MSD7816 booting

[RDS5]

i have an old set top box and it has an MSD7816. looking up this chip, one of the only results seems to be someone booting linux on here

there is uart on this device and i can access u-boot/mboot terminal, but all my attempts to boot linux on this device seem to have been unsuccessful. (i have been using this repository to build linux, just like they did, but it hasnt booted)

the device's SoC (MSD7816-L2) and board (HW-150PVR)

the log when i try to boot linux (booting from usb, it gets stuck at "Starting kernel ...")

BOOTSPI[3456789AB3456789AB]_OK!decomp
_done
MDrv_PM_RtcGetCounter(CurrentCounter=0)

Hello U-Boot
board_init 


U-Boot 1.1.6 (Jan  7 2015 - 22:02:26)

Board: MSTAR KRNOUS (CPU Speed 552 MHz)
DRAM:  64 X 0 MBytes
U-Boot is running at DRAM 0x87610000
###############BOARD CONFIGURATION#####################
	DEFAULT ENBALE L2-Cache
	FPU(ENABLE)
   DDR_FREQUENCY(1066MHz)
###############BOARD CONFIGURATION#####################
Module: USB FAT FLASH SPI LOGO OSD ENV=SERIAL 
Flash is detected (0x0C00, 0xC8, 0x40, 0x16)
MDrv_SERFLASH_GetInfo()
	u32AccessWidth = 1
	u32TotalSize   = 4194304
	u32SecNum      = 64
	u32SecSize     = 65536
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
MDrv_IIC_InitPort0: OK
-----MDrv_Demod_Init start-----
IF FREQ 5000
INTERN_ATSCFW_VERSION:ED.0.9

 MDrv_Demod_Init 1 Tuner R820T Init sussec
MSVC00B000100100208768TH0000000T
MDrv_PNL_Init u32PnlRiuBaseAddr = BF200000
MDrv_PNL_Init u32PMRiuBaseAddr = BF000000
[XC,Version] 00423696
 DAC eTiming =9
HDMITx eTiming =13
HDMITx eTiming =13
u32ReadBuffVirAddr = A0000000, u32IntBuffVirAddr = A0100000, u32OutBuffVirAddr = A0730000
verJPD_SetStatus >>>>>>>>>>> w:720,  h:576,  p:720
GE_SetOnePixelMode
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 

<< MStar >># usb start
(Re)start USB...
Kronus 128-pin package
Check USB port[0]:
Host type:2 
scanning bus for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
       scanning bus for storage devices... bulk max packet size:200
usb_stor_Bulk_max_lun: 0 
init_part begin
init_part end
1 Storage Device(s) found
<< MStar >># fatload usb 0 0x80100000 uimagelinuxbin
reading uimagelinuxbin

4088636 bytes read
<< MStar >># setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200
<< MStar >># bootm 0x80100000
## Booting image at 80100000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux
   Created:      2022-11-23  23:58:26 UTC
   Image Type:   MIPS Linux Kernel Image (lzo compressed)
   Data Size:    4088572 Bytes =  3.9 MB
   Load Address: 80100000
   Entry Point:  803A6FE0
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK

Starting kernel ...

environment variables

<< MStar >># printenv
bootdelay=0
baudrate=115200
preboot=echo;echo Type "help" for more commands.
MS_BOARD=BD_MST124C_D01A_S
logo_cmd=boot_logo 0 0 1 1
AppMagicFlagAddr=0x80000
bootcmd=spi_rdc 0x80B00000 0x8001C 0x2AAC10; LzmaDec 0x80B00000 0x2AAC10 0x80000180 0x81000000; go 0x80000224;
info_exchange=spi
CUSTOMER_OUI=0x169B
AP_SW_MODEL=0x0001
AP_SW_VERSION=0x0001
HW_MODEL=0x0001
HW_VERSION=0x0001
panel_cmd=set_paneltype 18
USBUpgradeFlag=0
USBUpdateFail=1
USBUpdateFlag=0
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
stderr=serial

Environment size: 496/65532 bytes

[fifteenhex]

Hi,

That's pretty interesting as I've never tried to get the kernel here running on MIPS.
@kagaimiq has been adding lots of info about the MIPS chips so maybe they have added MIPS support? I couldn't find the fork if there is one... I'd love to add MIPS support to our branch and eventually get it mainlined though.

Cheers,

Daniel

[fifteenhex]

Also a question: As I have own blog could I in future post article and guide about running Linux on this chip using your configs?

I have a request if you have time.. can you put the working tree you have on github? It'd be really nice to eventually send the MIPS patches to mainline and get a bit more attention. We have drivers for almost all of the hardware in these chips now but not enough people to get it all cleaned up and in mainline.

[maniekx86]

Yeah, I can. I am not sure have I done it right as you wanted, but I forked repo and applied patches to it (https://github.com/maniekx86/linux/tree/mstar_v6_1_rebase), also fixed half screen framebuffer issue by changing dts file.

[maniekx86]

Further playing with this chip: I managed to autoload Linux on boot via bootcmd - it's disables WDT (as it was reseting CPU when using bootcmd) using mw (memory write) commands (this was kinda tricky as u-boot here is without wdt command, but managed to do this using references from MStar source codes), loading image from USB to mem and booting it.

[fifteenhex]

Hi,

We have an WDT driver and it'll probably work for the MIPS chips too. Maybe you could have a go at wiring it up?

[maniekx86]

I could not get WDT driver working probably because I don't have enough experience with kernel sources and device drivers. For now I am experimenting with board, but yet it's still cool to experiment and test stuff.

[fifteenhex]

I've pulled two of the MStar MIPS patches into the linux-chenxing tree.. I need to check the intc one a bit more.

Anyhow.. It'd be really cool if someone wanted to step up to send the patches to mainline and become the maintainer for MStar MIPS.

[wctrl]

Same SoC here. Any updates?
upd: booted