i run a cubietruck on armbian with 4.6.2 kernel. it starts with the software on mmcblk0p1 (with kernel 4.6.2 and the /lib dir on the sd) but uses as root a partition of the ssd. 

when i upgrade now, i see that the upgrade process produces a new initrd.img-4.6.3 and removes the old 4.6.2.

 

(diagnosis: the system runs, but the keyboard/mouse connected to the usb is not functional - desktop over net works!)

 

i assume that there is something wrong with the boot.cmd -  but i do not see exactly how to fix it. the upgrade process uses the ssd .../lib directory and removes 4.6.2 there. if i would mount the /boot directory with the running system (in fstab) - would this help? then the upgrade process would write the initram on the sd.

 

thank you for the very reliable system!

 

andrew

 

 

my boot.cmd says:

 

if ext4load mmc 0 0x00000000 /boot/.verbose
then
setenv verbosity 7
else
setenv verbosity 1
fi
setenv bootargs "console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait rootfstype=ext4 cgroup_enable=memory swapaccount=1 sunxi_ve_mem_reserve=0 sunxi_g2d_mem_reserve=0 sunxi_no_mali_mem_reserve sunxi_fb_mem_reserve=16 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 disp.screen0_output_mode=1920x1080p60 panic=10 consoleblank=0 enforcing=0 loglevel=${verbosity}"
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Boot loader script to boot with different boot methods for old and new kernel
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if ext4load mmc 0 0x00000000 /boot/.next || fatload mmc 0 0x00000000 .next || ext4load mmc 0 0x00000000 .next
then
# sunxi mainline kernel
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ext4load mmc 0 0x49000000 /boot/dtb/${fdtfile} || fatload mmc 0 0x49000000 /dtb/${fdtfile} || ext4load mmc 0 0x49000000 /dtb/${fdtfile}
ext4load mmc 0 0x42000000 /boot/uInitrd || fatload mmc 0 0x42000000 uInitrd || ext4load mmc 0 0x42000000 uInitrd
ext4load mmc 0 0x46000000 /boot/zImage || fatload mmc 0 0x46000000 zImage || ext4load mmc 0 0x46000000 zImage
bootz 0x46000000 0x42000000 0x49000000
#bootz 0x46000000 - 0x49000000
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
else
# sunxi android kernel
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ext4load mmc 0 0x43000000 /boot/script.bin || fatload mmc 0 0x43000000 script.bin || ext4load mmc 0 0x43000000 script.bin
ext4load mmc 0 0x42000000 /boot/uInitrd || fatload mmc 0 0x42000000 uInitrd || ext4load mmc 0 0x42000000 uInitrd
ext4load mmc 0 0x48000000 /boot/zImage || fatload mmc 0 0x48000000 zImage || ext4load mmc 0 0x48000000 zImage
bootz 0x48000000 0x42000000
#bootz 0x48000000
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fi
# Recompile with:
# mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d /boot/boot.cmd /boot/boot.scr
 

i added in /etc/fstab

/dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot ext4 defaults 0 2

and the upgrade seems now to apply to the sd.

 

but i fear that after the upgrade, the initram on the sd is now tied to the partition on the ssd. i have other versions of armbian on the ssd but i will not be able to boot them by just changing the boot.cmd? the solution is then to have a small sd with a specific boot.cmd for each OS on the ssd.