Firefly StationPC M2: UEFI

elpatolucas

Hi all!

I received my Firefly StationPC M2 a couple of days ago.

I want to install ESXi ARM on it, which is supported, see: Supported Devices
I already enabled the bootloader for this device and managed to install the ROC-RK3566 EFI image to an TFCard as described here using the pre-compiled image and it shows as boot device in the bootloader.
But I am unable to load the ESXi ARM installer from the USB key I created using balenaEtcher.
Over the serial console the following is displayed:

The device won't load the UEFI bios from the SD card but is detecting it and also detecting the USB stick I connected that contains the ESXi ARM installer.
The main issue seems to be that the device is not loading the UEFI bootloader from the SD card.
I downloaded the correct pre-compiled image version "ROC-RK3566-PC_EFI.img.gz" from here, so it should work.

Can someone please tell me what am I doing wrong?
Why is the M2 not loading the UEFI FW from the SD card?
The device has a SPI NOR flash. Is it possible to install the UEFI to it?
Any other method to get an UEFI FW running?
Do I have to flash or modify something else on the device before?

Thanks and regards!

elpatolucas

Hi all!

any advice on this?
It looks like the M2 is ignoring the SD card with the EDK2 UEFI and still loading some Android stuff, maybe related to Station OS.
Do I have to flash or enable something else first?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks and regards

elpatolucas

Hi all!

after some digging, I found the issue by myself.
By default, StationOS is on the internal eMMC. If this is the case, SD card WILL NOT BOOT without Multi Boot enabled.
So I disabled the bootloader again and now it is working.
The Firefly documentation explains it quite well:

Station M2 Multi Boot Function Supported List
https://wiki.stationpc.com/docs/stationpc/systembootloader

Hope this helps other people.