• Getting a CM4 to boot from USB?

    From Bryan@3:770/3 to All on Thu Jan 4 21:06:00 2024
    I recently picked up a Compute Module 4 Lite, not realizing that the
    device is unable to boot from SD card. This is on me and my stupidity,
    but I assumed that it would be able to boot from USB and what I can see
    appears to confirm this.

    I'm using a CM4 8GB Wireless board on a MCUZone CM4-4G carrier board
    w/LTE modem. I have an official RPi power supply connected, and I have
    network and HDMI cables connected. I've grabbed the latest release from
    the Pi OS page and flashed it to a USB stick that I know will boot other machines, using Win32DiskImager.

    So, what I get here is the machine goes through some text on screen and
    then it appears to restart, and I get the rainbow splash screen right
    after a bit of activity on the USB stick.

    It simply sits there and does nothing past this. I've tried using both
    the 32 and 64 bit images, different USB sticks, different power supplies including powering it from a big powered commercial USB hub that has
    amps to spare. I'm missing something here, or I got a bad board. I'm
    hoping someone has some insight into what I'm doing wrong.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Bryan on Fri Jan 5 09:32:24 2024
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    I recently picked up a Compute Module 4 Lite, not realizing that the
    device is unable to boot from SD card. This is on me and my stupidity,
    but I assumed that it would be able to boot from USB and what I can see appears to confirm this.

    I'm using a CM4 8GB Wireless board on a MCUZone CM4-4G carrier board
    w/LTE modem. I have an official RPi power supply connected, and I have network and HDMI cables connected. I've grabbed the latest release from
    the Pi OS page and flashed it to a USB stick that I know will boot other machines, using Win32DiskImager.

    So, what I get here is the machine goes through some text on screen and
    then it appears to restart, and I get the rainbow splash screen right
    after a bit of activity on the USB stick.

    It simply sits there and does nothing past this. I've tried using both
    the 32 and 64 bit images, different USB sticks, different power supplies including powering it from a big powered commercial USB hub that has
    amps to spare. I'm missing something here, or I got a bad board. I'm
    hoping someone has some insight into what I'm doing wrong.

    Not familiar with that board, but it seems like the USB A port(s) are
    disabled if you have the LTE module plugged in? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001972265702.html

    But I think the CM4 Lite should be able to boot from SD card, since they
    don't have an eMMC flash chip that takes the place of the SD card?

    For USB boot you may need to update the EEPROM on the CM4, which is easiest done via an SD card boot. Did you try SD boot, and what happened?

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From The Natural Philosopher@3:770/3 to Bryan on Fri Jan 5 10:13:15 2024
    On 05/01/2024 02:06, Bryan wrote:
    I recently picked up a Compute Module 4 Lite, not realizing that the
    device is unable to boot from SD card. This is on me and my stupidity,
    but I assumed that it would be able to boot from USB and what I can see appears to confirm this.

    I'm using a CM4 8GB Wireless board on a MCUZone CM4-4G carrier board
    w/LTE modem. I have an official RPi power supply connected, and I have network and HDMI cables connected. I've grabbed the latest release from
    the Pi OS page and flashed it to a USB stick that I know will boot other machines, using Win32DiskImager.

    So, what I get here is the machine goes through some text on screen and
    then it appears to restart, and I get the rainbow splash screen right
    after a bit of activity on the USB stick.

    It simply sits there and does nothing past this. I've tried using both
    the 32 and 64 bit images, different USB sticks, different power supplies including powering it from a big powered commercial USB hub that has
    amps to spare. I'm missing something here, or I got a bad board. I'm
    hoping someone has some insight into what I'm doing wrong.

    That's what my Pi 4 did on one version of Bookworm.
    Try a different version



    --
    A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on
    its shoes.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to The Natural Philosopher on Fri Jan 5 08:49:45 2024
    On 1/5/2024 05:13, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    That's what my Pi 4 did on one version of Bookworm.
    Try a different version


    From what I understand, the Compute Module 4 cannot boot from SD card
    because it's literally missing the connections to the card - the card
    slot is only there so you can load the Pi OS onto the built-in eMMC.
    It's designed to boot from eMMC. If I'd paid attention, I would have
    picked up the 8GB eMMC version instead, but after waiting for a year I
    took what I could get.

