Typically it is from not holding the button down long enough.
Gerald
I’ve held down the button you’re suggesting for nearly 2mins and no change from booting from uSD. Once I eject the uSD and reboot the BBB i’m able to boot into to the eMMC, which is running the flashed version of ubuntu. I’m simply attempting to run the ubuntu desktop now(from uSD), instead of the console version (on eMMC).
I’ve held down the button you’re suggesting for nearly 2mins and no change from booting from uSD. Once I eject the uSD and reboot the BBB i’m able to boot into to the eMMC, which is running the flashed version of ubuntu. I’m simply attempting to run the ubuntu desktop now(from uSD), instead of the console version (on eMMC).
I’m having the same problem as A M Kent. I have a BBB rev C. I’ve installed Ubuntu 12.04.2 on a microSD card, and the card is inserted in my BBB. When I turn on the power while holding down the boot switch, all 4 LEDs come on and remain lit. The BBB does not boot. I held down the boot switch a long time (about 60 seconds). Once I eject the microSD and reboot the BBB I’m able to boot into to the eMMC, which still contains the Debian that came installed on the BBB.
I have 5 other Beaglebone Blacks, all rev C, and they all boot just fine from a microSD card with Ubuntu 12.04.2. In fact, I took the microSD card from one of these BBBs and inserted it in my new BBB, and it doesn’t boot.
This seems to indicate that my new BBB is defective. Do you guys agree?
Tim M
You could prove it easily by plugging in a ftdi usb-serial cable into
the debug port.
Regards,
Robert,
Unfortunately I don’t have a ftdi usb-serial cable. But if I get one, can you refer me to instructions on how to use it?
Thanks,
Tim
What is it you do not know about using a serial debug cable Tim ?
I meant that I’ve never used the debug port and an FTDI cable on the BBB. I assume I would connect to the BBB using a serial terminal program (in my case I would be connecting from Windows). When Robert said I could prove it easily by plugging in a ftdi usb-serial cable into the debug port, I assume he means that I can get an idea of what’s happening by watching the messages on the serial terminal. Am I right?
Yes
It should boot from the onboard emmc.
Type “debian” as the username and “temppwd” as the password.
Then try “dmesg” to see all of the boot messages.
“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” Edmond Burke (1729 - 1797)
http://www.packtpub.com/building-a-home-security-system-with-beaglebone/book
@Tim
On Windows puTTY is probably your best bet. I’d say that everyone who uses COMx devices on windows use it, but I’d probably be wrong. There are many apps out there. But puTTY and the paralax serial app are the two most prominent on my mind.
So basically, you get an adapter, be is cable, or otherwise. You install the drivers for that cable on windows. Look in hardware manager find the COM port the drivers reserved for the device. Then you install puTTY, change the connection type to serial, and then you must configure the connection ( COM port, baud rate, parity etc.)
Anyway, I’m sure there is a how to on the web somewhere. I used to have one on a forums for the beaglebone black when it was first released. But it seems now that forum is defunct. Just make sure you use a 3.3v TTL adapter . . . otherwise you’ll probably damage your BBB.
Here is a picture I made for that old post that shows which pins are which. Note: The values TXD and RXD are the actual pins on the BBB. Not which wires get put where . . .
.
William, thanks for your help. I will have to buy a FTDI cable before I can give this a try.
But I have a question. My BBB doesn’t boot from a microSD, all LEDs come on immediately and stay on. How can I connect to it in this state?
If I have a serial console connection to the BBB using the FTDI cable, will I have to log in with a user name and password? Or will it behave as if I had a monitor attached, and boot messages will simply appear on screen?
I’m trying to determine if getting an FTDI cable will help debug this failure to boot problem.
Thanks for your help everyone.
By having the FTDI cable plugged in, you'll visually see over the
usart the full boot procedure and either the software error or
hardware failure of the microSD..
One can easily be fixed, the other is a broken board.
Till then, the 4 led pattern doesn't tell us much.
Regards,
Robert, could I connect a keyboard and monitor and see the boot messages on the monitor, the same boot messages that would appear on the serial console? I’m asking because I could connect a monitor today, but I’d have to order a FTDI cable, which would take a few days to arrive.
Thanks,
Tim
Sorry, nope. From bootrom -> u-boot, it's serial only. While there is
early fb support in u-boot, we don't currently utilize it yet.. So
the first thing to display anything to the screen is the kernel.
Regards,
But I have a question. My BBB doesn’t boot from a microSD, all LEDs come on immediately and stay on. How can I connect to it in this state?
In a nutshell . . .uboot has control over the UART until it passes control over to the OS.
If I have a serial console connection to the BBB using the FTDI cable, will I have to log in with a user name and password? Or will it behave as if I had a monitor attached, and boot messages will simply appear on screen?
In short, no. You do not log in via the UART( serial ) console until the OS is loaded, and in a running state. Just before this happens, you will see the kernel boot “log”. When the board first comes up, and uboot has control of the UART. It should start spitting out information related to what uboot is doing. IF you get nothing but “CCCCCCCCC . . .” then this means uboot was unable to find a suitable image to load.
I’m trying to determine if getting an FTDI cable will help debug this failure to boot problem.
