Arch Linux ARM does not boot from Internal Hard Drive / Internal Flash Memory - (veyron [RK3288] - Asus Flip C100PA "minnie", Asus c201 "speedy")

[mstn]

Hi! Thanks for this script.

I tested on my Asus Flip C100PA.

Install on SDCARD works.

Install on INTERNAL Memory works without errors, but, when I reboot and CTRL-D to start from disk, I get "Chrome OS is missing or damaged". OS verification is OFF. Booting from SDCARD still works.

It looks like OS verification is still ON. Hence it could be a problem related with this particular model more than with your script.

If I find how to solve it, I'll post here.

[altreact]

Interesting...
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Try this while you are running arch off of your sdcard:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/altreact/archbk-utils/master/archbk-bu.sh && sudo sh archbk-bu.sh mmcblk0

Then reboot, and press Ctrl + D

Please let me know if that works for you

[mstn]

Thanks for your reply.

I had to install rsync by hand before running the script.

But I cannot boot with Ctrl + D.

I got this warning (EDIT: when I ran the script)

The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.

[mstn]

I found this https://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=11232

It looks like the same problem.

[mstn]

After some trials and errors, I found how to install arch on the internal memory. As far I understood (but I am not an expert!), partitions on the internal memory must be different from partitions on the sdcard. This should be the reason why the machine complains with "Chrome OS is missing or damaged" when it does not find the expected format.

1. Follow the instructions at this section of the installation process for Debian on C201. I read that C201 internal hardware is de facto the same as that of C100pa.
2. When you run vbutil_kernel you must replace vmlinuz.signed with vmlinux.kpart and
   kernel.keyblock and kernel_data_key.vbprivk with those for veyron (they can be found here).

If you do not run vbutil_kernel, the system will boot, but it will terminate with kernel panic. The logs says something like

mmcblk0p3 couldn't mount features incompatibilities

Meaning that the boot loader is using the wrong kernel flags (not sure, please correct me if I am wrong).

I have not tested it yet, but it boots and I can login.

[altreact]

Sorry for the late reply. Life showed up, and I've been busy being responsible and such.

Awesome detective work!

To be clear, you followed the instruction at
https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/C201#Installing_to_internal_memory_from_SD_card
and as a result, you were a me to boot arch Linux arm from internal flash?

[mstn]

Yes, I followed the instructions in that section. I changed only the name of the kernel and I used kernel.keyblock and kernel_data_key.vbprivk for veyron minnie that you can find at the link I provided.

I tested the new installation. Arch is booting from the internal memory. I was able to install i3wm with Xorg. I still have some problems, but I do not think they are related to the installation process. For example, sounds do not work and (randomly) the ui is sluggish.

[tacito95]

Hey, did you follow the exact commands in that Debian tutorial?
I'm trying to do it but I'm getting errors in the partition related commands.
For example, the first line
cgpt add -i 3 -s 32 /dev/mmcblk0
Returns:
WARNING: Primary GPT header is being ignored
Which commands did you use? Also, I'm doing these from the chromeOS shell, or I should do from the alarm in the SD slot?

[urjaman]

Firstly, yeah you should do this when running from the SD.

I figured out a way to do this relatively cleanly, so I'll explain a few notes:
primary gpt header being ignored seems to be harmless, though I would prefer it to be fixed, the backup one works then.

The default archlinuxarm kpart does work for booting from the eMMC, as long as the root partition is the next partition after the kernel partition (in the numbering order).
(this is the PARTNROFF=1 part of /proc/cmdline, the PARTUUID in there is filled in by the boot loader, so it will match the partition the kernel was loaded from).

So in reference to the InstallingDebianOn guide that was linked above, firstly it doesnt move ROOT-B out of the way so expanding the STATE partition wouldnt work as-written.
I ended up shrinking/moving out of the way ROOT-B and the STATE partitions (instead of ROOT-A and ROOT-B) and put ROOT-A where the guide would put STATE, then skipped modifying the kernel,
and just wrote /boot/vmlinux.kpart into /dev/mmcblk0p2 with dd.

