How to use /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf after jetpack 5.0

[lr75021]

hi

Previously I used /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf for the boot menu, and can choose different boot Image and dtb from serial terminal.

After using JetPack 5.0.1 and Jetson Linux 34.1.1, the boot output becomes:

Jetson UEFI firmware (version r34.1-975eef6 built on 2022-05-16T20:58:45-07:00)
Press ESCAPE for boot options ** WARNING: Test Key is used. **

and I can’t find a way to choose a different menu setting in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf.

Please help to advise what I should do to choose different Image and dtb?

Thanks,

hal.

[WayneWWW]

Press Escape for boot option.

[lr75021]

hi WayneWWW,

I am developing different driver, so need to frequently update Image and device tree file.
What should I do if not using boot option?

Thanks,

hal.

[linuxdev]

In the old boot setup any key would interrupt boot at the right moment. If you have two possible boot choices in your newer extlinux.conf, what happens if you instead specifically use the “escape” (“ESC”) key to interrupt and get the menu?

[lr75021]

Here is extlinux.conf for two choices:

TIMEOUT 30
DEFAULT primary

MENU TITLE L4T boot options

LABEL primary
MENU LABEL primary kernel
LINUX /boot/Image
INITRD /boot/initrd
APPEND ${cbootargs}

LABEL backup
MENU LABEL backup kernel
LINUX /boot/Image.backup
INITRD /boot/initrd
APPEND ${cbootargs}

and here is boot menu after “Escape”

NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit
Not Specified 1.30 GHz
r34.1-975eef6 0 MB RAM

WARNING: Test key detected.

Select Language This is the option
one adjusts to change

Device Manager the language for the
Boot Manager current system
Boot Maintenance Manager

Continue
Reset

I go through all menus but can’t find the choices defined in extlinux.conf.

If I don’t press “escape”, it will go to login menu. I search all output in UART terminal but can’t find any other option to choose for different Image/dtb.

Please help to advise what should do for kernel debugging?

Thanks,

hal.

[linuxdev]

If you edit your post (the “pencil” icon lets you do that), mouse highlight the code from the extlinux.conf, and click on the “code” icon (looks like “</>”), then it’ll preserve formatting and won’t interpret the text and add scroll bars (it’ll be easier to read).

This is from an Orin running JetPack 5 (preview) when interrupted during boot on serial console (but this does not have any alternate entry):

Here I’ve added a second boot entry which is a “backup” (same kernel and initrd, but with backup names, but have only gone into “Boot Manager”):

Once I select “UEFI eMMC Device” with two possible selections:

The block of choices in this extlinux.conf file on this JetPack 5 Orin are these:

LABEL primary
      MENU LABEL primary kernel
      LINUX /boot/Image
      INITRD /boot/initrd
      APPEND ${cbootargs} root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rw rootwait rootfstype=ext4 mminit_loglevel=4 console=ttyTCU0,115200 console=tty0 firmware_class.path=/etc/firmware fbcon=map:0 net.ifnames=0 

LABEL backup
      MENU LABEL backup kernel
      LINUX /boot/Image-backup-5.10.65-tegra
      INITRD /boot/initrd-backup-5.10.65-tegra
      APPEND ${cbootargs} root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rw rootwait rootfstype=ext4 mminit_loglevel=4 console=ttyTCU0,115200 console=tty0 firmware_class.path=/etc/firmware fbcon=map:0 net.ifnames=0 

(FYI, I did create a copy of Image as “Image-backup-$(uname -r)”, and similar for initrd)

I was spamming the escape key about once per second until the first menu shows up. After this you don’t need to hit the escape key more. Once you get into the boot selection though you have only about 2 seconds for you to pick entry “1”, or else it defaults to entry “0”.

By picking “1” or “0” (same as not making a pick fast enough) you pick that boot entry.

[lr75021]

@linuxdev Thanks for the advice. It works now.

Hal.