[SOLVED] Unable to boot after pacman -Syu on fresh install

[fiodschi]

Current workaround: Don't update linux-raspberrypi and raspberrypi-firmware when updating the system:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pacman -Syu --ignore linux-raspberrypi raspberrypi-firmware')

That will keep the old (and working) kernel and modules in place.

[pepedog]

jorabo in previous post said this fixes things
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'gpu_mem_512=316
cma_lwm=16
cma_hwm=32')
I guess if a 256 pi suffers problems then this maybe fixes both
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'gpu_mem_512=316
gpu_mem_256=128
cma_lwm=16
cma_hwm=32')
With gpu_mem_256=128 my memory for Linux ends up as 175812k, and xbmc can still run
Someone else want to confirm?

[fiodschi]

This doesn't cure mine. Still no boot (power on -> green light on, green off after about 50 seconds; red on all the time).


EDIT:
I just for fun copied the bootcode.bin and loader.bin (attached) from the original installation image to the boot partition of my fully upgraded non booting pi and that seems to do the trick. Pi works, config.txt is empty.


EDIT2:
I did it once again from the start to confirm that the new bootloader bootcode.bin is responsible for my problem. Cloned archlinux-hf-2012-09-18.img to SD to get a fresh system. Then, via SSH as root:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'cp /boot/bootcode.bin /
cp /boot/loader.bin /
pacman -Syu # reboot wouldn't work after update
cp /boot/bootcode.bin /boot/bootcode.bin.brokenupdate # temporarily remove new bootloader
cp /loader.bin /boot/
cp /bootcode.bin /boot/
sync
reboot') which puts the original bootloader files back in place. And it works. At least booting itself. Afterwards free -m tells me I have only 119MB of RAM (should be 512MB).

alarm_bootloader.tar.gz

original loader.bin and bootcode.bin from archlinux-hf-2012-09-18.img

(177.26 KiB) Downloaded 736 times

[pepedog]

I made a new rootfs that I want tried by those who had problems
A few notes about it
second partition formatted mkfs.ext4 -O ^has_journal -E stride=2,stripe-width=1024 -b 4096 -L ArchLinuxArm /dev/mmcblk0p2
netcfg default network service, /etc/network.d/ethernet-eth0 is edited to make static
cat /boot/config.txt
gpu_mem_512=316
gpu_mem_256=128
cma_lwm=16
cma_hwm=32
cma_offline_start=16
cat /boot/cmdline.txt
smsc95xx.turbo_mode=N dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=noop rootwait
I forgot to delete bash history
PM me for download

[Rolinh]

Hi all,

I am also affected by this problem. Upgrading but keeping /boot/bootcode.bin from last september image allows me to reboot though.

@pepedog: I'd try your new image then.

EDIT: also, only 119M RAM seem detected even though I own a Pi version B (512M).

[pepedog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rolinh', 'H')i all,

I am also affected by this problem. Upgrading but keeping /boot/bootcode.bin from last september image allows me to reboot though.

@pepedog: I'd try your new image then.

EDIT: also, only 119M RAM seem detected even though I own a Pi version B (512M).

[netphyx]

Rolinh, try using the September start_xxx.elf files for booting with more RAM. I found those in the old git repository. There are .elf files for the 512 MB version.

[Rolinh]

@netphyx: thanks for the information. For now, I am testing the new img pepedog is preparing.

[xarxer]

Pepedog's image didn't help. Couldn't boot with it

However, I did some experimenting last night, and what I found was that after running
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pacman -Syyu')
my RPi refused to boot. However, restoring the original bootcode.bin and *.elf files allowed me to boot, fully upgraded.

This setup always survived one reboot. Reboot twice, and it refused. Again, fixed by restoring bootcode.bin and *.elf.

Since I have no idea what exactly bootcode.bin and the *.elf files, maybe this is "expected" behaviour, I just thought I'd share

[pepedog]

Xarxer
Can you try another sd card please.
Also which model of rpi and sd card