No, it's not a success story. I've an unsolved problem.

Context : a Dockstar on which I installed first OpenWrt 2 years ago. The original Seagate Linux has been lost for a while.
A couple of days ago, I reopen a project in order to install Debian. I reflashed u-boot with the one proposed in this forum (Here), because of the potential difficulties with Level2Cache.

I setup a new environment for uBoot in order to enable an USB boot (if possible), prior to OpenWrt.

u-boot>> printenv
arcNumber=2098
baudrate=115200
boot_flash=run set_bootargs_flash; echo Start from nand image - Args : "$bootargs"; bootm 0x800000
boot_usb=run set_bootargs_usb; echo Start from USB image - Args : "$bootargs"; bootm 0x800000 0x01100000
bootargs=console=$console
bootargs_root=root=/dev/mtdblock2 rootfstype=jffs2 panic=10
bootcmd=usb start;run try_usb
bootdelay=3
console=ttyS0,115200
ethact=egiga0
ethaddr=00:10:75:1A:1F:12
fileaddr=800000
filesize=1FFFC
ipaddr=192.168.1.45
led_error=orange blinking
led_exit=green off
led_init=green blinking
mainlineLinux=yes
mtdids=nand0=orion_nand
mtdparts=mtdparts=orion_nand:1M(u-boot),4M(uImage),32M(rootfs),-(data)
netmask=255.255.255.0
partition=nand0,2
serverip=192.168.1.22
set_bootargs_flash=setenv bootargs console=$console root=/dev/mtdblock2 rootfstype=jffs2 panic=10
set_bootargs_owrt=console=$console
set_bootargs_usb=setenv bootargs console=$console root=$usb_root rootdelay=$usb_rootdelay rootfstype=$usb_rootfstype $mtdparts
stderr=serial
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
try_flash=nand read 0x800000 0x100000 0x200000; if imi; then run boot_flash; else echo *** NO IMAGE IN NAND ***; fi
try_usb=if ext2load usb $usb_device 0x00800000 /uImage; then run try_usb2; else run try_flash; fi
try_usb2=if ext2load usb $usb_device 0x01100000 /uInitrd; then run boot_usb;else run try_flash; fi
usb_device=0:1
usb_init=usb start
usb_root=/dev/sda1
usb_rootdelay=10
usb_rootfstype=ext2

Booting Openwrt without an USB device, or without uImage and uInitrd on it is OK
:)

Then I faced the difficulty of a Debian installation, from OpenWrt. Forget it. dockstar.debian-squeeze.sh is not working and I stopped retrying to fix it in order to bypass all the issues due to OpenWrt.

So I decided to install Debian, directly from the network. Hmm, I tried... :/

First, I connected a DD with USB adaptor and I restarted Dockstar.

Then, I just install uImage and uInitrd, as delivered by Debian in the memory of Dockstar. Quite simple.

tftp 0x800000 uImage
tftp 0x1100000 uInitrd

Then an usb reset to enable USB.

And now a bootm directly from uboot...

Bingo, Debian installation process started. Half an hour later, final stage was reached.
Automated restart of Dockstar and ...

