How to get u-boot to be consistent

[johnklos]

I'm trying to use ALARM on several Pogoplugs to boot NetBSD from FAT partitions. I got ALARM from:

http://archlinuxarm.org/os/ppv4/ppv4-install.sh

The only environment variable I've changed is:

setenv alarm_usb 'usb start; fatload usb 0:1 0x2000000 netbsd.ub; bootm 0x2000000'

Every time I let it boot without interrupting the countdown, it always reports zero storage devices:

IDE device 0 not available
(Re)start USB...
USB: scanning bus for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
Waiting for storage device(s) to settle before scanning...
0 Storage Device(s) found

However, if I interrupt the countdown and manually type (paste) in my boot command, it usually works:

ALARM>> usb start; fatload usb 0:1 0x2000000 netbsd.ub; bootm 0x2000000
(Re)start USB...
USB: scanning bus for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found
Waiting for storage device(s) to settle before scanning...
1 Storage Device(s) found
reading netbsd.ub
(loads and boots)

Any idea how to fix this?

[WarheadsSE]

spin up. Double up the usb start's

[johnklos]

I tried two usb starts, doing a usb start, then ide start, and a few combinations of extra ide starts with usb starts. What's interesting is that each usb start, no matter how many, show zero storage devices. Also, if I try to manually load the kernel from the prompt after the auto-boot fails, it never works.

I should mention that the USB devices I've been using are flash, not spinning rust.

I have several Seagate Dockstars which work great and are always consistent, which is what I'd like because most of these machines will never have their serial attached.

Thanks!

[WarheadsSE]

"Spin up" does not pertain to spinning rust alone. Flash memory devices need to initialize as well.

Odd ball issue though, since other variations should have worked.

[johnklos]

Ok. We're on to the next step. It seems that using ext2load works reliably. However, it seems ALARM does not support booting from the SD card. While some people report being able to do so using these directions works:

http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=4987

it seems like a recursive mess of unclear instructions. There's also something akin to a guide here:

http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,11663,11824#msg-11824

but this is also a bit of a confusing mess.

Does anyone know a straightforward way to boot a kernel from an ext2 filesystem on a Pogoplug Mobile from the SD card?