HELP: cannot access after installation !!!

[igenyar]

I followed instructions here: http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5 ... oflex-home, right to "/sbin/halt".
Then reboot, but this thing does not seem to pick up IP address.
I checked router clients. This device only shows MAC and no IP assigned. After a while, its entry disappeared.
I noticed that the MAC captured by the router is different from what is printed on the bottom, maybe that is what messed up.
Try reboot button several times with either power on or off, no luck. Try power off router and restart, no luck.
Literally, I cannot access this thing any more (at least via network and SSH).

How to refresh it to start from scratch again?

Any help would be highly appreciated! Thanks.

[WarheadsSE]

1) Calm down
2) Try extracting a clean copy of the rootfs onto your boot drive, via another linux box. Be sure it is labelled "rootfs"
3) You'll get through this

[igenyar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WarheadsSE', '1')) Calm down
2) Try extracting a clean copy of the rootfs onto your boot drive, via another linux box. Be sure it is labelled "rootfs"
3) You'll get through this

[igenyar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WarheadsSE', '1')) Calm down
2) Try extracting a clean copy of the rootfs onto your boot drive, via another linux box. Be sure it is labelled "rootfs"
3) You'll get through this

[archsrvrs]

I am also in this exact same predicament. Does anyone have any additional info?

[WarheadsSE]

@archsrvrs

It's pretty straight forward:
- attach the drive to another computer
- verify the partition is labelled "rootfs"
- Ensure that the rootfs tarball (avaiable from downloads page on main site) is extracted, as root or sudo su
- sync, unmount, detach from pc, attach to GFH, power on.

[jmcbri]

I have been having a similar problem with the PogoPlug Series 4 for months. ALARM boots once, runs fine, but when I reboot, no ip, no nothing. Nothing useful in the logs, doesn't seem to log at all. Even though the light goes green, I've come to think it's not really booted, but that it's actually stuck somewhere in uboot land. Have tried nmap and arp-scan. No expert on those, but nothing useful. I did think I saw it grab an IP once and then vanish, but could be a figment of my imagination. It's a real pain, but I usually just restore pogo, reinstall uboot (arch is on the drive), and go on my merry way. It's linux after all, you don't have to reboot all that often, still a pain though.

I've tried all kinds of things, but nothing has worked. For example:
Installed Arch on the somewhat similar Dockstar. Works like a charm, boot after boot after boot.
Tried different usb devices on the PP4, doesn't change anything.
arp-scan and nmap didn't find the device
Tried to get netconsole to help, but while I was able to get nc to work fine on the dockstar, never ever got it to work on the PP4

Anyway, I have some other ideas, but any suggestions would be helpful. At this point, any rational person would have given up, but I'm a bit obsessed with it.

Thanks.

[jmcbri]

I think this is going to be a real face palm. This AM, I disconnected all the other usb drives but the usb thumb drive that the system is on, and which I'm trying to boot to, and now it boots repeatedly and easily to the PP4. No problems. Explains why others might not have seen this problem of mine: their whole system is on the one boot drive. Also, it suggests that the problem is simply that uboot can't decide which usb drive to boot from, which in retrorespect makes a great deal of sense. Doesn't explain everything yet, but it's promising. Now on to setenv or something else to set the right uboot environment parameters to boot from the right drive for the uboot version from here (that is the archlinux arm website). Not sure how to do that. The uboot described on Jeff Doonzan's website sort of I knew how to use, but this version, not so much. That version doesn't boot the PP4, while this one does. More later as I do the research.

[jmcbri]

So, assuming I understand whats going on, it turns out it took about 5 seconds to find out what the boot environment looks like to uboot:

[root@alarm /]# fw_printenv
bootdelay=5
baudrate=115200
mainlineLinux=yes
arcNumber=3960
bootcmd_usb=usb start; ext2load usb 0:1 0x6400000 /boot/uImage
ipaddr=192.168.1.156
if_netconsole=ping $serverip
start_netconsole=setenv ncip $serverip; setenv bootdelay 10; setenv stdin nc; setenv stdout nc; setenv stderr nc; version;
preboot=run if_netconsole start_netconsole
serverip=192.168.1.224
bootargs_root=root=/dev/sda1 rootdelay=15 rootfstype=ext3bootcmd=setenv bootargs
bootcmd=setenv bootargs $(console) $(bootargs_root); run bootcmd_usb; bootm 0x800000

Now if only I knew it meant and what was right and what was wrong!

Jim

[jmcbri]

I hadn't looked at the printenv output in my prior post closely, but as soon as I did, I noticed this line:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'bootargs_root=root=/dev/sda1 rootdelay=15 rootfstype=ext3bootcmd=setenv bootargs')

I fixed the "rootfstype=ext3bootcmd=setenv bootargs", making it "rootfstype=ext3", but now it still doesn't boot if there is more than the drive attached. Thought it did boot before with another drive attached, at least occasionally. Not now. Annoying. More research necessary.