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
[    0.000000] Linux version 2.6.32-5-kirkwood (Debian 2.6.32-45) (dannf@debian.org) (gcc version 4.3.5 (Debian 4.3.5-4) ) #1 Sun May 6 16:57:51 UTC 2012
[    0.000000] CPU: Feroceon 88FR131 [56251311] revision 1 (ARMv5TE), cr=00053977
[    0.000000] CPU: VIVT data cache, VIVT instruction cache
[    0.000000] Machine: Seagate FreeAgent DockStar
[    0.000000] Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writeback
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 32512
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/sda1 rootdelay=10 rootfstype=ext2 mtdparts=orion_nand:1M(u-boot),4M(uImage),32M(rootfs),-(data)
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 512 (order: -1, 2048 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.000000] Memory: 128MB = 128MB total
[    0.000000] Memory: 123064KB available (3516K code, 583K data, 124K init, 0K highmem)
[    0.000000] SLUB: Genslabs=11, HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] Hierarchical RCU implementation.
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:114
[    0.000000] Console: colour dummy device 80x30
[    0.000134] Calibrating delay loop... 1192.75 BogoMIPS (lpj=5963776)
[    0.240092] Security Framework initialized
[    0.240113] SELinux:  Disabled at boot.
[    0.240141] Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
[    0.240463] Initializing cgroup subsys ns
[    0.240480] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuacct
[    0.240490] Initializing cgroup subsys devices
[    0.240499] Initializing cgroup subsys freezer
[    0.240507] Initializing cgroup subsys net_cls
[    0.240568] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
[    0.241407] devtmpfs: initialized
[    0.243132] regulator: core version 0.5
[    0.243370] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.243918] Kirkwood: MV88F6281-A0, TCLK=200000000.
[    0.243932] Feroceon L2: Enabling L2
[    0.243967] Feroceon L2: Cache support initialised.
[    0.245836] bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
[    0.246113] vgaarb: loaded
[    0.246577] Switching to clocksource orion_clocksource
[    0.250630] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.250877] IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.251636] TCP established hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.251735] TCP bind hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.251788] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 4096)
[    0.251798] TCP reno registered
[    0.251949] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.252128] Unpacking initramfs...
[    0.399435] Freeing initrd memory: 2384K
[    0.399547] NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.97 (double precision)
[    0.399797] audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)
[    0.399834] type=2000 audit(0.390:1): initialized
[    0.406249] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.2
[    0.406517] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.406653] JFFS2 version 2.2. (NAND) (SUMMARY)  © 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.407316] msgmni has been set to 245
[    0.409066] alg: No test for stdrng (krng)
[    0.409190] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 253)
[    0.409203] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.409210] io scheduler anticipatory registered
[    0.409218] io scheduler deadline registered
[    0.409395] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[    0.415383] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 2 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
[    0.415862] serial8250.0: ttyS0 at MMIO 0xf1012000 (irq = 33) is a 16550A
[    0.741892] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.745986] NAND device: Manufacturer ID: 0x2c, Chip ID: 0xda (Micron NAND 256MiB 3,3V 8-bit)
[    0.754605] Scanning device for bad blocks
[    0.767304] Bad eraseblock 230 at 0x000001cc0000
[    0.774496] Bad eraseblock 299 at 0x000002560000
[    0.811087] Bad eraseblock 1161 at 0x000009120000
[    0.848696] 4 cmdlinepart partitions found on MTD device orion_nand
[    0.854991] Creating 4 MTD partitions on "orion_nand":
[    0.860174] 0x000000000000-0x000000100000 : "u-boot"
[    0.865726] 0x000000100000-0x000000500000 : "uImage"
[    0.871199] 0x000000500000-0x000002500000 : "rootfs"
[    0.876707] 0x000002500000-0x000010000000 : "data"
[    0.882710] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[    1.896617] rtc-mv rtc-mv: internal RTC not ticking
[    1.901611] i2c /dev entries driver
[    1.905282] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[    1.909528] cpuidle: using governor menu
[    1.913562] Registered led device: dockstar:green:health
[    1.918985] Registered led device: dockstar:orange:misc
[    1.924289] mv_xor_shared mv_xor_shared.0: Marvell shared XOR driver
[    1.930705] mv_xor_shared mv_xor_shared.1: Marvell shared XOR driver
[    1.976645] mv_xor mv_xor.0: Marvell XOR: ( xor cpy )
[    2.016644] mv_xor mv_xor.1: Marvell XOR: ( xor fill cpy )
[    2.056643] mv_xor mv_xor.2: Marvell XOR: ( xor cpy )
[    2.096643] mv_xor mv_xor.3: Marvell XOR: ( xor fill cpy )
[    2.103314] TCP cubic registered
[    2.106556] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    2.111384] registered taskstats version 1
[    2.116171] /build/buildd-linux-2.6_2.6.32-45-armel-Wz5zGw/linux-2.6-2.6.32/debian/build/source_armel_none/drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[    2.130834] Initalizing network drop monitor service
[    2.135880] Freeing init memory: 124K
Loading, please wait...
[    2.217044] udev[44]: starting version 164
[    2.461082] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    2.467295] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    2.473279] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    2.492360] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    2.498999] orion-ehci orion-ehci.0: Marvell Orion EHCI
[    2.504302] orion-ehci orion-ehci.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    2.536626] orion-ehci orion-ehci.0: irq 19, io mem 0xf1050000
[    2.556616] orion-ehci orion-ehci.0: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    2.562973] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[    2.569818] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    2.577088] usb usb1: Product: Marvell Orion EHCI
[    2.581812] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.32-5-kirkwood ehci_hcd
[    2.588204] usb usb1: SerialNumber: orion-ehci.0
[    2.593374] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[    2.599295] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    2.603093] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    2.926624] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 2
[    3.078017] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=05e3, idProduct=0608
[    3.084748] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[    3.091929] usb 1-1: Product: USB2.0 Hub
[    3.097272] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[    3.106196] hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
[    3.110400] hub 1-1:1.0: 4 ports detected
[    3.386928] usb 1-1.2: new high speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 3
[    3.497517] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=152d, idProduct=2338
[    3.504424] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=5
[    3.511779] usb 1-1.2: Product: USB to ATA/ATAPI bridge
[    3.517065] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: JMicron
[    3.521357] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 945224354161
[    3.527445] usb 1-1.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[    3.616131] SCSI subsystem initialized
[    3.643679] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[    3.648911] scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[    3.655589] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[    3.661655] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[    8.667607] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Hitachi  HTS541612J9AT00       PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS
[    8.705172] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 234441648 512-byte logical blocks: (120 GB/111 GiB)
[    8.713409] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[    8.718259] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[    8.725780] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[    8.731929]  sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 < sda5 sda6 sda7 sda8 sda9 >
[    9.212660] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[    9.218818] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
Begin: Loading essential drivers ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/init-premount ... done.
Begin: Mounting root file system ... Begin: Running /scripts/local-top ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-premount ... done.
mount: mounting /dev/sda1 on /root failed: No such device
Begin: Running /scripts/local-bottom ... done.
done.
Begin: Running /scripts/init-bottom ... mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory
done.
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory
Target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init.
No init found. Try passing init= bootarg.


