Can't boot debian from Pogoplug v2

Hi,

I know I'm not the first one with this problem, but after following a couple of solutions from other threads etc. I still can't get my Pogoplug to boot debian.

This is what I did:

1. I unpacked my brand new Pogoplug POGO-E02, registered at my.pogoplug.com, enabled SSH and checked which CPU I had - ARM5TE.

2. I followed these instructions and installed ArchARM http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/pogoplug-v2-pinkgray Everything went well, I had Archlinux running, but found it too confusing and wanted to install Debian instead as I have a bit more experience with it and it is more beginner-friendly.

3. I pulled out the USB stick while Arch was running (this might just not have been the best idea)

4. I rebooted the Pogoplug without a USB stick and logged in as root using the password I set when I registered

5. I then tried installing Debian following these two instructions:
http://mehl.co/articles/installing_debian_on_the_pogoplug/index.html
http://projects.doozan.com/debian/

None of them worked - the first link and the wheezy script from the second link got me a yellow light and no ssh and squeeze from the second link just booted in the Popoplug system.

I tried installing the debian with each script a few times and also a few more things (changing fdisk options, reinstalling uboot etc) and every now and then during installs I got an error message, which I resolved after a bit of googling and the install then went through without problems, but debian just isn't booting :(

I'm trying to boot using Transcend JetFlash 700 16GB TS16GJF700. I read mixed things in the "working usb sticks" thread in this forum about Transcend, some work, some don't, but couldn't find anyone stating something about this exact model. I found this though, which seems to be running using my model https://wiki.mytrackdays.eu/index.php?title=Pogoplug_E02_specifications and Archlinux did boot without a problem, so I think the stick isn't the problem.

I hope you people can head me of to the right directions finally getting my Pogoplug up and running with debian

Ok, so I searched a bit more and came to realise, that my usb stick probably has nothing on it after the install script is done.

At least /tmp/debian is empty, if I mount /dev/sda1 anywhere the resulting ls also gives nothing.

I managed to set up the netconsole to debug the boot process, here is the result of the reboot after the install script is through:

U-Boot 2011.12 (Feb 20 2012 - 21:21:59)
Pogoplug E02
arm-none-linux-gnueabi-gcc (Sourcery G++ Lite 2009q3-67) 4.4.1
GNU ld (Sourcery G++ Lite 2009q3-67) 2.19.51.20090709
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
(Re)start USB...
USB:   Register 10011 NbrPorts 1
USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus for devices... 3 USB Device(s) found
       scanning bus for storage devices... 1 Storage Device(s) found
Loading file "/rescueme" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
** File not found /rescueme
reading /rescueme.txt

** Unable to read "/rescueme.txt" from usb 0:1 **
Creating 1 MTD partitions on "nand0":
0x000002500000-0x000008000000 : "mtd=3"
UBI: attaching mtd1 to ubi0
UBI: physical eraseblock size:   131072 bytes (128 KiB)
UBI: logical eraseblock size:    129024 bytes
UBI: smallest flash I/O unit:    2048
UBI: sub-page size:              512
UBI: VID header offset:          512 (aligned 512)
UBI: data offset:                2048
UBI: attached mtd1 to ubi0
UBI: MTD device name:            "mtd=3"
UBI: MTD device size:            91 MiB
UBI: number of good PEBs:        728
UBI: number of bad PEBs:         0
UBI: max. allowed volumes:       128
UBI: wear-leveling threshold:    4096
UBI: number of internal volumes: 1
UBI: number of user volumes:     0
UBI: available PEBs:             717
UBI: total number of reserved PEBs: 11
UBI: number of PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 7
UBI: max/mean erase counter: 1/1
UBIFS error (pid 0): ubifs_get_sb: cannot open "ubi:rootfs", error -19
Error reading superblock on volume 'ubi:rootfs'!
Loading file "/boot/uImage" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
** File not found /boot/uImage
** Block device usb 1 not supported
** Block device usb 2 not supported
** Block device usb 3 not supported
Loading file "/boot/uImage" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
** File not found /boot/uImage
Loading file "/boot/uInitrd" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
** File not found /boot/uInitrd
Wrong Image Format for bootm command
ERROR: can't get kernel image!
stopping USB..
### JFFS2 loading 'uboot-original-mtd0.kwb' to 0x800000
Scanning JFFS2 FS: ...........  read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0x1f1d200 size 8192 byte done.
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0x1f1c000 size 8192 bytes
off = 0x1f1bbbc magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 2484
### JFFS2 load complete: 524288 bytes loaded to 0x800000
## Starting application at 0x00800200 ...

pogoomane,

You are one step away from the debian wonderland. See

http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12006,12036#msg-12036

-syong

Hi syong,

thanks for the reply.

I tried following the instructions in the post you linked, but I couldn't find a "rescueme" file (tryed find -name rescueme on the pogoplug after mounting the first partition) and also, the pogoplug has neither apt-get nor mkimage installed... Should I try this from another device?

Yes, do this from another device with the tools available. Forget about "rescueme" file.

-syong

Thank you! It worked! The pogoplug still lights up yellow, but I can SSH to it :D Thanks!

Good to know.

Thanks go to the forum which also contains information on how to make led work on your e02.

-syong