diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/image/Config.in b/target/linux/mediatek/image/Config.in
index ef8536ebab..63329d386a 100644
--- a/target/linux/mediatek/image/Config.in
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/image/Config.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 config MTK_BOOT_PARTSIZE
        int "Boot (SD Card/eMMC) filesystem partition size (in MiB)"
-       depends on TARGET_mediatek_mt7623_DEVICE_bpi_bananapi-r2 || TARGET_DEVICE_mediatek_mt7623_DEVICE_bpi_bananapi-r2 || TARGET_mediatek_mt7623_DEVICE_unielec_u7623-emmc || TARGET_DEVICE_mediatek_mt7623_DEVICE_unielec_u7623-emmc
+       depends on TARGET_mediatek_mt7623_DEVICE_unielec_u7623-emmc || TARGET_DEVICE_mediatek_mt7623_DEVICE_unielec_u7623-emmc
        default 32
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623.mk b/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623.mk
index 56f67c0e89..c404b333ba 100644
--- a/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623.mk
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623.mk
@@ -1,60 +1,124 @@
 KERNEL_LOADADDR := 0x80008000
 DEVICE_VARS += UBOOT_TARGET UBOOT_OFFSET UBOOT_ENVSIZE
 
-ifneq ($(CONFIG_MTK_BOOT_PARTSIZE),)
-BOOTFS_BLOCK_SIZE := 1024
-BOOTFS_BLOCKS := $(shell echo $$(($(CONFIG_MTK_BOOT_PARTSIZE)*1024*1024/$(BOOTFS_BLOCK_SIZE))))
-endif
+# The bootrom of MT7623 expects legacy MediaTek headers present in
+# exactly the location also used for the primary GPT partition table.
+# (*MMC_BOOT and BRLYT)
+# Hence only MSDOS/MBR partitioning can work here.
+#
+#   ------------------------   Sector   Offset
+#   |  MBR + SDMMC_BOOT    |     0       0x0
+#   |----------------------|
+#   |     BRLYT header     |     1       0x200
+#   |----------------------|
+#   .                      .
+#   .                      .
+#   |----------------------|
+#   |                      |     4       0x800
+#   |                      |
+#   |     Preloader        |
+#   .                      .
+#   .                      .
+#   |                      |     639
+#   |----------------------|
+#   |   MBR partition #1   |     640     0x50000
+#   |                      |
+#   |       U-Boot         |
+#   .                      .
+#   .                      .
+#   |                      |     1663
+#   |----------------------|
+#   |   MBR partition #2   |
+#   |                      |
+#   |       Recovery       |
+#   .                      .
+#   .     (uImage.FIT)     .
+#   |                      |
+#   |----------------------|
+#   |   MBR partition #3   |
+#   |                      |
+#   |      Production      |
+#   |                      |
+#   |     (uImage.FIT,     |
+#   .     rootfs_Data.)    .
+#   .                      .
+#   |                      |
+#   ------------------------
+#
+# For eMMC boot, everything up to and including the preloader must be
+# written to /dev/mmcblk0boot0, with the SDMMC_BOOT header changed to
+# read EMMC_BOOT\0 instead.
+#
+# The contents of the main eMMC are identical to the SD card layout,
+# with the preloader loading 512KiB of U-Boot starting at 0x50000.
 
-define Build/mtk-mmc-img
-	rm -f $@.boot
-	mkfs.fat -C $@.boot $(BOOTFS_BLOCKS)
+define Build/mt7623-mbr
+	cp $@ $@.tmp 2>/dev/null || true
+	ptgen -o $@.tmp -h 4 -s 63 -a 0 -l 1024 \
+			-t 0x41	-N uboot	-p 3584k@320k \
+			-t 0xea	-N recovery	-p 40M@4M \
+		$(if $(findstring sdmmc,$1), \
+			-t 0x2e -N production	-p 208M@48M \
+		) \
+		$(if $(findstring emmc,$1), \
+			-t 0x2e -N production	-p 976M@48M \
+		)
 
