Beelink GT King Pro - Encounter Kernel Panic/Freeze in Mainline Kernel Linux

spikerguy

No,  I don't think Beelink will release any new uboot update as the source is not yet found. If it is found then maybe they will.

JFL

spikerguy replied at 2021-01-01 08:13
A new mainline uboot was completed for amlogic s922x board which is then chainloaded on top of the a ...

Hi Spikerguy,

You might have already know about the new u-boot ( boot-vim3-2020.09-1) issue but just in case, will provide you with my experience with the new u-boot.

Good part, it resolved Beelink GT King Pro Kernel Panic issue (at least on USB boot) and it works with the linux-vim 5.10.1-1.

The new u-boot at least on GT King Pro (on Manjaro-ARM-VIM3-5.10.1-1) or Armbian-Focal-5.9.0, it is very sensitive to what other USB drive or equipment is connected to GT King Pro. To give some examples:

• Manjaro Boot Drive on let say USB 3.0 Port 3 and Keyboard and Mouse on USB 3.0 Port 1, it will go into infinite boot up loop (not booting up and reboot itself, on and on)
• Manjaro Boot Drive, Keyboard and Mouse all on the same USB 3.0 (using USB 3.0 Passive Hub) boot up without any issue.
• Manjaro Boot Drive, Keboard and Mouse all on the same USB 3.0 port 1 and Printer connected to USB 3.0 Port 3, it will either goes into infinite boot loop or boot up with error USB error -110 but can boot up after trying to resolve the error and complete the boot up or can complete the boot up.
• Manjaro Boot Drive, Keboard and Mouse all on the same USB 3.0 port 1 and USB HDD connected to USB 3.0 Port 2, will not boot up either infinite loop or stuck.
  

EDIT:  Forgot to mention, once successful boot up, then inserting/connecting a USB HDD and USB Flash without issue.

Would love to try out a Debian & Ubuntu with kernel 5.10 non-rc.

darkstar

JFL replied at 2021-01-05 21:38
Hi Spikerguy,

You might have already know about the new u-boot ( boot-vim3-2020.09-1) issue but ju ...

Dear JFL,

I tried it with Manjaro 20.12 KDE and my experience is as below,

SDCard boot - Failure
Usb 3.0 Port boot - Failure
Usb 2.0 OTG boot - Success

It only boots from OTG port and runs very laggy, I tested 1080P youtube videos on firefox;
%10 frame drop at 30FPS, %30 frame drop at 60fps.

my hardware is  922H, it is a good step to see a booted mainline version run without kernel panic.
But for releasing mainline version it must boot without any issue.

JFL

darkstar replied at 2021-01-09 13:32
Dear JFL,

I tried it with Manjaro 20.12 KDE and my experience is as below,

Hi dartstar,

It is good to hear from you.  Happy New Year.
With this new you boot, I can get it to boot from any of the USB port 3.0 and OTG port without any issue as long as USB Boot with Manjaro/Armbian, Mouse and Keyboard all connected to the same USB port (I use a 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with USB Boot, Mouse and Keyboard all connected to this 4 Port Hub) and I have no issue on booting up.  Both my Manjaro and Armbian using the new u-boot are on USB Flash Drive.  But if USB Boot on one USB 3.0 and key board and mouse on other USB port, most of the time it won't boot usually goes into an infinite boot loop.  

But I have not tested on SD Card, my thought with SD Card it should work better (just my assumption) and you have found out is not the case.

Try not to connect mouse, keyboard and external HDD to GT King Pro when boot up with SD Card, after boot up then insert/connect the mouse, keyboard and HDD or use a 4-port USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 Hub.

Panfrost is performance is improving and in Manjaro I am on Stable Branch but using Unstable Branch Kernel linux-5.10.5-3 and mesa-20.3.2.2 it works quite well with some visual glitches but not too distracting.  

Looking forward to try Debian and Ubuntu with the latest kernel 5.10.y with Panfrost and hopefully with video hardware acceleration too.

Too get good video performance on Firefox Yuotube, I need to ensure all "hw acceleration" is NOT Enabled with kernel 5.9.y without Panfrost. In Firefox 720p/60 (viewport 1280x720), 1080p/30 full screen (viewport: 1920x1080) and 1440p/30 (viewport: 1280x720) without any issue (No or very low dropped frames).  Have not fully test Firefox Youtube video performance on Manjaro linux-5.10.5-3 with mesa-20.3.2-2 but initial result is with "hw acceleratio enabled" Firefox Youtube video freezes.

Edit:  You are correct, if you only have USB Boot, yes, the new u-boot can only boot from USB OTG just tested it.  But if you a 4-Port USB3.0 Hub and USB Boot, Mouse and Keyboard All connected to same USB Port, can boot up in any of the USB 3.0 port and USB OTG port.  From what I know the 4-Port Hub I purchase is a USB3.0 and during the boot up if I remember correctly it does identify it as high speed.

darkstar

JFL replied at 2021-01-09 18:01
Hi dartstar,

It is good to hear from you.  Happy New Year.

I wish you Happy New Year too,

There are 2 u-boot.ext versions first one is u-boot.USB (for usb boot) and second one is u-boot.sd (for sdcard boot) this one is for usb boot that is why it doesn't boot from sd card.
My experience:
It doesn't boot from usb 3.0 ports, so I plugged Manjaro to OTG port and other devices to different usb 3 ports ( Keyboard, Mouse, Airmouse) booted without problem.

I made a complete update from stable branch and performance is very good.
With kernel 5.10.1-2-MANJARO-ARM results are as below.
1080p 30fps video less than %50 CPU usage (average), no frame drops.
1080p 60fps video less than %70 CPU usage (average), just a few drops.

