Unable to boot the kernel from NAND

[ilnli]

Hi,

I've done all the instructions according to the wiki page to replace the company defaults kernel with the one I compiled but when ever plug boots it give following error:

Code:

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0x200000
 2097152 bytes read: ERROR
## Booting image at 00800000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-2.6.22.18
   Created:      2009-04-04   1:49:44 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    2070252 Bytes =  2 MB
   Load Address: 00008000
   Entry Point:  00008000
   Verifying Checksum ... Bad Data CRC

I've even tried re-imaging it back with uImage.sheeva.040309 but still it says the same thing my boot_args are is:

Code:

setenv bootargs 'console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=cfi_flash:0x200000@0x100000(uImage)ro,0x87c0000@0x300000(rootfs)rw root=/dev/mtdblock2'
saveenv
setenv bootcmd 'nand read 0x800000 0x100000 0x200000; bootm 0x800000'
saveenv

Please helps I've been working on this for weeks now and could find out how to fix it and make my plug usable again.

Thanks
Ilnli

[restamp]

Without more information, it is difficult to diagnose the problem.  However, the 0x200000 "bytes-to-load" argument you give the nand command seems low, although maybe some early Plugs used it.  I think the kernels people are building today will not fit in 0x200000 bytes.  The default Uboot environment allocates twice that.  However, you can't just up this number without moving the rootfs up, too.

I might suggest just running the Alpha-6 installer to get things your Plug again.

Good luck!

[ilnli]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply but just wanted to know that when I wrote kernel on my NAND with writenand command it was successfully written in that area and didn't give any error also my kernel uImage file was less than 2097152. But still don't know why when it tries to read the kernel it give read error

Code:

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0x200000
 2097152 bytes read: ERROR

I'm very new with Plug Computing could you please point me to a good tutorial from where I can get more information?

Thanks once again.

Cheers,
Ilnli

[restamp]

Gee, I wasn't aware that you were also taking an error on the nand read operation.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember reading that the early Uboots could not handle ECC errors correctly in some respect, but I don't recall the particulars.  Perhaps someone else does and can chime in here with more information.

In any event, if it were me, and I had been without a viable OS on my Plug for weeks, I'd run the Alpha-6 installer.  If nothing else, it will install a newer, more full-featured Uboot.  Once you are on the Alpha-6 Uboot, you can arrange to boot a uImage from a root FS running on an SDcard, and that makes testing new kernels so much easier.

Good luck.

[ilnli]

Hi,

I tried recovering my plug with Alpha-6 installer but its still not working, I think its unable to read from my USB drive however I've checked my ISB is FAT32 formated and works fine, I'm getting the following error:

Code:

USB:   scanning bus for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found                       
       scanning bus for storage devices... Device NOT ready                     
   Request Sense returned 05 24 00                                             
1 Storage Device(s) found                                                       
** Can't read from device 0 **                                                 
                                                                               
** Unable to use usb 0:1 for fatload **                                         
** Can't read from device 0 **                                                 
                                                                               
** Unable to use usb 0:1 for fatload **                                         
                                                                               
NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0x400000                             
Erasing at 0x4e0000 -- 100% complete. Cleanmarker written at 0x4e0000.         
OK                                                                             
                                                                               
NAND write: device 0 offset 0x100000, size 0x400000                             
                                                                               
Writing data at 0x4ff800 -- 100% complete.                                     
 4194304 bytes written: OK                                                     
Saving Environment to NAND...                                                   
Erasing Nand...Writing to Nand... done                                         
## Booting image at 00800000 ...                                               
Bad Magic Number                                                               
Marvell>>

Could you please help.

Thanks
Ilnli

[restamp]

Ilini, I had a similar problem when running the Alpha-6 installer.  In my case, I was able to coax the USB subsystem into behaving by resetting my Plug, breaking out to the Marvell>> prompt as soon as I could, and then invoking the runme.sh script in the installer.  However, instead of getting "Device NOT ready", I was getting "0 Storage Device(s) found" even though I had a thumb drive plugged directly into the Plug's USB port.  Thus, your root cause is probably different from mine.  You need to resolve this USB problem first.  As I said, for me, what worked was a hard-reset on the Plug immediately prior to rerunning the Alpha-6 installer, although I don't remember whether I power cycled the Plug or poked the reset with a paper clip.  But, experiment with yours.  Try the above.  Try another thumb drive if necessary.  Then, when you get to the point you can reliably see "1 Storage Device(s) found", do whatever it takes to set up that scenario again and then rerun the installer.

(Actually, you probably don't need to reinstall the Uboot image.  You only need to reset the Uboot environment correctly, but it's probably easier and ultimately more bullet-proof just to return the installer from scratch, which will do this automatically.)

Good luck!