PC Engines apu2 experiences

Qinn

@soder Yes as @fireodo already has said, there is no other way to power up. After the Halt command did it's job and the APU is powered down (all led's, including the network interface led's, are down) you must unplug and then re-plug the power cord, to get the APU to power up.

This way is the elegant way, opposite to pulling the plug when it's running, the latter could harm the filesystem.

Qinn

@kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@Qinn said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

I experienced something strange, after an update to bios 4.10.0.1 my internal network speeds were halved, so I went back to 4.10.0.0 and they were restored! Can anyone confirm this, as I cannot test it at the moment?

So can anybody confirm this? I don't want to upgrade to the latest firmware if this is true.

Tested it vigorously and could not reconstruct the drop down in speed, so now (as you can see in my profile)I am running on version 4.10.0.1 ;), sorry for the inconvenience.

kevindd992002

@Qinn said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@Qinn said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

I experienced something strange, after an update to bios 4.10.0.1 my internal network speeds were halved, so I went back to 4.10.0.0 and they were restored! Can anyone confirm this, as I cannot test it at the moment?

So can anybody confirm this? I don't want to upgrade to the latest firmware if this is true.

Tested it vigorously and could not reconstruct the drop down in speed, so now (as you can see in my profile)I am running on version 4.10.0.1 ;), sorry for the inconvenience.

You made me worried :)

logan5247

v4.10.0.2 is out. Has anyone tried it yet?
https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-27

Veldkornet

@logan5247 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

v4.10.0.2 is out. Has anyone tried it yet?
https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-27

I have it running on 2 devices. No issues that I’m aware of.

Qinn

Running on v4.10.0.2 and also no issues.

fireodo

@Qinn said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

Running on v4.10.0.2 and also no issues.

No issues is OK but any improvements?

Qinn

@fireodo No not that "I" experienced. Most bios updates repair bugs or introduce updated SeaBIOS and
updated sortbootorder, but there are a few updates that surely matter, like the 4.0.25 version, which enabled Core Performance Boost feature. https://blog.3mdeb.com/2019/2019-02-14-enabling-cpb-on-pcengines-apu2/

kevindd992002

What does the "watchdog" feature in the BIOS setup options of the APU2C4 really do? Do I need it enabled or what? Thanks.

Also, I just re-installed pfsense 2.4.4 p3 on my APU2C4 and for some reason the temperature sensors are not working again even though I have the correct module set:

I thought the support for these sensors was added since the release of 2.4? I didn't remember encountering this issue when I reinstalled in the past with lower versions of 2.4.

Reloading amdtemp.ko and doing a sysctl -a | grep temperature doesn't output anything.

kevindd992002

Anybody can help me out here?

daemonix

I don't think temp sensors work... I never had them working.

soder

@kevindd992002 The watchdog feature does a hardware reboot, if the operating system has crashed or hung. It is ideal solution for remote locarion, where it is difficult to go in person and reboot the router by hand.
How it works: The OS sends periodic healthcheck signals to the watchdog. If the OS does not report about its health in 2-3 minutes (the so called watchdog timeout, you can configure it yourself), the watchdog will think the OS has hung, and it reboots the motherboard. So be careful enabling it, if the OS does not support it properly, it can cause reboot loops.

kevindd992002

@daemonix said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

I don't think temp sensors work... I never had them working.

Oh they do. Before pfsense 2.4, you had to download a customized amdtemp.ko, replace the one in pfsense, and unload/load the driver. Starting 2.4, they were natively supported by pfsense. Here's a proof of one running on my other pfsense box:

The only difference between that working box and this box, is that I updated this box to the latest apu2c4 BIOS which is v4.10.0.3. The working box is still v4.10.0.2 and that could be the issue but I hope someone else can confirm this.

