Wont Boot

[emcp]

right it started when i tried to create a swap file using


https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq

Four-step Process to Add Swap
Creating a file the size you want.


Formatting that file to create a swapping device.


Adding the swap to the running system.


Making the change permanent.


For Adding a 512 MB swap


Creating a file for 512 MB size you want:


We will create a /mnt/512Mb.swap swap file.


sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/512Mb.swap bs=1M count=512


Here count=512, means we want our file to contain 512 blocks of bs=1M, which means block size = 1 mebibyte (1 048 576 bytes). Be careful *not* to do this dd of=/mnt/512Mb.swap bs=1M seek=512 count=0 Though the file grows to 512Mb immediately, it will have holes that makes it unusable.


Formatting that file to create a swapping device:


sudo mkswap /mnt/512Mb.swap


Adding the swap to the running system:


sudo swapon /mnt/512Mb.swap

i used of=/mount/mmckilp001/512Mb.swap


or similar


and then the pandora wouldnt run any apps


so i rebooted and got stuck about a cm from the end of the zaxxon screen


rebooted again and i got through to the desktop


still wouldnt load, so i deleted the file, still wouldnt load


so once again i rebooted, got stuck on the zaxxon screen again


rebooted and remove the sd card, got stuck on a blinking cursor after the zaxxon screen


reinserted sd card, and now constantly get stuck on the blinking cursor


ideally, i dont want to reflash, spent a lot of time customizing the desktop


any ideas


thanks

 

[urjaman]

^ ... you wrote your swap file to /mnt/<something> ? ...


Pandora uses /media/<card label> for SD cards.

still wouldnt load, so i deleted the file, still wouldnt load

:huh: :blink: care to explain? I'm WTF'd. What wouldnt load? How did you delete the file? Exact commands and responses please.


You will need to find out:


1. What did you do that breaks your boot process.


2. How to undo it.


http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?showtopic=917&view=findpost&p=18549 is a post with autoboot.txt (you can use it as boot.txt and use the menu also) to disable the splash screen to see a bit more to what is happening. It might also be possible to boot into single user mode, by adding "single" (without quotes) to the setenv command line, but I'm not sure if sulogin will let you in if you have never set the root password - I havent tested. The other alternative is to add "init=/bin/sh" to the commandline - it should drop you into a just enough functional shell - the keyboard mappings are a bit off, no special kernel filesystems are mounted, etc. If you cant find out why it wont boot, you might alternatively try to backup (tar will keep the file permissions correct if you need to store them to a FAT fs) your home directory contents (which includes all your desktop settings - just be sure to get all the dot-files (.*) ) and then reflash it, and restore the backup. That sequence should be simple enough for you to do if you can use mount, tar, etc.

 

[emcp]

thanks


will do


PND's wouldnt load from the sd card, although they would show up, and several of the settings menu woudlnt load either (ie toggle wifi)


and im sorry it was media not mount


i used rm, and just dragged the swap file into the terminal


always wondered how to show boot processes, so thanks for that too


UPDATE


well did as it says and not the pandora wont boot anything, i then reversed the effect and its not even getting to the zaxxon screen just saying Pandora #


bits in bold are the commands i typed


notice i had to do printenv twice at the end, as the first one cut a few characters of

printenv

bootdelay=0


baudrate=115200


usbtty=cdc_acm


loadaddr=0x82000000


mtdparts=mtdparts=nand:512k(xloader),1920k(uboot),128k(uboot-env),10m(boot),-(rootfs)


dieid#=05d200020000000004031eda0c00e004


bootargs=ubi.mtd=4 ubi.mtd=3 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs rw rootflags=bulk_read console=ttyS0,115200n8 vram=6272K omapfb.vram=0:3000K


preboot=pmenu


filesize=4


stdout=usbtty


stdin=usbtty


stderr=usbtty


Environment size: 395/131068 bytes


Pandora #


setenv bootargs ubi.mtd=4 ubi.mtd=3 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs rw rootflags=bulk_read psplash=false vram=6272K omapfb.vram=0:3000K


Pandora #


printenv


bootdelay=0


baudrate=115200


usbtty=cdc_acm


loadaddr=0x82000000


mtdparts=mtdparts=nand:512k(xloader),1920k(uboot),128k(uboot-env),10m(boot),-(rootfs)


dieid#=05d200020000000004031eda0c00e004


enoot=pmenu


filesize=4


stdout=usbtty


stdin=usbtty


stderr=usbtty


bootargs=ubi.mtd=4 ubi.mtd=3 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs rw rootflags=bulk_read psplash=false vram=6272K omapfb.vram=0:3000K


Environment size: 386/131068 bytes


Pandora #


printenv


bootdelay=0


baudrate=115200


usbtty=cdc_acm


loadaddr=0x82000000


mtdparts=mtdpart


s=nand:512k(xloader),1920k(uboot),128k(uboot-env),10m(boot),-(rootfs)


dieid#=05d200020000000004031eda0c00e004


preboot=pmenu


filesize=4


stdout=usbtty


stdin=usbtty


stderr=usbtty


bootargs=ubi.mtd=4 ubi.mtd=3 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs rw rootflags=bulk_read psplash=false vram=6272K omapfb.vram=0:3000K


Environment size: 386/131068 bytes


Pandora #


saveenv


Saving Environment to NAND...


