Pogoplug Mobile no light/ssh/serial connection

Hi, I am new here so I hope I'm posting this in the correct place. I have a pogoplug Mobile that I was experimenting with. I started by following this tutorial http://blog.qnology.com/2014/07/hacking-pogoplug-v4-series-4-and-mobile.html?m=1

The device was new so I needed serial console access. I got serial access and changed the rcS file to start up dropbear and disable the pogoplug services. Then I followed the tutorial from ssh.

I self hosted the files from a git mirror and pulled them in wget. I followed all the way up to the section of installing Debian /alarm. I didn't start this step yet. Everything looked good and on all my flashes I got a success.

Before I was about to start the Linux install, I rebooted the device. That's when it never came back up. I did up to this point with no usb or sd card in. I did do the netconsole part of the tutorial. I literally copied the exact commands from the tutorial. However my network is on 192.168.0.1.

When I rebooted I ran /sbin/reboot command. No lights ever came back on. I also tried connecting back to the serial console and nothing was loading there either.

Is this something I can save? And where did I probably go wrong?

dayv2005 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi, I am new here so I hope I'm posting this in th
> e correct place. I have a pogoplug Mobile that I w
> as experimenting with. I started by following this
> tutorial http://blog.qnology.com/2014/07/hacking-p
> ogoplug-v4-series-4-and-mobile.html?m=1
>
> The device was new so I needed serial console acce
> ss. I got serial access and changed the rcS file t
> o start up dropbear and disable the pogoplug servi
> ces. Then I followed the tutorial from ssh.
>
> I self hosted the files from a git mirror and pull
> ed them in wget. I followed all the way up to the
> section of installing Debian /alarm. I didn't star
> t this step yet. Everything looked good and on all
> my flashes I got a success.
>
> Before I was about to start the Linux install, I r
> ebooted the device. That's when it never came back
> up. I did up to this point with no usb or sd card
> in. I did do the netconsole part of the tutorial.
> I literally copied the exact commands from the tut
> orial. However my network is on 192.168.0.1.
>
> When I rebooted I ran /sbin/reboot command. No lig
> hts ever came back on. I also tried connecting bac
> k to the serial console and nothing was loading th
> ere either.
>
> Is this something I can save? And where did I prob
> ably go wrong?

If you have installed new uboot, and you know your serial console is working, and now there is nothing came out of serial console upon power up. Then the uboot image was not installed successfully. If you have the log of your installation, please post here.

Here is how to use UART booting to recover:

- download the latest uboot:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

- run kwboot as instructed in the above uboot thread:

Quote

Important Note: If possible, try to test this boot image with UART booting before flashing to NAND. See davygravy's UART booting using kwboot instruction here in this thread. The latest u-boot image released here should be used for UART booting, if your box is the type that supports it (these do not: Dockstar, Pogo E02, iConnect).

Quote

To download ARM kwboot binary for UART booting at Dropbox

kwboot-2016.05.tar
md5:
76977c5a61544a5707dfa17ae832a3ad
sha256:
25ee4fa8a94372d2d398cac4704e9ee3ca87585c29e72e18323209b7f163209d

kwboot (this is an older version)
md5:
0efd011bdb244436e432a8de33e639a1

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Thanks for the quick response.

I'm currently at work. I'll give this a test tonight when I get home. In the mean time I downloaded

kwboot-2016.05.tar (http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381)

uboot.2016.05-tld-1.pogo_v4.bodhi (http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381)

I would just untar them to the same directory and run the following command:

./kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b uboot.goflexnet-IDEpatched-netconsoleON.kwb -p

^ would I use the -p in this case? Also I know i would change uboot.goflexnet-IDEpatched-netconsoleON.kwb to my own kwb file.

Also could I do all this from a live cd running some linux distro? I currently don't have any set up running linux at this time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2017 08:40AM by dayv2005.

dayv2005,

Run

./kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b uboot.2016.05-tld-1.pogo_v4.mtd0.kwb -p

> Also could I do all this from a live cd running so
> me linux distro? I currently don't have any set up
> running linux at this time.

If the Live CD is running on an 64-bit x86 system, then you need the Ubuntu version for kwboot from davygravy.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Ok, I finally got around to giving this a go. It's stuck on the first message.

Sending boot message. Please reboot the target.../

It never gets past that. The spinner at the end never seems to change speeds so I don't really know if it's working or not.

I have rebooted about 20 times. Not sure if my serial connection got jacked up or not. Is there anyway to test it with a multimeter to make sure no paths are shorting out?