BusyBox v1.17.1 (Debian 1:1.17.1-8) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

/bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
(initramfs) 

The kernel command line was the expected one :
Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/sda1 rootdelay=10 rootfstype=ext2 mtdparts=orion_nand:1M(u-boot),4M(uImage),32M(rootfs),-(data)

However the system wasn't able to successfully boot with an end of the story I'm not able to understand.

unable to mount...
/sbin/init not present

Not being neither a Linux "expert", nor a Debian one I don't know where is the issue?

ArcNumber ?
Kernel command line ?
Somewhere else?

By the, and to avoid these questions, the problem reccurs if I boot, and reboot , and ...
The same with another Dockstar (I've 4 on my bench) or with another Disk Drive (3 tested) or with a new installation (same way) of Debian.

Does somebody have an idea ?

Regards

PS: in any case, a trace of Squeeze boot from Starting kernel ... up to a root prompt may be usefull. Also the uBoot environment.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2012 05:54AM by cuagn.

I've found the solution here : http://lists.debian.org/debian-arm/2012/06/msg00006.html

Quote
Martin Michlmayr

The easiest way is to add root=/dev/sda2 to bootargs once in order to
boot, and then run:
update-initramfs -u
in Debian to update the ramdisk.

Thanks for your sharing ,,, I have a dockstar with openwrt and been planning to move to debian as well.
Your information is very helpful...

To be honnest I've been successful with a given HD configuration (on a memory stick) but still with unsolved problem with other....

Strange...

So please, could you publish your own results ?

Marc