    If you put a card in, it doesn't do anything. As far as the eeprom, that shouldn't be an issue past 2021 or so - I can see it trying to boot from
    the flash stick, and I did try it without the modem as well.



    The version of (official) OS is the only thing I did not try, if I have
    time I'll download the second-to-last version and try it this weekend. I
    did try the Armbian version, but I don't know that it specifically
    states CM4 compatibility.

    --
    Vintage electronics, hamfest pictures, and general junk I like. https://wereboar.com/projects

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Bryan on Fri Jan 5 14:41:47 2024
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    On 1/5/2024 05:13, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    That's what my Pi 4 did on one version of Bookworm.
    Try a different version


    From what I understand, the Compute Module 4 cannot boot from SD card because it's literally missing the connections to the card - the card
    slot is only there so you can load the Pi OS onto the built-in eMMC.
    It's designed to boot from eMMC. If I'd paid attention, I would have
    picked up the 8GB eMMC version instead, but after waiting for a year I
    took what I could get.

    You have it backwards: the Lite version has no eMMC which is why the
    official I/O board has an SD card socket to boot the Pi:
    "MicroSD card socket for Compute Module 4 Lite (without eMMC) variants" https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-4-io-board/

    If you have a non-Lite board there's a way to flash the eMMC externally (via USB I think). If there is onboard eMMC the SD slot is not connected to the
    Pi (or maybe to the second MMC channel, not sure).

    If you put a card in, it doesn't do anything. As far as the eeprom, that shouldn't be an issue past 2021 or so - I can see it trying to boot from
    the flash stick, and I did try it without the modem as well.

    I wonder if there is something odd about the way they've wired the SD slot
    on your board? Maybe it needs a jumper or something? What does the documentation for your board say?

    The version of (official) OS is the only thing I did not try, if I have
    time I'll download the second-to-last version and try it this weekend. I
    did try the Armbian version, but I don't know that it specifically
    states CM4 compatibility.

    There can sometimes be firmware issues that means third party OSes won't
    boot on new variants of the same board like CM4 because of minor hardware differences, but these are usually ironed out fairly soon after release.

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Bryan on Fri Jan 5 16:11:15 2024
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:

    Ok, I do see the lite version SHOULD boot from uSD, so perhaps this is a problem with the actual OS version as well. There's also this little bit
    of info with some changes to config.txt:

    https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Wrote_Image_for_Compute_Module_Boards_Lite_version

    which I'll try.

    This in config.txt:
    dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

    (there should not be a dot on the end)

    overrides the USB 2 port into host mode, ie to accept USB sticks etc. I suppose that could be a reason why your CM4 won't USB boot. Ordinarily the port can detect whether to be in host or device more via the 5th pin on the micro USB connector, which is tied low in an OTG adapter to force host mode. Maybe your board doesn't do this correctly? Of course, if you can't boot
    you can't read config.txt to force the port to the right direction, so
    you'd have to rely on the pin being tied low.

    Even without this, and even with no SD, I'd expect to see some sign of life
    on the HDMI: the Pi4 should display a 'BIOS' style boot screen that says
    what it's trying to boot from.

    I don't have a lot of information on the carrier itself, that seems to
    be somewhat lacking. Maybe the carrier is bad, being a Super High
    Quality Much Goodly Chinese device, who knows? There are reviews of it
    out there, but no real hard information. I'll dig into that as well.

    The local Micro Center has a cheap carrier in stock of a different
    style, so I'm going to pick up one of those this weekend and give that a
    try as well, but I'll grab an older OS first to see how that goes.

    Good plan. Once you can get anything working, you can then take deltas
    against the setup you have to narrow down the problem. If absolutely
    nothing works then there are few clues.

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to Theo on Fri Jan 5 10:43:55 2024
    On 1/5/2024 09:41, Theo wrote:
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    On 1/5/2024 05:13, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    > That's what my Pi 4 did on one version of Bookworm.
    > Try a different version


    From what I understand, the Compute Module 4 cannot boot from SD card
    because it's literally missing the connections to the card - the card
    slot is only there so you can load the Pi OS onto the built-in eMMC.
    It's designed to boot from eMMC. If I'd paid attention, I would have
    picked up the 8GB eMMC version instead, but after waiting for a year I
    took what I could get.

