Pogoplug v4 doesn't connect to network

Hi Friends,

First, thanks for all the work you have done here: pretty amazing!

I have recently followed the instructions here https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381 to add the most current u-boot to a pogoplug v4 and then followed the instructions here https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096 to put Debian onto a flashdrive and now, while the pogoplug appears to boot, it does not seem to be connecting to my network.

Regrettably, I did not save the log for the setup and I do not have a serial connection to the pogoplug at this time.

Taking that into account, the device appears to have booted all the way to Debian since the light on the front of the device starts blinking green when I power-on the pogoplug and continues blinking until the light on the flashdrive blinks (presumably this means the pogoplug has found the flashdrive) then the pogoplug's light turns a combination of red and green until it finally goes solid green. When I look for the device on my router it does not show up. The ethernet port's lights blink during the booting process.

I wonder if there might be something I could do to fix this without have the serial connection?

with many thanks,
leon

leon,

Without the installation log, it is hard to tell what could possibly been wrong. But let's see if I can guess how to connect to the box.

- When you installed u-boot, did you do Step 8?

Quote

8. Flashing default u-boot envs image (if you are upgrading from 2016.05-tld-1 u-boot, you can skip this step 8).

- If you did Step 8, did you change any envs after that?

- What is your router IP address?

- Have you tried pinging the default host name (wait for about 5 minutes from power up):

ping debian.local

After you answer the above questions, I'll ask more about the rootfs.

-bodhi
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Thanks for your quick reply.

I did step 8 and there were no errors reported.

Maybe it is part of step 8 but I also set the arc number as

fw_setenv arcNumber 3960
fw_setenv machid f78

And I believe I did e2 as:

fw_setenv mtdparts 'xxxxxxxxx'
fw_setenv ethaddr 'xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'
(I am not 100% sure I did this and I can't recall the values)

adjusted the dtb file as in step 8f

Thanks for your quick reply and sorry for my bungling about.

I did step 8 and there were no errors reported.

Maybe it is part of step 8 but I also set the arc number as

fw_setenv arcNumber 3960
fw_setenv machid f78

And I believe I did e2 as:

fw_setenv mtdparts 'xxxxxxxxx'
fw_setenv ethaddr 'xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'

(I am not 100% sure I did this and I can't recall the values)

I adjusted the dtb file as in step 8f using the pogoplug file

ping debian.local did not yield anything

and the local ip address for the router is 192.168.0.1

with a bow,
leon

leon,

Quote

e.2 Box specific envs:

Then for all boxes, restore these 2 envs using the saved envs text in step c (replace xxx with the real saved values)
fw_setenv mtdparts 'xxxxxxxxx'
fw_setenv ethaddr 'xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'

Just doublechecking, were the xxxx replaced in the above 2 commands with real values?

If the MAC address was not in correct format then the network will not be up.

OTOH, if you did not do set ethaddr, then the MAC was default to a local ramdom value that I hard coded into u-boot env ethaddr, and it should be OK for the router to assign an IP address.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2019 02:54PM by bodhi.

I will come back and show you how to try to get it booting.

In the mean time, do this to get some info from the rootfs.

Mount your USB rootfs on another Linux box. Assuming it is mounted as /media/sdb1.

e2label /dev/sdb1
cd /media/sdb1/
cat /media/sdb1/fstab
cat /media/sdb1/etc/debian_version 
cd /media/sdb1/boot
ls -lart

And post the entire log of the above here (including the comands).

-bodhi
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Forum Wiki
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Thanks.

For the first one, I would have used real values. It has been a bit since I did this (2 weeks?) and since then I just flew from Oregon to the UK so my brain is a bit scrambled. Somewhere in the last while I read a post where you helped someone in a similar situation and so I thought I would try contacting you.

Here is the log for the second one (I have included the relevant info from fdisk -- I am working in a live usb linux environment since I don't have a linux box with me) :

mint@mint:~$ sudo su

root@mint:/home/mint# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/loop0: 4 GiB, 4287627264 bytes, 8374272 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop1: 1.8 GiB, 1925435392 bytes, 3760616 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.5 GiB, 31691112448 bytes, 61896704 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x85dc85dc

Device         Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1       8192 61896703 61888512 29.5G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT


Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0028c8bb

Device     Boot     Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *         2048    8732671    8730624   4.2G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2         8732672  429629439  420896768 200.7G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       429631488  431656959    2025472   989M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda4       431656960 1953519615 1521862656 725.7G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT




Disk /dev/sdb: 14.4 GiB, 15472047104 bytes, 30218842 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x02990c32

Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *     2048 30218239 30216192 14.4G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Disk /dev/sdc: 7.4 GiB, 7885291520 bytes, 15400960 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0fbe88e5

Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1        2048 15400959 15398912  7.4G 83 Linux

root@mint:/home/mint# e2label /dev/sdc1
rootfs

root@mint:/home/mint# cd /media/sdc1/
bash: cd: /media/sdc1/: No such file or directory

root@mint:/home/mint# cd /media/mint/sdc1
bash: cd: /media/mint/sdc1: No such file or directory

root@mint:/home/mint# cd /media/mint/rootfs

root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs# cat /media/mint/rootfs/fstab
cat: /media/mint/rootfs/fstab: No such file or directory

root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs# cat /media/mint/rootfs/etc/debian_version 
10.0

root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs# cd /media/mint/rootfs/boot
root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs/boot# ls -lart