Note: I lost sound after update, I guess @spikerguy will solve it.
My first impression was not very good but after heavy usage of usb boot and tests I can say mainline kernel is far better than legacy. At last we started to see the real potential of 922X cipset.

Regards,

JFL

darkstar replied at 2021-01-09 20:03
I wish you Happy New Year too,

There are 2 u-boot.ext versions first one is u-boot.USB (for usb b ...

Great, I now have three users of Beelink GT King Pro confirm the new u-boot resolved the kernel panic issue but the new u-boot still have some perculiar issue.  Glad that you find the mailine kernel is runs better than the legacy kernel.  But in legacy kernel, if I am not mistaken the video performance still is better it uses less CPU resources based on my testing.

Look forward to you building Debian and Ubuntu images for Beelink GT King Pro.


I have just reconfirmed by connect USB Boot, Mouse and Keyboard to the 4-Port USB 3.o test boot on all 4-USB Ports on GT King Pro.  No issue can boot up on all the USB Ports.  


Further USB Boot on OTG Port and Keyboard and Mouse on 4-Port USB Hub on USB 3.0 port, boot up no issue like you found out.

Old Boot Screen of Manjaro (Notice 7 USB Devices - i.e. one 4-port USB 3.0 Hub + 3 other USB port on GT King Pro).



Armbian-Focal-5.9.0 (7 USB Devices)

JFL

darkstar replied at 2021-01-09 20:03
I wish you Happy New Year too,

There are 2 u-boot.ext versions first one is u-boot.USB (for usb b ...

Hi darkstar,

Your video results is with MPV playing from local drive or streaming Youtube with MPV or Firefox?  With linux-vim 5.10.1-2 kernel and mesa-20.2.6 with Firefox, I have similar results to yours but in MPV both either local video file or strieaming Youtube both high dropped frames.  

But with linux mailine 5.10.5-3 and mesa-20.3.2-2, both Firefox and MPV video performance are good.

darkstar

JFL replied at 2021-01-09 23:55
Hi darkstar,

Your video results is with MPV playing from local drive or streaming Youtube with MP ...

I don't check mpv stats because mpv uses less resources then web browsers.

Firefox cpu usage reduced to half with mainline kernel now,
Legacy kernel has frame buffer hardware acceleration no xfree, mesa, wayland support.
Mainline kernel driver + mesa + wayland improvements looks promising for Linux distributions now.

I hope we can get 3d hardware acceleration performance near (or better) to legacy frame buffer performance.

JFL

darkstar replied at 2021-01-09 20:03
I wish you Happy New Year too,

There are 2 u-boot.ext versions first one is u-boot.USB (for usb b ...

Missed the part No sound. had the same issue of NO sound after up grade to llinux-vim 5.10.1-2, it was that the g12_sound.sh was updated. Edit g12_sound to revert to Amlogic OLD CONF by commenting out Amlogic NEW CONF.

[size=15.008px]Just edit the g12_sound.sh and edit like this.

[color=var(--hljs-comment)]# Amlogic G12 HDMI to PCM0 - OLD CONF  [color=var(--hljs-attribute)]mixer [color=var(--hljs-attribute)]$card [color=var(--hljs-string)]'FRDDR_A SINK 1 SEL' [color=var(--hljs-string)]'OUT 1'  mixer [color=var(--hljs-attribute)]$card [color=var(--hljs-string)]'FRDDR_A SRC 1 EN' on  mixer [color=var(--hljs-attribute)]$card [color=var(--hljs-string)]'TDMOUT_B SRC SEL' [color=var(--hljs-string)]'IN 0'  mixer [color=var(--hljs-attribute)]$card [color=var(--hljs-string)]'TOHDMITX I2S SRC' [color=var(--hljs-string)]'I2S B'  mixer [color=var(--hljs-attribute)]$card [color=var(--hljs-string)]'TOHDMITX' on[color=var(--hljs-comment)]# Amlogic G12 HDMI to PCM0 - NEW CONF[color=var(--hljs-comment)]# mixer $card 'FRDDR_A SINK 1 SEL' 'OUT 0'[color=var(--hljs-comment)]#  mixer $card 'FRDDR_A SRC 1 EN' on[color=var(--hljs-comment)]#  mixer $card 'TDMOUT_A SRC SEL' 'IN 0'[color=var(--hljs-comment)]# mixer $card 'TOHDMITX' on[color=var(--hljs-comment)]#  mixer $card 'TOHDMITX I2S SRC' 'I2S A'

[size=15.008px]Commenting out the New config and enabling the old conf will fix the audio.

JFL

darkstar replied at 2021-01-10 00:50
I don't check mpv stats because mpv uses less resources then web browsers.

Firefox cpu usage redu ...

Agreed, Mainline Kernel is great with the new features and hope it will resolved all the visual glitches on Panfrost and better support for G52 devices.  
Somehow, I still have not have a chance to experience Wayland yet.  The last time I was in Manjaro KDE is with the older kernels linux-vim and linus 5.9.y and with the older u-boot (kernel panic) and KDE Plasma Wayland was not working yet (black screen).  Can only login to KDE Plasma.  During one of the system update, Kernel Panic strike and corrupted the USB flash and I reverted to Manjaro-XFCE since then.
The VIM3-Ubuntu-GNOME-Legacy does not work with GNOME Wayland as such had not had a chance to experience Wayland yet.

Are you on Manjaro KDE? Can you now logon to KDE Plasma Wayland?  How is your experience with KDE Wayland?

With Manjaro-XFCE 4.14 with mesa-20.3.2-2, found out that XFCE Compositor had do affect the CPU resource usage a bit.  Turn-off XFCE Compositor reduces CPU resources usage but with compositor off at times when dragging a window it had lagging images.