====== BananaPi R3 Mini ======
https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-R3_Mini
===== Hardware =====
* MT7986(Filogic 830) quad core ARM A53 SoC
* 2G DDR RAM
* 8G eMMC flash, SPI-NAND (128 MiB)
* 2x 2.5GbE network port (airoha en8811h phy)
* dual-band wifi:
* 2.4G
* 5G
{{:en:bpi-r3mini:bpi-r3mini_top.jpg?direct&400|}}{{ :en:bpi-r3mini:bpi-r3mini_bottom.jpg?direct&400|}}
==== debug-uart ====
connections from the edge of board: GND,RX,TX (remember RX/TX swap on your adapter :) )
===== Software =====
my R3mini came preinstalled with vendors openwrt (21.02-SNAPSHOT, Linux version 5.4.171) on emmc and nand.
i suggest to leave the nand to have always a rescue-system and only flash emmc as productive system with a more recent version.
It will take some time till i can release a full emmc-image for R3 Mini, but my uboot-repo generates already a very basic bpi-r3 emmc image (Releases Page) without rootfs/kernel which can be used on r3mini as well. Userspace can generated with the buildchroot.sh of my BPI-Images Repo or extracted from a full r3 Image.
Step-by-step:
used usb-stick to get files accessible from r3mini
started with r3-img:
gunzip -c /mnt/sda2/bpi-r3_bookworm_nokernel.img.gz |dd bs=1024 conv=notrunc,fsync of=/dev/mmcblk0
then flash uboot (wonder why there is no mmcblk0boot0 block to flash the bl2 - seems to be a problem with vendor-image, in my linux i see the boot0):
#r3mini/bl2_r3mini_emmc_pcie.img to boot0 conv=notrunc,fsync
dd if=/mnt/sda1/r3mini/fip_r3mini_emmc_pcie.bin bs=1024 conv=notrunc,fsync of=/dev/mmcblk0p4
booted original openwrt from nand....
root@OpenWrt:/mnt/r3mini# dd of=/dev/mmcblk0p4 if=/mnt/r3mini/bpi-r3mini_emmc_fip.bin
631+1 records in
631+1 records out
root@OpenWrt:/mnt/r3mini# dd of=/dev/mmcblk0boot0 if=/mnt/r3mini/bpi-r3mini_emmc_bl2.img
dd: error writing '/dev/mmcblk0boot0': Operation not permitted
1+0 records in
0+0 records out
root@OpenWrt:/mnt/r3mini# echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk0boot0/force_ro
root@OpenWrt:/mnt/r3mini# dd of=/dev/mmcblk0boot0 if=/mnt/r3mini/bpi-r3mini_emmc_bl2.img
392+1 records in
392+1 records out
root@OpenWrt:/mnt/r3mini#
Kernel (creates the bpi-r3.itb with conf-emmc-mini bootconfig):
https://github.com/frank-w/BPI-Router-Linux/tree/6.6-r3mini
need to drop the "run setbootconf;" from newboot first
BPI-R3M> run useusb
BPI-R3M> setenv initrd rootfs.cpio.zst
BPI-R3M> setenv fit r3mini/bpi-r3.itb
BPI-R3M> setenv bootconf "#conf-emmc-mini"
BPI-R3M> run newboot
how to get available bootconfigs from binary fit image:
dumpimage -l /media/frank/Android-x86/r3mini/bpi-r3.itb
==== thermal ====
root@bpi-r3-mini:~# cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
48408
manipulating trip points...this lets the fan run at 45°C silently and faster at 55°C (Case for R3mini gets really hot)
root@bpi-r3-mini:~# echo 45000 > /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/trip_point_3_temp
root@bpi-r3-mini:~# echo 55000 > /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/trip_point_2_temp
==== my kernel ====
i merged R3Mini support to my 6.6-main
https://github.com/frank-w/BPI-Router-Linux/tree/6.6-main
==== vendor-kernel ====
DTS for reference:
https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI-R3MINI-OPENWRT-V21.02.3/blob/main/target/linux/mediatek/files-5.4/arch/arm64/boot/dts/mediatek/mt7986a-bananapi-bpi-r3mini-emmc.dts
==== chainload uboot ====
BPI-R3M> fatload usb 0:1 $loadaddr r3mini/u-boot-pcie.bin
815592 bytes read in 73 ms (10.7 MiB/s)
