Determining Boot Order

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 23:49    Post subject: Determining Boot Order Reply with quote
In addition to changing my partition, I ran into an issue when having a USB drive installed, my router wouldn’t boot into dd-wrt (At least I don’t think so, it didn’t respond to ping or anything)

I have a ProtectLi router using coreboot. They have some documentation on their site on how to change the boot order for various OSes, but I couldn’t deduce something from that.

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ho1Aetoo
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:31    Post subject: Reply with quote
So I can see from the link very clearly how to change the boot order in the BIOS.

Really do not understand what is the question here.
Wildlion
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 16:48    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have had a similar thing happen... Unfortunately I usually have to unplug all usb devices during boot on those systems when doing headless... if you have a monitor connected it is usually trying to boot to the usb device first
Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 19:04    Post subject: Reply with quote
ho1Aetoo wrote:
So I can see from the link very clearly how to change the boot order in the BIOS.

Really do not understand what is the question here.


This is if I connect a VGA cable. Is there a way to do this via ssh?

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ho1Aetoo
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 20:46    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fried Chicken wrote:
ho1Aetoo wrote:
So I can see from the link very clearly how to change the boot order in the BIOS.

Really do not understand what is the question here.


This is if I connect a VGA cable. Is there a way to do this via ssh?


No this is via USB/Serial cable

Depends on your hardware which you have not mentioned here.
Some ProtectCLI have a USB port labeled Console - this is a serial port (there is a USB/Serial converter behind it).

https://protectli.com/kb/com-port-tutorial/

This is also possible with a notebook and a USB cable if you don't want to connect a monitor.
Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 21:36    Post subject: Reply with quote
ho1Aetoo wrote:
Fried Chicken wrote:
ho1Aetoo wrote:
So I can see from the link very clearly how to change the boot order in the BIOS.

Really do not understand what is the question here.


This is if I connect a VGA cable. Is there a way to do this via ssh?


No this is via USB/Serial cable

Depends on your hardware which you have not mentioned here.
Some ProtectCLI have a USB port labeled Console - this is a serial port (there is a USB/Serial converter behind it).

https://protectli.com/kb/com-port-tutorial/

This is also possible with a notebook and a USB cable if you don't want to connect a monitor.


I have the necessary cable to go into the console. Oh boy this is going to be fun.

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 20, 2024 19:05    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attempting to do this.

I have the console cable. I first tried connecting via USB serial using the Mac's built in "screen" command, but that wasn't compatible with the text displayed.

I then used the cu utility:

Code:
sudo cu -s 115200 -l /dev/tty.usbserial


https://jasonmurray.org/posts/2020/serialconsolemacos/

That seemed to work, but I only got the option for choosing the boot device by pushing F11 and then DD-wrt

Code:
SeaBIOS (version v1.0.5-0-gcbd8d5b)
coreboot version fw6_v4.9.0.1
Press F11 key for boot menu
Select boot device:

1. AHCI/1: WDC [SSD (obscured(] ATA-11 Hard-Disk (232 GiBytes)
2. iPXE

Booting from Hard Disk...
GRUB Loading stage1.5.


And then it gave me the option for the dd-wrt install.

Trying the 'del' key just sent it to the dd-wrt install.

There are some clues here, namely the unit is running SeaBIOS and per this wiki the boot order can be changed:

https://www.seabios.org/Runtime_config#Configuring_boot_order

I am actively looking into this, but input would be appreciated, I'm not a power linux user. I'm not sure what the relationship is between coreboot, seaBIOS, and the OS. I'm also not sure why "screen" didn't work and I had to resort to "cu", and I'm also not sure why what I'm seeing in my serial display doesn't match what's in the guide provided by protectli.

Hand holding/teaching is appreciated.

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 20, 2024 23:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
Found the solution to switch from coreboot to AMI standard BIOS.

Followed these and now have the AMI BIOS that has a BIOS menu that I can use.

https://kb.protectli.com/kb/how-to-use-flashli/

Now I can further troubleshoot any problems that might emerge. Already one has cropped up that the internet transfer speeds are not what they should be.

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 4:34    Post subject: To hell and back Reply with quote
I have been to hell and back.

After switching from core boot to AMI boot, I encountered a problem: the speeds I was getting dropped across all devices, most notably my nearest access point would download at a max speed of 30mbps (uploads were slightly faster but not much).

Faced with two options I decided to do a webupgrade of the firmware with one version newer using
Code:
dd-wrt_x64-webupgrade_full_serial_2GB.bin
.

The console (via the monitor) reported a file system error.

