How to flash EMMC on banana pi r3

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello,
Just got my BPI-r3 and booted OpenWrt successfully from SDcard. Now I want to flash it on EMMC.
Banana_Pi_BPI-R3#OpenWRT

I have read here https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/banana-pi-bpi-r3-openwrt-image/13236/4 and found this:

install to eMMC is only available when booting from SPI-NAND

Which file to download from the link below and to flash it on NAND? I'm familiar with dd and Linux.
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/

I know I might be wrong about something so any advice or guidance will be very useful for me.

Also what does the sign x mean on the jumper settings? High or low? :slight_smile:
Do i need a console cable to make it work?

Thank you.

2

veso-k,

Not so familiar with these boards, but to be clear, from: https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/
The following 2 files are for NAND device:

bananapi_bpi-r3-snand-bl31-uboot.fip	34bb66aa8126f8445eb2e9ffbbff5925fccde24b2b76ce9927d0c44100b60596	1043.5 KB	Tue Sep 20 17:26:55 2022
bananapi_bpi-r3-snand-preloader.bin	054a76844c3167c311ed8a9f6f9a2d6a9350816112b14cf152fe180d71c1ba0c	200.6 KB	Tue Sep 20 17:26:55 2022

Did you also see: https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Getting_Started_with_BPI-R3
There is written : How to burn image to onboard eMMC
In short: 1st image to SD, then boot SD flash NAND, then boot NAND and flash eMMC.

The 'X' means that it does not matter (high or low).
And yes, a USB ttl serial is mandatory, according to https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Getting_Started_with_BPI-R3

DG.

3

Hi DGdodo,
Thank you for the answers.
How to flash those two files on NAND?

bananapi_bpi-r3-snand-bl31-uboot.fip
bananapi_bpi-r3-snand-preloader.bin
4

Hi @veso-k

I just got my pi bpi-r3 board and follow this page, I can flash NAND and EMMU partition successfully. I hope this is help. Thanks.

7

Thanks, got the complete package and been able to install to Nand, SD,EMMC by follow the guide... the open source wireless driver is amazing, got 400+Mbps even without antennas attached yet.

8

when you can please test 2.4ghz and 5ghz with antennas.

10

Can you test throughput using iperf / speedtest.

Maybe give your non scientific assessment of range.

11

without antenna, i got 400-500Mbps iperf3 test, from Phone (AX) to PC lan. test with Antenna isn't my priority as I have other issues need to find solution: after copy image (compiled from master) from SD to NAND, eMMC, they all adapted the SD partition and I dont know how to resize overlay parition to reclaim space from 8GB eMMC.

the test was using open source driver, not mtk oem driver.

12

From the boot menu, select options marked with RED color to flash uboot.flip,preloader.bin respectively by setup a TFTP server.
uboot-preloader

1 Like
13

Have you checked the software storage space available in Openwrt after flash eMMC?

14

Hi @jamestien

No, I didn't check the storage at EMMC partition. Actually, I switch to NAND, because EMMC only support overlay at tmpfs. For now, I'm still testing the basic functions with OpenWrt firmware.
If you want to know more info from me, please let me know. Thanks.

15

same, the tmpfs has 1GB space, while overlay has only 80MB, checked software installation area, only 27MB left.

emmc-mounted
emmc-mounted981×279 30.7 KB

emmc-software
emmc-software963×600 52.8 KB

All other features are functional, and open source wireless driver speed is amazing. only issue for me is how to reclaim the space on eMMC. still reading... will give update if I found solution.

2 Likes
16

Hi @jamestien

I like NAND instead of EMMC, because overlay is persistent.
And, I found sysupgrade.bin can be upgraded if you use frimware from banana's github.
I'm testing banana's firmware first, including wifi performance. Thanks.

17

There are partition resizing options for claim space, but the easiest way is to compile firmware with root file system set to the size desired. Now I have a 520MB root file system with additional user space to use from the remaining space of eMMC.

2 Likes
19

how do i access this menu from the command prompt (SSH)

20

no, you don't. this is the boot menu, you have to use a serial connection in order to see and input.

1 Like
21

so no install options from ssh?

23

With all antenna connected, tested on 802.11ax, 3 meters away. Phone to laptop iperf3 server (ethernet) got 750-850Mbps. Internet speed (600Mbps Up/Down fiber) test varies by distance. screenshot was 3 meters away without obstruction.
IMG_1843

25

what ip range do i set the tftp server for?

26

It will ask you to input server IP, Subnet, filename 1 by 1 during tftp session from the boot menu. ofcoz you need connect to serial.