Can only access to GoFlex Home 3TB with rescue - need help

GoFlex Home 3TB got semi bricked and I can only access it from a rescue USB flash drive.

I finally got to it and tried to install debian on my GoFlex Home 3TB. I followed Jeff's guide. The wheezy script could not complete and I got the error

FATAL: kernel too old

So I stopped trying with wheezy and succesfully installed squeeze afterwards. Problem was the GoFlex Home wouldn't boot either from the USB flash drive with debian nor without.

This thread and this one, by Gr3yh0und led me into the right direction. I created an a rescue usb using Jeff's rescue system and boot into the rescue system that I got from here.

I'm not really sure what to do from here. Gr3yh0und's guide says it should be easy to install the rescue system into the NAND memory so the wheezy installation can resume from there. However I encounter this error:

rescue:/tmp# wget http://jeff.doozan.com/debian/rescue/install_rescue.sh
Connecting to jeff.doozan.com (50.116.34.13:80)
Connecting to projects.doozan.com (50.116.34.13:80)
install_rescue.sh    100% |******************************************|  8122  --:--:-- ETA
rescue:/tmp# chmod +x install_rescue.sh
rescue:/tmp# ./install_rescue.sh
This script must be run from outside your Pogoplug install or Rescue System.
Please boot from a USB device and try again.

It'd appreciate the help since I'm kind of stuck here. I'm pretty sure the device is not bricked. Also worth mentioning that for every step I've taken, I've not left the 3TB disk connected to the device at all.


My dmesg output: http://pastebin.com/1ZHK96Dj

and fw_printenv gives me this:

rescue:/# fw_printenv
Too few good blocks within range

Try this rootfs (see under "Updated 19 June 2013" section):
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

-bodhi
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Thanks for the reply bohdi. It does not boot unfortunately. Could it be something with the env variable usb_rootfstype ? that tells which filesystem that my GoFlex Home is allowed to boot from.

I had issues with the rescue system when it was formatted as ext3 so I made it ext2 and it booted fine. I'm not sure how I'm I supposed to alter the usb_rootfstype value on the GoFlex since I cannot access it without the rescue system.

@servercat,
You could mount the stick on another Linux box and convert it to Ext2, it's quite simple to do. Use tune2fs command.

-bodhi
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Changing the filesystem was a no go unfortunately. I removed the journal with tune2fs and doublechecked it was ext2 before I tried to boot it. It did not boot. Seems like the only thing that has worked so far is the Jeff's rescue system.

I did not get any errors before when installing the uboot environment in the beginning of this thread. That is why I'm so puzzled why it won't boot correctly without a flashdrive with a recue system.

Is there anything else I can do? I really appreciate the help

@servercat,

Without seeing your current uBoot envs, it's hard to tell exactly what the problem is. However, I'm guessing:

- Since you can only boot from the rescue roofts on a USB stick, it means the rescue is setup to load from the stick, not from NAND.

- The problem with a lot bad blocks shown in dmesg, and then fw_printenv responds with "Too few good blocks within range": Some user (sorry forgot exactly who) on this forum has discovered that it's not a real problem with bad blocks. A patch to the kernel is needed to fix it. This fix is applicable to all Kirwood plugs:

-	kirkwood_nand_init(ARRAY_AND_SIZE(dockstar_nand_parts), 25);
+	kirkwood_nand_init(ARRAY_AND_SIZE(dockstar_nand_parts), 40);

It seems the rescue roofts does not have timing patch for this problem.

So you have catch-22, you can't print out envs to see why it is not booting other rootfs, until you can boot with that rootfs to be able to print envs !!!

My suggestion: boot into the rescue system on the stick, and rerun the Debian squeeze installation. If the installation detects that the uBoot is already the latest, then it's good, proceed with installation. When encounter with question about restoring uBoot envs to known good values, say yes. And continue to install Debian squeeze on USB. Once you are booting Debian squeeze, you can use my wheezy rootfs to boot with kernel 3.8.11. Or use Davy's NSA320 roofts.

If you have any question or not sure what to do during the installation, don't try to guess just leave it on at that point and post the questions here.

Good luck!

