HELP! Cannot install ArchLinux, I/O errors

[ipse]

Need a bit of help here folks: after many moons of trouble-free operations, I had a powerbump 2 nights ago which took out my Pogo V2.
Now, the Pogo itself was on UPS, so it SHOULD have been unaffected, while the HDD attached to it was not - and it was in use.
Long story short, the Pogo would NOT boot (???) after the incident, it does NOT seem to have any IP traffic (I put a sniffer on the wire and didn't see any ARP replies). So all I get is "destination host unreacheable".

OK, I thought the USB key was toast and reached for my (tested) backup key. Same thing. I can however see the content when plugged into a laptop.

Took a bigger bite of the bullet, started a new install on a 3rd and the fourth USB drive. I get random errors while un-tarring the distro, claiming volume is R/O. (which of course is not, as WAS not until that point).
It does indeed show as R/O when I check with "mount", despite being R/W when I start the un-tar.
The error does NOT occur in the same point in different attempts or on different drives.

./usr/share/perl5/core_perl/CPANPLUS/Error.pm
./usr/share/perl5/core_perl/CPANPLUS/Selfupdate.pm
./usr/share/perl5/core_perl/perl5db.pl
tar: write error: Read-only file system
-------
/dev/sda1 on /tmp/usb type ext3 (ro,data=ordered) <<<after the error

I should add the Pogo boots fine in it's native little OS, gets an IP and is pingable (of course, otherwise I would not have been able to attempt the re-installs).

I have a hard time thinking 4 different USB drives are bad...how can I salvage the situation? I even tried Debian - but there seem to be problems when configuring the kernel...that distro seems to be WIP.

[moonman]

You may have errors on that drive. Check with e2fsck. It probably gets remounted as ro as it encounters an error. (errors=remount-ro option)

[ipse]

Thanks for the quick reply moonman....but as I said, this has happened with 4 different USB keys.
I think the original one might be fubar, but the backup worked after I created it and was never used since.

Can it be something messed up in Uboot? How do I revert to the original POGO one to really start from fresh?
Things changed a lot since I installed ArchLinux and all I've done is to upgrade via Pacman. None of the originan tutorials exists or are applicable

[tedm]

Are all 4 USB sticks the same brand/model? I originally had a 4GB PNY that started out well, and after a couple of months started showing r/w errors in dmesg output, but only about once a day. Eventually it just died, but I thought the errors would increase before the sudden death.

If all of your USB sticks are the same brand/model, you may want to try a different type. I have a sandisk fit 16gb in right now, but it's too early to tell if it will last, it's only been running for a week.

since the docstar has 4 usb ports, would be interesting if there were a raid 1 or raid 10 implementation

[ipse]

Yeah, I read comments about certain brands...in my case I used 4 sticks of 3 brands (2 Kingston, 1 Adata and 1 chinese).
I'll try a "real" HDD and see if it makes a difference.

Weird that the backup does not work - that one was tested fine after I cloned the partition and was not used since. I suppose I need to get netconsole going.

[ipse]

OK< this is mind blowing: I installed ArchLinux on a HDD, it DID install fine, but guess what, still won't boot.
This time it actually drops to the original Pogo boot after a few minutes.

Or maybe it does boot, but the network interface does not get configured - as I see no packets whatsoever.
Where to go from here?

