[BPI-R3 Mini] How to unbricked NAND and EMMC

[Wertos]

Good afternoon. For some reason my EMMC\NAND switch doesn’t work! Loading is always from NAND. In the end I made a mistake and got a brick. I’ve already tried everything possible. Tell me which images to install and with what offset? I would like this firmware https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=SNAPSHOT&target=mediatek%2Ffilogic&id=bananapi_bpi-r3-mini

BPI-R3M> mtd list
spi-nand: spi_nand spi_nand@0: Winbond SPI NAND was found.
spi-nand: spi_nand spi_nand@0: 128 MiB, block size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048, OOB size: 64
Could not find a valid device for nmbm0
List of MTD devices:
* spi-nand0
  - device: spi_nand@0
  - parent: spi@1100a000
  - driver: spi_nand
  - path: /spi@1100a000/spi_nand@0
  - type: NAND flash
  - block size: 0x20000 bytes
  - min I/O: 0x800 bytes
  - OOB size: 64 bytes
  - OOB available: 24 bytes
  - 0x000000000000-0x000008000000 : "spi-nand0"
          - 0x000000000000-0x000000080000 : "bl2"
          - 0x000000100000-0x000000180000 : "orig-env"
          - 0x000000080000-0x000000380000 : "factory"
          - 0x000000380000-0x000000580000 : "fip"
          - 0x000000580000-0x000008000000 : "ubi" 

I boot via mtk_uartboot.

[darknblack]

Which UART adapter do you use?

I bought the bpi-r3-mini bundle on Amazon, it shipped with this:

It is indeed CH340G (Written on chip)

replaced it with the pl2303 and everything is fine

Thank you for this. Will order one

[darknblack]

Sadly, I’m also new to this, so I’m not comfortable commenting on your problem. You can try to contact/message @stich86. He’s been very helpful to me in the past. Also, try to follow the steps found here: [BPI-R3 Mini] Boot from NAND fails - #48 by stich86 first.

I would like this firmware OpenWrt Firmware Selector

Yes, I was able to use this firmware with the help of @stich86

[ericwoud (Eric W.)]

@darknblack

pl2303

Just a side note:

I always prefer a FT232(RL), but this is I also use it for rockchip devices. The FT232 can be set exactly to 1500000 baud, which you need for rockchip. The PL2303 will choose something near it, but not exactly 1500000. It also works great on the BPI-R3(mini)

[Ufuk_Delibas]

Hi,

I have the same problem and i know nothing about that kind of stuff. I don’t know how to use mtk_uartboot or TFTP. Can you please help ?

[frank-w]

Here is a step by step guide

[BPI-R3 Mini] Boot from NAND fails

made a quick test, seems to load the bl2+fip and exits, i have to open minicom after fip is transferred (had expected that the tool also show console or i can use both simultanously) but to make it possible for other users i upload my binaries here (2024-04-bpi emmc without autoboot) bpi-r3mini_ram_fip.bin (309,6 KB) bpi-r3mini_ram_bl2.bin (185,3 KB) $ ./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:…

And a bit below is a howto install openwrt

[Ufuk_Delibas]

I get this.

[frank-w]

you have to run this from (linux) client, not inside uboot…you have uboot running, but without usb support is tricky…afair stock uboot does also not support network…aren’t you able to boot linux from this uboot?

maybe you can list mmc partitions? but if you have an openwrt there you have no boot-partition like on debian to load kernel from in an easy way.

[Ufuk_Delibas]

Here i try on Windows CMD

[frank-w]

You must not open putty on same com port…it blocks the serial port like minicom in linux…only 1 application can access the serial device. And when the app is running it waits for device to start…then it sends the 2 files and closes…then you can start your putty on same com-port and you should be in uboot with usb support

I have not tried on windows yet.

[Ufuk_Delibas]

I try on Linux and I got this.

[frank-w]

Yes it waits for the device…now you have to power on the board and should see additional output

[Ufuk_Delibas]

I got an error.

[frank-w]

the app says the payload is not found…i see you started the application with full path (so not changing the current work dir)…where have you the files? ideally they should be in same dir as the mtk_uartboot binary, then change to this dir and then run with ./mtk_uartboot

[Ufuk_Delibas]

It work.

Now I have to install Openwrt on Nand first and then on Emmc ?

[frank-w]

Commit in openwrt says emmc first,then nand

[BPi-R3-Mini] How to create .iso image out of binaries

Perhaps I was still wrong in forming the topic and question. After studying various topics, I found a way to flash a snapshot into emmc memory. All stages of eMMC firmware were completed without problems. “Installation instructions for eMMC” After the firmware I switched to eMMC memory, but only interface 192.168.1.1 was available to me. Next, I turned off the R3 mini and switched to NAND memory, but hw still did not boot from nand. fan spin LED indications ping, ssh, web - not available. No…

[Ufuk_Delibas]

Do I have to follow those steps because I have the usb fonction now ?

[BPI-R3 Mini] Boot from NAND fails

so just an update, i’ve successfully loaded sysupgrade from USB, here is what i’ve done boot into Uboot console an run these commands: Start USB subsystem: usb start List files on the USB stick (it should be formatted in FAT32), optional step if you know the name of the file to load: fatls usb 0:1 Load sysupgrade in RAM and then write into eMMC: fatload usb 0:1 $loadaddr openwrt-mediatek-filogic-bananapi_bpi-r3-mini-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb Finally write it on eMMC: run emmc_write_producti…

[frank-w]

i guess this guide is similar…have not tried flashing openwrt yet, so i cannot report from own experience

[Ufuk_Delibas]

Ok it didn’t work.

And my bootmenu lokk like this.

What do you suggest ?

[frank-w]

The files i have provided do not have the openwrt specific vars like emmc_write_production

The link in the posting i linked shows manual install in linux

dd if=/tmp/openwrt-*-bananapi_bpi-r3-mini-emmc-preloader.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0boot0
dd if=/tmp/openwrt-*-bananapi_bpi-r3-mini-emmc-bl31-uboot.fip of=/dev/mmcblk0p3
dd if=/tmp/openwrt-*-bananapi_bpi-r3-mini-initramfs-recovery.itb of=/dev/mmcblk0p4
dd if=/tmp/openwrt-*-bananapi_bpi-r3-mini-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb of=/dev/mmcblk0p5

As you are “only” in uboot you have to convert it to uboot commands

So printing the correct filenames

ls usb 0:1
load usb 0:1 $loadaddr filename
mmc write ...

the problem is that mmc write needs offsets and cannot write to partitions…

one option would be starting a linux-kernel with initrd and doing the linux-steps i linked, or chainloading a openwrt u-boot (load …$uaddr u-boot.bin;go $uaddr) to do the steps manually.

https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=blob;f=package/boot/uboot-mediatek/patches/442-add-bpi-r3-mini.patch;h=5409f7fa0de71ed406727c1d53cc5a1e733afdeb;hb=HEAD#l533

i have an initrd here:

rootfs.cpio.zst

you can set it in my uboot with “setenv initrd rootfs.cpio.zst” and running newboot

so when all files on usb basicly

• run useusb
• setenv initrd rootfs.cpio.zst
• setenv fit bpi-r3.itb # needs to be a kernel with config for r3mini (you can use a recent bpi-r3.itb from my kernel-repo)
• run newboot