    You have it backwards: the Lite version has no eMMC which is why the
    official I/O board has an SD card socket to boot the Pi:
    "MicroSD card socket for Compute Module 4 Lite (without eMMC) variants" https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-4-io-board/

    If you have a non-Lite board there's a way to flash the eMMC externally (via USB I think). If there is onboard eMMC the SD slot is not connected to the Pi (or maybe to the second MMC channel, not sure).

    If you put a card in, it doesn't do anything. As far as the eeprom, that
    shouldn't be an issue past 2021 or so - I can see it trying to boot from
    the flash stick, and I did try it without the modem as well.

    I wonder if there is something odd about the way they've wired the SD slot
    on your board? Maybe it needs a jumper or something? What does the documentation for your board say?

    The version of (official) OS is the only thing I did not try, if I have
    time I'll download the second-to-last version and try it this weekend. I
    did try the Armbian version, but I don't know that it specifically
    states CM4 compatibility.

    There can sometimes be firmware issues that means third party OSes won't
    boot on new variants of the same board like CM4 because of minor hardware differences, but these are usually ironed out fairly soon after release.

    Theo





    Ok, I do see the lite version SHOULD boot from uSD, so perhaps this is a problem with the actual OS version as well. There's also this little bit
    of info with some changes to config.txt:

    https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Wrote_Image_for_Compute_Module_Boards_Lite_version

    which I'll try.


    I don't have a lot of information on the carrier itself, that seems to
    be somewhat lacking. Maybe the carrier is bad, being a Super High
    Quality Much Goodly Chinese device, who knows? There are reviews of it
    out there, but no real hard information. I'll dig into that as well.

    The local Micro Center has a cheap carrier in stock of a different
    style, so I'm going to pick up one of those this weekend and give that a
    try as well, but I'll grab an older OS first to see how that goes.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Scott Alfter@3:770/3 to theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk on Fri Jan 5 17:10:45 2024
    In article <lUt*kvGzz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    If you have a non-Lite board there's a way to flash the eMMC externally (via >USB I think). If there is onboard eMMC the SD slot is not connected to the >Pi (or maybe to the second MMC channel, not sure).

    There's a tool called rpiboot that you use to flash a CM4. Most carrier
    boards have a switch or jumper to enable or disable eMMC boot. Set it to disabled, then connect it in to your computer. Running rpiboot sends over a small program that causes the CM4's eMMC storage to show up as a USB storage device. At this point, you can use the RPi Imager, dd, or whatever to blast software onto it the same way you'd load up a MicroSD (or SD) card for other Raspberry Pis. When done, unplug it, set the switch or jumper back to
    enabled, and power it back up.

    --
    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to Theo on Fri Jan 5 19:59:37 2024
    On 1/5/2024 11:11, Theo wrote:
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:

    Ok, I do see the lite version SHOULD boot from uSD, so perhaps this is a
    problem with the actual OS version as well. There's also this little bit
    of info with some changes to config.txt:

    https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Wrote_Image_for_Compute_Module_Boards_Lite_version

    which I'll try.

    This in config.txt:
    dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

    (there should not be a dot on the end)

    overrides the USB 2 port into host mode, ie to accept USB sticks etc. I suppose that could be a reason why your CM4 won't USB boot. Ordinarily the port can detect whether to be in host or device more via the 5th pin on the micro USB connector, which is tied low in an OTG adapter to force host mode. Maybe your board doesn't do this correctly? Of course, if you can't boot
    you can't read config.txt to force the port to the right direction, so
    you'd have to rely on the pin being tied low.

    Even without this, and even with no SD, I'd expect to see some sign of life on the HDMI: the Pi4 should display a 'BIOS' style boot screen that says
    what it's trying to boot from.

    I don't have a lot of information on the carrier itself, that seems to
    be somewhat lacking. Maybe the carrier is bad, being a Super High
    Quality Much Goodly Chinese device, who knows? There are reviews of it
    out there, but no real hard information. I'll dig into that as well.

    The local Micro Center has a cheap carrier in stock of a different
    style, so I'm going to pick up one of those this weekend and give that a
    try as well, but I'll grab an older OS first to see how that goes.

    Good plan. Once you can get anything working, you can then take deltas against the setup you have to narrow down the problem. If absolutely
    nothing works then there are few clues.

    Theo


    Some success here. I'm using the Bullseye version presented on the RPi
    OS page, instead of whatever the latest is.

