The README describes the recovery method which can be used if the NAS box is not reachable anymore. Addionally, it describes the different boot scripts.
Signed-off-by: Michael Walle michael@walle.cc --- board/buffalo/lsxl/README | 139 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 139 insertions(+) create mode 100644 board/buffalo/lsxl/README
diff --git a/board/buffalo/lsxl/README b/board/buffalo/lsxl/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef5ed42 --- /dev/null +++ b/board/buffalo/lsxl/README @@ -0,0 +1,139 @@ +Intro +----- +The Buffalo Linkstation Pro/Live, codename LS-XHL and LS-CHLv2, is a single +disk NAS server. The PCBs of the LS-XHL and LS-CHLv2 are almost the same. +The LS-XHL has a faster CPU and more RAM with a wider data bus, therefore +the LS-XHL PCB has two SDRAM chips. Both have a Kirkwood CPU (Marvell +88F6281). The only on-board storage is a 4 Mbit SPI flash which stores the +bootloader and its environment. The linux kernel and the initial ramdisk +are loaded from the hard disk. + + +Rescue Mode +----------- +These linkstations don't have a populated serial port. There is no way to +access an (unmodified) board other than using the netconsole. If you want +to recover from a bad environment setting or an empty environment, you can +do this only with a working network connection. + +Therefore, on entering the resuce mode, a random ethernet address is +generated if no valid address could be loaded from the environment variable +'ethaddr' and a DHCP request is sent. After a successful DHCP response is +received, the network settings are configured and the ncip is unset. Thus +all netconsole packets are broadcasted and you can use the netconsole to +access board from any host within the network segment. To determine the IP +address assigned to the board, you either have to sniff the traffic or +check the logs/leases of your DHCP server. + +The resuce mode is selected by holding the push button for at least one +second, while powering-on the device. The status LED turns solid amber if +the resuce mode is enabled, thus providing a visual feedback. + +Pressing the same button for at least 10 seconds on power-up will erase the +environment and reset the board. In this case the visual indication will +be: +- blinking blue, for about one second +- solid amber, for about nine seconds +- blinking amber, until you release the button + +This ensures, that you still can recover a device with a broken +environment by first erasing the environment and then entering the rescue +mode. + +Once the rescue mode is started, use the ncb binary from the tools/ +directory to access your board. There is a helper script named +'restore_env' to save your changes. It unsets all the network variables +which were set by the rescue mode, saves your changes and then resets the +board. + +The common use case for this is setting a MAC address. Let us assume you +have an empty environment, the board comes up with the amber LED blinking. +Then you enter the rescue mode, connect to the board with the ncb tool and +use the following commands to set your MAC address: + + setenv ethaddr 00:00:00:00:00:00 + run restore_env + +Of course you need to replace the 00:00:00:00:00:00 with your valid MAC +address, which can be found on a sticker on the bottom of your box. + + +Status LED +---------- +blinking blue + Bootloader is running normally. + +blinking amber + No ethaddr set. Use the `Rescue Mode` to set one. + +blinking red + Something bad happend during loading the operating system. + +The default behavior of the linux kernel is to turn on the blue LED. So if +the blinking blue LED changes to solid blue the kernel was loaded +successfully. + + +Power-on Switch +--------------- +The power-on switch is a software switch. If it is not in ON position when +the bootloader starts, the bootloader will disable the HDD and USB power +and stop the fan. Then it loops until the switch is in ON position again, +enables the power and fan again and continue booting. + + +Boot sources +------------ +The environment defines several different boot sources: + +legacy + This is the default boot source. It loads the kernel and ramdisk from the + attached HDD using the original filenames. The load addresses were + modified to support loading larger kernels. But it should behave the same + as the original bootloader. + +hdd + Use this for new-style booting. Loads three files /vmlinuz, /initrd.img + and /dtb from the boot partition. This should work out of the box if you + have debian and the flash-kernel package installed. + +usb + Same as hdd expect, that the files are loaded from an attached USB mass + storage device and the filename for the device tree is kirkwood-lsxhl.dtb + (or kirkwood-lschlv2.dtb). + +net + Same as usb expect, that the file are loaded from the network. + +rescue + Automatically activated if the push button is pressed for at least one + second on power-up. Does a DHCP request and enables the network console. + See `Rescue Mode` for more information. + +You can change the boot source by setting the 'bootsource' variable to the +corresponding value. Please note, that the restore_env script will the the +bootsource back to 'legacy'. + + +Flash map +--------- +00000 - 5ffff u-boot +60000 - 6ffff reserved, may be used to store dtb +70000 - 7ffff u-boot environment + + +Compiling +--------- +make lsxhl_config (or lschlv2_config) +make u-boot.kwb + + +Update your board +----------------- +Just flash the resulting u-boot.kwb to the beginning of the SPI flash. If +you already have a bootloader CLI, you can use the following commands: + + sf probe 0 + bootp ${loadaddr} u-boot.kwb + sf erase 0 +${filelen} + sf write 0 ${fileaddr} ${filesize}