--- Begin Message ---
- Subject: Definitive(?) MLO limitations with PandaBoard
- From: Jon Masters <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2011 07:17:39 -0400
- Organization: World Organi[sz]ation Of Broken Dreams
Hi Folks, I've previously posted about MLO limitations imposed on BeagleBoard: http://groups.google.com/group/beagleboard/browse_thread/thread/ae8e64e6be02baae In that thread it was stated my Vladimir Pantelic that: "With regards to the 255/63 cargo cult, it is correct that it is not needed for the rom code to boot, in fact the rom code does not care for the C/H/S value at all. It might stem from the fact that MLO aka x-loader had a hard coded start of partition 1 at sector 63, but never versions do not have this limitation any more." So I guess it's the 63 offset that's biting me, but I would like to note for the achieve that after spending the night writing code to parse out MBR and BS records, and comparing cards, I can confirm that the best way to format an SD(HC) Card for the PandaBoard is as follows: 1). Ensure that you force heads to 255, sectors per track to 63 (in Linux fdisk, "x" (expert), "h", and s") 2). Ensure that you mark the partition type correctly (I had previously favored FAT16, but 0xc FAT32 seems good) 3). Ensure that the partition is marked as active (very much required) 4). Ensure that you create an *even* sized FAT16 filesystem (enter expert mode and verify the size during partitioning) 5). After making the filesystem, use the Linux "file" command: file -s /dev/<device> file -s /dev/<device><partition> Verify that the filesystem is even and starts at sector 63. I'm writing a much more complete utility inspired by Vladimir's earlier post that decodes the MBR and various FAT structures and verifies that the image will boot on a PandaBoard since this has been driving me nuts. But I think if one follows all of the above, that seems to cover it too. Jon.
--- End Message ---
_______________________________________________ arm mailing list arm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/arm