    I set the other carrier board up, it's marked as being made by
    "bigtreetech" and looks like a regular Pi once assembled. Trying the SD
    card in it's slot, I see the same things as with the other board,
    according to my router it's been offered an address - this happens over
    and over. No boot happens.

    I took the SD card and put it in a USB reader, put it in a USB port on
    this carrier, and it booted. That would seem to indicate that the
    MCUZone carrier that I hoped to use is incapable of booting from USB - I
    assume the rainbow splash screen is a kernel panic at this point.

    (I can't see anything visual on the bigtreetech carrier, it has
    micro-HDMI and I can't find my adapters.)


    Going back to the MCUZone carrier, I put the known good card in the SD
    slot. Here's what I see:

    https://pic8.co/a/d697dd4c-18c1-42c7-90e9-2fcf8d7d931c/

    The device eventually gets an address like it's waiting for something
    else, and does this over and over, never booting. I should mention this
    carrier has a run/boot jumper, this is in the boot position. Putting it
    in the run position (I assume, it's not clear) gives me a black screen
    and nothing else. Putting the card in the known good reader gives me the
    same rainbow screen.

    One thing I notice is the boot order, which has a "1" for SD card at the
    end of the list. However, I also see "SD card not detected" - is it
    possible that the boot order needs to be changed so it's looking for the
    SD card first? Doing this is something I'd have to research before
    attempting.

    In any event, the MCUZone device won't boot from USB, and none of them
    boot from SD at this point.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to Bryan on Fri Jan 5 20:01:56 2024
    On 1/5/2024 19:59, Bryan wrote:
    On 1/5/2024 11:11, Theo wrote:
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:

    Ok, I do see the lite version SHOULD boot from uSD, so perhaps this is a >>> problem with the actual OS version as well. There's also this little bit >>> of info with some changes to config.txt:

    https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Wrote_Image_for_Compute_Module_Boards_Lite_version


    which I'll try.

    This in config.txt:
    dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

    (there should not be a dot on the end)

    overrides the USB 2 port into host mode, ie to accept USB sticks etc.  I
    suppose that could be a reason why your CM4 won't USB boot.
    Ordinarily the
    port can detect whether to be in host or device more via the 5th pin
    on the
    micro USB connector, which is tied low in an OTG adapter to force host
    mode.
    Maybe your board doesn't do this correctly?  Of course, if you can't boot >> you can't read config.txt to force the port to the right direction, so
    you'd have to rely on the pin being tied low.

    Even without this, and even with no SD, I'd expect to see some sign of
    life
    on the HDMI: the Pi4 should display a 'BIOS' style boot screen that says
    what it's trying to boot from.

    I don't have a lot of information on the carrier itself, that seems to
    be somewhat lacking. Maybe the carrier is bad, being a Super High
    Quality Much Goodly Chinese device, who knows? There are reviews of it
    out there, but no real hard information. I'll dig into that as well.

    The local Micro Center has a cheap carrier in stock of a different
    style, so I'm going to pick up one of those this weekend and give that a >>> try as well, but I'll grab an older OS first to see how that goes.

    Good plan.  Once you can get anything working, you can then take deltas
    against the setup you have to narrow down the problem.  If absolutely
    nothing works then there are few clues.

    Theo


    Some success here. I'm using the Bullseye version presented on the RPi
    OS page, instead of whatever the latest is.

    I set the other carrier board up, it's marked as being made by
    "bigtreetech" and looks like a regular Pi once assembled. Trying the SD
    card in it's slot, I see the same things as with the other board,
    according to my router it's been offered an address - this happens over
    and over. No boot happens.

    I took the SD card and put it in a USB reader, put it in a USB port on
    this carrier, and it booted. That would seem to indicate that the
    MCUZone carrier that I hoped to use is incapable of booting from USB - I assume the rainbow splash screen is a kernel panic at this point.

    (I can't see anything visual on the bigtreetech carrier, it has
    micro-HDMI and I can't find my adapters.)


    Going back to the MCUZone carrier, I put the known good card in the SD
    slot. Here's what I see:

    https://pic8.co/a/d697dd4c-18c1-42c7-90e9-2fcf8d7d931c/

    The device eventually gets an address like it's waiting for something
    else, and does this over and over, never booting. I should mention this carrier has a run/boot jumper, this is in the boot position. Putting it
    in the run position (I assume, it's not clear) gives me a black screen
    and nothing else. Putting the card in the known good reader gives me the
    same rainbow screen.

