bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

I've been booting a couple of old Pi2 v1.1 (armv7) hosts
using the bootcode.bin method to run freebsd from usb
mechanical hard disks.

The hardware documentation page link for the "latest"
bootcode.bin for this purpose appears to be at least a
couple years old, placed on Github under the handle
popcornmix. The URL is https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/blob/master/boot/bootcode.bin

Does anybody know of a more recent version of the file? Recent
boot attempts have failed to find the USB disk, but the disk
and SATA-to_USB adapter are recognized without a problem on
both FreeBSD and RasPiOS Bookworm, suggesting both are ok.

That's the official repo so I don't think you'll find a newer version.

Do you have the other files on the USB disc, ie start*.elf, fixup*.dat, etc?

Did you try another USB disc, in case there's something about this
particular one the bootloader doesn't like? On PCs it's not unknown for
them to refuse to boot certain USB devices. Kernels have more flexibility
to work around strange implementation quirks than firmware does.

Theo

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Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

Does anybody know of a more recent version of the file? Recent
boot attempts have failed to find the USB disk, but the disk
and SATA-to_USB adapter are recognized without a problem on
both FreeBSD and RasPiOS Bookworm, suggesting both are ok.

That's the official repo so I don't think you'll find a newer version.

Ok, thank you. I thought as much but don't follow the Pi forums well
and hoped I'd missed something.

Do you have the other files on the USB disc, ie start*.elf, fixup*.dat, etc?

Maybe it's significant that both red and green LEDs stay on while
the Pi attempts netboot?

The microSD has bootcode.bin and timeout, with a directory named
"unused" containing other leftover files. The USB drive contains
a normal complement of FreeBSD boot files, starting with u-boot.
This setup worked until last night, when the FreeBSD system crashed
with nothing on the serial console and declined to reboot via plug-
pulling.

Did you try another USB disc, in case there's something about this
particular one the bootloader doesn't like?

I don't have one handy, but maybe that's a necessary step I'd hoped
to avoid. If I put a RasPiOS microSD in and apply power, the card
boots and can read the USB disk. If I plug the USB disk into
either FreeBSD or Bookworm the disk is recognized and smartctl
reports "passed" for the health check.

On PCs it's not unknown for

them to refuse to boot certain USB devices. Kernels have more flexibility
to work around strange implementation quirks than firmware does.

Are they known to suddenly stop booting a formerly bootable device?

Repartitioning and re-copying bootcode.bin to the microSD worked
without errors but still won't boot.
Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

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