I pulled the drive and did a DD via linux with the latest firmware using:
Code:
dd-wrt_x64_full_efi_serial_2GB.image


This caused a boot loop and I was scratching my head as to why. The console (this time via the com port) reported something along the lines of: kernel panic - not syncing. No working init found

More head scratching and cursing until I DD'ed the non-efi firmware instead:

Code:
dd-wrt_x64_full_serial_2GB.image


This worked and booted up again.

I'm finishing the setup process, but the slow speeds persist.
I'm theorizing that some of the upgraded BIOS drivers or something introduced security features that potentially nuke the throughput. I initially thought a clean DD would solve the issues, but it hasn't. The next step is switching back to coreboot and seeing if the throughput returns, and if THAT doesn't work, then maybe a prior version of the BIOS.

Unfortunately downgrading the BIOS is a true nightmare fraught with dangers. ProtectLi has written a script to automate this process and make it safer, unfortunately that script only works for the latest version AFAIK:
https://kb.protectli.com/kb/bios-versions-for-the-vault/

That said, the device was purchased in 2019, so should have already come with the security updates from meltdown, spectre, the intel management engine, etc. Perhaps not.

I will leave it here for the night. Right now after hours of torturous fiddling, I'm worse than where I started...

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ho1Aetoo
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 16:15    Post subject: Reply with quote
We do not know exactly which device you have, nor do we know which BIOS version you have flashed.
There are also notes on the protectli page specifically for FW6 devices.

https://kb.protectli.com/kb/bios-versions-for-the-vault/

Quote:
The latest BIOS we recommend for FW6 devices with 82583V NIC's is KBU6LA09.


Please contact protectli if you have any problems.
We are not protect CLI and I find it funny that you reply to the thread after 3 years.

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 19:18    Post subject: Reply with quote
ho1Aetoo wrote:
We do not know exactly which device you have, nor do we know which BIOS version you have flashed.
There are also notes on the protectli page specifically for FW6 devices.

https://kb.protectli.com/kb/bios-versions-for-the-vault/

Quote:
The latest BIOS we recommend for FW6 devices with 82583V NIC's is KBU6LA09.


Please contact protectli if you have any problems.
We are not protect CLI and I find it funny that you reply to the thread after 3 years.


I thought I addressed that note about the 82583V NICs. Their flash utility upgraded to the appropriate BIOS version they recommended.

I have been in touch with ProtectLi.

I have a Protectli FW6A with the celeron processor.

I'm replying because I again decided to tackle the issue anew.
Why doesn't the EFI dd-wrt bios boot?

Would CoreBoot vs AMI change any of DD-WRTs behavior and/or explain the slow throughput I encountered after upgrading?

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ho1Aetoo
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 19:44    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fried Chicken wrote:
Why doesn't the EFI dd-wrt bios boot?


https://svn.dd-wrt.com/ticket/7768

Quote:
efi version doesnt work at all any build


UEFI support was only added a few months ago and I've never tested it myself so no idea Very Happy

Fried Chicken wrote:
Would CoreBoot vs AMI change any of DD-WRTs behavior and/or explain the slow throughput I encountered after upgrading?


How should I know that?
30mbit is an absolute joke, even a WRT54 can manage that
You'll just have to ask protectCLI what the problem might be - I don't have the imagination for that

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kernel-panic69
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 21:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
UEFI builds were added in New Build - 10/12/2023 - r53616. Other points of interest or non-interest are Image won't show up as boot option, [SOLVED] UEFI boot support, New Build - 07/23/2024 - r57538 (builds were stuck on 57200). I also consider the source of that ticket.

Anyhow, the UEFI images require an EFI-compatible device with UEFI boot enabled. I don't think the Protectli devices are such animals?

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2024 3:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
Update: switched to coreboot and the shitty and unreliable bandwidth is back.
Turning SFE on/off causes a change in the behavior. After switching back to coreboot,
I was able to run a speedtest over wifi on the device that showed 500/500 (Right after
disabling SFE), but then it went back to it's unusual 100/340 or whatever.

kernel-panic69 wrote:

Anyhow, the UEFI images require an EFI-compatible device with UEFI boot enabled. I don't think the Protectli devices are such animals?


Sure it is. It's a regular x86 PC with a celeron chip, or am I missing something on why this is in question? It gave a kernel panic as described above.

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Fried Chicken
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2024 3:05    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's really weird.

Enabling/disabling SFE causes the shitty performance to go from either upload to the download or vice verse. When SFE is enabled, the download is good the upload is shit. When SFE is disabled, the upload is good and the download is shit. It also disconnects from the modem temporarily and has to reacquire the IP Address.

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