-	if [ -r $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$(UBOOT_TARGET)-preloader.bin ]; then \
-		./gen_mtk_mmc_img.sh emmc $@.emmc \
-			$(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$(UBOOT_TARGET)-preloader.bin; \
-		mcopy -i $@.boot $@.emmc ::eMMCboot.bin; \
-	fi
-	mkenvimage -s $(UBOOT_ENVSIZE) -o $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$(UBOOT_TARGET)-uboot.env $(UBOOT_TARGET)-uEnv.txt
-	mcopy -i $@.boot $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$(UBOOT_TARGET)-uboot.env ::uboot.env
-	mcopy -i $@.boot $(IMAGE_KERNEL) ::uImage
-	./gen_mtk_mmc_img.sh sd $@ \
-		$(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$(UBOOT_TARGET)-preloader.bin \
-		$(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$(UBOOT_TARGET)-u-boot*.bin \
-		$(UBOOT_OFFSET) \
-		$@.boot \
-		$(IMAGE_ROOTFS) \
-		$(CONFIG_MTK_BOOT_PARTSIZE) \
-		$(CONFIG_TARGET_ROOTFS_PARTSIZE)
+	echo -en \
+		$(if $(findstring sdmmc,$1),"SDMMC_BOOT\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00") \
+		$(if $(findstring emmc,$1),"EMMC_BOOT\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00") \
+		| dd bs=1 of="$@.tmp" seek=0 conv=notrunc
+
+	echo -en "BRLYT\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x42\x42\x42\x42\x08\x00\x01\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00"\
+		| dd bs=1 of="$@.tmp" seek=512 conv=notrunc
+
+	cat $@.tmp >> $@
+	rm $@.tmp
 endef
 
-define Build/preloader
-	$(CP) $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$1-preloader.bin $@
+define Build/append-preloader
+	cat $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$1-preloader.bin >> $@
 endef
 
+define Build/append-bootloader
+	cat $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/$1-u-boot.bin >> $@
+endef
+
+define Device/bananapi_bpi-r2
+  DEVICE_VENDOR := Bananapi
+  DEVICE_MODEL := BPi-R2
+  DEVICE_DTS := mt7623n-bananapi-bpi-r2
+  DEVICE_PACKAGES := kmod-mmc mkf2fs e2fsprogs kmod-usb3 kmod-ata-ahci
+  UBOOT_ENVSIZE := 0x10000
+  UBOOT_OFFSET := 320k
+  UBOOT_TARGET := mt7623n_bpir2
+  UBOOT_PATH := $(STAGING_DIR_IMAGE)/mt7623n_bpir2-u-boot.bin
+  IMAGES := sysupgrade.itb
+  KERNEL := kernel-bin | gzip
+  KERNEL_INITRAMFS_SUFFIX := -recovery.itb
+  KERNEL_INITRAMFS := kernel-bin | gzip | fit gzip $$(DTS_DIR)/$$(DEVICE_DTS).dtb with-initrd
+  IMAGE/sysupgrade.itb := append-kernel | fit gzip $$(DTS_DIR)/$$(DEVICE_DTS).dtb external-static-with-rootfs | append-metadata
+  ARTIFACT/preloader.bin := append-preloader $$(UBOOT_TARGET)
+  ARTIFACT/u-boot.bin := append-uboot
+  ARTIFACT/sdcard.img.gz := mt7623-mbr sdmmc |\
+			    pad-to 2k | append-preloader $$(UBOOT_TARGET) |\
+			    pad-to 320k | append-bootloader $$(UBOOT_TARGET) |\
+			    pad-to 4092k | mt7623-mbr emmc |\
+			    pad-to 4M | append-image-stage initramfs-recovery.itb |\
+			    pad-to 48M | append-image squashfs-sysupgrade.itb |\
+			    gzip
+  ARTIFACTS = u-boot.bin preloader.bin scatter.txt sdcard.img.gz
+  SUPPORTED_DEVICES := bananapi,bpi-r2
+endef
+TARGET_DEVICES += bananapi_bpi-r2
+
+
+
 define Build/scatterfile
 	./gen_scatterfile.sh $(subst mt,MT,$(SUBTARGET)) "$1" \
 		$(subst -scatter.txt,,$(notdir $@)) "$(DEVICE_TITLE)" > $@
 endef
 
