Patriot Valkyrie hacking

[Tod Hansmann]

Before I dive into the apparently new ground, has anyone else tried to
mess with a Patriot Valkyrie NAS and custom firmware? The thing is nice
hardware with horrid software, and it runs slow as all get. I'm hoping
to put something more workable on it, but apparently this is hasn't been
done at all yet.

For reference, this is the device:
http://www.patriotmemory.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=6&catid=44&prodgroupid=160&id=926&type=21

-Tod Hansmann

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[Tod Hansmann]

As a followup, I took the thing apart, and it has a Marvell 88F5182-a2
500 Mhz ARM9 processor on it, so I know it will run linux of some sort.
1 GB of DDR400 ram soldered into the thing in 2 512MB chips. Might be a
good Linux-From-Scratch project here. It doesn't have any flash media
on it, and I'm not sure where exactly it will store the firmware (some
chip I'm not seeing, or at least not recognizing). I'm looking for
ideas on how to get firmware on there if I were to be starting from
scratch, as opposed to using the default web interface (because chances
are that will only work once and I will mess it up the first time).

It will probably be slow going, as side hobby projects tend to be.
Anyone know what direction I should go for this one?

-Tod Hansmann

Post by Tod Hansmann
Before I dive into the apparently new ground, has anyone else tried to
mess with a Patriot Valkyrie NAS and custom firmware? The thing is
nice hardware with horrid software, and it runs slow as all get. I'm
hoping to put something more workable on it, but apparently this is
hasn't been done at all yet.
http://www.patriotmemory.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=6&catid=44&prodgroupid=160&id=926&type=21
-Tod Hansmann

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[Scott Edwards]

Post by Tod Hansmann
As a followup, I took the thing apart, and it has a Marvell 88F5182-a2
500 Mhz ARM9 processor on it, so I know it will run linux of some sort.

...

I asked the same question for a different NAS running an ARM. I got a
reply from someone using the same chipset you mention (possibly a
minor variant)

http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/07/msg00561.html

Believe it or not, I looked for my post first, before looking for the
chipset. I have a lot on my plate for the next few months. I don't
know that I will have time to involve myself in my hobbies very soon,
but I'm interested to follow any developments and help out if I can
(time permitting).

Cheers,


Scott.

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[Tod Hansmann]

Post by Scott Edwards
http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/07/msg00561.html

Incredibly useful link. After reading through much of his thoughts and
a lot more (apparently it has an embedded 128MB NAND Flash Chip) I have
determined that:

a) I can not (yet) find the JTAG or Serial headers on the board and
b) Even if I could, this will cost more than my $0 budget for it will allow.

So I'll have to shelf the project until I have income and want to mess
with hardware hacking.

Thanks, Scott!

-Tod Hansmann

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[Scott Edwards]

Post by Scott Edwards
http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/07/msg00561.html

Incredibly useful link.  After reading through much of his thoughts and
a lot more (apparently it has an embedded 128MB NAND Flash Chip) I have
a) I can not (yet) find the JTAG or Serial headers on the board and
b) Even if I could, this will cost more than my $0 budget for it will allow.
So I'll have to shelf the project until I have income and want to mess
with hardware hacking.
Thanks, Scott!
-Tod Hansmann

Do you have access to a camera that can take crisp macro shots? If
you can upload a few of those some place (probably too big for
everyone on the list), I can look them over. Are there any datasheets
for the arm chip available? Maybe there's some jtag documentation in
there.

Regards,


Scott.

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[Tod Hansmann]

Post by Scott Edwards
Do you have access to a camera that can take crisp macro shots? If
you can upload a few of those some place (probably too big for
everyone on the list), I can look them over. Are there any datasheets
for the arm chip available? Maybe there's some jtag documentation in
there.
Regards,
Scott.

I haven't taken photos yet, and I only looked for a minute or so.
Reading all the labels was annoying. I'll put forth more of an effort
into it when I get a job or somesuch. I'm sure there's something on
there to do it fairly easily. They have to be able to reflash it
somehow. Just not worth the effort if I'm not going to be able to do
anything with it for a while =c)

-Tod Hansmann

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[Dave Smith]

Post by Scott Edwards

Post by Tod Hansmann
As a followup, I took the thing apart, and it has a Marvell 88F5182-a2
500 Mhz ARM9 processor on it, so I know it will run linux of some sort.

...
I asked the same question for a different NAS running an ARM. I got a
reply from someone using the same chipset you mention (possibly a
minor variant)
http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/07/msg00561.html
Believe it or not, I looked for my post first, before looking for the
chipset. I have a lot on my plate for the next few months. I don't
know that I will have time to involve myself in my hobbies very soon,
but I'm interested to follow any developments and help out if I can
(time permitting).

What's running on it now? You might give BuildRoot or OpenWrt a try and
see if you can generate a flashable image. Not sure if the currently
loaded firmware has the ability to flash it (could be the NAND), but it
might be worth a shot. It would be pretty horrible if JTAG were the only
way to upgrade the firmware. I doubt that's the case. Are there any
reset buttons on the thing?

--Dave

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[Dave Smith]

Post by Dave Smith
What's running on it now? You might give BuildRoot or OpenWrt a try and
see if you can generate a flashable image. Not sure if the currently
loaded firmware has the ability to flash it (could be the NAND), but it
might be worth a shot. It would be pretty horrible if JTAG were the only
way to upgrade the firmware. I doubt that's the case. Are there any
reset buttons on the thing?

I would probably try to generate a firmware image (factory .bin file)
using OpenWrt first, and use the Valkrie's built-in web interface to
upgrade to your new firmware. It may be a total flop, in which case
you'll hope there's a factory restore method. Is there? :)

--Dave

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[Nicholas Leippe]

I wonder if it's similar to this in any way:

http://www.marvell.com/products/storage/storage_system_solutions/sata_controllers_pc_consumer/6_gbs_sata_raid_controller_88se91xx_product_brief.pdf

This is the SATA 6Gbps chip on my new motherboard. Marvell 88SE9128.
It has a full arm CPU on it for handling the raid features. The
whitepaper claims that you can get a full embedded sdk with a Linux
open source driver for it. It also says that it is a "sheeva" arm cpu
on it--so the same variant as found on their sheeva plugs I'm
guessing. Perhaps that is a good starting point to investigate.

Oh, and btw, there seem to be gentoo support for the sheeva stuff. I
don't know about openwrt, but they may support sheeva as a build
target as well.

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