Can't boot my Sheevaplug

[marlar]

I found this guide. It this procedure what you sketched out?

http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Installing_Debian_To_Flash

[tylernt]

Yes, the Debian page you linked to is a good starting point. The "Burn a New Kernel " section is of particular interest. Rather than tftp, though, you can load the kernel into RAM with these commands (assuming your kernel is named 'uImage' and is placed on the first partition of an ext2-formatted SD card):

mmcinit
ext2load mmc 0:1 0x2000000 uImage

With the kernel now in RAM, you can write it to flash with 'nand erase' and 'nand write' as the Debian page outlines. You may wish to consider using the write.e command, though, as it automatically deals with any bad blocks that might be in your way.

[lyzby]

What method did you use to get debian on the SD?  The EISA/EPIA installer allows to to install either to SD or to nand.  It does require a single USB stick formatted as a fat drive. 

You can look for u-boot commands by typing 'help'.  More specifically, you can type 'help fatload', 'help ext2load', 'help fatls', 'help ext2ls', 'help bootm'.

How is your sd partitioned--1, 2, or 3 partitions?  You may well find it easier to install fresh to nand than to copy over what you have.

[marlar]

lyzby, I used this guide: http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/install.html

The problem with EPIA installer is that it needs a USB stick less than 2 GB. I have only a 4 GB stick. And the SqueezePlug method requires two USB sticks.

The SD card has 3 partitions.

[marlar]

I don't understand why this has to be so difficult!

I tried this guide now because it deals with getting the OS on the NAND card:
http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Installing_Debian_To_Flash

Until and including "Run the Debian Installer " it works well; the installer runs to the end without problem. However, the guide says I should answer "kernel: none", but no such question is given by the installer. Is that important?

When I then try to boot the new installation, it tries booting from tftp instead from the card, although I entered this command:

Code:

setenv bootargs=console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=nand_mtd:0xa0000@0x0(u-boot),0x400000@0x100000(uImage),0x1fb00000@0x500000(rootfs) root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rw

I printed all the environment variables with printf and found this line:

Code:

bootcmd=tftpboot 0x2000000 $(image_name); setenv bootargs $(console) $(bootargs_root) nfsroot=$(serverip):$(rootpath) ip=$(ipaddr):$(serverip

So I entered these command taken from http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/install.html:

Code:

setenv bootargs_console console=ttyS0,115200
setenv bootcmd_mmc 'mmcinit; ext2load mmc 0:1 0x01100000 /uInitrd; ext2load mmc 0:1 0x00800000 /uImage'
setenv bootcmd 'setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console); run bootcmd_mmc; bootm 0x00800000 0x01100000'
saveenv

Now it boots partly, but I get this output:

Code:

SDHC found. Card desciption is:
Manufacturer:       0x03, OEM "SD"
Product name:       "SD04G", revision 8.0
Serial number:      1616865103
Manufacturing date: 5/2009
CRC:                0x00, b0 = 0

5617828 bytes read

1432436 bytes read
## Booting image at 00800000 ...
   Image Name:   Debian kernel
   Created:      2010-08-11   9:46:08 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    1432372 Bytes =  1.4 MB
   Load Address: 00008000
   Entry Point:  00008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
OK
## Loading Ramdisk Image at 01100000 ...
   Image Name:   Debian ramdisk
   Created:      2010-08-11   9:46:11 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    5617764 Bytes =  5.4 MB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK

Starting kernel ...

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.

Error: unrecognized/unsupported machine ID (r1 = 0x0000020f).

Available machine support:

ID (hex)        NAME
00000690        Marvell DB-88F6281-BP Development Board
00000691        Marvell RD-88F6192-NAS Development Board
00000692        Marvell RD-88F6281 Reference Board
00000a76        Marvell eSATA SheevaPlug Reference Board
00000831        Marvell SheevaPlug Reference Board
00000a63        Marvell GuruPlug Reference Board
0000085b        QNAP TS-119/TS-219
000009c6        QNAP TS-41x
00000b44        Marvell OpenRD Ultimate Board
00000939        Marvell OpenRD Client Board
00000915        Marvell OpenRD Base Board
00000b1e        HP t5325 Thin Client

Please check your kernel config and/or bootloader.

Maybe it's time to buy a USB  stick and try either EPIA og SquuezePlug installers ... ?

[lyzby]

Looks like you're getting closer, but I don't know the significance of your error message.

[marlar]

Hooray! Finally I have some kind of success. Using this guide:

http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/SheevaPlug_Installer

I managed to unbrick the plug to the original Ubuntu version and it boots well from NAND now.

However, now there is a (hopefully) smaller problem. There is nothing in the repository, and if I run

apt-get update

I get the following:

Code:

Get:1 http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty Release.gpg [189B]
Get:2 http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates Release.gpg [189B]
Get:3 http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security Release.gpg [189B]
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty Release
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates Release
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty Release
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates Release
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security Release
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security Release
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty/restricted Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty/multiverse Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/main Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/main Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/universe Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/multiverse Packages
Fetched 567B in 0s (1346B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <ftpmaster@ubuntu.com>
W: GPG error: http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <ftpmaster@ubuntu.com>
W: GPG error: http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty-security Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <ftpmaster@ubuntu.com>
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems

It basically suggest me to repeat the command in order to fix it, but of course it doesn't help.

What is wrong here?

[marlar]

I found a fix for the BADSIG problem:

http://drew.thewithers.org/2009/12/how-to-fix-ubuntu-gpg-error-badsig.html

[lyzby]

Congratulations on persisting until you got a working installation.

[marlar]

Congratulations on persisting until you got a working installation.

Yeah, thanks!

It took hours after hours and nearly drove me crazy. But I always find that I get a much deeper understanding from such problems compared to when it works smoothlessly at first try. So well, it's okay :-)

EDIT: I forgot to thank all of you for patiently helping me. I appreciate that very much.

[marlar]

I have thought of this:

Now that I have a running and more or less tweaked installation with Squeezebox Server and other goodies on it, can I copy the NAND content to either SD or USB in case I need to reinstall later?

[birdman]

The problem with EPIA installer is that it needs a USB stick less than 2 GB. I have only a 4 GB stick.

I think you'll find that it requires a partition that is less than 2GB.  So just use less than all of the USB stick.