[iConnect] USB boot and Arch install without serial cable

[uKev]

How can I fix them? Do I have to flash a new uboot version?

[igorert]

Then with the new version of the script during the installation my usb drive got mounted by the system (I guess iomega services) and as a result the formatting/partitioning failed.

Hmm, the script is explicitly unmounting the drive during the installation. If you can reproduce it, I'd like to see /var/log/iconnect-install.log - copy it over after running the script, it's not preserved after reboot.

In general, if you have a Linux box you can format the USB stick as ext2 there and unpack http://archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM ... est.tar.gz to it manually; you can then skip the arch installation portion of the script.

But there is another issue with the installation: If I "cold-start" the iconnect (power off->on) it will boot into the debian/iconnect system even though my archlinux usb drive is plugged in. I have to ssh into the box and type "reboot" again. Then it boots into my archlinux drive.

Try this with another USB stick - occasionally uboot is not able to properly initialize one during cold boot, it happens to me with one of 5 or 6 usb sticks I've tried. As far as I know, it hasn't been fully fixed in newer uboots either. You could try bumping up rootdelay parameter but I doubt it'll help.

[uKev]

Hmm, the script is explicitly unmounting the drive during the installation. If you can reproduce it, I'd like to see /var/log/iconnect-install.log - copy it over after running the script, it's not preserved after reboot.

I will install it on another box in the next days - will see if it happens again and post the log then.
But I can say already that I unmounted the usb drive after the failed installation manually and the system remounted it five seconds later automatically...

In general, if you have a Linux box you can format the USB stick as ext2 there and unpack http://archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM ... est.tar.gz to it manually; you can then skip the arch installation portion of the script.

You really could have mentioned that earlier . I didn't read through your script and guessed it would do some more magic .

Try this with another USB stick - occasionally uboot is not able to properly initialize one during cold boot, it happens to me with one of 5 or 6 usb sticks I've tried. As far as I know, it hasn't been fully fixed in newer uboots either. You could try bumping up rootdelay parameter but I doubt it'll help.

Ok I will give it a try. Thank you.

[igorert]

But I can say already that I unmounted the usb drive after the failed installation manually and the system remounted it five seconds later automatically...

That's really strange - afaik, the only thing that could remount it would be iomega services and the script presumably stops them. What version of the stock are you running, i.e., have you updated it to 2.5.24? I'm still running 2.5.22 so I could be missing some changes.

You really could have mentioned that earlier . I didn't read through your script and guessed it would do some more magic .

The only extra thing that the script does at the moment is creating fw_env.conf for you. You can create one manually after you boot into arch: look for tweak_arch function in the script and issue the same echo command as root or just type the following text into /etc/fw_env.conf

Code: Select all

# iomega iconnect
# MTD device name Device offset Env. size  Flash sector size
/dev/mtd0         0xa0000       0x20000     0x20000


[ZeL]

Hello again!
After several attempts I still find myself asking for your help. The installation on the USB stick is great, the script works beautifully, but once I reboot the network does not work.
I tried using DHCP or set IP/Netmask/Gateway in rc.conf. I put the USB stickin the PC to see the logs and it seemed that the boot hangs because it was not found an IPv6-compatible router.
I tried to disable IPv6 functionality by editing the file /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf but even so the network is not initialized and I have no way to access the iConnect.

Any ideas?

[uKev]

The setup should work without ipv6 and should obtain an ip adress via dhcp on default. Have you tried observing the boot process while running wireshark via lan? So you can see some dhcp requests, answers and the obtained ip address of your iconnect.
if you changed something please post your configuration files here.
Do you use default rc.conf networks or netcfg with network profiles in network.d?
Do you have your network daemon in the DAEMONS list in rc.conf or does your config activate your profile?

[bknight]

I'm stuffed

seems like eth0 wants to run faster than my network hardware allows so unless i buy a gbyte switch i can't get a working network
can't figure how to slow down eth0

[igorert]

can't figure how to slow down eth0

Have you already tried ethtool? Smth like "ethtool -s eth0 speed 100" to set eth0 to 100Mb/s

[stan]

Seems I got stuck at the same point, and I have a 1000MBit switch. Dmesg reports another device eth1. With 'ethtool eth0' I get

Settings for eth0:
Supported ports: [ MII ]
Supported link modes: Not reported
Supported pause frame use: No
Supports auto-negotiation: No
Advertised link modes: Not reported
Advertised pause frame use: No
Advertised auto-negotiation: No
Speed: 1000Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: MII
PHYAD: 0
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: off
Link detected: no

'ethtool eth1' gives:

Settings for eth1:
Supported ports: [ TP AUI BNC MII FIBRE ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Supported pause frame use: No
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Advertised pause frame use: No
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Speed: 100Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: MII
PHYAD: 11
Transceiver: external
Auto-negotiation: on
Link detected: no

I had no success setting up eth1 or eth0 via rc.conf, dhcp or static IP, setting autonegotiation on/off or setting different speeds with ethtool. Same with my 100 MBit switch. I would appreciate any help, it would be too nice to get this device running with arch. Thanks in advance an compliments for setting up the install script!

[igorert]

Hmm, I've seen reports of other people having trouble with 100Mb/s switches on iConnect sometimes but not with GigE (I just double checked mine on a fresh install, it seems to work fine for me).

What does "dmesg | grep eth" show? How about "ip addr show"? If it shows that eth0 is down, try "ip link set eth0 up" - if that brings the link up, you can launch dhcpd manually (/sbin/dhcpcd -q eth0). BTW, how did you get ethtool installed - I just realized it's not pre-installed on the Arch's rootfs image. Oh, and maybe try another cable or check if this one works on another box?