-bodhi
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> [....]
> My suggestion: boot into the rescue system on the
> stick, and rerun the Debian squeeze installation.
> If the installation detects that the uBoot is
> already the latest, then it's good, proceed with
> installation. When encounter with question about
> restoring uBoot envs to known good values, say
> yes. And continue to install Debian squeeze on
> USB.
Bodhi Are you suggesting I install wheezy on the same USB drive I booted the rescue system from?
the mounted filesystem looks like this.

root@debian:~# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
rootfs          3.3G  338M  2.8G  11% /
udev             10M     0   10M   0% /dev
tmpfs            13M   64K   13M   1% /run
/dev/sda1       3.3G  338M  2.8G  11% /
tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs            25M     0   25M   0% /run/shm
tmpfs            61M     0   61M   0% /tmp

Should I put and run the script on /tmp then right? Just let me know and I'll get right to it. Once again, thanks for the time and the help :)

servercat,

Hmm... Since you are booting with the rescue system on USB, it would be sda1. The install script (squeeze or wheezy) will need to write over the sda1 drive, so it is not possible :) sorry I forgot about that. There is a way to force rescue system stick to be assigned sdb1 but it's not foolproof, it's trial and error.

You could install uBoot only by running the script in http://projects.doozan.com/uboot/. And then put my rootfs or Davy's rootfs on a new USB, boot with that. But if you do that, you should set up netconsole immediately when you finish intalling uBoot, while you are still in rescue system.

My thinking is: if you reinstall uBoot, then the envs are reset to boot normal Debian system. That was the reason I'd suggested to rerun the installation so you can reinstall Debian also in one shot. But if you can't do that, then reinstall only uBoot is a good alternative. However, as I mentioned, you could get locked out if not being careful. So it depends how do you feel about doing that. If you get locked out, then you will need to install serial console to recover.

If this is not clear, please post back and I'll explain further.

-bodhi
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I tried to install uboot. But it couldn't go further than this.

root@debian:/tmp# ./install_uboot_mtd0.sh 


!!!!!!  DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER  !!!!!!

If you lose power to your device while running this script,
it could be left in an unusable state.

This script will replace the bootloader on /dev/mtd0.

This installer will only work on the following devices:
 Seagate Dockstar
 Seagate GoFlex Net
 Seagate GoFlex Home
 Pogoplug v1
 Pogoplug Pink (v2)
Do not run this installer on any other device.

By typing ok, you agree to assume all liabilities and risks 
associated with running this installer.

If you agree, type 'ok' and press ENTER to continue: ok
# checking for /usr/sbin/nandwrite...

# Installing /usr/sbin/nandwrite...
./install_uboot_mtd0.sh: 82: ./install_uboot_mtd0.sh: wget: Input/output error
./install_uboot_mtd0.sh: 85: ./install_uboot_mtd0.sh: wget: Input/output error
## Could not install /usr/sbin/nandwrite from http://download.doozan.com/uboot/nandwrite, exiting.
root@debian:/tmp#

Doesn't seem to be able to boot from rescue anymore as well. Maybe time to open it up and add the serial port connectivity toi it I guess.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2013 11:45AM by servercat.

@servercat,

Whenever that happen, don't reboot, stay in the rescue system and run the install script again. But it seems too late now, because you have rebooted? if yes, serial console is the only way if you can't get in the rescue system again.

-bodhi
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @servercat,
>
> Whenever that happen, don't reboot, stay in the
> rescue system and run the install script again.

There was nothing that could be done at that point since every command gave an input/output error
like this:

root@debian:/bin# ls
-bash: /bin/ls: Input/output error

BTW is this the one I have get in terms of serial to USB serial adapter.
http://i.imgur.com/OHHNhjc.png


(I already got an USB to serial cable).

Thanks for helping me out bodhi :)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 12:30AM by servercat.

servercat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bodhi Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > @servercat,
> >
> > Whenever that happen, don't reboot, stay in the
> > rescue system and run the install script again.
>
> There was nothing that could be done at that point
> since every command gave an input/output error
> like this:
>
>

> root@debian:/bin# ls
> -bash: /bin/ls: Input/output error
>

>
> BTW
> [url=http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-to-TTL-UART-6
> PIN-Module-Serial-Converter-CP2102-STC-PRGMR-Free-
> cable-/170895253016?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=ite
> m27ca269e18#shId]is this the one[/url] I have get
> in terms of serial to USB serial adapter.
> [url]http://i.imgur.com/OHHNhjc.png[/url]
>
>
> (I already got an USB to serial cable).
>
> Thanks for helping me out bodhi :)

That's a good serial module converter, I use that same one :)

-bodhi
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