    One thing I notice is the boot order, which has a "1" for SD card at the
    end of the list. However, I also see "SD card not detected" - is it
    possible that the boot order needs to be changed so it's looking for the
    SD card first? Doing this is something I'd have to research before attempting.

    In any event, the MCUZone device won't boot from USB, and none of them
    boot from SD at this point.


    But looking a little closer, it looks like it's trying all the boot
    devices from right to left - it doesn't see the SD card so it goes to
    the next one. So it probably won't matter if I change the boot order,
    it would just never get to the SD card.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Scott Alfter on Sat Jan 6 10:08:47 2024
    Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> wrote:
    In article <lUt*kvGzz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    If you have a non-Lite board there's a way to flash the eMMC externally (via >USB I think). If there is onboard eMMC the SD slot is not connected to the >Pi (or maybe to the second MMC channel, not sure).

    There's a tool called rpiboot that you use to flash a CM4. Most carrier boards have a switch or jumper to enable or disable eMMC boot. Set it to disabled, then connect it in to your computer. Running rpiboot sends over a small program that causes the CM4's eMMC storage to show up as a USB storage device. At this point, you can use the RPi Imager, dd, or whatever to blast software onto it the same way you'd load up a MicroSD (or SD) card for other Raspberry Pis. When done, unplug it, set the switch or jumper back to enabled, and power it back up.

    If you can boot the CM4 by any means, that also allows you to run an EEPROM update to upgrade the firmware on the CM4. It's possible the board has old firmware which won't boot new images or carrier boards, and doing an update might imorove matters.

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Bryan on Sat Jan 6 11:31:41 2024
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    But looking a little closer, it looks like it's trying all the boot
    devices from right to left - it doesn't see the SD card so it goes to
    the next one. So it probably won't matter if I change the boot order,
    it would just never get to the SD card.

    As I mentioned in my other post, I'd boot from USB and try upgrading the bootloader in EEPROM on the board:

    https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#raspberry-pi-boot-eeprom

    I also note there are some CM4 specific settings: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html#cm4bootloader

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to Theo on Sun Jan 7 11:08:02 2024
    On 1/6/2024 06:31, Theo wrote:
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    But looking a little closer, it looks like it's trying all the boot
    devices from right to left - it doesn't see the SD card so it goes to
    the next one. So it probably won't matter if I change the boot order,
    it would just never get to the SD card.

    As I mentioned in my other post, I'd boot from USB and try upgrading the bootloader in EEPROM on the board:

    https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#raspberry-pi-boot-eeprom

    I also note there are some CM4 specific settings: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html#cm4bootloader


    I found out why my device won't see the SD card. But first:

    I can't update the onboard eeprom without using the imaging tool, that's apparently by design. The CM4 won't let you touch that stuff because
    it's "impossible to remove the eMMC if something goes wrong." Makes
    sense, but still a PITA for those of us not using the thing in production.

    However, the real reason I'm having all these issues is because, after inspection, my vendor sent me the 8GB eMMC version instead of the no
    eMMC version I asked for. That sucks because I don't really want storage
    I can't ever change because it likes to go bad, but there it is.

    I believe the reason the device won't USB boot on the MCUZone carrier is because it is indeed going into panic at boot - I've seen some
    information about the USB device on this being problematic.

    My next step is to try and flash the eMMC on this one the see what
    happens. I'll let you know.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to Bryan on Sun Jan 7 12:13:40 2024
    On 1/7/2024 11:08, Bryan wrote:
    On 1/6/2024 06:31, Theo wrote:
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    But looking a little closer, it looks like it's trying all the boot
    devices from right to left - it doesn't see the SD card so it goes to
    the next one.  So it probably won't matter if I change the boot order,
    it would just never get to the SD card.

    As I mentioned in my other post, I'd boot from USB and try upgrading the
    bootloader in EEPROM on the board:

    https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#raspberry-pi-boot-eeprom


    I also note there are some CM4 specific settings:
    https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html#cm4bootloader



    I found out why my device won't see the SD card. But first:

    I can't update the onboard eeprom without using the imaging tool, that's apparently by design. The CM4 won't let you touch that stuff because
    it's "impossible to remove the eMMC if something goes wrong." Makes
    sense, but still a PITA for those of us not using the thing in production.

