Empty files in FAT partition (2013.09.04 image)

So, after reflashing my BBB using instructions on the wiki’s Updating The Software page, I found that the FAT partition on the BBB has many empty files in it. The directory structure seems to be correct, and have all of the entries, but many of the files are 0-bytes, both as exported as a USB flash drive, and when viewed from the Angstrom on the BBB itself.

Has anyone else seen this issue?

drwxrwxrwx 1 cross 512 Mar 18 2013 App
drwxrwxrwx 1 cross 2048 Mar 18 2013 Docs
drwxrwxrwx 1 cross 512 Mar 18 2013 Drivers
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 0 Mar 18 2013 ID.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 0 Mar 18 2013 LICENSE.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 99976 Mar 18 2013 MLO
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 0 Mar 18 2013 README.md
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 0 Mar 18 2013 START.htm
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 0 Mar 18 2013 autorun.inf
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 379428 Mar 18 2013 u-boot.img
-rwxrwxrwx 1 cross 26 Mar 18 2013 uEnv.txt

We are not seeing this issue at all. You might try formatting the card and then doing the flashing process again. What are you using to create the card?

Gerald

I took a new card, loaded it into a Mac, then used “diskutil unmountDisk diskN” to unmount all filesystems. After that, it was a dd from the image file into the device. 64k bs? I think? No other options.

Then as far as I know, the flash onto the eMMC happened as documented.

  • Chris

OK. We use Windows PCs in our process.Need a Mac person to chime in on this one.

Gerald

We son’t see what you see. So, any suggestions on how to debug what you see on our end?

Gerald

I can try the same process on a Windows machine, I guess. I have one nearby at work. I’ll follow the documented instructions and try again. Of course, if that works, it won’t tell me if something went wrong because I used a Mac, or if something went wrong just as a random freak occurrence. :slight_smile:

  • Chris

Interesting. When looking at the software update process page, I notice that in the image, the only files listed as being in the FAT partition of the image are the [only] ones in my FAT filesystem that are not 0-length. So, where during the build/flashing process do the rest of the files come from? The drivers, and instructional pages, etc?

  • Chris

You would need to ask Robert about that one.

Gerald

Same on windows

I just got my brand new BBB. first thing i do is plugged to my computer and im seeing exactly the same empty files. Im guessing this is not normal since
according to the initial set up we need to click on the START.htm to install drivers. any help?

well the drivers are also available from

https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-getting-started/tree/master/Drivers

Regards,

This seems to happen every now and then due to a flaky flasher. I suggest that you reflash the image. It should take care of the issue.

http://www.elinux.org/Beagleboard:Updating_The_Software

Gerald