-define Device/bpi_bananapi-r2
-  DEVICE_VENDOR := Bpi
-  DEVICE_MODEL := Banana Pi R2
-  DEVICE_DTS := mt7623n-bananapi-bpi-r2
-  DEVICE_PACKAGES := kmod-fs-vfat kmod-nls-cp437 kmod-nls-iso8859-1 kmod-mmc \
-	mkf2fs e2fsprogs kmod-usb-ohci kmod-usb2 kmod-usb3 kmod-ata-ahci-mtk
-  UBOOT_ENVSIZE := 0x2000
-  UBOOT_OFFSET := 320k
-  UBOOT_TARGET := mt7623n_bpir2
-  IMAGES := img.gz
-  IMAGE/img.gz := mtk-mmc-img | gzip | append-metadata
-  ARTIFACT/preloader.bin := preloader $$(UBOOT_TARGET)
-  ARTIFACT/scatter.txt := scatterfile $$(firstword $$(FILESYSTEMS))-$$(firstword $$(IMAGES))
-  ARTIFACTS = preloader.bin scatter.txt
-  SUPPORTED_DEVICES := bananapi,bpi-r2
-endef
-TARGET_DEVICES += bpi_bananapi-r2
-
 # Full eMMC image including U-Boot and partition table
 define Device/unielec_u7623-emmc
   DEVICE_VENDOR := UniElec
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623n_bpir2-uEnv.txt b/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623n_bpir2-uEnv.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index f260ed9176..0000000000
--- a/target/linux/mediatek/image/mt7623n_bpir2-uEnv.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,78 +0,0 @@
-# Boot menu for Banana Pi R2
-# Copyright © 2020 David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>
-
-kernel=uImage
-loadaddr=0x88000000
-dtaddr=0x83f00000
-fdt_high=0xffffffff
-
-console=ttyS2,115200
-bootopts=rootfstype=squashfs,ext4 rootwait
-
-# Create the command line (with appropriate root=) and boot the Linux FIT image.
-boot1=setenv bootargs "console=${console} root=${rootdev} ${bootopts}";printenv bootargs;\
- fatload mmc ${partition} ${loadaddr} ${kernel}; bootm
-
-# The preloader leaves a breadcrumb behind to say what it booted from.
-checkbootedfrom=if itest.l *81dffff0 == 434d4d65 ; then setenv bootedfrom eMMC; else setenv bootedfrom SD; fi;
-
-# Build the boot menu one item at a time
-bm_count=0
-checkkernel=test -e mmc ${bm_part} ${kernel}
-addbm=if run checkkernel; then setenv bootmenu_${bm_count} "Boot from ${bm_dev}.=setenv partition ${bm_part};setenv rootdev ${bm_root};run boot1";if test "${bootedfrom}" = "${bm_dev}"; then setenv bootmenu_default ${bm_count};fi;setexpr bm_count ${bm_count} + 1; fi
-# Here we assume that SD card id mmcblk1 and eMMC is mmcblk0 in linux. Swap them if your DTS define them in reverse order.
-addeMMCbm=setenv bm_part 0:2;setenv bm_root /dev/mmcblk0p3;setenv bm_dev eMMC;run addbm
-addSDbm=setenv bm_part 1:2;setenv bm_root /dev/mmcblk1p3;setenv bm_dev SD;run addbm
-addinstallbm=if test "${bootedfrom}" = "SD";then run checkinstall; if run validparts; then setenv bootmenu_${bm_count} "Install OpenWrt from SD to internal eMMC.=run doinstall";setexpr bm_count ${bm_count} + 1;fi;fi
-
-runbootmenu=if test "${bootedfrom}" = "";then run checkbootedfrom;fi;\
- setenv bm_count 0;run addeMMCbm;run addSDbm;run addinstallbm;setenv bootmenu_${bm_count};\
- bootmenu
-
-bootdelay=0
-bootcmd=run checkbootedfrom;run runbootmenu
-
-# XX: Can we read this from the device, or must we trust they're all the same as mine?
-# Probably not that important as we're unlikely ever to hit the limit anyway.
-maxsect=0xe8ffff
-validparts=false
-
-# We could use 'part size' here but I'd like to check the types too.
-checkinstall=mmc dev 1;\
- mmc read 0x88000002 0 1;\
- setenv validparts true;\
- test -e mmc 1:2 eMMCboot.bin || setenv validparts false && echo "eMMCboot.bin not present on SD partition 2";\
- if run validparts && itest.b *0x880001c4 != 0x41; then echo "SD partition 1 is not a PReP Boot partition"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- if run validparts && itest.l *0x880001c8 != 0x280; then echo "SD partition 1 does not start at 320KiB for U-Boot"; mmc part; exit; fi;\
- if run validparts && itest.l *0x880001cc != 0x400; then echo "SD partition 1 is not 512KiB in size for U-Boot"; mmc part; exit; fi;\
- if run validparts && itest.b *0x880001d4 != 0x0c; then echo "SD partition 2 is not a FAT32 partition"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- if run validparts && itest.b *0x880001e4 != 0x83; then echo "SD partition 3 is not a Linux partition"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- setexpr.l part2_start *0x880001d8;setexpr.l part2_len *0x880001dc;setexpr.l part3_start *0x880001e8;setexpr.l part3_len *0x880001ec;\
- if run validparts && test 0x${part2_start} -gt ${maxsect}; then echo "SD partition 2 start too high"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- if run validparts && test 0x${part2_len} -gt ${maxsect}; then echo "SD partition 2 is too large"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- if run validparts && test 0x${part3_start} -gt ${maxsect}; then echo "SD partition 3 start too high"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- if run validparts && test 0x${part3_len} -gt ${maxsect}; then echo "SD partition 2 is too large"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- setexpr.l part2_end 0x$(part2_start} + 0x${part2_len};setexpr.l part3_end 0x${part3_start} + 0x${part3_len};\
- if run validparts && test 0x${part2_end} -ge ${maxsect}; then echo "SD partition 2 end too high"; setenv validparts false; fi;\
- if run validparts && test 0x${part3_end} -ge ${maxsect}; then echo "SD partition 3 end too high"; setenv validparts false; fi;
-
-# Copy a single chunk, up to 0x8000 sectors / 16MiB, from SD to eMMC at the specified offset.
-writechunk=setenv thislen 8000; if test 0x${partlen} -lt 0x${thislen}; then setenv thislen ${partlen};fi;\
- mmc dev 1;mmc read ${loadaddr} 0x${partofs} 0x${thislen};\
- mmc dev 0; mmc write ${loadaddr} 0x${partofs} 0x${thislen};\
- setexpr partofs 0x${partofs} + 0x${thislen};setexpr partlen 0x${partlen} - 0x${thislen}
-
-# Copy a partition defined by ${partofs} / ${partlen} from SD to eMMC
-writepart=while test 0x${partlen} -ne 0; do run writechunk; done
-
-# Configure the eMMC boot partition and write eMMCboot.bin to it
-writeboot=mmc partconf 0 1 1 0;fatload mmc 1:2 ${loadaddr} eMMCboot.bin;\
- setexpr filesize ${filesize} + 0x1ff;setexpr blocks ${filesize} / 0x200;\
- mmc dev 0 1;mmc write ${loadaddr} 0 ${blocks}
-
-# Install OpenWrt from the SD card to internal eMMC.
-doinstall=run checkinstall;if run validparts;then run writeboot;\
- echo "Copying preloader and U-Boot";setenv partofs 0;setenv partlen 680;run writepart;\
- echo "Copying FAT boot partition";setenv partofs ${part2_start};setenv partlen ${part2_len};run writepart;\
- echo "Copying root partition";setenv partofs ${part3_start};setenv partlen ${part3_len};run writepart;\
- echo "Installed OpenWrt to eMMC";setenv bootedfrom eMMC;run runbootmenu;fi
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/preinit/79_move_config b/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/preinit/79_move_config
index f47894c0fd..9dfb06bd81 100644
--- a/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/preinit/79_move_config
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/preinit/79_move_config
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ move_config() {
 	local partdev partnum
 
