Hi Alpine users,

I recently bought a mini PC based on the Loongson 3A5000 CPU and want to
try Alpine on it.

So i downloaded alpine-standard-3.24.1-loongarch64.iso and checked the
sha256sum: it was ok.

Then i used:
dd if=alpine-standard-3.24.1-loongarch64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M
to put it on my 16GB USB key.

As suggested in the wiki, i did the following:
cmp alpine-standard-3.24.1-loongarch64.iso /dev/sdb

And got:
cmp: EOF on alpine-standard-3.24.1-loongarch64.iso

Secure Boot is disabled in the BIOS.

When the machine boots, i select the USB key.
Then i press [Enter] and nothing happens.

Does someone have a clue on what causes the problem?

Christophe

Hi Christophe,

The `cmp` output you got is completely normal it just means the flash
completed successfully up to the size of the ISO image.

Since it hangs immediately after selecting the USB drive, it's
likely a firmware or display initialization quirk. You can
try a few things:

  1. Try plugging the USB key into a USB 2.0 port instead of a USB 3.0
  port. Some Loongson UEFI implementations struggle to
  hand off controllers properly during early boot. 

  2. If your mini PC has multiple display outputs
  (like HDMI and DisplayPort), try changing cable to other
  port. Sometimes the kernel initializes the video on the secondary
  port by default.

Best,
Shivank Sharma

Hi Shivank,

Thank you for your reply.

I tried with my USB key either in USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port, and my
screen connected to either VGA or HDMI port.

All combinations give me the same result: pressing [Enter] makes me
stay in the "Please select boot device" menu.

I suspect a BIOS issue. BIOS information:

BIOS Base Line Version:
UDK2018-V4.0.05759-stable202405-build20241128-C2000-H1600-M700
BIOS Version: NA511C1-V1.0.1-20241128
Computer Type: Loongson-3A5000-LS5CT-V202

I'll try to contact the manufacturer in the hope there is a new version
of the BIOS.

Christophe

Hi Christophe,
Thanks for the update.


*Please select boot device* menu usually means that UEFI isnt
recognizing the partition structure of the EFI boot loader on the USB
device at all.

Before waiting on BIOS update from the manufacturer, you could try few
more things.
1) Check UEFI vs. CSM/Legacy settings
Even if your secure boot is disabled make sure that the Boot mode is
strictly set to UEFI. LoongArch64 depends entirely on modern UEFI, if
the BIOS tries to look for MBR boot record it will fail silently.

2) Rewriting the USB using ventoy or any similar tool
Sometimes dd creates a partition layout that certain finicky
UDK2018-based firmwares hate. If you have access to another Linux
computer , you could try installing ventoy in the USB key, copying the
Alpine ISO onto it, and seeing if the Ventoy bootloader successfully
hands off control to the ISO.

Try Ventoy if you suspect dd's partition scheme is the issue, but if
the firmware fundamentally can't read UEFI boot structures, neither dd
nor Ventoy will help, you will need a BIOS update


Best,
Shivank Sharma

On Tue, 2026-07-14 at 02:20 +0530, Shivank Sharma wrote:
> Rewriting the USB using ventoy

Hi,

if you're using Ventoy, stick with the default setting: FAT partitions
for everything. I've used Ventoy USB drives with ext partitions to hold
Linux ISOs on them. That worked on my old computer, but it no longer
works on my current computer, which isn't exactly brand new anymore.

Regards,
Ralf

Hi Shivank,

> 1) Check UEFI vs. CSM/Legacy settings
> Even if your secure boot is disabled make sure that the Boot mode is
> strictly set to UEFI.

How do i do that? I found no option in the BIOS where "UEFI" would
appear.

I can however access an UEFI Shell from the Boot Menu, but i don't know
which command i have to use to interact with it.

Moreover, i found the page
https://www.wezm.net/v2/posts/2026/loongarch-mini-pc-m700s/ on which
the author writes his BIOS is UEFI. Mine is very similar to his but i
have two more items in the menu, "Power" and "Advanced".
My BIOS main menu is:

Main
Set Date And Time
Security
Power
Advanced
Device Manager
Boot Manager
Boot Maintenance Manager
Save & Exit

Regards,
Christophe

Hi Christophe,

Since you have a UEFI shell available, your BIOS is already UEFI only.
This board does not expose CSM/Legacy toggle because it does not
support it, so that's not that issue.

Two things to try:
1) Go to `Boot Maintenance Manager` -> Boot Options -> Add Boot Option,
select the USB device 
navigate to `EFI/BOOT` then select .efi file. Save it then try booting
entry directly instead of using `select boot device` menu 

2) Try booting manually from UEFI shell,
In the shell run `map -r` 
It will print out recognized file systems (fs0,fs1,etc) then find the
one that corrosponds to your USB key then 
`fs0:` (replace this with your USB key)
`cd /EFI/BOOT/`
BOOTLOONGARCH64.EFI.


If map -r doesn't show a filesystem for the USB key, that confirms
the firmware isn't reading the partition ESP correctly, and
Ventoy (formatted FAT, per Ralf's note) or a BIOS update would be the
next steps.

Best,
Shivank

Hi Shivank,

Note: i used dd to put alpine iso on my USB key (not Ventoy).

I plugged my USB key, pressed the "power on" button and hit F2 to go
into the UEFI BIOS. Then chose "Boot Maintenance Manager" -> "Add Boot
Options". There i chose the following item:

NO FILE SYSTEM INFO,
[PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0xA,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0)]

Then "<efi>" -> "<boot>" -> "bootloongarch64.efi"

In "Input the description", i wrote "Alpine bootloongarch64.efi",
selected "Commit Changes and Exit", hit "Esc" 3 times to go back to the
main menu of UEFI BIOS. Then "Save & Exit" -> "Save Changes and Reset"
-> "Save Configuration and reset? [Yes]".

Machine reboots and i hit F12. In the "Please select boot device" menu,
i choose "Alpine bootloongarch64.efi" then the sole grub item "Linux
lts".

I then get the following lines on my screen:

lpc: Failed to get LPC status
eiointc: Error: invalid nodemap!
eiointc: Error: invalid nodemap!
eiointc: Error: invalid nodemap!

Regards,
Christophe

Hi Christophe,

Sorry for a bit late reply.

The bootloader handoff worked.
What you are seeing now is kernel level hardware init failure not a
boot problem. 
The key thing here is eiointc: Error invalid nodemap!
During early boot , the kernel parses the ACPI tables provided
by your firmware to map out CPUs and interrupts, your kernel
cannot correctly map the interrupt topology from your motherboard
specific version..

I think the best option now is just asking for firmware update,
specifically whether they have eiointc related fixes for this SKU.

Best,
Shivank