Problem:
On Helios64 boot, the Type-C PHY (ff7c0000.phy) gets stuck in
"deferred probe" state with unknown reason. This causes:
- USB 3.0 SuperSpeed via Type-C port not working
- DisplayPort via Type-C (Alt Mode) not working
The following messages appear in dmesg:
platform ff7c0000.phy: deferred probe pending: (reason unknown)
platform fe800000.usb: deferred probe pending: wait for supplier /phy@ff7c0000/usb3-port
platform fec00000.dp: deferred probe pending: wait for supplier /phy@ff7c0000/dp-port
Along with dependency cycle warnings:
/phy@ff7c0000/dp-port: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /i2c@ff3d0000/typec-portc@22/connector
Root cause:
The Helios64 DTS uses a legacy Type-C connection method:
&tcphy0 {
extcon = <&fusb0>; // Expects extcon from fusb302
};
However:
1. The FUSB302 driver with TCPM support (since kernel ~4.14) does NOT
create extcon devices
2. Instead, it uses the Type-C connector class (/sys/class/typec/)
3. The phy-rockchip-typec driver calls extcon_get_edev_by_phandle(),
fails to find an extcon device at the specified phandle, and
returns -EPROBE_DEFER
4. The PHY remains in deferred probe indefinitely
The extcon-cables property is present in the DTS, but without a
typec_extcon_bridge node it serves no purpose.
This bug has existed since Type-C support was added to Helios64
(at least since kernel 6.6). It likely worked with older fusb302
driver versions, but broke after the transition to TCPM.
Solution:
Use the typec-extcon-bridge driver (Armbian patch from Ondrej Jirman/megi)
which translates Type-C connector class events to the extcon interface.
The Pinebook Pro patch (board-pbp-add-dp-alt-mode.patch) implements this
correctly: it has a typec_extcon_bridge node, and all extcon references
point to it rather than directly to fusb0.
Changes:
1. Add typec_extcon_bridge node with compatible = "linux,typec-extcon-bridge"
2. Change extcon = <&fusb0> to extcon = <&typec_extcon_bridge> in
tcphy0, cdn_dp, u2phy0, usbdrd_dwc3_0 nodes
3. Add usb-role-switch, mode-switch, orientation-switch properties
to fusb0 connector for integration with the bridge
4. Update PDO definitions with DUAL_ROLE and DATA_SWAP flags
5. Convert typec-altmodes property to modern altmodes subnode format
(required for TCPM port registration)
6. Add extcon,ignore-usb to u2phy0 (following Pinebook Pro pattern)
7. Add snps,usb3-phy-reset-quirk to usbdrd_dwc3_0
After this fix:
- Type-C PHY (ff7c0000.phy) no longer stuck in deferred probe
- USB 3.0 SuperSpeed via Type-C port should work
- DisplayPort via Type-C (Alt Mode) should work
- Correct cable orientation detection
- USB role switching (host/device)
Known remaining issues:
- FUSB302 fails to register TCPM port with error:
4-0022 typec_fusb302: cannot register tcpm port
This prevents USB Power Delivery negotiation. The root cause
appears to be in the connector configuration and requires
further investigation.
- now each arch has its own dt folder, with its own Makefile auto-patched
- simple Makefile autopatching with `add-only: true`
- as example convert 01 null-patch to bare-dt in `dt_32/` (drop from series too)
- this prepares everything for the more boards in the family
- which will need `dt/` folder to avoid null-patches
- label & make LEDs useful
- alias mmc0/mmc1 so they match u-boot
- expose i2c3 which is exposed in the 40-pin 27:SCL3 28:SDA3 (blue pins)
- shows up at i2c1 to userspace; why would Collabora alias an undescribed bus?
- For 6.18 + 6.19
- mixtile-blade3: add 4-pin header fan at 40c
- mixtile-blade3: add gpu nodes
- mixtile-blade3: add vcc5v0-host-en "usb" pinctrl
- somehow results in 2 working RTL8169's behind the ASM1182e on pcie2x1l0
- which just means the _schematics lie_
- mixtile-blade3: drop rst pinctrl from pcie2x1l0 and pcie2x1l1
- this is me probably being stupid, but also required for working ASM1182e/RTL8169
- Status of this mainline port:
- Initially started by Joshua Riek (2023?)
- I then added some PCIe3x4 stuff, but never got around to finishing it
- Specifically, the 2 FUSB302's are beyond me for now
- One of them _powers_ the board. To use with mainline, power the board some other way with 12V, otherwise kaboom.
- See sre's talk on this issue; Blade3 should be similar to Rock-5b in this aspect.
- A challenge has been the PCI2x1 lanes to the miniPCIe and ASM1182e switch
- Which by themselves seem to work, but the devices behind them (Switch + RTL8169 NICs) do not get powered
- Until one day I tried to describe a (in theory) USB-related power pin, and suddenly both PCIe NICs started working!
- All that said, the board is really not stable with this; end-users are much better off with vendor kernel for now.
- Any and all help is appreciated. Those boards are nice, they've 2 FUSB302, and fancy PCIe Endpoint mode stuff.
- Schematics we have access to are in https://damwold5pt25n.cloudfront.net/blade3/file/Schematic_Blade_3_v1.1.0.pdf
- Those clearly lie.
- The deleted patch is not necessary because rkvdec patch v7 has removed
h264 sps check at start. And future version of chromium can also get rid
of the issue that patch has fixed.
- rpardini: squash with removal of v5