BPI-R3M> go $loadaddr
## Starting application at 0x46000000 ...
U-Boot 2024.01-bpi-r3mini-00011-g5aadabca11e5-dirty
==== pcie/nvme ====
working in my r3mini uboot (2024-01-bpi-r3mini)
BPI-R3M> pci enum
drivers/pci/pcie_mediatek_gen3.c:mtk_pcie_startup_port[261] detected a card
set trans table 0: 0x20000000 0x20000000, 0x10000000
BPI-R3M> pci
BusDevFun VendorId DeviceId Device Class Sub-Class
_____________________________________________________________
00.00.00 0x14c3 0x1f32 Bridge device 0x04
01.00.00 0x1c5c 0x1327 Mass storage controller 0x08
BPI-R3M> nvme scan
BPI-R3M>
BPI-R3M> nvme info
Device 0: Vendor: 0x1c5c Rev: 80002C00 Prod: ND94N163610404F0R
Type: Hard Disk
Capacity: 244198.3 MB = 238.4 GB (500118192 x 512)
BPI-R3M>
==== network support ====
only working once then network is stalled
BPI-R3M> setenv ipaddr 192.168.90.2
BPI-R3M> ping 192.168.90.1
Using ethernet@15100000 device
host 192.168.90.1 is alive
BPI-R3M> ping 192.168.90.1
Using ethernet@15100000 device
ARP Retry count exceeded; starting again
ping failed; host 192.168.90.1 is not alive
BPI-R3M>
This is fixed in my 2024-04 uboot by always run autonegotiation code (genphy code seems not working here).
Writing firmware to emmc boot1:
usb start
mmc partconf 0 1 2 2
mmc erase 0x0 0x120
load usb 0:1 $loadaddr EthMD32.dm.bin
mmc write $loadaddr 0x0 0x20
load usb 0:1 $loadaddr EthMD32.DSP.bin
mmc write $loadaddr 0x20 0x100
mmc partconf 0 1 1 0
daniel wrote it here: https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/bpi-r3-mini-boot-from-nand-fails/17340/27
Linux way:
echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk0boot1/force_ro
dd if=/lib/firmware/airoha/EthMD32.dm.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0boot1
dd if=/lib/firmware/airoha/EthMD32.DSP.bin bs=16384 seek=1 of=/dev/mmcblk0boot1
checking content of boot1 is same as concatenated firmware-files:
# cat /dev/mmcblk0boot1 > airoha_boot1.bin
# cat /mnt/r3mini/EthMD32.dm.bin /mnt/r3mini/EthMD32.DSP.bin > airoha_usb.bin
# ls -l airoha_usb.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 147456 Jan 1 00:03 airoha_usb.bin
# ls -l airoha_boot1.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4194304 Jan 1 00:00 airoha_boot1.bin
# truncate --size=147456 airoha_boot1.bin
# ls -l airoha_boot1.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 147456 Jan 1 00:05 airoha_boot1.bin
# diff -u airoha_boot1.bin airoha_usb.bin
#
==== nand install ====
openwrt (file could be transferred also via usb):
https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/bpi-r3-mini-boot-from-nand-fails/17340/27
==== Fix bricked boot ====
In case nand and emmc are broken there is a way to load uboot via uart for reflash/fix bootchain of the storages.
https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/bpi-r3-mini-boot-from-nand-fails/17340/24
files here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b8KWe0p7fZmsRs9eBZUJBBISv3r2oUOR?usp=drive_link
$ ./mtk_uartboot -s /dev/ttyUSB5 --aarch64 --payload bpi-r3mini_ram_bl2.bin --fip bpi-r3mini_ram_fip.bin
mtk_uartboot - 0.1.1
Using serial port: /dev/ttyUSB5
Handshake...
hw code: 0x7986
hw sub code: 0x8a00
hw ver: 0xca01
sw ver: 0x1
Baud rate set to 460800
sending payload to 0x201000...
Checksum: 0x3663
Setting baudrate back to 115200
Jumping to 0x201000 in aarch64...
Waiting for BL2. Message below:
==================================
NOTICE: BL2: v2.9(release):v2.9.0-357-g553a16af808e ram
NOTICE: BL2: Built : 17:17:10, Mar 3 2024
NOTICE: WDT: Cold boot
NOTICE: WDT: disabled
NOTICE: CPU: MT7986 (1998MHz)
NOTICE: EMI: Using DDR4 settings
NOTICE: EMI: Detected DRAM size: 2048MB
NOTICE: EMI: complex R/W mem test passed
NOTICE: Starting UART download handshake ...
==================================
BL2 UART DL version: 0x10
Baudrate set to: 921600
FIP sent.
==================================
NOTICE: Received FIP 0x4d695 @ 0x40400000 ...
==================================
now you can use minicom or similar tool to get uboot-console and reflash bl2/fip to nand/emmc