And then did the priorities as he listed.

This is the fdisk printout of the partition table for this system:

Device           Start      End  Sectors  Size Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1  282656   282687       32   16K Microsoft basic data
/dev/mmcblk0p2   20480    53247    32768   16M ChromeOS kernel
/dev/mmcblk0p3  282688 30752767 30470080 14.5G ChromeOS root fs
/dev/mmcblk0p4   53248    86015    32768   16M ChromeOS kernel
/dev/mmcblk0p5  282624   282655       32   16K ChromeOS root fs
/dev/mmcblk0p6   16448    16448        1  512B ChromeOS kernel
/dev/mmcblk0p7   16449    16449        1  512B ChromeOS root fs
/dev/mmcblk0p8   86016   118783    32768   16M Microsoft basic data
/dev/mmcblk0p9   16450    16450        1  512B ChromeOS reserved
/dev/mmcblk0p10  16451    16451        1  512B ChromeOS reserved
/dev/mmcblk0p11     64    16447    16384    8M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p12 249856   282623    32768   16M EFI System

[altreact]

Unfortunately, I will be swamped for at least the next three months with work, so I don't have time to thoroughly go through the Debian documentation, to collaborate with you guys, and to incorporate a solution anytime soon.

Pull requests and/or fork are welcomed and encouraged.

When my schedule clears up a bit, I can devote more time to this issue. For now, help me in helping you, by contributing solutions in the form of usable code.
Forks and pull requests are welcomed, and even encouraged.

[urjaman]

I'm not in a hurry to test this again, sorry, but I'll try to write an untested set of commands (that are simpler than the mess my bash history on the SD is, since i messed it up at first etc) that you can use as a basis to get the idea.

# unmount all partitions on mmcblk0*, if your system automounts things.
# shrink & move ROOT-B (mmcblk0p5)
cgpt add -i 5 -b 282624 -s 32 /dev/mmcblk0
# shrink & move STATE (mmcblk0p1)
cgpt add -i 1 -b 282656 -s 32 /dev/mmcblk0
# move & enlarge ROOT-A (mmcblk0p3)
cgpt add -i 3 -b 282688 -s 30470080 /dev/mmcblk0
# make a new filesystem on ROOT-A
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p3
# make mountpoints
mkdir /tmp/{old,new}root
# mounts for a clean copy
mount --bind / /tmp/oldroot
mount /dev/mmcblk0p3 /tmp/newroot
# copy system and unmount target
cd /tmp/oldroot
cp -a * ../newroot
umount /tmp/newroot
# install kernel to KERN-A (mmcblk0p2)
dd if=/boot/vmlinux.kpart of=/dev/mmcblk0p2
# set mmcblk0p2 to the high priority and successful
cgpt add -i 2 -P 10 -S 1 /dev/mmcblk0
# set mmcblk0p4 to low priority so it is not used
cgpt add -i 4 -P 0 -S 0 /dev/mmcblk0

[tacito95]

I just followed your exact instructions, but did a powerwash on the chromeOS first, to make sure the partitions were defaulted. Worked flawlessly, thank you so much.
Everything works, except for audio, but that was still the case for the SD card install.
I'm using the xf86-video-fbturbo driver and my UI is working perfectly (I'm using MATE).

EDIT: Managed to get audio to work:

sudo pacman -S alsa-utils pulseaudio
alsamixer

Press F6 and select the rockchip sound card
Press 'm' to unmute the following:

‘Left Speaker Mixer Left DAC1 Switch’
‘Left Speaker Mixer Right DAC1 Switch’
‘Right Speaker Mixer Left DAC1 Switch’
‘Right Speaker Mixer Right DAC1 Switch’
‘Right Headphone Mixer Left DAC1 Switch’
‘Right Headphone Mixer Right DAC1 Switch’
‘Left Headphone Mixer Left DAC1 Switch’
‘Left Headphone Mixer Right DAC1 Switch’