Here's my fw_printenv

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'Pogoplug:~$ /usr/sbin/fw_printenv
ethact=egiga0
bootdelay=3
baudrate=115200
mainlineLinux=yes
console=ttyS0,115200
led_init=green blinking
led_exit=green off
led_error=orange blinking
mtdparts=mtdparts=orion_nand:1M(u-boot),4M(uImage),32M(rootfs),-(data)
mtdids=nand0=orion_nand
partition=nand0,2
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
stderr=serial
rescue_installed=0
rescue_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=$console ubi.mtd=2 root=ubi0:rootfs ro rootfstype=ubifs $mtdparts $rescue_custom_params
rescue_bootcmd=if test $rescue_installed -eq 1; then run rescue_set_bootargs; nand read.e 0x800000 0x100000 0x400000; bootm 0x800000; else run pogo_bootcmd; fi
pogo_bootcmd=if fsload uboot-original-mtd0.kwb; then go 0x800200; fi
force_rescue=0
force_rescue_bootcmd=if test $force_rescue -eq 1 || ext2load usb 0:1 0x1700000 /rescueme 1 || fatload usb 0:1 0x1700000 /rescueme.txt 1; then run rescue_bootcmd; fi
ubifs_mtd=3
ubifs_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=$console ubi.mtd=$ubifs_mtd root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs $mtdparts $ubifs_custom_params
ubifs_bootcmd=run ubifs_set_bootargs; if ubi part data && ubifsmount rootfs && ubifsload 0x800000 /boot/uImage && ubifsload 0x1100000 /boot/uInitrd; then bootm 0x800000 0x1100000; fi
usb_scan=usb_scan_done=0;for scan in $usb_scan_list; do run usb_scan_$scan; if test $usb_scan_done -eq 0 && ext2load usb $usb 0x800000 /boot/uImage 1; then usb_scan_done=1; echo "Found bootable drive on usb $usb"; setenv usb_device $usb; setenv usb_root /dev/$dev; fi; done
usb_scan_list=1 2 3 4
usb_scan_1=usb=0:1 dev=sda1
usb_scan_2=usb=1:1 dev=sdb1
usb_scan_3=usb=2:1 dev=sdc1
usb_scan_4=usb=3:1 dev=sdd1
usb_init=run usb_scan
usb_device=0:1
usb_root=/dev/sda1
usb_rootdelay=10
usb_set_bootargs=setenv bootargs console=$console root=$usb_root rootdelay=$usb_rootdelay rootfstype=$usb_rootfstype $mtdparts $usb_custom_params
usb_bootcmd=run usb_init; run usb_set_bootargs; run usb_boot
usb_boot=mw 0x800000 0 1; ext2load usb $usb_device 0x800000 /boot/uImage; if ext2load usb $usb_device 0x1100000 /boot/uInitrd; then bootm 0x800000 0x1100000; else bootm 0x800000; fi
bootcmd=usb start; run force_rescue_bootcmd; run ubifs_bootcmd; run usb_bootcmd; usb stop; run rescue_bootcmd; run pogo_bootcmd; reset
ethaddr=00:25:31:00:72:2E
arcNumber=2097
usb_rootfstype=ext3
Pogoplug:~$ ')

[moonman]

environment seems fine. Setup netconsole to see why it doesn't boot up.

[ipse]

@moonman: I realized I am stupid - I sniffed the LAN traffic and there is NO single packet from the Pogo. netconsole won't work - as it doesn't even seem to send a DHCP req.
I suspect the Eth interface does not get configured properly - anything in U-boot that can lead to that?

Short of a serial cable I'm out of options, as I strongly believe at this point it cannot be 5 separate USB devices having problems, but rather the interface.

I assume not forcing the machine ID is NOT responsible for this mess, right?
As the Pogo bare kernel boots up, can I rule out U-boot?

[pepedog]

You have to setup netconsole in uBoot.
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3355

[ipse]

Can someone PLEASE give me a working set of environment vars for Pogo E02?

I even tried Debian which installed fine but again not booting. After a few attempts it falls back to pogoplug.
No luck with netconsole, as it does not have an IP or LAN comms.

Help a fellow Pogo user here before he loses whatever little hair he has left...

/EDIT On a second thought, since the uboot params are overwritten when I select YES during a new uboot install, that cannot be it.
I installed ALARM on a HDD again, it appears to install fine now but it won't boot and the router logs show no DHCP request, therefore my netconsole shows nothing.

For kicks I tried resoring to original pogoplug and even the cloud service works. In the base there seems to be NO problem with the device.