 	case $(board_name) in
-	bananapi,bpi-r2)
-		partnum=2
-		;;
 	unielec,u7623-02-emmc-512m)
 		if grep -q root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 /proc/cmdline; then
 			partnum=1;
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh b/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh
index d3da22d496..4564bc61dd 100755
--- a/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 
 REQUIRE_IMAGE_METADATA=1
+RAMFS_COPY_BIN='blockdev'
 
 # Full system upgrade including preloader for MediaTek SoCs on eMMC or SD
 mtk_mmc_full_upgrade() {
@@ -83,7 +84,18 @@ platform_do_upgrade() {
 
 	case "$board" in
 	bananapi,bpi-r2)
-		mtk_mmc_full_upgrade "$1"
+		export_bootdevice
+		export_partdevice rootdev 0
+		export_partdevice fitpart 3
+		[ "$fitpart" ] || return 1
+		dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/$fitpart bs=4096 count=1 2>/dev/null
+		blockdev --rereadpt /dev/$rootdev
+		get_image "$1" | dd of=/dev/$fitpart
+		blockdev --rereadpt /dev/$rootdev
+		local datapart=$(get_partition_by_name $rootdev "rootfs_data")
+		[ "$datapart" ] || return 0
+		dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/$datapart bs=4096 count=1 2>/dev/null
+		echo $datapart > /tmp/sysupgrade.datapart
 		;;
 
