[U-Boot-Users] "huge" (6 second) delay when booting linux kernel (coldfire)

[w.wegner at astro-kom.de]

Hi,

I have a problem on startup on my Coldfire MCF5373L board.

When the flash is empty, something before booting the linux kernel
takes too long such that the watchdog resets my board before there
is a chance for the kernel to take over control.

This happens only if the (32MB) flash is empty, if there is a
filesystem (JFFS2) in it, the delay is much shorter.

Everything is fine until and including uncompressing the kernel.
I added an entry in lib_m68k/m68k_linux.c to see if the delay
happens in U-Boot or in the kernel:

	 puts("Boot\n");
	(*kernel) (kbd, initrd_start, initrd_end, cmd_start, cmd_end);

When booting without the watchdog, I get this (ttyS2 is the
console port):

   Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK
BootðttyS2 at 0xfc068000 (irq = 92) is a builtin ColdFire UART

Between printing the "OK" from uncompressing and "Boot" is
where the delay happens.

Can anybody give a hint where this delay comes from?

Thank you,
Wolfgang