# Raspberry Pi 3B boot partition filesystem **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Tags:** yocto, raspberry-pi-3, sumo\ **Created:** [July 6, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158 "2020-07-06T21:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![conker00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@conker00](https://hub.mender.io/u/conker00)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/1 "2020-07-06T21:40:44Z")
From what I have read, a raspberry pi 3b should be able to boot with the boot partition’s file system either FAT16 or FAT32. My issue is that some of my raspberry pis don’t boot unless I remake the filesystem as FAT32 and replace the files of the boot partition. This happens with my yocto build and also the mender raspberry pi demo images found here [https://docs.mender.io/2.1/getting-started/download-test-images](https://docs.mender.io/2.1/getting-started/download-test-images). I’ve also tried previous versions 1.6 and 1.7. Is there a way to set the filesystem type to FAT32 for the boot partition instead of FAT16? Changing the mkfs call of the sdcard\_image-rpi within meta-raspberrypi doesn’t seem to work since rpi-sdimg is removed from IMAGE\_FSTYPES in conf/local.conf. Where/when is the uboot.env populated with the boot partition files? Correct me if I’m wrong, with the raspberrypi, the boot partition is rawcopy from uboot.env within mender-part-image.bbclass. All suggestions are greatly appreciated. My apologizes if there is a enforced forum format which I have not followed. ---
**Author:** ![drewmoseley](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/hub.mender.io/drewmoseley/32/47_2.png) [@drewmoseley](https://hub.mender.io/u/drewmoseley)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/2 "2020-07-07T14:30:20Z")
Hi @conker00, welcome to Mender hub. I think you should be able to set the “MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSTYPE” bitbake variable to handle this. Drew ---
**Author:** ![conker00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@conker00](https://hub.mender.io/u/conker00)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/3 "2020-07-14T13:51:26Z")
Hi @drewmoseley Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, changing the MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSTYPE variable didn’t help. It appears to only change the entry within fstab. I’ve done some more reading about my issue and it seems to be a rare occurrence on the cm3 as described in the troubleshooting section here > **[Raspberry Pi Documentation - Compute Module hardware](https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html)** > > The official documentation for Raspberry Pi computers and microcontrollers which reads: > For a small percentage of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3s, booting problems have been reported. We have traced these back to the method used to create the FAT32 partition; we believe the problem is due to a difference in timing between the BCM2835/6/7 and the newer eMMC devices. The following method of creating the partition is a reliable solution in our hands. > > $ sudo parted /dev/ > (parted) mkpart primary fat32 4MiB 64MiB > (parted) q > $ sudo mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/ > $ sudo cp -r /\* I have tried a build with MACHINE = “raspberrypi-cm3” with the same results. My current workaround is to recreate the filesystem as described in the same troubleshooting section directly on the built image using loop devices. ```auto $sudo fdisk -lu core-image-base.sdimg $sudo losetup --offset $(( * )) --sizelimit $(( * )) --show --find core-image-base.sdimg $sudo mkdir -p /mnt/img $sudo mount /dev/loopX /mnt/img # where loopX is the device from losetup $mkdir backup $sudo cp -r /mnt/img/* backup/ $sudo umount /mnt/img $sudo mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/loopX $sudo mount /dev/loopX /mnt/img $sudo cp -r backup/* /mnt/img/ $sudo umount /mnt/img $sudo losetup -d /dev/loopX ``` ---
**Author:** ![drewmoseley](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/hub.mender.io/drewmoseley/32/47_2.png) [@drewmoseley](https://hub.mender.io/u/drewmoseley)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/4 "2020-07-20T17:51:13Z")
@conker00 is the only difference the forcing if 32-bit using “-F32” with mkfs.vfat? I do see that mender-part-images.bbclass always uses type vfat instead of MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSTYPE. @kacf is that intentional or should we update it to use MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSTYPE there? Although it sounds like in this case it wouldn’t help since it appears to be hardware-releated. The bbclass uses WIC to create the file so that logic would somehow need to force 32-bit if that is indeed the fix. Drew ---
**Author:** ![conker00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@conker00](https://hub.mender.io/u/conker00)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/5 "2020-07-20T18:38:10Z")
@drewmoseley From my understanding, yes. Just forcing with mkfs.vfat -F32 fixes the issue. The partition was not altered. ---
**Author:** ![kacf](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/hub.mender.io/kacf/32/146_2.png) [@kacf](https://hub.mender.io/u/kacf)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 6:32am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/6 "2020-07-21T06:32:09Z")
> [@drewmoseley](#): > > I do see that mender-part-images.bbclass always uses type vfat instead of MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSTYPE. @kacf is that intentional or should we update it to use MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSTYPE there? I believe that should be changed, yes. Be aware that `MENDER_BOOT_PART_FSTYPE` is often set to `auto` though, since it is primarily used in `/etc/fstab` at the moment. There is some similar handling for `MENDER_DATA_PART_FSTYPE`, which can be used for inspiration. ---
**Author:** ![drewmoseley](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/hub.mender.io/drewmoseley/32/47_2.png) [@drewmoseley](https://hub.mender.io/u/drewmoseley)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/raspberry-pi-3b-boot-partition-filesystem/2158/7 "2020-07-21T16:08:28Z")
Great. I created [Boot fs type by drewmoseley · Pull Request #1035 · mendersoftware/meta-mender · GitHub](https://github.com/mendersoftware/meta-mender/pull/1035) which should allow the boot partition type and options to be customized. @conker00 once this is merged you can specify: > MENDER\_BOOT\_PART\_FSOPTS\_append = " -F 32 " to avoid the post processing step. If you have a chance to test it and confirm whether it works for you or not that would be most helpful. Drew