 	unielec,u7623-02-emmc-512m)
@@ -126,32 +138,10 @@ platform_check_image() {
 
 	case "$board" in
 	bananapi,bpi-r2)
-		[ "$magic" != "53444d4d" ] && {
+		[ "$magic" != "d00dfeed" ] && {
 			echo "Invalid image type."
 			return 1
 		}
-		export_bootdevice && export_partdevice diskdev 0 || {
-			echo "Unable to determine upgrade device"
-			return 1
-		    }
-
-		get_partitions "/dev/$diskdev" bootdisk
-
-		#extract the boot sector from the image
-		get_image "$@" | dd of=/tmp/image.bs count=1 bs=512b 2>/dev/null
-
-		get_partitions /tmp/image.bs image
-
-		#compare tables
-		diff="$(grep -F -x -v -f /tmp/partmap.bootdisk /tmp/partmap.image)"
-
-		rm -f /tmp/image.bs /tmp/partmap.bootdisk /tmp/partmap.image
-
-		if [ -n "$diff" ]; then
-			echo "Partition layout has changed. Full image will be written."
-			ask_bool 0 "Abort" && exit 1
-			return 0
-		fi
 		;;
 	unielec,u7623-02-emmc-512m)
 		# Can always upgrade to the new-style full image
@@ -180,9 +170,19 @@ platform_check_image() {
 	return 0
 }
 
+platform_copy_config_mmc() {
+	[ -e "$UPGRADE_BACKUP" ] || return
+	local datapart=$(cat /tmp/sysupgrade.datapart)
+	[ "$datapart" ] || echo "no rootfs_data partition, cannot keep configuration." >&2
+	dd if="$UPGRADE_BACKUP" of=/dev/$datapart
+	sync
+}
+
 platform_copy_config() {
 	case "$(board_name)" in
-	bananapi,bpi-r2|\
+	bananapi,bpi-r2)
+		platform_copy_config_mmc
+		;;
 	unielec,u7623-02-emmc-512m)
 		# platform_do_upgrade() will have set $recoverydev
 		if [ -n "$recoverydev" ]; then
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/config-5.10 b/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/config-5.10
index 4a43b51675..ca1f92ae78 100644
--- a/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/config-5.10
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/mt7623/config-5.10
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ CONFIG_HARDIRQS_SW_RESEND=y
 CONFIG_HAS_DMA=y
 CONFIG_HAS_IOMEM=y
 CONFIG_HAS_IOPORT_MAP=y
+CINFIG_HAVE_ARM_ARCH_TIMER=y
 CONFIG_HAVE_SMP=y
 CONFIG_HDMI=y
 CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/patches-5.10/160-dts-mt7623-bpi-r2-earlycon.patch b/target/linux/mediatek/patches-5.10/160-dts-mt7623-bpi-r2-earlycon.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bd386c8420
--- /dev/null
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/patches-5.10/160-dts-mt7623-bpi-r2-earlycon.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+--- a/arch/arm/boot/dts/mt7623n-bananapi-bpi-r2.dts
++++ b/arch/arm/boot/dts/mt7623n-bananapi-bpi-r2.dts
+@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
+ 
+ 	chosen {
+ 		stdout-path = "serial2:115200n8";
+-		bootargs = "console=ttyS2,115200n8";
++		bootargs = "earlycon=uart8250,mmio32,0x11004000 console=ttyS2,115200n8";
+ 	};
+ 
+ 	connector {
diff --git a/target/linux/mediatek/patches-5.10/161-dts-mt7623-bpi-r2-mmc-device-order.patch b/target/linux/mediatek/patches-5.10/161-dts-mt7623-bpi-r2-mmc-device-order.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d1bafc1526
--- /dev/null
+++ b/target/linux/mediatek/patches-5.10/161-dts-mt7623-bpi-r2-mmc-device-order.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+--- a/arch/arm/boot/dts/mt7623n-bananapi-bpi-r2.dts
++++ b/arch/arm/boot/dts/mt7623n-bananapi-bpi-r2.dts
+@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
+ 
+ 	aliases {
+ 		serial2 = &uart2;
++		mmc0 = &mmc0;
++		mmc1 = &mmc1;
+ 	};
+ 
+ 	chosen {