total 55988
drwxr-xr-x 22 root root    4096 Jan  1  1970 ..
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 Aug 16 20:01 dts
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 4963616 Aug 17 23:43 zImage-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  165790 Aug 18 01:24 config-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1
-rw-------  1 root root 4963616 Aug 18 01:27 vmlinuz-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1
-rw-------  1 root root 3101889 Aug 18 01:27 System.map-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 9649570 Aug 18 01:38 linux-headers-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1_1.0_armel.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 9713872 Aug 25 03:16 initrd.img-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4963680 Aug 25 03:22 uImage.orig
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 9713936 Aug 25 03:22 uInitrd
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 4973578 Sep  5 02:49 zImage.fdt
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Sep  5 02:52 .
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4973642 Sep  5 02:52 uImage

root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs/boot# 

I notice that somehow there is no fstab in rootfs, so in case there is something else missing here is a list of what is in rootfs (there is also one file called .ceid):

root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs# ls -ls
total 88
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Aug 25 02:47 bin
 4 drwxr-xr-x  3 root root  4096 Sep  5 02:52 boot
 4 drwxr-xr-x  5 root root  4096 Feb 24  2012 dev
 4 drwxr-xr-x 57 root root  4096 Aug 25 04:53 etc
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Jan 22  2012 home
 4 drwxr-xr-x 13 root root  4096 Aug 25 03:48 lib
16 drwx------  2 root root 16384 Feb 24  2012 lost+found
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Feb 24  2012 media
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Feb 10  2015 mnt
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Feb 24  2012 opt
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Jan 22  2012 proc
 4 drwx------  5 root root  4096 Aug 25 04:56 root
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Feb  8  2013 run
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Aug 25 02:47 sbin
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Feb 24  2012 srv
 4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Jan  1  2011 sys
 4 drwxrwxrwt  2 root root  4096 Jan  1  1970 tmp
 4 drwxr-xr-x 10 root root  4096 Feb 24  2012 usr
 4 drwxr-xr-x 11 root root  4096 Jan  1  1970 var

with a bow,
leon


=====
moderator edit: please use code tags to post log.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2019 06:55PM by bodhi.

Oh, here is fstab (neglected to look for it in /etc):

root@mint:/media/mint/rootfs/etc# cat fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
LABEL=rootfs / ext3 noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0


leon

leon,

Here is the problem.

-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 4973578 Sep  5 02:49 zImage.fdt
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Sep  5 02:52 .
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4973642 Sep  5 02:52 uImage

You have installed new u-boot at the same time you create the rootfs (basically 1st time installation). So Step 4 should be skipped.

Quote

4. Create uImage with embedded DTB for booting with older u-boots (2012 or earlier). Skip this step if you have installed the latest U-Boot for Kirkwood (or are installing this u-boot at the same time).

Please replace kirkwood-goflexnet.dtb below with the correct DTB name for your box (see the folder /media/sdb1/boot/dts for the exact spelling of your Kirkwood box name).

Generate the uImage with DTB embedded inside:
cd /media/sdb1/boot
cp -a zImage-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1 zImage.fdt
cat dts/kirkwood-goflexnet.dtb >> zImage.fdt
mv uImage uImage.orig
mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x00008000 -e 0x00008000 -n Linux-5.2.9-kirkwood-tld-1 -d zImage.fdt uImage
sync

Now you need to reverse Step 4.

Mount the rootfs on your Linux box (perfectly OK to use USB Live system).

cd /media/mint/rootfs/boot
cp -a uImage.orig uImage
sync

And umount, and bring it back to the Pogo V4. Power up and you should see the same LED bahavior. Wait for 2,3 minutes and

ping debian.local

or find the new dynamic IP in your network.

-bodhi
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Thanks, I did that and also created a new rootfs on an sd card: both rootfs now get to the point of the solid amber (red and green mixed lights) and no luck either with the ping or in the dynamic ip list from nmap.

with a bow,
leon

leon,

Since you've fixed the rootfs, and then get the amber light, it means that your envs are not correct.

Do this to boot with the good default env values:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,33935,33992#msg-33992

-bodhi
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Ok, great, that did it, thank you so much!

A couple of follow-up questions:

1) Now that I can get ssh access, would it be good for me to try to load the envs directly onto the Plug, instead of relying on the uEnv.txt file?

2) I have two more plugs that I am going to change over, would it be possible for me to use that file instead of trying to flash the envs to the plugs? (I do have serial access to other devices.)

3) I was able to successfully put arch linux on one of the other plugs but would rather use your uboot and Debian, is there a problem flashing after the arch linux uboot?

again with many thanks,
leon

leon,

> Ok, great, that did it, thank you so much!

Cool!

>
> A couple of follow-up questions:
>
> 1) Now that I can get ssh access, would it be good
> for me to try to load the envs directly onto the
> Plug, instead of relying on the uEnv.txt file?
>

Yes, you should adjust the envs. Right now your envs on flash are probably very close. No need to redo the whole thing.

In Debian, get the listing of all envs

fw_printenv | sort > current_envs.txt

And then comapre with the envs in uEnv.txt.

sort uEnv.txt > uEnv.sorted.txt
diff -Naur current_envs.txt uEnv.sorted.txt

Use fw_setenv to change each of the the envs to what is in uEnv.txt.

> 2) I have two more plugs that I am going to change
> over, would it be possible for me to use that file
> instead of trying to flash the envs to the plugs?
> (I do have serial access to other devices.)

Yes. You can dump the mtd0 and then flash it on the new box. And do it in Debian.

The Wiki thread:

Quote

Booting Debian on Pogoplug

Backup and Restore NAND mtds

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,16789,16789#msg-16789


> 3) I was able to successfully put arch linux on
> one of the other plugs but would rather use your
> uboot and Debian, is there a problem flashing
> after the arch linux uboot?
>

There is no problem doing that. Login to Arch and going through the same installation procedure. Or use the nanddump mtd0 file (result of question 2 above) to flash it.

-bodhi
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