    However, the real reason I'm having all these issues is because, after inspection, my vendor sent me the 8GB eMMC version instead of the no
    eMMC version I asked for. That sucks because I don't really want storage
    I can't ever change because it likes to go bad, but there it is.

    I believe the reason the device won't USB boot on the MCUZone carrier is because it is indeed going into panic at boot - I've seen some
    information about the USB device on this being problematic.

    My next step is to try and flash the eMMC on this one the see what
    happens. I'll let you know.

    Last update -

    I tried connecting the CM4 device to my laptop to flash via the imaging
    tool. The only machine I have that's not a Pi or associated device (or something even older) is my old Win7 gaming laptop. You can install the
    imaging tool on Win7, and it "supports" it, but there's apparently no
    driver for the BCM2711 boot device, so you can't access it. That was a
    waste of my time.

    I found some instructions on flashing an image direct to eMMC from the
    OS itself, meaning on the Pi:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/turingpi/comments/10mk3t4/how_to_flash_emmc_cm4/

    wget raspbian imgage
    extract image file
    sudo dd if=image of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=10MB
    clean shutdown CM4, remove USB drive and power on CM4 again
    you should end up with a booting CM4

    I downloaded the image, unzipped it, and SCP'd it over to the Pi. I then
    used these instructions to flash the Pi, and it booted with no external devices. Yay!

    For now, I'm going to use this as-is, as I need the 4G modem to replace
    some old 2G stuff that's offline in a few months here in the USA.
    Otherwise, I will probably look to purchase a real Lite version at some
    point in the future and pass this board on to someone who would like,
    but can't afford one.

    Thank you for the help - sometimes it takes someone going "well, look at
    this instead" to break out of the tunnel vision and find the information
    you need.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Bryan on Sun Jan 7 17:23:02 2024
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    I downloaded the image, unzipped it, and SCP'd it over to the Pi. I then
    used these instructions to flash the Pi, and it booted with no external devices. Yay!

    For now, I'm going to use this as-is, as I need the 4G modem to replace
    some old 2G stuff that's offline in a few months here in the USA.
    Otherwise, I will probably look to purchase a real Lite version at some
    point in the future and pass this board on to someone who would like,
    but can't afford one.

    Glad you got it sorted. One thing you can do, at the expense of a slightly non-standard setup, is to keep your /boot partition on the eMMC, and set config.txt to use a root partition on your USB. So most of your OS
    lives on the USB and only the kernel, firmware and device trees live on the eMMC. That means you aren't limited by the eMMC size for your OS install.

    To do this you flash the OS to your USB as well as the eMMC, then boot the
    Pi from eMMC and alter:

    root=/dev/mmcblk0p2

    to

    root=/dev/sda2

    in config.txt. You'll also need to amend /etc/fstab on the USB to match.

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Bryan@3:770/3 to Theo on Sun Jan 7 13:20:47 2024
    On 1/7/2024 12:23, Theo wrote:
    Bryan <pbyabmle@4wrd.cc> wrote:
    I downloaded the image, unzipped it, and SCP'd it over to the Pi. I then
    used these instructions to flash the Pi, and it booted with no external
    devices. Yay!

    For now, I'm going to use this as-is, as I need the 4G modem to replace
    some old 2G stuff that's offline in a few months here in the USA.
    Otherwise, I will probably look to purchase a real Lite version at some
    point in the future and pass this board on to someone who would like,
    but can't afford one.

    Glad you got it sorted. One thing you can do, at the expense of a slightly non-standard setup, is to keep your /boot partition on the eMMC, and set config.txt to use a root partition on your USB. So most of your OS
    lives on the USB and only the kernel, firmware and device trees live on the eMMC. That means you aren't limited by the eMMC size for your OS install.

    To do this you flash the OS to your USB as well as the eMMC, then boot the
    Pi from eMMC and alter:

    root=/dev/mmcblk0p2

    to

    root=/dev/sda2

    in config.txt. You'll also need to amend /etc/fstab on the USB to match.

    Theo


    I used to do that with NFS booting on an older Pi 2 - probably will at
    some point. Thank you for the reminder.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)