Pi4 cooling fan

137 System ROM GPIO 1.00 Dormant’

Well, that explains why CPUClock does not control the fan, and the little Basic progs give errors – the GPIO module is inactive. The question is – why has the GPIO module been set dormant? Will a *rmreinit GPIO turn things back on again, or has the OS detected some hardware problem?

or has the OS detected some hardware problem?

Looks like it:

*rmreinit GPIO
Unsupported hardware configuration
*

In an email exchange, Andrew Conroy suggested the PWM configuration of this fan might be an issue, if that was unsupported by CPUClock.

Unsupported hardware configuration

You might need to run a newer OS/firmware on your Pi4? Have a look at this thread: https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/11/topics/15958#posts-112470

newer OS/firmware on your Pi4

I updated FIXUP4/DAT and CONFIG/TXT fifteen days ago, when I acquired this Pi4B (successor to the one that expired last year), so I don’t think that’s an issue. However, I am still running 5.29 (04-Nov-21). I’ll check the link; thanks.

Run ScreenHelp – that will show the date of the EEPROM as well as firmware and rom.

Unsupported hardware configuration

Pi 4B Rev 1.5 support was added on 5th Feb 2022: https://gitlab.riscosopen.org/RiscOS/Sources/HAL/HAL_BCM2835/-/commit/1de3db8c9e0cfc103e0a2698f2a8560db1fbdd02

ScreenHelp says:

Raspberry Pi Model 4B (4096Mbytes) PCB revision 5 (C03115)
- followed by what looks like the MAC which I’m withholding. Other info:

RISC OS 5.29H (04 Nov 2021); PROM: 2023/01/11 17:4

Just for reference my 4te2 (Pi 4B) has RISC OS 5.29H (26 Jun 2022) PCB revision 5 (C03115)
PROM: Mar 18 2021 08:

help on GPIO gives GPIO 1.00 (24 Jun 2021) HAL.7 – note it is in ROM.

*rmreinit GPIO
Unsupported hardware configuration

It looks like Risc OS is not recognising some hardware aspect.

In an email exchange, Andrew Conroy suggested the PWM configuration of this fan might be an issue, if that was unsupported by CPUClock.

This would be entirely separate – the GPIO module would be active etc, but CPUClock would not be able to control the fan correctly. Not sure how this particular fan does PWM. It is a three wire device, as I understand it. It is possible to do PWM by simply toggling the fan on/off rapidly, and setting the on/off pulse lengths appropriately to change the fan speed. However, I thought that that requires much more processing, which would (a) increase the amount of work done in the call back routines and (b) could also cause the CPU temperature to rise due to more processing.

It looks like Risc OS is not recognising some hardware aspect.

Could it be I need to update my OS version from the November 2021 iteration of 5.29?

Could it be I need to update my OS version from the November 2021 iteration of 5.29?

According to my notes, you’ll need a RISC OS 5.29 ROM dated 2022-02-06 or later to get GPIO working, and if you want a working Ethernet port you may need a 5.29 ROM dated 2023-09-05 or later. By the looks of things you’ve already got the right firmware.¹

¹ The Pi 4B rev 1.5 won’t boot if start4.elf is too old, so you may already have updated start4.elf and fixup4.dat.

… you may already have updated start4.elf and fixup4.dat.

Yes, both of those. As you say, it boots!

you’ll need a RISC OS 5.29 ROM dated 2022-02-06 or later

Is there any reason /not/ to install the latest build?

The latest build, on the CM4 Lite (and perhaps other variants of Pi 4) will not read most SD cards of size 32GB and above. This applies to any build on or after 21 Jan 2023, see bug #611. So you need a build from between these dates 6th Feb 2022 to 11 Jan 2023. If you have a CM4 with eMMc, then you need the latest rom.

So you need a build from between these dates 6th Feb 2022 to 11 Jan 2023

I don’t know where to get such a build – the only option available here AFAICS https://www.riscosopen.org/wiki/documentation/show/Software%20information:%20RaspberryPi:%20Beta%20RPi%20ROM
is the latest build.

I don’t know where to get such a build

If you go to this page on the Wayback Machine and click on the “Beta RPi ROM” link you’ll get a RISC OS 5.29 ROM dated April 2022.

This process is rather hit-and-miss: the Wayback Machine only captures a tiny proportion of beta ROMs.

My Pi 4B (rev 4) is working fine with a 32GB SD card and 09-Jan-24 5.29 OS. Happily controls fan.

My Pi 4B (rev 5) is working fine with a 32GB SD card and 28-Jan-24 5.29 ROM and 09-Jan-25 !Boot. There is no fan, it is passively cooled with an Armour Heatsink case. The GPIO module has initialised.

ROM and !Boot should both be updated.

The CM4 has card issues AIUI, but the RPI4 is not a CM4.

Thanks for all the help/advice, chaps. Away now for a couple of weeks, will look into all when I get back.

The OS5.28 (10-Feb-22) ROM should be good to go an RPi4 rev5. A quick look here shows the GPIO module to be active.

*FX0
RISC OS 5.28 (10 Feb 2022)
*
*Help GPIO
==> Help on keyword GPIO
Module is: GPIO            1.00 (31 Mar 2018) 1.11.2.5

Revision code B03115
Revision no. 5

There is no actual fan on my RPi4 rev5 so this suggestion is not fully tested.

I have recently bought RPI4B, and Armorlite heatsink and fan working together here. RO5.28 10-Feb-2022.
GPIO same as the post above. CPUtemp controls the fan. Fanspeed doesn’t.

I don’t know how to check the revision of the RPI.

I don’t know how to check the revision of the RPI.

Chris Hall’s excellent ScreenHelp from the PlingStore obliges.

Revision codes are described here

Chris Hall’s excellent ScreenHelp from the PlingStore obliges.

Unfortunately it doesn’t here. It gives “Object to big for group”. Increasing wimp slot doesn’t fix it. RO5.28 on rpi-4B.

It does function on my ARMX6, and on a pi3B running 5.29 22-Dec-2022.

I don’t know how to check the revision of the RPI.

If ScreenHelp isn’t working, you can try this BASIC prog: https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/11/topics/15958#posts-112470

It gives “Object to big for group”. Increasing wimp slot doesn’t fix it. RO5.28 on rpi-4B.

It is OK here everywhere, including on OS5.28 RPi4 rev5.

Where ever does that error come from??

Where ever does that error come from??

The line referred to is a "SYS Drawfile_Render" call

14:04:43.07 * Error *
Error : &00020C06
Message: Object size too big for group (location &1FF12C in file)
14:04:43.07 * WimpError * from ScrHelp
Error : &00000000
Message: Object size too big for group (location &1FF12C in file) (error at line 12310 ). Select ‘OK’ to continue.
14:04:43.07 [BASIC/ScrHelp] Exec