PogoPlug v4: Solid Green Light, no talk w/router

[Sergeanter]

This did not work out. I suspect uboot cannot handle nested subroutines/functions. I will hook up serial tonight to restore it
EDIT: uboot environment settings above are OK but something is wrong with fw_printenv. It f@%$ed up CRC , and I had to restore settings from backup file in serial console. Now if I do setenv /printenv in uboot, everything is fine and the box boots OK. However fw_printenv reports a whole bunch of "unrecoverable ECC errors" together with the settings. Stock linux cannot boot anymore since BLPARAM cannot read the environment. Anyway,I do not care. It looks like it is safer to change env settings from within uboot.
I used the version of uboot-env from repository so checksums should have been handled properly theoretically.

[Guidobelix]

Thank you Sergeanter, your script has proven very useful!

[Sergeanter]

You are welcome . All the credit goes to the smart people that wrote input daemon. I have restored the boot using serial console, will try uInitrd with fsck at boot time again tomorrow.

[Sergeanter]

Good news: I have enabled uInitrd on Pogo V4 /mobile and it attempts a fsck after hard reset (power loss)
Bad news: it cannot fix the error:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
:: running hook [udev]
:: Triggering uevents...
[ 11.663551] systemd-udevd[61]: starting version 208
:: performing fsck on '/dev/sda1'
ROOTFS: recovering journal
[ 12.812878] usb 1-1: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using orion-ehci
[ 27.932828] usb 1-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110[ 94.932810] usb 1-1: device not accepting address 2, error -110
[ 94.938807] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[ 94.943844] sd 1:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery
[ 94.950570] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Unhandled error code
[ 94.967740] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda]
[ 94.970881] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
[ 94.975638] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
[ 94.979113] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 00 34 11 26 00 00 f0 00
[ 94.984362] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 3412262
[ 94.989910] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 1706100
[ 95.052128] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Unhandled error code
[ 95.056929] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda]
[ 95.060052] Result: hostbyte=0x01 driverbyte=0x00
[ 95.064751] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
[ 95.068225] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 00 34 12 16 00 00 10 00
[ 95.073448] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 3412502
Error reading block 426525 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read).
ROOTFS: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
')
I check the flash drive on PC and it gets fixed every time with multiple
"Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found. Fix<y>?
Inode xxxxxx was part of the orphaned inode list. FIXED."

If I trigger fsck by doing
tune2fs -C 25 /dev/sda1
on clean drive before clean reboot, it comes through.
Dear gurus, should I add sync option in fstab to avoid this corruption problem? I had the same issue with two other brands of sticks so suggestion to change my thumb drive will not fly.
Thank you for your support. Since I bought Mobile at Office Depot for $5, I find this exercise in futility simply fascinating. Have not had such a fun hobby for years

[WarheadsSE]

$5? Wow. Nice deal.

[Guidobelix]

Hi Sergeanter,

the reason for the problem with fw_setenv is that PogoplugV4 requires blparam instead.
I have "translated" your commands in:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'blparam alarm_ramdisk_ide='if ext2load ide 0:1 0x01100000 /boot/uInitrd; then bootm 0x800000 0x1100000; else bootm 0x800000; fi'
blparam alarm_ramdisk_usb='if ext2load usb 0:1 0x01100000 /boot/uInitrd; then bootm 0x800000 0x1100000; else bootm 0x800000; fi'
blparam alarm_ide='if ext2load ide 0:1 0x800000 /boot/uImage; then setenv device /dev/sda1; run alarm_args; run alarm_ramdisk_ide; else setenv isDisk yes; fi'
blparam alarm_usb='if ext2load usb 0:1 0x800000 /boot/uImage; then run alarm_which; run alarm_args; run alarm_ramdisk_usb; fi'
')
and now my PPv4 loads uInitrd at boot time.

As I am not brave enough to pull the power cord , I'll wait the next power failure to test if fsck fixes the fs errors.

[Sergeanter]

Naah, that is not the problem. I actually use serial port to set up parameters in uboot. Ramdisk gets loaded no doubt. The problem is fsck is not always able to fix the file system errors . With one stick I get hardware failure-like messages , and with the other one it does fsck during boot but then asks to run file system check manually. Both sticks can be fixed in linux on laptop within a couple of minutes. There is something flaky in usb driver I guess.
I have flashed a different uboot on one of the units to boot from SD card and also enabled uInitrd there . That works like a charm . You can unplug it hot any time and it always comes back without any issues.

[Guidobelix]

I meant the reason why fw_senenv gave you a problem, not the one for the problem with fsck.
I intended to provide a solution to whoever (like myself) has not yet soldered a serial connection
Sorry for the lack of clarity!

[moonman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sergeanter', 'N')aah, that is not the problem. I actually use serial port to set up parameters in uboot. Ramdisk gets loaded no doubt. The problem is fsck is not always able to fix the file system errors . With one stick I get hardware failure-like messages , and with the other one it does fsck during boot but then asks to run file system check manually. Both sticks can be fixed in linux on laptop within a couple of minutes. There is something flaky in usb driver I guess.
I have flashed a different uboot on one of the units to boot from SD card and also enabled uInitrd there . That works like a charm . You can unplug it hot any time and it always comes back without any issues.

[Sergeanter]

I will try to boot with a USB hub and manually fsck one of the problematic sticks on the weekend. What I meant was my slow, old , heavily used and obsolete SD card never causes any trouble with davygravy's uboot . It is possible that the hardware of USB port is picky or something is wrong with initialization but the fact is the fact so far - sticks causing problems in alarm on Pogo V4 can be fixed on PC without any issue, and having uInitrd with fsck enabled does not help.