You really do not have any other option. Aside from not bothering with it. But honestly, how many boards did you say you have ? If you plan on doing anything project wise with the boards. A serial debug adapter is pretty much a requirement.
I finally got a FTDI cable and attached it to my new BBB. I get the following when I attempt to boot from the microSD card:
U-Boot 2014.04-00015-gb4422bd (Apr 22 2014 - 13:24:29)
I2C: ready
DRAM: 512 MiB
NAND: 0 MiB
MMC: OMAP SD/MMC: 0, OMAP SD/MMC: 1
*** Warning - readenv() failed, using default environment
Net: not set. Validating first E-fuse MAC
cpsw, usb_ether
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
gpio: pin 53 (gpio 53) value is 1
mmc0 is current device
gpio: pin 54 (gpio 54) value is 1
SD/MMC found on device 0
reading uEnv.txt
313 bytes read in 5 ms (60.5 KiB/s)
gpio: pin 55 (gpio 55) value is 1
Loaded environment from uEnv.txt
Importing environment from mmc …
Checking if uenvcmd is set …
gpio: pin 56 (gpio 56) value is 1
Running uenvcmd …
uenvcmd was not defined in uEnv.txt …
gpio: pin 56 (gpio 56) value is 0
gpio: pin 55 (gpio 55) value is 0
gpio: pin 54 (gpio 54) value is 0
mmc1(part 0) is current device
gpio: pin 54 (gpio 54) value is 1
SD/MMC found on device 1
reading uEnv.txt
1430 bytes read in 6 ms (232.4 KiB/s)
gpio: pin 55 (gpio 55) value is 1
Loaded environment from uEnv.txt
Importing environment from mmc …
Checking if uenvcmd is set …
gpio: pin 56 (gpio 56) value is 1
Running uenvcmd …
** File not found zImage **
** File not found initrd.img **
** File not found /dtbs/am335x-boneblack.dtb **
Bad Linux ARM zImage magic!
uenvcmd was not defined in uEnv.txt …
Booting from nand …
no devices available
no devices available
Bad Linux ARM zImage magic!
This seems to indicate the zImage is bad on the microSD. However, I tried this microSD card in two other BBB’s that I have, and they both boot just fine from this microSD. And, I took the microSD card from one of those BBB’s (a known good card), put it in my new BBB, and it won’t boot.
So I think my new BBB is defective. Do you guys agree?
It's not "defective", it just has a later version of u-boot... Either,
hold down the boot button to boot with the microSD card, erase the
bootloader in the eMMC or fix your uEnv.txt script..
Regards,
Robert,
Holding down the boot button doesn’t work, I get the “Bad Linux ARM zImage magic” error mentioned above.
When you say it has a later version of u-boot, do you mean the eMMC has a later version of uboot than my microSD card?
How would I fix my uEnv.txt? Here is my uEnv.txt script from the microSD card (which is different than eEnv.txt in the eMMC):
mmcpart=2
mmcrootfstype=ext4 rootwait
optargs=fixrtc capemgr.enable_partno=BB-UART2
uenvcmd=i2c mw 0x24 1 0x3e; setenv mmcroot /dev/mmcblk${mmcdev}p${mmcpart} ro
loadfdt=load mmc ${mmcdev}:${mmcpart} ${fdtaddr} ${bootdir}/dtbs/${fdtfile}
loadimage=load mmc ${mmcdev}:${mmcpart} ${loadaddr} ${bootdir}/${bootfile}
Remember, my microSD card has Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS (ubuntu-precise-12.04.3-armhf-3.8.13-bone30.img.xz downloaded from http://www.armhf.com/) and my eMMC has the default Debian that came installed on the BBB.
Here is what I’ve done
-
Copy Ubuntu image to the microSD card (as per http://www.armhf.com/index.php/getting-started-with-ubuntu-img-file/)
-
Plug card into BBB and boot from card by holding down the boot button
-
Copy Ubuntu image to the onboard eMMC
-
From that point forward, BBB will boot from microSD card without having to hold down the boot button.
I have six BBB’s. I followed these steps for all six, and it worked with the first five BBB’s. It’s only the sixth BBB that is giving me this trouble. The sixth refuses to boot from the microSD.
Thanks for your help Robert, I’m just not sure how to get this sixth beaglebone working.
Tim
Okay, so this was self-inflected... At this point where you copied the
ubuntu image to the onboard, eMMC, well i'd contact "armhf.com"...
If you are using images from:
http://beagleboard.org/latest-images
http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu
http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardDebian
eewiki.net
I can assist you..
Regards,
Robert,
I haven’t actually written the Ubuntu image to eMMC yet (I have on the first five BBB’s but not on the sixth, I can’t get past step 1 on the sixth).
This is my goal.
- Get Ubuntu installed on a microSD card.
- Configure the BBB to boot from the microSD WITHOUT pressing the boot button every time it boots.
I really don’t care what version of Linux is in the eMMC, I just want the BBB to automatically boot from the microSD card. The BBB will be accessed and rebooted remotely, without a human present to push the button.
I will look at the links you provided. Will the instructions on the links you provided help me reach my goal?
Thanks for your help,
Tim