BPI-M3 Building Debian Jessie RootFS

Banana Pi SBCs design BPI-M3(A83T/R18)
1

Hi all,

I was got banana pi m2+ and m3. I can build rootfs by debootstrap. but wifi not working. Is there any basic documentation about this?

Thanks,

2

HI: you can try it . Reference https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI_WiFi_Firmware

Step1: git clone https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI_WiFi_Firmware.git

Step2: Copy AP6212 file to /lib/firmware

3

Hi BPI_Justin,

I already try that. But not working.

4

HI: Do you have to load for wifi module?

sudo modprobe bcmdhd.ko

5

module bcmdhd.ko not found in directory /lib/modules/3.4.39-BPI-M3-Kernel

6

/lib/modules/3.4.39-BPI-M3-Kernel/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/bcmdhd

7

Thanks. It’s working now.

Anyway, is there any guide how to create conten of /boot ? suchas uImage script.bin ?

8

Now I got how to get uImage and everything else, but still can’t figure out how to correctly write it to SDCARD

9

I got my new BPI-M3 and installed a clean Raspbian Jessie 3.4 2016-07-13, but the WIFI/bluetooth module don’t work out of the box.

I made a update and upgrade and also the above mentionned procedure:

Step1: git clone https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI_WiFi_Firmware.git

Step2: Copy AP6212 file to /lib/firmware

Here are my outputs:

` lsmod

Module Size Used by

bcmdhd 693235 0

option 20034 0

usb_wwan 12345 1 option

gpio_sunxi 8853 0

iwconfig

lo no wireless extensions.

tunl0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11 Access Point: Not-Associated Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0 Rx invalid nwid:0 invalid crypt:0 invalid misc:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

` So what else can I do?

10

Just look on the wifi/bt module. Does it read AP6212 or AP6212A (trailing A)? If it’s AP6212A you should keep in mind that you’re dealing with the most irresponsible SBC vendor and that you find the necessary files over here instead: https://github.com/armbian/build/tree/master/bin/firmware-overlay/ap6212 (you need those with 1 in their name, not 0)

11

Thanks for your quick response. How can i check if I have a AP6212 or AP6212A? With which Linux-command?

12

No idea, I would try to put fw_bcm43438a1.bin and fw_bcm43438a1_apsta.bin into the firmware directory, reboot and check dmesg and iwconfig again.

13

yes, I got it !!!

My solution:

  1. I downloaded the folder at https://github.com/BPI-SINOVOIP/BPI-files/tree/master/others/brcm/lib/firmware/ap6212
  2. I stored the folder /home/pi/BPI_WiFi_Firmware/ap6212
  3. I copied/replaced the existing folder /lib/firmware/ap6212 with the new one
  4. reboot
  5. yeah, success

Next I will try to get bluetooth working, because it seems to be that it won’t work correctly. I can’t find any devices although there are enough nearby.

Thanks to all for your help!

14

So you need fw_bcm43438a1.bin and they also replaced AP6212 with AP6212A on BPi M3 without telling anyone. Everything as usual :frowning: