Need help booting to SD card for Pogo V4, stuck at "Starting kernel ..."

I have the Pogo V4-A1-05 (which should be the same as Pogo V4-A1-01)

I collected and followed the instructions to boot up via the SD card. The SD card has the ArchLinux image from http://archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-armv5te-latest.tar.gz. This image booted fine with the USB drive.

I installed davy's uboot and Jeff's envs according to Bodhi's instructions here:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,11663

I have netconsole working. After getting the netconsole prompt, I manually entered each step tracing through the bootcmd.

I called:
> mmc init;
> mmc init;
> run mmc_set_bootargs;
> run mmc_boot;

I get the following output after calling mmc_boot:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loading file "/boot/uImage" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)

3124268 bytes read
Loading file "/boot/uInitrd" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
** File not found /boot/uInitrd
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 00800000 ...
Image Name: Linux-3.1.10-33-ARCH
Image Type: ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size: 3124204 Bytes = 3 MiB
Load Address: 00008000
Entry Point: 00008000
Verifying Checksum ... OK
Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK
Using machid 0xf78 from environment

Starting kernel ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's my env:
http://pastie.org/private/hxfydyksqrxse5jleeiaqg
(Ignore the "mtd" variable; I messed up when setting "mtdparts")

The Pogo has a stable green light (non-blinking), but I cannot ssh or ping into the machine. It has a static IP.

Is there a recommended rootfs image that I can install on the SD card? It seems uboot recognizes the card and can read the image, but for some reason it can't start the kernel...

What could be wrong? Any ideas on how I can debug this further?

velo,

From your post I guess you don't have serial console. This is most likely problem with mounting rootfs, and there is no way we can see it in netconsole. Usually the pre-built rootfs has a default root device, and that is most likely /dev/sda1. Therefore you would have no problem with booting with USB.

What you can try is put my Debian rootfs on the SD card. And be sure to label it rootfs, as described in this thread:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

Take this rootfs to the Pogo V4 and cold start it. Interrupt netconsole, temporarily modify the bootargs as and boot:

setenv mmc_set_bootargs 'setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200 root=LABEL=rootfs rootdelay=10 rootfstype=ext2 mtdparts=orion_nand:2M(u-boot),3M(uImage),3M(uImage2),8M(failsafe),112M(root)"
boot

Do not save the envs. We want it to temporary for this boot only.

If you boot successfully after doing this. It'd prove that the system could not mount the rootfs. And the reason is most likely what I elaborated above. Do this first and we go from there. Running Arch without initrd, you can't use the label to help in booting, you would have to use other means.

-bodhi
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Thanks for responding, bodhi.

Here is what I see now:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loading file "/boot/uImage" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
2461416 bytes read
Loading file "/boot/uInitrd" from mmc device 0:1 (xxa1)
6362802 bytes read
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 00800000 ...
Image Name: Linux-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1
Image Type: ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size: 2461352 Bytes = 2.3 MiB
Load Address: 00008000
Entry Point: 00008000
Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 01100000 ...
Image Name: initramfs-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1
Image Type: ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
Data Size: 6362738 Bytes = 6.1 MiB
Load Address: 00000000
Entry Point: 00000000
Verifying Checksum ... OK
Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK
Using machid 0xf78 from environment

Starting kernel ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pogo light is solid green, and I still cannot ssh into it.

Are the arcNumber and machid correct for this?
arcNumber=3960 and machid=F78

EDITED: typo'ed the arcNumber



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2014 07:00PM by velo.

:) arcNumber should be 3960.

Update:

Saw you've corrected the typo.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2014 07:04PM by bodhi.

I have a hunch that somehow the system still look for root device /dev/sda1. Ah, I forgot, your /etc/fstab also needs to be corrected to use mmc block device. Try that.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2014 07:08PM by bodhi.

bodhi, is that just changing /dev/root to /dev/mmcblk0p1 in /etc/fstab ?

Sorry, I meant make sure your rootfs is ext3 in fstab and your u-boot env is ext3
mmc_rootfstype=ext3

And btw what's in your fstab?

Edited above.

-bodhi
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2014 12:00AM by bodhi.

Should I reformat the SD card to ext3? I have ext2 right now. Here is my fstab:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/root / ext2 noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


EDIT: I reformatted the SD card to ext3 and I get the same results. I then plugged in my USB drive that was working with the bootloader from archlinuxarm.org for the Pogo V4, and it is not working with this bootloader.

I get the following for this previously-working USB drive (no data changed on it):

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loading file "/boot/uInitrd" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
** File not found /boot/uInitrd
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 00800000 ...
Image Name: Linux-3.1.10-32-ARCH
Image Type: ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size: 3148676 Bytes = 3 MiB
Load Address: 00008000
Entry Point: 00008000
Verifying Checksum ... OK
Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK
Using machid 0xf78 from environment

Starting kernel ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Same behavior as the SD card. Pogo is solid green, no SSH access. Ping says host is unreachable.

Any ideas what I should try?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2014 11:48PM by velo.

Try remove the rootfstype is the bootargs:

mmc_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootdelay=10 rootfstype=ext2 mtdparts=orion_nand:2M(u-boot),3M(uImage),3M(uImage2),8M(failsafe),112M(root)
mtd=parts orion_nand:2M(u-boot),3M(uImage),3M(uImage2),8M(failsafe),112M(root)

to

mmc_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootdelay=10 mtdparts=orion_nand:2M(u-boot),3M(uImage),3M(uImage2),8M(failsafe),112M(root)
mtd=parts orion_nand:2M(u-boot),3M(uImage),3M(uImage2),8M(failsafe),112M(root)

Also, Netconsole always stops at this message. So it does not necessarily indicate that the booting was stuck. Without serial console, we simply can't tell exactly what's wrong.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2014 12:06AM by bodhi.

