BeagleBoard -xM rev B + Ubuntu 10.10, crashes, no display.

Hello,

I have a BeagleBoard -xM rev B with Maverick - (Ubuntu 10.10)
installed following the instructions on http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu
.I also installed the standard gnome desktop using 'sudo apt-get
install ubuntu-desktop'.

However when I restart or in cases where there have been an improper
shutdown, the board refuses to give a display - no boot screen. I
tried switching cards and putting my Angstorm installation - that
works - so the board is not at fault.

This has happened for almost the fifth time now, and I always have to
reinstall the OS and other softwares; could you please advise me-

a. Whether there is an inherent instability issue with BeagleBoard xM
B with Ubuntu 10.10 with gnome desktop.

b. Any tips to recover from such a crash? Instead of reinstalling the
OS?

Thanks a lot!

Any help much appreciated!

Regards,
D

Hello,

I have a BeagleBoard -xM rev B with Maverick - (Ubuntu 10.10)
installed following the instructions on BeagleBoardUbuntu - eLinux.org
.I also installed the standard gnome desktop using 'sudo apt-get
install ubuntu-desktop'.

However when I restart or in cases where there have been an improper
shutdown, the board refuses to give a display - no boot screen. I
tried switching cards and putting my Angstorm installation - that
works - so the board is not at fault.

This has happened for almost the fifth time now, and I always have to
reinstall the OS and other softwares; could you please advise me-

a. Whether there is an inherent instability issue with BeagleBoard xM
B with Ubuntu 10.10 with gnome desktop.

b. Any tips to recover from such a crash? Instead of reinstalling the
OS?

Couple things first.. which kernel? (uname -r)

Do you by luck have a serial log when it crashes?

A common one on the xM is:
smsc95xx 1-2.1:1.0: usb1: kevent 2 may have been dropped

Which is currently worked around by adding:

vm.min_free_kbytes = 8192

But it depend's on your kernel...

Otherwise without any swap or using a fast external usb drive as root,
"ubuntu-desktop" is just way to bloated for the beagle..
"xubuntu-desktop" is saner, but still big..

Regards,

Hey Robert,

Thanks for the reply!

I was facing the ALSA Sound problems as everyone else reported here http://groups.google.com/group/beagleboard/browse_thread/thread/bc16deb59f14a7ba?pli=1

As a solution I downgraded my kernel to 2.6.34.1-l2 . The audio + mic (with amplifiers) works after the downgrade.

And yes, I get several lines of ‘smsc95xx 1-2.1:1.0: usb1: kevent 2 may have been dropped’ .

Additionally, I found here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+source/linux/+bug/663642 that the no DVI output bug was fixed in the 2.6.35 - 23.40 kernel update.

And since I downgraded my kernel below that version to get the audio running, I missed up on the DVI-D patch!

Any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks and regards,
D

Hey Robert,
Thanks for the reply!
I was facing the ALSA Sound problems as everyone else reported
here http://groups.google.com/group/beagleboard/browse_thread/thread/bc16deb59f14a7ba?pli=1
As a solution I downgraded my kernel to 2.6.34.1-l2 . The audio + mic (with
amplifiers) works after the downgrade.

Actually the audio should be fixed in my 2.6.37 release's with this
patch... (broken in my 2.6.35/36's)
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/2.6-stable/view/head:/patches/beagle/0001-xM-audio-fix-from-Ashok.patch

And yes, I get several lines of 'smsc95xx 1-2.1:1.0: usb1: kevent 2 may have
been dropped' .
Additionally, I found
here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+source/linux/+bug/663642
that the no DVI output bug was fixed in the 2.6.35 - 23.40 kernel update.
And since I downgraded my kernel below that version to get the audio
running, I missed up on the DVI-D patch!

Yeah, that got fixed late in my 2.6.35 release's..

Regards,

Dear Robert,

This is what I did now,

-Reinstalled the Ubuntu (Maverick). The one on your site ubuntu-10.10-r3-minimal-armel
-Installed ‘ubuntu-desktop’.
-Installed the 2.7.37.1-x2 kernel which seemed to be the latest stable one.

After rebooting, I again lost my DVI-D output.

Could you suggest anyway I can at least roll back the changes instead of reinstalling the OS?

Also which kernel version would you advise to install for the audio and display both to work?

Thanks!

.dhairya dand
mail: _@dhairyadand.com
call: +65 8421 8301
work: http://dhairyadand.com

Dear Robert,

This is what I did now,

-Reinstalled the Ubuntu (Maverick). The one on your site
ubuntu-10.10-r3-minimal-armel
-Installed 'ubuntu-desktop'.
-Installed the 2.7.37.1-x2 kernel which seemed to be the latest stable one.

After rebooting, I again lost my DVI-D output.

Could you suggest anyway I can at least roll back the changes instead of
reinstalling the OS?

Look in /boot/uboot/

If you used my "install-me.sh" script to install 2.6.37.1-x2, the old
uImage and uInitrd are saved as uImage_old and uInitrd_old..

Otherwise this one should work, from the serial line on the beagle..
http://rcn-ee.net/deb/maverick/v2.6.35.9-l9/install-me.sh

Also which kernel version would you advise to install for the audio and
display both to work?

Since r3 was a 2.6.35 based demo image, it looks like you hit the
latest 2.6.37 regression i'm currently bisecting.. Some monitors..
(in my case 1 old hp i have at home, but not ANY of the 4 i have at
work or the other 2 at home.. ) don't seem to work with 2.6.37...

Regards,

Thanks for the reply!

I checked my /boot/uboot, I found it empty! Is this normal? However I found the uImage, uInitrd, uImage_old and uInitrd_old in the /rootfs/ partition. I did restore the old uImage and uInitrd - but still, it refuses to show up display…

On connecting over minicom to the beagle, I get this-

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys

OMAP3 beagleboard.org # AT S7=45 S0=0 L1 V1 X4 &c1 E1 Q0
syntax error

Thanks again for your time.

Regards,
D

.dhairya dand
mail: _@dhairyadand.com
call: +65 8421 8301
work: http://dhairyadand.com

Thanks for the reply!

I checked my /boot/uboot, I found it empty! Is this normal? However I found
the uImage, uInitrd, uImage_old and uInitrd_old in the /rootfs/ partition. I
did restore the old uImage and uInitrd - but still, it refuses to show up
display..

little odd, it should be there with my demo images... anywho..

since your board doesn't boot.. mount the card on a development pc..

mount the small fat partition.. you should see all the uImage/uInitrd's..

On connecting over minicom to the beagle, I get this-

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys

OMAP3 beagleboard.org # AT S7=45 S0=0 L1 V1 X4 &c1 E1 Q0
syntax error

the script needs to be running "in linux" on the beagle... it
defintelly won't work in u-boot..

Regards,