Pioneer 1.3 not booting

Pioneer
1

I purchased a Pioneer 1.3 bare board, and I am at a loss for how to get this thing to boot.

I have tried various combinations of the following RAM and boot media:

  • 1 stick of NEMIX RAM MR25600-324 32GB RDIMM in the bottom slot
  • 1 stick of the officially blessed Longsys 32GB 2Rx8 PC43200AA-RE3-14 in the bottom slot
  • 4 sticks of the Longsys RAM

These all with the fedora-disk-gnome-workstation_livecd-f38-20231010-033114.n.0-fix.raw.xz image, which most people report working:

  • 16GB Raspberry Pi branded MicroSD card
  • 64GB Samsung Pro Endurance MicroSD card
  • 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro MicroSD card
  • 256GB SanDisk Max Endurance MicroSD card
  • 256GB TeamGroup High Endurance MicroSD card
  • 128GB Forsee EMMC module on MicroSD adapter
  • 128GB Forsee EMMC module directly attached to motherboard
  • No storage at all

I have also tried these things with and without a Radeon R5 240 GPU and no other PCIe devices attached.

Upon powering on, similarly to others here, there is a solid green light near the front panel header and a flashing green light near the USB3 header. With a serial adapter attached to each of the MCU and RISC-V headers, I do get some output on the MCU and am able to issue various commands successfully:

# poweron
MILKV_ATX_CTL [O]
EN_VDD_3V3 [O]
EN_VDDIO18 [O]
EN_VDDC [O]
PG_VDDC [O]
EN_VDDIO33 [O]
EN_DDR_VDD_0V8 [O]
EN_VDD_PCIE_D_0V8 [O]
EN_VDD_PLL_0V8 [O]
EN_VDD_PCIE_H_1V8 [O]
PG_DDR_VDD_0V8 [O]
EN_DDR01_VPP_2V5 [O]
EN_DDR23_VPP_2V5 [O]
EN_DDR01_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
EN_DDR23_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
PG_DDR01_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
PG_DDR23_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
EN_DDR01_VTT_0V6 [O]
EN_DDR23_VTT_0V6 [O]
EN_VQPS18 [O]
SYS_RST_ASSERT [O]
SYS_RST_DEASSERT [O]
MILKV-PIONEER POWER ON
# poweron_rv
MILKV_ATX_CTL [O]
EN_VDD_3V3 [O]
EN_VDDIO18 [O]
EN_VDDC [O]
PG_VDDC [O]
EN_VDDIO33 [O]
EN_DDR_VDD_0V8 [O]
EN_VDD_PCIE_D_0V8 [O]
EN_VDD_PLL_0V8 [O]
EN_VDD_PCIE_H_1V8 [O]
PG_DDR_VDD_0V8 [O]
EN_DDR01_VPP_2V5 [O]
EN_DDR23_VPP_2V5 [O]
EN_DDR01_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
EN_DDR23_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
PG_DDR01_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
PG_DDR23_VDDQ_1V2 [O]
EN_DDR01_VTT_0V6 [O]
EN_DDR23_VTT_0V6 [O]
EN_VQPS18 [O]
SYS_RST_ASSERT [O]
SYS_RST_DEASSERT [O]
PWRON RV OK
# current
V_5V = 483(mV)
V_DDR_VDD_0V8 = 552(mV)
V_DDR01_VDDQ_1V2 = 571(mV)
V_DDR23_VDDQ_1V2 = 547(mV)
V_VDD_12V = 611(mV)
V_VDD_EMMC_1V8 = 509(mV)
V_VDD_EMMC_3V3 = 528(mV)
V_VDD_PCIE_C_0V8 = 580(mV)
V_VDD_PCIE_D_0V8 = 583(mV)
V_VDD_PCIE_H_1V8 = 601(mV)
V_VDD_PLL_0V8 = 589(mV)
V_VDD_RGMII_1V8 = 546(mV)
V_VDDC = 564(mV)
V_VDDIO18 = 622(mV)
V_VQPS18 = 0(mV)
temp:soc:39 Cel board:31 Cel

However, absolutely nothing ever shows up on the RISC-V header in any of these combinations.

Do I have a defective unit? Is there anything else I can try to get something to happen on the RISC-V side?

2

I have the Pioneer 1.3 board.

I was able to get it to boot by switching from a SeaSonic 650W Titantium PSU (not-working) to a EVGA 100-W1-0500 PSU.

However, my issue was a bit different than yours, I was at-least getting output on the RISCV. Might be worth checking if switching helps?

3

i have the exact same issue, bare board v1.3, no output from rv header but mcu works, can’t get a boot to start, and used one of the same RAM as stated supported list

i could guess from others it could be the RAM but since your ram is the official one, i guess that is not the issue… there must be something non-obvious that we are missing…?

EDIT:

from what i gather in this thread, 2Rx4 ram won’t likely work, and someone who had the same issue used a 8GB Samsung 1Rx8 did the trick, so I’m gonna order that one and see what happens…

1 Like
4

Yeah there’s definitely some issue with different geometries not being tested/supported by their controller. But more importantly, where are the docs or any guidance at all about this stuff?

5

yes, one thing i have noticed on that ram list is the marking for tested setup was v1.1 or v1.2 or evb (evaluation board?) but not v1.3 so there is some info gap right there it would seem…

6

They also have stale links to the old AVL in the memory installation instructions. I mean, nobody is asking for perfection but some guidance around qualified parts (especially those actually obtainable from US sources) would be the absolute minimum bar I would expect from someone claiming a “workstation” or “server” board and not an embedded experiment.

