[TonidoPlug] Can't boot into ALARM on TonidoPlug

[geeknam]

I'm having problems with booting into Arch Linux ARM install from USB drive.
- I'm using WD Passport 250GB with 3 partitions: 5GB ext2, 220GB ntfs, 25GB fat32
- I have followed the guide at: http://www.Arch Linux ARM.com/index.php5?titl ... TonidoPlug
- I have checked the MD5SUMs
- Got Arch Linux ARM install installed on 5GB ext2 partition
- I do have /boot/uImage

When I reboot the plug it still boots into the flash drive in my plug (with Ubuntu) instead of booting into Arch Linux ARM install on external drive.
Tried it with my 1GB USB flash drive and got the same result. Anybody having the same issues?

[geeknam]

This is my partition table after running fdisk -l:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 609 4886048 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2 * 609 3908 26498260 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda3 3908 30402 212814220+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
')
Seems like primary partition is at sda2 I want it to be at sda1 (Arch Linux ARM install is there). What command do I use to make sda1 a primary partition?

[geeknam]

Ok, I bought a new 1TB hard drive today. Did a setup normally. sda1 is now flagged bootable I even changed the System ID to 83. I even tried a cold boot (removing the power instead of running reboot) as it was reported to be successful for some people. It still doesn't want to boot from the external hard drive.
Here's the screenshot:

[netter]

yeah external harddrives are bad news. Tonido is REALLY picky from what it boots. Out of 4 different brands and sizes of usb sticks it choose a 2gb one... go figure. Also I use a root hub since I want more usb devices and if the other usb devices are formated as ext2/3/4, or fat32 it won't boot no matter the order on the root hub. So basically my boot usb drive is ext3, and the others are ntfs so it doesn't choke. It's really picky. and also setting boot flags via fdisk won't affect it at all, in fact my boot drive doesn't even have the flag.

also anoter thing fdisk always reports weird values for fs's. For example even though my boot drive is ext3, for fdisk its fat32....

[geeknam]

I have just installed Tonido on my external hard drive and I'm able to boot into it but no matter what I can't with Arch Linux ARM install. I'm really confused now. I'm currently satisfied with running Ubuntu 9.04, I can do all the stuffs I want now. Guess I'm not gonna switch to Arch Linux ARM install any soon.

[netter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('geeknam', 'I') have just installed Tonido on my external hard drive and I'm able to boot into it but no matter what I can't with Arch Linux ARM install. I'm really confused now. I'm currently satisfied with running Ubuntu 9.04, I can do all the stuffs I want now. Guess I'm not gonna switch to Arch Linux ARM install any soon.

[andreas]

I had problems with this too. The Tonido Plug would not boot from some USB flash drives, even if they were set up as described. I did find a quick way to check before installing the software, however. Plug in the USB drive (partitioned and with first partition set up as ext2 or ext3), and restart your Tonido Plug.

Then ssh into the plug using the Tonido Plug default login (it will boot into the internal flash drive if there is nothing on the USB drive). Then see if /dev/sda1 has been mounted, by typing df or mount. If /dev/sda1 has been auto mounted, the drive should work for booting. If it is not auto-mounted, I have found that those drives will not work for booting the Tonido Plug.

Interestingly, for the drives that are not auto-recognized, unplugging them after the device is up and then plugging them back in causes them to be mounted. However, that's not good enough -- the USB drive needs to be recognized and auto-mounted during the boot-up process.

For the record, I could not boot from a Sandisk 2GB cruzer micro flash drive, and from a Samsung S1 200GB mini 1.8 inch drive, but succeeded with a Freecom 8GB flash drive, a Trekstor 120GB 1.8 inch drive, a Seagate 500GB 2.5 inch drive in a cheap USB enclosure, and another Sandisk 4GB flash drive.

It seems pretty arbitrary which work and which don't, but the above procedure is an easy way to check.

[tfoutz99]

I installed arch linux on my external usb. Everything works great, it's exactly what I want in a web server.

Problem is, sometimes (most of the time), it will boot off of TonidoPlug's internal flash, rather than the USB. It seems that if I do some series of unmounting the drive, unplugging the computer for a certain period of time, not doing "shutdown now" or "reboot" etc., it will boot off of the USB. However, this is sporadic, and in no way clear.

How can I boot off of the USB reliably.

Are there any log files that could help me out with this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[phireph0x]

I'll add my own experience with booting external drives from TonidoPlug.

I installed ALARM on a Sandisk micro cruzer 2GB flash drive, and have a Belkin 4-port USB hub attached to the TP's USB port. I also have 2 external HDs.

I've tried multiple arrangements of the USB devices in attempts to get Arch to boot reliably from the flash stick. It's only successful when *no* other drives are connected to the USB hub, and when I cold boot. However, it boots to the 2GB flash drive maybe 1 out of every 4 attempts! Booting from external drives is non-deterministic for me I'm not sure why this is, but I can't get it to consistently boot, even though it works sometimes.