Overclock Pogoplug V4 and Mobile

@Joey

I would/will be doing it in the following way

1 - do the uboot and debianisation first - this will allow clear access to the pins if you need to do any serial based recovery

2 - configure netconsole and check it works

3 - solder the resistor on when all happy

Dear mister postman.....
PLEASE HURRY UP AND DELIVER MY TWO V4 PLUGS...

Sniffle, Gravel Claus bestowed a v4 Mobile in my stocking and I'm most appreciative, and hopefully research & some prep tonight.. Thanks :-)

So is the resistor we need a 2.2 kOhm or 2.7 kOhm? They never finalized the best choice.

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JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
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> So is the resistor we need a 2.2 kOhm or 2.7 kOhm?
> They never finalized the best choice.


Take a risk and flip a coin as to the value. YOLO and if you crash and burn at least hope you are vaporized in the plume. If you suvive unscathed, as they say, what doesn't kill you either makes you stronger/smarter ........or lucky :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2016 03:12PM by LeggoMyEggo.

Well that decision was made for me, I have one 2.7K metal film resistor in the archives. And I'm looking forward to see how that relates to that Arch guy's 25% increase with a 2.2K. The Pogo v4 is smaller than I'd imagined so it's going to be a very tight space. Not saying I can do it but I'll try my level best.

So, on to Qui's tutorial after I find a blank USB stick?

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Mines still mid transport from the USofA

I'm going with a 2.7k metal film one as they are whats in my local electronics store and i bought a couple today


@Joey - Gravel Claus - ROFL :)

I still chuckle :-)

As long as a few of us are configuring these from scratch, and I wouldn't rule out saving pennies for a SATA version if this pans out, thought I'd articulate Plan A:

1. Install Debian to SD Card
2. Install OpenWRT to NAND.

I also might try an alternating configuration for the external hard drive, where maybe OpenWRT auto mounts anything plugged into it and if Debian/SD-card boots it then have that configured to mount external storage manually. This is in case of a pinch, get to my stuff.

The world of SD cards has me scratching my head, because different brands's specs aren't meaningful. Some Class 10 cards say 40 MB/Sec and some Ultra and Extreme form SanDisk say 80-90MB/sec. I'll have to settle with whatever the drug store has, but will plan ahead if I am able to upgrade to a v4-3 down the road.


For now I'll hold off a few days until researching better, and try to be smart where resources are allocated.

Soldering tip (oh I love puns): if you only have a low watt solder iron and need to deal quickly with high-heat solder, many times I've had a blowtorch within arm's reach and kiss the solder iron tip with the blue flame. Knock on wood it's worked every time.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2016 01:41PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

OT: Speaking of SD card, perhaps this 128GB microSD card $27 (from BestBuy + FREE S/H) may interest you.

That's a good sign, and I'm warming up to the idea of PNY after two months of using one of their cheapest USB sticks for torrents in the E02/Debian. I've only had one bad PNY stick out of a dozen in the past 2 years and it was acting suspicious from the first day, and Best Buy was great to replace it after warranty. -note- PNY USB 2.0 is usually slow and 3.0 is great actually, even in 2.0 slots.

One of my favorite things about a USB-based OS is how easy it is to directly copy one to a blank USB stick for safety copy (using a freeware partition manager in Windows). And I wonder out loud, if I were to install Debian to a USB stick on Pogo v4, and I have similar means to copy that stick to the SD Card later on, ought that boot up? That way I could get work done in the meantime. I only have one SD card (camera) and no immediate budget for another. The sales are usually 30-45 days after Christmas.

For those who are considering overclocking the v4, it might be worth looking into to solder a switch so it's easy to compare performance, heat and everything. I might, but don't want to get ahead of myself.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 02:08PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

I have lost interest in this seeing as how the OP at Arch hasn't posted an update in two weeks. Nothing worse than someone who posts something claiming a discovery (somewhat sketchy though) when all they are really doing is postulating a theory with the hope someone else does the hard work or takes the risk and provides the answer they were looking for. Kind of mischeavious but I have to admit clever. At least that is how it appears to me.

Have no fear, JoeyAlarm will kick this party into overdrive :-D
I might be hopelessly poor, but even I have a dollar to buy the worst/notorious IT junk at Thrift shops just for the heatsinks, and if I can work out adhesive, this might prolong v4's life if it's really clocking 25% higher.

-edit- yeah Leggo I thought a nudge would help, but after taking a look at other topics at the Arch > Marvell Kirkwood forum I now understand better the lack of enthusiasm going on there.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2016 12:05PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

LeggoMyEggo Wrote:
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> I have lost interest in this seeing as how the OP
> at Arch hasn't posted an update in two weeks.
> Nothing worse than someone who posts something
> claiming a discovery (somewhat sketchy though)
> when all they are really doing is postulating a
> theory with the hope someone else does the hard
> work or takes the risk and provides the answer
> they were looking for. Kind of mischeavious but I
> have to admit clever. At least that is how it
> appears to me.

I hope it's not the case, but it's starting to look that way.

-bodhi
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Guys dont write all this off yet!!

as soon as my plugs arrive from the USA i will be soldering away and give the feedback.

Gravelrash,

I do recall a serial console hack to overclock was successfully done and reported long ago at Arch site. I just don't remmember how. You're our go-to-guy now :)

-bodhi
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bodhi Wrote:
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> Gravelrash,
>
> I do recall a serial console hack to overclock was
> successfully done and reported long ago at Arch

if im thinking on the right lines - thats possible with a JTAG header and some leads

.........oh why oh why are the good toys always in lands far away and i have to suffer the drudgery of waiting for the postman to sail across the ocean.