7

just an update:

so, i bought as close as i could find to the 8GB samsung memory, and guess what… it worked!!

its only 8GB but things look stable so far, performance is pretty nice compared to vision five and MUCH improved compared to high-five unmatched…

btw, i’m gonna try a 32GB ( MTA18ASF4G72PDZ-3G2E1) stick from the aforementuioned thread and report back

here is the detail

this 8GB stick worked for me (for v1.3 pioneer board)

Samsung M393A1K43BB1-CTD memory module 8 GB DDR4 2666 MHz ECC

link

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B07GDK2PM4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

※ im sure you can find the same one in your local amazon by searching for the product name

hope this helps somebody!!

8

I am having the same issue with the v1.3. I changed my PSU and I had the 64GBx2 RAM and it does not post. I just ordered the Samsung RAM to test. I hope that works. Better labeling on the board would be helpful as well.

IMG_20240128_192632
IMG_20240128_1926321920Ă—2560 299 KB

IMG_20240128_192720
IMG_20240128_1927201920Ă—2560 339 KB

IMG_20240128_192727
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From the attached pictures please see what I get with constant flashing lights.

1 Like
9

Do you get any output over serial? I would recommend checking.

The flashing green light seems to be a pretty common behavior of this board, even when normally booted.

10

I am sorry, I am new to this. That is why I got the board, so I can learn. Not sure how to get any output over serial. If you don’t mind, can you give some guidance. Would be appreciated.

11

All good, this board isn’t very user-friendly to get up and running.

pioneer-mark-f59663ae00209a4fcfafaf10ce5fe81c
pioneer-mark-f59663ae00209a4fcfafaf10ce5fe81c1484Ă—1336 163 KB

There are two different serial connections you can use. Port 23 (MCU, left) will basically tell you if the machine is attempting to initialize. Port 23 (RISC-V, right) will let you interact with the system and is most-likely the connection you want to check first, it has linux kernel debug output and will also be where you can do login without a display connected.

In your motherboard box, you should have gotten a serial cable that looks like this

2024-02-03-13-47-57-758
2024-02-03-13-47-57-758915Ă—1219 52.8 KB

From left to right, you want to go RED (unlabeled pin), WHITE, GREEN, and then BLACK.

Plug the USB connection into your main workstation or laptop.

image

In device manager, look for the USB serial port connection and record the COM port (COM3 for me)

Finally, you’re going to want to download Putty and open that up.

image
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image
image679Ă—677 23.6 KB

Set the settings to this

Once you connect, you won’t see any output. At this point you can reboot your RISC-V board and start seeing if any debug output comes up.

You can leave the cable plugged in for subsequent reboots. One thing you might want to do between reboots is to right click your terminal and click “Reset Terminal” otherwise the text might get messed up sometimes.

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image1014Ă—765 27.8 KB

1 Like
12

Thank you for the information. I will try it.

13

Congratulations!

The key things to know about this module (from the Samsung web site: M393A1K43BB1-CTD(8 GB) | DRAM | Samsung Semiconductor USA ) are:

DIMM TYPE: RDIMM (Registered)
Rank x Organization: 1Rx8
Speed: 2666 Mbps

RDIMM and the “x8” organization seem to be required. Verify that on any future parts you find in a search.

I would caution you that the speed of 2666 worked for me as a single DIMM, but trying to use 4 of these slower than 3200 speed DIMM’s did not. I had to purchase 3200 speed DIMM to get 4x DIMM configuration to work.

2 Likes
14

From the first picture, it doesn’t look like you have the RAM in the correct slot.

Recommend you try with a SINGLE DIMM in the slot closest to the PCI Express connector (with your GPU installed? and leave the other three DIMM slots empty.

Look up the part number of your DIMM on the web and confirm that it is REGISTERED (RDIMM) and has a 1Rx8 or 2Rx8 organization and NOT “x4”

If it’s “x4” you will need to find a x8 DIMM for further testing.

15

Thank you for the response. The RAM I was using was a DDR4 3200MHz 2Rx4 1.2V. I ordered an 8GB 1Rx8 RAM to test. I hope that works. Just waiting for it to come in.

1 Like
16

Based on my previous success with a Micron OEM part rebranded and resold, I ordered more. Of course, the new order was a slightly different part number.

Same Micron RAM. Same specs. There are 4 different revisions of the “same” DIMM made by Micron.
MTA18ASF2G72PDZ-3G2R1 (works)
MTA18ASF2G72PDZ-3G2E1 (doesn’t work :sadness:)

According to the datasheets online the specs are identical, the EEPROM on the DIMM are identical. The difference is a revision of the PCB, a different “register” chip and a different memory chip die revision. None of which would be expected to significantly change the configuration or performance. They all fail even in single DIMM configuration. They DO work in another server and I’m going to push them with some memory tests overnight.

sigh… MILK-V, why is your memory training and memory controller so picky?

2 Likes
17

I am adding this 64GB DIMM in does-not-work-list.

Product SKU:MTA36ASF8G72PZ-3G2R
Product Name::64GB DDR4-3200 RDIMM 1.2V CL22

1 Like
18

Yep. 2R x4 configuration not expected to work.

1 Like
19

So information on this page is incorrect?

2042 X4 EVB SCC64GP12H4F1C-32AA unilc-2RX4-64G-3200-RDIMM 3200 yes yes

1 Like
20

I think it’s possible that there are three different motherboards listed in this table. The Pioneer, the EVB and a “x4 EVB” where the EVB and the Pioneer only support x8 DIMM’s and the “x4 EVB” is able to support x4 DIMM’s.

The “Hardware” column may be more important that it seems at first glance.

1 Like