Beaglebone Black won't boot ArchLinux from microSD

[Gerardizard]

I followed the instructions on this page:

http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv7 ... bone-black

After setting up the microSD, I plugged in the BBB while holding the button telling the board to boot from SD. The power light and the lights on the Ethernet port are the only lights that turn on. When trying to boot the BBB to the on-board Angstrom while the microSD is in, the power light comes on, and USR0 (which is supposed to blink in a heartbeat pattern once the system is running), USR1 (which indicates SD card access), and USR3 (which indicates access to the on-board eMMC memory) turn on and stay on indefinitely with no real activity from the board. The only light that isn't on is USR2, which is supposed to indicate CPU activity.

I poked around the web and read the solutions on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5486

I thought it may be a power issue. I had been using an iPhone power brick (5V, 1A) to power the BBB via USB, and then tried a DC adapter that outputs 5V and 2A to the exact same results. I don't think it's a power issue.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

[WarheadsSE]

Have you updated the onboard Angstrom and u-boot?

[Gerardizard]

No, but that seems like it would be wise... Whoops. For various reasons, I haven't done that yet. I'll try that and let you know.

[WarheadsSE]

Newer updates, you don't even have to hold the button down.

[Gerardizard]

EDIT: It updated successfully, and now I seem to be getting the same problem where it looks like it's hanging on boot when it's trying to boot ArchLinux from the SD card.

[ratz]

Hi together,

i am experiencing the same problem. My BBB wont boot from microSD
I followed the instructions from the official site: http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv7 ... bone-black

The output of fdisk is:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 2002 MB, 2002780160 bytes
62 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1017 cylinders, total 3911680 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 identifier: 0xc7f9a01c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 133119 65536 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2 133120 3911679 1889280 83 Linux
')

When extracting the archive BeagleBone-bootloader.tar.gz i get the following message:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
root@debian:/home/ratz/BeagleBoneBlack# tar -xvf BeagleBone-bootloader.tar.gz -C boot
./MLO
tar: ./MLO: Kann Datei-Eigentümer nicht zu uid 1001, gid 1001 ändern: Die Operation ist nicht erlaubt
./u-boot.img
tar: ./u-boot.img: Kann Datei-Eigentümer nicht zu uid 1001, gid 1001 ändern: Die Operation ist nicht erlaubt
./uEnv.txt
tar: ./uEnv.txt: Kann Datei-Eigentümer nicht zu uid 1001, gid 1001 ändern: Die Operation ist nicht erlaubt
tar: Beende mit Fehlerstatus aufgrund vorheriger Fehler
')

in english it basically says:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Cant change owner to uid 1001, gid 1001. operation not allowed.
tar: exiting with error status because of preceding errors.

[WarheadsSE]

Errors about FAT not being able to set linux UID:GID are to be expected.

[ratz]

Well yea, i read about this. Still it doesn't explain, why it wont boot ...

[WarheadsSE]

From another linux machine, copy off all the files from /boot, reformat the partition, copy on MLO, then the other files. Try again.

[ratz]

i already tried it several times, it didnt work.
BUT it seems i found the solution. It just doesnt work with a plugged in network-cable.
just having the BBB at the 5V power connector without anything else plugged in did the job.

i hope it also helps other people