# Boot problems on rockpro64



## zaynetro (Nov 7, 2020)

Hi,

I am trying to boot FreeBSD on rockpro64 SBC. Unfortunately, it doesn't boot but at least I am getting some messages through serial connection:


```
Trying to boot from BOOTROM
Returning to boot ROM...

U-Boot SPL 2020.07 (Nov 05 2020 - 04:58:29 +0000)
Trying to boot from MMC1
mmc_load_image_raw_sector: mmc block read error
Trying to boot from SPI
Trying to boot from MMC1
mmc_load_image_raw_sector: mmc block read error
Trying to boot from MMC2
mmc_load_image_raw_sector: mmc block read error
SPL: failed to boot from all boot devices
### ERROR ### Please RESET the board ###
```

I used Etcher and `dd` (on macos) to burn "FreeBSD-13.0-CURRENT-arm64-aarch64-ROCKPRO64-20201105-ef87bd449eb.img.xz" image with the same results. Booting from Armbian and NetBSD images works so I suspect that something is wrong with FreeBSD image or the way I am burning it.

Could you give me some clues on how to debug this issue next? I am out of ideas...

P.S For `dd` I followed steps from here https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bsdinstall-pre.html
P.S.S I used NetBSD image linked from here https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/ROCKPro64_Software_Release#BSD_Images


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## Phishfry (Nov 7, 2020)

Have you tried burning the image file to a MicroSD card. Perhaps booting to MMC is not supported by FreeBSD.


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## zaynetro (Nov 7, 2020)

I am burning image to a MicroSD card.

Armbian boot logs showed that it booted from MMC2.


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## acheron (Nov 8, 2020)

Are you writing the compressed image?


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## zaynetro (Nov 8, 2020)

Decompressed. I can also mount microSD card on Linux


```
$ fdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT PMBR size mismatch (6291455 != 123596799) will be corrected by write.
The backup GPT table is not on the end of the device.
Disk /dev/sda: 58.94 GiB, 63281561600 bytes, 123596800 sectors
Disk model: MassStorageClass
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: C20B69FC-1F4C-11EB-B05A-002590EC5BF2

Device      Start     End Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1   32768  135167  102400   50M EFI System
/dev/sda2  135168 6291327 6156160  2.9G FreeBSD UFS
```

What I have noticed is that u-boot versions are different:

`U-Boot SPL 2020.07 (Nov 05 2020 - 04:58:29 +0000)` vs. `U-Boot SPL 2017.09-rockchip-ayufan-1060-g56bd958253 (Jun 05 2019 - 09:41:39)` in NetBSD.
It is not rockchip specific. Although according to wiki I don't need a chip specific u-boot version.


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## zaynetro (Nov 10, 2020)

Good news! It seemed to be a faulty micro SD card. Today tried another one and "FreeBSD-13.0-CURRENT-arm64-aarch64-ROCKPRO64-20201029-b9403d7aae8.img" image works out of the box.


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