Pogoplug v4 - Arch Linux installs, solid green light, no IP

[jimbofive]

Hi there,

I almost never post on tech forums because typically, I'm able to figure out what I need on my own. This time, I'm completely stumped.

I'm trying to run Arch Linux on my Pogoplug Series 4 so that I can access an external hard drive attached to it to allow network Windows backups and Time Machine backups from different computers at home. I'm not new to Linux but I am new to using it on smaller devices, especially ones that I have to remote in to.

I successfully completed steps 1-12 under the Installation tab at http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5 ... g-series-4. When I reboot the Pogoplug with my Arch Linux USB stick in the USB 2.0 port, I get a flashing green light for 15 seconds or so, and then it goes solid green. Everything seems to be fine.

However, I can no longer see the Pogoplug in my DHCP table on my router's setup page. I've waited for plenty long enough but the device is just never discovered by my router. I've power cycled the router, the Pogoplug, the PC I'm SSH'ing in with, etc. Nothing. When I eventually give up, power off and plug in my "revert" USB stick (FAT32 formatted w/ just a "revert" folder on it), things go back to normal and I can see the device in my DHCP table again, SSH in, etc.

This is really frustrating as I feel like I'm taking my FORTRAN cards back to the compiler each time as I have to power down the device, remove the USB stick, plug it into my Linux PC, try to change some things in my rc.conf file, then reboot the Pogoplug. The absolute SMALLEST change to the default Arch Linux installation always makes my Pogoplug just go to a persistent blinking green state.

Am I missing something simple here? Will my device only be recognized by my router w/ a static IP? Please help as I'd really like to just get this device to a state where I can SSH into it w/ Arch Linux running. I'm pretty sure I can take it from there. Thanks in advance.

[WarheadsSE]

For giggles, stop reverting it. That poor NAND.

But seriously, extract a nice clean copy of the rootfs tarball onto the first partition of the drive, formatted ext3 and labelled "rootfs". If you have issues still, then look into editing rc.local to add
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'sleep5
halt') This is so that you have a complete boot cycle's worth of logs to examine. Remember, its name will be changed to "alarm" in the dhcp tables.

[christianwaite]

Bah I'm having the same trouble.
I had alarm working, but decided to give a fresh install as I decided to change it's use and wanted to blast it back to default settings.

Using the guide from a restored pogoplugmobilev4 I wasn't getting anything (dhcp still showed up as pogoplug).
After jumping onto my ubuntu machine and tar'ing the arch install to the drive I managed to get it to show up as "alarm" but still can't access it even after your rc.local trick.

Now I'm getting green flashes, then a solid green light for a bit, then it turns off...
Any ideas?

It's getting replaced as soon as my cubox turns up, but in the mean time I just need to run a small SQL database on it.
Any help is much appreciated
Christian