[U-Boot] USB fatload fails to load rootfs

[Romain Izard]

On 2013-08-28, Chuck Wical <chuck.wical at amanomcgann.com> wrote:
> I am trying to load rootfs.ext2.gz.uboot from usb using fatload but
> when it reaches a point in writing the file to memory a reset occurs
> of the CPU.  If I load this file using tftp it works fine.  Here are
> the commands I am using:
>
> loadaddr=0x21000000
>
> tftp $(loadaddr) rootfs.ext2.gz.uboot
>
> usb start fatload usb 0 $(loadaddr) rootfs.ext2.gz.uboot
>
> The version of U-Boot used is 2009.11.1 and upgrading at this point
> may be an issue.  Before a bunch of questions are asked I inherited
> this project, it is mature and works, I have no documentation, and I
> am simply trying to copy a file from usb to memory.  Nothing more,
> nothing fancy.
>
> My searches on the web have not yielded any possible solutions or good
> explanations of the usb subsystem in U-Boot so I am hoping someone can
> provide some possible solutions or information I can read.
>
The FAT reading code in old versions of U-Boot is quite sensitive to
external conditions. In my experience, changing the compiler for a
source tree based on the 2007 U-Boot code from GCC 4.3.3 to GCC 4.7.3
produced the same issue as the one you described. Surprisingly, the
issue only occurred for the rootfs, and not the kernel, which was a
smaller file.

Unfortunately for you, our answer to this issue was the finalization of
the porting of our platform to the U-Boot mainline, which does not has
those problems.

Best regards,
-- 
Romain Izard