Edit: I think I may have messed up my connection. I did a loopback test with usbttl and it looked good. I then tried with the pogoplug and kept getting funky chars which I it see when there is a short. I'm going to redo the connection and test again later. Will update.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2017 10:05AM by dayv2005.

Ok i managed to get it to boot using kwtool. It took several tries.

Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...\
Sending boot image...
  0 % [......................................................................]
  1 % [......................................................................]
  3 % [......................................................................]

 99 % [....................................]
[Type Ctrl-\ + c to quit]


U-Boot 2016.05-tld-1 (Jun 12 2016 - 13:41:47 -0700)
Pogoplug V4

SoC:   Kirkwood 88F6192_A1
DRAM:  128 MiB
WARNING: Caches not enabled
NAND:  128 MiB
MMC:   kwsdio: 0
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   egiga0
No link on egiga0
ping failed; host 192.168.1.100 is not alive
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
## Error: "bootcmd_usb" not defined
## Error: "bootcmd_mmc" not defined
## Error: "bootcmd_sata" not defined
mtdids not defined, no default present
Error initializing mtdparts!
resetting ...

During this process, I got the led lights lighting up and then it just hung up on resetting. Never did anything after that. I powered off the device and powered it back on and did nothing again.

Any idea of what I need to do next?

Booting with the default envs using uEnv.txt loading capability using uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment (the content of the default envs in text format).


1. Copy the default envs in text format to the rootfs on USB. Assuming the USB rootfs is mounted on another Linux box as /media/sdb1 (If the SD is used for rootfs, then the drive letter will be /dev/mmcblk0p1).

Become root and copy the default envs to uEnv.txt:

su
cp -a uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment /media/sdb1/boot/uEnv.txt

2. Modify the uEnv.txt for Pogo V4 to replace the 2 envs devices and dtb_file as following:

devices=usb mmc ide
dtb_file=/boot/dts/kirkwood-pogoplug_v4.dtb

Note: The devices env above indicates that u-boot will attempt to boot with the USB first, if it is not present then it will try to boot with SD card, and then HDD.

3. and then sync and unmount the USB

sync
umount /media/sdb1

4. Plug in this USB rootfs to the Pogo V4, and power up.

5. Capture the entire serial console boot tlog.


If it does not boot all the way into Debian successfully, please post tthe entire serial console log.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2017 01:17AM by bodhi.

I'll give it a try and follow up. Would I be able to use an sdcard instead of a USB drive? Not sure if the uboot is looking for usb on boot.

dayv2005 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll give it a try and follow up. Would I be able
> to use an sdcard instead of a USB drive? Not sure
> if the uboot is looking for usb on boot.

I've modified the instruction above.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

At this current point I don't have an SD card or usb set up.

Do I need to follow this these instructions? http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

Where do I find uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment at?

Sorry, I am a little lost on these instructions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2017 05:59PM by dayv2005.

dayv2005,

> Do I need to follow this these instructions?
> http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

Yes. Follow instruction in the section:

Quote

Updated 20 Feb 2016:

This Debian-4.4.0-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2 is to keep in sync with kernel Linux-4.4.0-kirkwood-tld-1

> Where do I find uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment at

In the u-boot envs you have downloaded in http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

Quote

B. Flashing default u-boot envs image

This default envs image supports booting with multiple disk drives (and hubs) attached. The disk drives could be any type (usb, sata, sd card). The scanning logic and default envs were set to automatically boot the box with the following required configuration:

For whatever reason, if you can't set up your configuration to satisfy the following 4 requirements, then don't flash this defaut envs image. It might not boot properly. In this case, section C below can be used to tailor the envs to your specific configuration.

r1. There must be only one partition among all partitions from all drives that contains the kernel files. The 2 kernel files are /boot/uImage and /boot/uInitrd.
r2. The partition that contains the 2 kernel files must be partition 1 in a disk drive
r3. The partition that contains the rootfs must be labeled rootfs
r4. The rootfs partition is recommended to be type Ext3 (this is not a hard requirement, ext4 should boot OK, but Ext3 will ensure no problem).

So the bottom line is if you have only one rootfs in a single Ext3 partition, which is labeled as rootfs, then you're all set.

a. Download the default u-boot envs at Dropbox:

uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.bodhi.tar
md5:
3823eef10011b864859d31a76470e0e3
sha256:
c8db95a4225e8d78bdaaaa372bd5a87e4b98f3448dd9c62fc96c72b2df1a997c

This tarball includes 3 files:

uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.img (the default envs image to be flashed)
uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment (the content of the default envs in text format)
uboot.2016.05-tld-1.environment.64K.img (small envs image to be flashed on HP T5325 only).

-bodhi
===========================
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