Erasing Nand...


Erasing at 0x260000 -- 100% complete.


Writing to Nand...


done


Pandora #

probably just easier to reflash, if i can grab an sd card large enough


or can you do it over USB Serial

 

[moxie]

You turned swapon and then deleted the swap file? Well, that won't work very well...Did you put the swap file on the same card thatyou try to scan for PNDs? What do you mean you did when you "reversed the effect"?


"Dragged the swap file into the terminal"?

 

[urjaman]

"Dragged the swap file into the terminal"?

That is equivalent to just pasting the filename into the terminal, it's pretty kewl


If he didnt do any permanent changes, I'm failing to see why he's having problems....

 

[urjaman]

well did as it says and not the pandora wont boot anything, i then reversed the effect and its not even getting to the zaxxon screen just saying Pandora #

You might want to try to actually boot the pandora


....


Just say "boot" over usb serial (IIRC), or press power+pandora.


I should add that my short "guide" on modifying the NAND u-boot environment to show the boot messages was for people who want to watch them always and might swap/change/format/meddle with their SD card(s). I thought that I specifically pointed to notaz's autoboot.txt version for just this reason.

 

[emcp]

tried that already, no luck, at first it says command not recognized, and the second time it simply spits out #pandora again


Also the swap file wasnt made as a permanent change, and the problems happened as soon as it was made


i rebooted several times before deleting it, so it should have been still using the file


and rm never gave an error


thanks

 

[moxie]

The problem here is that it is a bit difficult to help, because you don't really describe what you where doing, neither when you created the swap file nor when you tried to remove it. And those fragments of description you give, are on rather different levels - One is on the "I followed this guide" level, while the other is a terminal dump with printenv and stuff. So it is a bit difficult to find out what you did or how to undo it.


If you'd describe exactly what you did, then it might be easier. Either on the level of "I typed these commands and this is what happened" or on some sort of system description level.

 

[emcp]

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap bs=1M count=512

sudo mkswap /media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap

sudo swapon /media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap

Once i gave the above commands, the SD Mass Storage wouldnt work, nor would toggle wifi, nor would any pnd's i downloaded, (abiword managed to load though)



So i rebooted, and the problems persisted

After several reboots, i decided to remove the swap file using

rm '/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap'

Remember, the swap file wasnt a permanent one as i stopped short of

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

and appending the following /mnt/512Mb.swap none swap sw 0 0

so the swap file wasnt supposed to be getting used when i removed it



I then rebooted the device, however i was now getting stuck on the zaxxon screen towards the end

after a few more forced reboots, i got past the zaxxon screen and came to a screen with a flashing cursor







Following the advice of urjaman

I attempted to disable the splash screen, using cutecom

setenv bootargs ubi.mtd=4 ubi.mtd=3 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs rw rootflags=bulk_read psplash=false vram=6272K omapfb.vram=0:3000K

savenv

im now getting stuck before the zaxxon screen with the text

# Pandora

Hope thats a bit more clear


thanks

 

[id10t]

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap bs=1M count=512

I don't have my Panda handy to check but of=/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap


makes me think you wrote into the mount point (the directory in nand)


rather creating the file on the SD card itself, filling nand.

 

[emcp]

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap bs=1M count=512

I don't have my Panda handy to check but of=/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap


makes me think you wrote into the mount point (the directory in nand)


rather creating the file on the SD card itself, filling nand.

Had that feeling myself


Does anyone know how to copy mount an sd card through usb at at uboot via the usb serial


in other words, i need to beable to copy the fw onto the SDHC cards, and i dont have any sdhc card reader


thanks

 

[WizardStan]

I don't have my Panda handy to check but of=/media/mmcblk0/512Mb.swap


makes me think you wrote into the mount point (the directory in nand)


rather creating the file on the SD card itself, filling nand.

Indeed. The directory you were probably looking for was /media/mmcblk0p1/ or /media/<name_of_sd_card>/. If the mount doesn't exist (ie, you forgot the p1 part) then it creates the directory (I think) on the NAND, and then fills that with your swap file. As others have reported, when the NAND gets full, it can no longer boot.

Does anyone know how to copy mount an sd card through usb at at uboot via the usb serial


in other words, i need to beable to copy the fw onto the SDHC cards, and i dont have any sdhc card reader

Everything you need to know about running from SD (including getting a fresh copy of the firmware and copying your existing firmware from the NAND onto SD) can be found here.


Note that in order to copy the firmware to SD you must first boot to it, and if you really have filled your NAND with a swapfile that may be impossible. There is probably a way to mount the NAND after booting from an SD card or USB stick, but I don't know how to do it. It's not listed as a regular device at any rate. You may, sadly, be out of luck and have to reflash, unless someone else has a bright idea.

 

[emcp]

Thanks


My SD reader seems to have suddenly accepted my SDHC card, so its flashing now, although it would be nice to beable to do something similar to

fatload usb 0:1 0x00800000 rootfs