Since almost a week i'am the proud owner of a Pogoplug B04.
In my enthousiasm i've followed the instructions on the wiki called 'Install on Pogoplug Pro'. (since the B04 was mentioned there). Unfortunately i didn't read carefully enough and was not aware of the fact that the installer script wasn't ready for the B04 at that time (27/05/2011).
I followed the instruction for exectuing the script and everything went fine. No differing output in comparance with the output as stated in the how to. (Got the 'looks good!' output aswell).
Rebooted my Pogo but then it wouldn't get back up.
I soon realized that i had bricked my nice new Pogoplug....
Fortunately i found great info on the wiki and elsewhere on the internet on how to modify a CA-42 or DKU-5 cable in order to try to establish a serial connection to the Pogoplug's serial interface.
For anybody interested:
Preparing a CA-42 / DKU-5 cable
See this page for the data cable pinout:
http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Use_a_Nokia_Serial_Cable_on_an_ARM9_Linkstation
The serial pinout (for the three pins needed) on the Pogoplug board is the following: (Facing the rear of the Pogoplug where the powercable goes in) from left to right: pin 1 GND, pin 2 Rx, pin 3, Tx and pin 4 not used. (3.3V pin).
For the connecting the cable to the board you could use a connector from a 'soundcard to cd-rom / dvd -drive' cable.
(I had a right one laying around).
Opening the case of the Pogoplug
See this page for instructions on opening the Pogoplug's casing:
http://Arch Linux ARM.com/index.php5/Hardware:_Pogoplug_Pro_eSata
Establishing a serial connection with the pogoplug
Windows: Putty-> serial connect? <to test / confirm>
I'am using Linux for this.
Connect the cable tot the Pogoplug's board and plug the usb end into the computer.
Open a console / terminal on your pc and type:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 8N1') (You'll need 'screen' installed for this)
(Eventually) Press a key and you should get the uboot prompt on the device. (Or you should see the Pogoplug booting it's kernel)
Making the Pogoplug boot the original rootfs (busybox based system)
The following is from WarheadsSE (with many thanks for his great help!):
Go into uboot and type:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'printenv')
You can use this to see what bootargs_stock contains, and copy and paste for below:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'setenv bootcmd "run boot_nand"
setenv bootargs "root=ubi0:rootfs ubi.mtd=2,512 rootfstype=ubifs console=ttyS0,115200 elevator=cfq mac_adr=0x00,0x25,0x31,0x00,0xd4,0x6f mem=128 poweroutage=yes"')
Now print them again:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'printenv')
If bootargs matches bootargs_stock and bootcmd reads correctly, both without quotes, then we're good to save, and reboot:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'saveenv
reset')
If the printout reads the variables with quotes it will not work.
Preparing a USB key / USB harddisk for install
In this case i'am using a 8GB USB key formatted with ext3.
To prepare the key see the following page:
http://Arch Linux ARM.com/index.php5/Erase_USB_stick_or_hard_drive_and_set_up_partitions_for_Linux
Install Arch Linux ARM
Thanks to the great installer script it is very easy to install Arch Linux ARM from here.
Follow the instructions found here:
http://Arch Linux ARM.com/index.php5/Install_on_Pogoplug_Pro
I'am updating this page along the way as i'am making progress. (So this topic may hopefully be hopefull to other bricked B04 owners..)
(Thanks for the great installer script and the quick response to add support for the B04!!!)