@soder said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@kevindd992002 The watchdog feature does a hardware reboot, if the operating system has crashed or hung. It is ideal solution for remote locarion, where it is difficult to go in person and reboot the router by hand.
How it works: The OS sends periodic healthcheck signals to the watchdog. If the OS does not report about its health in 2-3 minutes (the so called watchdog timeout, you can configure it yourself), the watchdog will think the OS has hung, and it reboots the motherboard. So be careful enabling it, if the OS does not support it properly, it can cause reboot loops.

I see. Do you happen to know if pfsense supports it?

Veldkornet

@kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@daemonix said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

I don't think temp sensors work... I never had them working.

Oh they do. Before pfsense 2.4, you had to download a customized amdtemp.ko, replace the one in pfsense, and unload/load the driver. Starting 2.4, they were natively supported by pfsense. Here's a proof of one running on my other pfsense box:

The only difference between that working box and this box, is that I updated this box to the latest apu2c4 BIOS which is v4.10.0.3. The working box is still v4.10.0.2 and that could be the issue but I hope someone else can confirm this.

@soder said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@kevindd992002 The watchdog feature does a hardware reboot, if the operating system has crashed or hung. It is ideal solution for remote locarion, where it is difficult to go in person and reboot the router by hand.
How it works: The OS sends periodic healthcheck signals to the watchdog. If the OS does not report about its health in 2-3 minutes (the so called watchdog timeout, you can configure it yourself), the watchdog will think the OS has hung, and it reboots the motherboard. So be careful enabling it, if the OS does not support it properly, it can cause reboot loops.

I see. Do you happen to know if pfsense supports it?

Arg, I'm also on 4.10.0.3 and I don't see the temps anymore either. But indeed, they were always working. Made an issue.

kevindd992002

@Veldkornet said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@daemonix said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

I don't think temp sensors work... I never had them working.

Oh they do. Before pfsense 2.4, you had to download a customized amdtemp.ko, replace the one in pfsense, and unload/load the driver. Starting 2.4, they were natively supported by pfsense. Here's a proof of one running on my other pfsense box:

The only difference between that working box and this box, is that I updated this box to the latest apu2c4 BIOS which is v4.10.0.3. The working box is still v4.10.0.2 and that could be the issue but I hope someone else can confirm this.

@soder said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

@kevindd992002 The watchdog feature does a hardware reboot, if the operating system has crashed or hung. It is ideal solution for remote locarion, where it is difficult to go in person and reboot the router by hand.
How it works: The OS sends periodic healthcheck signals to the watchdog. If the OS does not report about its health in 2-3 minutes (the so called watchdog timeout, you can configure it yourself), the watchdog will think the OS has hung, and it reboots the motherboard. So be careful enabling it, if the OS does not support it properly, it can cause reboot loops.

I see. Do you happen to know if pfsense supports it?

Arg, I'm also on 4.10.0.3 and I don't see the temps anymore either. But indeed, they were always working. Made an issue.

Thanks for confirming and making a github issue!

Qinn

For now staying on 4.10.0.2

Qinn

v4.11.0.1 running fine so far.

Release date: '2019-12-09'

Fixed/added:
rebased with official coreboot repository commit 9f56eed
temperature is showing on pfSense dashboard

..and it seems the temp issue is fixed.

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-29

Qinn

v4.11.0.2 running fine so far.

https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-30

logan5247

Just flashed v4.11.0.3, no issues so far. Running on an APU2D4.
https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-31

valnar

I've been gone for a year and my pfSense APU2 board has been working beautifully on 4.0.11. I want to upgrade for it ECC but not sure if I need to go to mainline or can stick with legacy. Is there any benefit either way?

So my choices are 4.0.29 or 4.11.0.3

I saw in an earlier post as I breezed through everything that you may need to put this in your
boot/loader.conf. Is that still true? Thanks

boot_serial="YES"
comconsole_speed="115200"
console="comconsole"
hint.ahci.0.msi="0"
loader_conf_files="/boot/device.hints"