I just tried removing the rootfstype from the bootargs and got the same results.

I also just tried installing your Debian image onto a different USB drive, and also got the same results.

It seems something is messed up with the bootloader itself.

I found some websites on how to set up the serial cable. I'll have to buy one and then solder it in, but that'll take at least a week. (e.g. http://mhassan.me/2012/11/17/pogoplug-v4-disassembly-and-attaching-serial-cable/)

In the meantime, I want to try loading a different uboot from davy, e.g.:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,7477,7691#msg-7691

I currently have the NoSATA kwb, but want to try this SD-only kwb. Do you know how I can go about doing it without a serial cable?

Can I copy it into the SD card, then through netconsole, call:

Pogov4> ext2load mmc 0:1 /kwbfile/uboot.uartpogoMobile-MMC-mtdparts-NoUSB.kwb
Pogov4> nand erase 0x0 0x80000
Pogov4> nand write.e 0x800000 0x0 0x80000
Pogov4> reset

Will this work??

Thanks for all your help.


EDITED: Added links to setup serial cable, want to try loading kwb from SD card using netconsole.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2014 01:46AM by velo.

velo,

Don't flash it to NAND just yet. It is risky to flash a U-Boot image without knowing for sure it will work. Besides, once you've connected serial console, you might find out that the problem is not with the bootloader at all. Consider the fact that you have booted with USB, then the U-Boot image is good, it just might have some flaky behavior with mmc.

If you are going to get serial console then you can try different U-Boot images without flashing to NAND using UART booting. Follow davygravy's procedure here:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,7852,7852

And you can get ARM kwboot from my U-Boot thread (in Usual Disclaimer section):
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

With the Pogo V4, you will need to do this sequence to get UART to boot:

- Use serial console
- Start kwboot on a different Linux box
- Power up the Pogo V4
- Wait until the spinning / start slowing down (meaning the handshake has started but not successfully).
- Control-C to abort kwboot, and recall the command, execute kwboot again.
- Repeatedly run kwboot this way for somewhere from 3 to 20 times before it will handshake successfully!

-bodhi
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bodhi, I just bought the serial cable (Nokia CA-42 per the link I posted), and will be doing some soldering in the next week.

For the USB booting, I did once get it to work with the old uboot image from the archlinuxarm.org site, but with davy's uboot, it is not booting up with USB at all. Same behavior as the SD card.

I will update this thread once I get serial console working.

Hi bodhi,

I finally have my serial cable ready. I have a couple questions:

(1) How do I test that the serial cable works?

(2) You mention in your post that I can download the ARM kwboot from your U-Boot thread, but I don't see the Pogo V4 listed. Which one do I use?

Thanks.

velo,

1. After you've connected the serial cable hardware, you can use putty on Windows, Terminal on Mac, or picocom, screen,... on Linux (there are many other programs on Linux). See varkey's instruction on his website (it's for the GoFlex Net, but the communication settings are the same for all Kirkwood plugs, and the Pogo V4 is one):
http://varkey.in/seagate-goflex-net-serial-connection/

For the Pogo V4 correct serial pin outs:
http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2284&hilit=pogoplug+series+4+serial#p12466

2. kwboot can be used for all Kirkwood plugs that supports UART booting. So there is only one kwboot binary link posted in my U-Boot thread.

-bodhi
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Hi bodhi,

(1) Thanks, I'll test out the serial tonight.

(2) For the kwboot, I have the binary, but running it requires an image. Which image should I use? uboot.uartpogoMobile-MMC-mtdparts-NoUSB.kwb ?

Thanks.

Hi bodhi,

I just tested it and it worked! I have serial console. I watched it boot up using the SD card, and there were actually no issues. What happened is that, even though I set my router to assign it a static IP address, it registered itself with a new IP address. I found out by running ifconfig. This is why SSH was not working!

Thanks for all your help! Looks like this one is resolved :)

velo.

Well, I just noticed that the Pogo V4 box gave me the wrong Mac address for the device, which is why my router did not assign it the static IP address I gave it. The sticker on the bottom of the device also had the same incorrect Mac address. What's up with that? It was bought brand new. The only reason I even found the real Mac address was through ifconfig. I did not have this issue with the Pogo E02.

velo,

The MAC address printed on the sticker is the right one, always. You'll need to set it in your network interfaces config file (in Debian it is in /etc/network/interfaces). Or set it in your u-boot env:
fw_setenv ethaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:x

If one was assigned and it's not the same as one on the sticker, then it was assigned by the kernel, or u-boot temporarily.

-bodhi
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You are right, it was set as part of the uboot envs. I wonder how that happened? I guess that was the source of all my issues. Thanks again for your help; I'm setting it back to the correct one.

I've just set up Debian to boot up from an SD card on a second Pogo V4, and it seems the bootloader from archlinuxarm.org is the one that set the ethaddr to some random one. I'm looking through those scripts and I'm still not sure how that happened.

bodhi, is there a wiki or some place where I can share the steps I used to boot up from the SD card? I was able to set it up successfully with this second Pogo V4 and have a definite set of repeatable steps anyone can use to set up booting from the SD card.

Thanks!
velo

I posted instructions on the Debian thread. Hopefully it will help the next person!
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,11663,16100#msg-16100