How to print the log messages very early on the booting process without using a serial connection.

[ZioMario]

Hello again.

I have recompiled the kernel 14.3-RELEASE after having added the drm subsystem patched for enabling the panfrost driver on the radxa zero 3W,but it freezes during boot with this message :

Warning : Device "fb" is Giant locked and may be deleted before FreeBSD 15.0
VT: Replacing driver "efifb" with new "fb".

and nothing happens anymore :

With the kernel 14.2 the panfrost driver works. When I switch from 14.2 to 14.3 the only thing I do is replace the kernel and the modules. The rest of the configuration is the same. I use the same dtb file.

What I would like to know is how print the log messages very early on the booting process. My radxa board does not have the GPIO pins,so I can't use a serial connection. Is there an alternative to it ? I have printed the messages that come from the kernel 14.2 where DRM works and it is able to reach the login prompt. Now I want to print the ones that come from the 14.3 and I want to compare them,trying to understand what could be missing / broken. I don't know what else to do to gather more informations about the reasons why it freezes there.

Thanks.

 

[covacat]

can you still ssh to the board ?
you can still try serial like this

https://forums.freebsd.org/members/covacat.67479/page-2#profile-post-4754

 

[ZioMario]

It freezes before to be able to establish the connection to the net. Anyway,I've saved the log messages printed on the screen using my smartphone. I see some errors. Not sure if they are relevant.

Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-46-22 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-46-22 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-47-54 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-47-54 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-51-55 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-51-55 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-52-21 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-52-21 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-56-00 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-2025-09-30-22-56-00 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[ZioMario]

can you still ssh to the board ?
you can still try serial like this

https://forums.freebsd.org/members/covacat.67479/page-2#profile-post-4754

Not easy for me to understand how to connect the wire on the radxa zero 3W board. I will try to read docs...

 

[ZioMario]

In FreeBSD is possible to use TFTP (remote/network kernel) using U-Boot ?

 

[atax1a]

i'd think that this entirely depends on the U-boot configuration in question. freebsd doesn't come into the equation until after you've loaded a kernel, for one.

 

[vmisev]

You can use 40-pin GPIO header. You'll need USB to TTL serial adapter, adapter's TX to 3W's RX pin 10, RX to 3W's pin 8, GND to GND. Good luck

 

[covacat]

as long as you can still ctrl alt del it is not frozen
it looks like Søren's patches are not in
ethernet does not seem to work, also no scmi
also a dtb with panfrost enabled and panfrost code present will get you a lock or a panic without rk_pmdomain which is not in 14.3

 

[ZioMario]

as long as you can still ctrl alt del it is not frozen

ctr alt del does not work. I thought it worked. sorry for the confusion.

it looks like Søren's patches are not in
ethernet does not seem to work, also no scmi
also a dtb with panfrost enabled and panfrost code present will get you a lock or a panic without rk_pmdomain which is not in 14.3

mmm I will check better,but I have not posted the full log,but only some pieces...

 

[covacat]

also you seem to have one or more modules that are not the same version as the kernel

 

[ZioMario]

Here there is a video that I have recorded with my smartphone with the log messages showed during the booting of the radxa zero 3W and the kernel 14.3 + panfrost driver :

WhatsApp Video 2025-10-01 at 18.28.18.mp4

drive.google.com

Where should be placed the files that should be modified ?

a) files, files.arm64, kern.pre.mk, options => sys/conf ;
b) GENERIC-DRM-143 => sys/arm64/conf ;
c) gfp.h => sys/compat/linuxkpi/common/include/linux ;
d) powerdom dir => sys/dev ;
e) rk_grf.c , rk_pmdomain.c => sys/arm64/rockchip ;
f) rockchip,rk3562-power.h , rockchip,rk3576-power.h => sys/contrib/device-tree/include/dt-bindings/power ;
g) rockchip,vop2.h => sys/contrib/device-tree/include/dt-bindings/soc/rockchip,vop2.h ;

The opinion of Jesper : "Perhaps a dtb issue".

I saved on my google drive the files that have been modified :

sys - Google Drive

drive.google.com

You make me happy if you check if they are correct. Thanks.