware repo vs copying the one for the 3B, or are they always the same file? https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/blob/master/boot/bcm2710-rpi-zero-2.dtb

Sorry, I think I needed sleep as the copy is only needed on the 64-bit version.
 
Also a small note on the boot loop issue. I have noticed that even my good Pi can occasionally get stuck in the boot loop. This usually happens if I reboot the Pi zero 2 or do a clusterctrl off followed by a clusterctrl on p1 quickly after. Turning the Pi Zero 2 off then waiting for a minute before turning it back on again usually gets it working again though. Not sure if that offers any hints as to what the issue could be or if it just muddies the water further.

I'm still unsure what's causing it but there's at least one more on the official forum with problems.

Chris. 

Paul Zaremba

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Nov 8, 2021, 2:39:42 PM11/8/21
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Thanks for the images!

Using those images and rpiboot, I have had the same Pi Zero W 2  succeed and fail on my cluster hat in the same slot.

Given that, it feels like a timing issue to me.

Luis Alcaraz Leal

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Nov 9, 2021, 2:31:46 PM11/9/21
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Hello,

Can confirm the testing images work for the W2. I got three out of four working. Still looping on the 4th.

Paul Zaremba

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Nov 10, 2021, 3:05:51 PM11/10/21
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For anyone else who ends up on this thread:
As a workaround, I resorted to copying .../nfs/pX/boot/* onto the root of an otherwise empty sdcard and just putting that into the Zero W2(s).  Then, I added this to the nfs/Px/etc/fstab:

/dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot vfat defaults,noatime,sync 0 2

It boots every time that way, is using the NFS root succcessfully, and will take /boot updates from apt.

Peter Cross

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Nov 10, 2021, 4:53:20 PM11/10/21
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to clarify... this nullifies the boot loop?

Cheers!

Peter J. Cross
San Antonio, TX

"Experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions"
-James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 51

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Ian Goldsmith

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Nov 10, 2021, 6:00:51 PM11/10/21
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Do the issues people are having still happen if you use only 2 or 3 slots? 

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Paul Zaremba

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Nov 11, 2021, 8:40:38 AM11/11/21
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Yes, it stops the boot loop, but it also isn't booting without an sdcard.

I have what I wanted: a usable system with nfs mounted roots on the rpi4 controller, which can take updates from apt.

ClusterHAT

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Nov 14, 2021, 8:03:20 AM11/14/21
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Looks like we're going to have to wait a while for them to look at it - https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot/issues/101#issuecomment-967196272 :(.

Chris.
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