@Joey - solder that 2.7k in and beat me to it!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2016 03:41PM by Gravelrash.

I'm currently trying to install using Qui's tutorial, and having a problem, the checksums don't match:
Right where you download this and the md5 checker:

#download Debian rootfs and md5
cd /tmp/mnt
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/Debian-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2
wget http://download.qnology.com/pogoplug/v4/Debian-3.14.0-kirkwood-tld-1-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2.md5

-update- twice it said bad checksum.

I was hoping to get Debian on tonight and aim for opening the box tomorrow, but life calls and I can't continue for now. PogoUnplug.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2016 11:11PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

Joey,

Tell ushow far you got, did you install u-boot? do you keep the log? you can create a new topic for it.

If the checksum don't match, delete that. Use the 3.16 rootfs if you want to continue with Qui's tutorial:

Debian-3.16.0-kirkwood-tld-2-rootfs-bodhi.tar.bz2
md5:
c70033d09a82832ba75fd9cfa361c2c5

-bodhi
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I'm using Putty on Mint Linux (ThinClient) to get to it, is there a substitute for WinSCP? I got as far as right before the part that isn't working.

There's one of two things you could do to help in the meantime, one is suggest substitute URLs fr the wget code that checksums bad, If not, I could try downloading from Dropbox, but what I download would drop right into /tmp/mnt and then proceed right?

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Joey,

The rootfs can be created in any Linux box. Mount your USB on the Linux Mint. Format it as EXT3. Download the rootfs and use the tar command to populate the USB rootfs (as instructed in the rootfs thread). And plug it in the Pogo.

-bodhi
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Too late, although I understand what you'e saying and it's going to stick - thanks a ton Bodhi...

- I unplugged the SD card, plug in the benchmark 8GB Debian USB stick from the E02, and voila, didn't expect it to work, but it does! At least Transmission fires up when I change IPs proper to it. So I'd say one of the root things had gotten installed at Qui's. Sorry for all the trouble.

Give me one thing for now, just the proper code to see what a meaningful CPU speed checker is. I can do once before, and knock on wood maybe, maybe I can attempt the resistor ASAP tomorrow. So off to bed pretty soon.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2016 12:07AM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

Simplest quick check (close enough):

dmesg | grep -i BogoMIPS

And yes, the rootfs is kirkwood wide, so it should work on all Kirkwood boxes :)

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2016 12:08AM by bodhi.

It says 795.44 BogoMIPS. Is that a useful result?

Pogo Mobile never turned fully green, and I'm sure some careful updating is in order. apt-get update says there's 17 MB incoming, so while I'm nuts to go this route, I'd be nuts not to as well. Why did the bear go over the mountain? To see what he could see. lol

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2016 12:35AM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

It is. About 800Mhz.

-bodhi
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I didn't short-out the box, but that's the best I can report. It's not as tight a spot as I'd previously imagined, and the bottom has more room to work a soldering iron, don't know why someone would do the top side. As Leggo (now properly credited, sorry about that) mentioned this isn't a job for low heat, in fact I was able to get too much low heat solder on, use a solder sucker to pull the low heat solder off the high heat solder! It's that pronounced.

So I don't know if I'll get another chance today due to daylight and how important that is in conjunction with bifocals.

Holding the little resistor in place is difficult. I'd be wise to clean up all the lead off the table and re try this, but it's not a place for less than a focused effort and I don't have a high heat solder iron with a needle tip.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2016 11:42PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

@Joey - I have faith in your soldering abilities young man!

Keep at it. Be amongst the first to do it succesfully :)


edit : on a side note i have a soldering iron that i use when i am applying lead to cables before i cut them, but i think this may be too powerful....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2016 03:03PM by Gravelrash.

YES IT WORKS; 996.14 BogoMIPS with the 2.7K resistor, same result as the guy who went with 2.2K.

Gents yes this is within your skill level, just bend the resistor beforehand, little tiny claw end, tinned, and alligator clip it in position. I'm all the more relieved it went into the case with nothing shorting out (underneath the circuit board is metal).

My work is pretty ugly, two blobs and one is going away from the other. Hopefully not a cold solder, but I'm fairly confident to have held the heat on long enough.

Sp for me, the last three concerns are
1. Heat, make sure 24/7 doesn't run this too hot, and if so will elongating the vents help. A 25% has to generate more heat. But is it actually cooler than a 1.2 Ghz E02? So who knows right now. Still, an E02 has more internal space and vents than a v4 stock.
2. Swapfile: that item that didn't survive the crossover from E02.
3. Get image to SD Card.

RESULTS:
1. v4 Mobile Runs cool but remember a CNET review said the v4_v3 version gets hot enough stock to remember the fire hazard on the ill-fated nuked verison
2. Swapfile good and happy
3. SD Cards all set. :-)

Hey gents, THANKS!

C'mon Gravel Claus, you can do this...

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Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2016 11:45PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

@joey. Well done that man!!!

Ill do mine as soon as they land on my doormat.

I did take a picture during first try - apologies it's 545 KB I must have forgotten to tell Photoshop to save for web. It's not that great but will show what worked here, next to the window with looking through bifocals.

Yeah, can't wait to see your USB 3 and SATA speeds over Ethernet change drastically. If so, the rest of the v4_3's on the planet will probably sell out fast or skyrocket in price.

But as an afterthought, there will be a lot of bricks with solder everywhere as well :-D

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2016 09:19PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

Cool :)

@Joey,

Please post serial boot log (until the Debian login prompt) if you have one.

-bodhi
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Sure, how do I do that? Will it just show the current boot? As you know this Debian stick was from the E02 and updated last night.
Especially if it's easy, I can post right away :-D

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