BPI-R4 Pro 8x: No OpenWrt/network access, WSP/Zephyr console repeatedly reports GPHY index 30 out of range

Banana Pi Router design BPI-R4/BPI-R4 Pro(MT7988)
1

Hello everyone,

I am working with a Banana Pi R4 Pro 8x and I am currently trying to boot the official firmware/image provided for the board.

I initially had no output on the console, but after testing the exposed UARTs I found that CON5 provides a working serial console using an FT232 USB-UART adapter.

The serial output shows that the board is booting a Zephyr/WSP firmware (version 1.0.70).

The beginning of the boot sequence looks normal: image

The networking components then initialize:

image
image341×652 17.6 KB

The PHYs also appear to initialize: image

However, later in the boot process I repeatedly get:

image
image697×628 64.2 KB

There are many repetitions of this error.

I also see:

image

and periodically:

sfp_daemon: vr_reset(port 0) mxl_xpcs: sram_ld_fw:926: time 40 + 0

The vr_reset() message repeats approximately every 41–42 seconds.

UART setup

I am using an FT232 USB-UART adapter connected to CON5.

The serial device on my Linux PC is:

/dev/ttyUSB1

The UART output is readable at the working configuration.

I also tested the board’s other exposed UART/console connection through the onboard Holtek USB-to-UART bridge, but I did not get the same useful boot output there. CON5 is the one currently producing the WSP/Zephyr log.

My questions

  1. Is the gpy2xx device (30) is out of range (0~7) error expected on the BPI-R4 Pro 8x, or does it indicate an incorrect WSP/GPHY configuration?

  2. What does GPHY index 30 represent in this firmware?

  3. Why is the firmware attempting to access index 30 when the valid range is only 0~7?

  4. Is the repeated: sfp_daemon: vr_reset(port 0) mxl_xpcs: sram_ld_fw sequence expected behaviour, or does it indicate that the WSP firmware is stuck in an initialization/recovery loop?

  5. Is CON5 the WSP/Zephyr console only, or should I expect the main MT7988A/U-Boot/Linux/OpenWrt boot messages there as well?

  6. If CON5 is not the main Linux console, where is the correct UART/test point for the MT7988A U-Boot/OpenWrt console on this board?

  7. Does the 192.0.2.1 message indicate an actual network interface/IP address, or is it only an internal WSP networking rule?

  8. Could this WSP/GPHY issue explain why the Ethernet interface does not answer ARP and why I cannot access OpenWrt?

2

i guess this is the workaround for the as21 phys in downstream-driver which target non-existent phy-id 30 and writing to any mdio bus instead of checking first if the phy is the as21 one

CON5 is the uart for the mxl switch only. afaik the 3 pins next to this connector (afair CON6) are the debug-pins for mt7988 (basicly same as used by the debug-uart usb-connector)

afaik this is the adress from the mxl switch web-interface, but have not got access to it…in later firmware this should not be available

3

I’m also not getting any debug console output from the board’s designated console port. Is this expected for the BPI-R4 Pro 8X, or should I be seeing U-Boot/Linux/OpenWrt debug messages there?

I’m using an FT232R USB-UART adapter at 3.3V TTL, connected with TX → RX, RX → TX, and GND → GND. My serial settings are 115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit (115200 8N1). And also try with type C cable still no output.

4

You should see at least bootrom,also if image is not correct.