My BBB’s eMMC is apparently filled with useless junk after 2+ years of playing around with Ubuntu, Debian, Angstrom, Daphile, RuneAudio, JRiver etc etc etc. I tried to go back to the latest Debian image and reinstall JRiver Media Center but I’m getting multiple “no more room on device” error messages. I know how to restore the defaults but I can’t find any info on a complete reset that removes all files and data except the original content of the eMMC. I did have JRMC running fine last year, but like an idiot I decided to try Ubuntu and it’s never been the same. I’m running MPD until I can fix this.
David
Thanks. I’m happy with the currently released image - I don’t want or need to go back to the original OS version. But just reflashing the eMMC doesn’t seem to clear out all the cobwebs, as there’s clearly less memory now than there was when I got it. I need to restore the free space that was on the eMMC originally. I was able to install JRiver Media Center on Debian and Ubuntu without difficulty a few times before. But this time, I get many “cannot write to file - no room on device” messages, and the install fails. Using clean, remove and autoremove do not seem to help.
There seem to be many files in many folders in many directories that weren’t there when it was brand new. If flashing the eMMC is supposed to delete everything, it’s not - so maybe my 'bone is broken. I’ve properly reformatted each uSD card I use before burning , so there’s never anything on the card except the image I want to use. Is there any way to reformat the entire eMMC? I hesitate to delete things when I don’t know what they are - is there a list of the core files I need to preserve so it will still reflash from a card?
Best -
David
The first step in the "flashing" script on the "flashing" image is to
re-format the eMMC.. So yes it'll delete everything on the eMMC..
Regards,
That answers one big question - thanks! Then there must be something wrong with my 'bone, because it’s not removing everything now when I reflash. I didn’t have this problem through multiple installations and reinstallations of JRiver and other similarly sized packages, so something has changed. If I can’t figure out what it is and fix it, I’ll just have to buy a new board to use as a JRiver zone.
I got over 2 years of great fun and education from this one, and I believe the new version has a better processor anyway - so I’ll just bite the bullet and buyr a replacement. Any last ditch effort tips that might help me fix this one are greatly appreciated - otherwise, I’ll leave MPD on it (since it still works) and use it as a music player on the patio. It doesn’t owe me anything, and it deserves a peaceful retirement. 
There's a 99.99% change that nothing is wrong with your bone...
The error is in what every 'image' you are using to 'reflash'.. Since you
never specified what image you are using to reflash, i can't currently
answer that..
Regards,
I’m using this one from https://beagleboard.org/latest-images:
It installs and runs fine - I just can’t then install JRiver Media Center, apparently because of the “no more space on device” problem.
D
1.) That package is not an “eMMC Flasher” unless you edit the uEnv.txt file as instructed athttp://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#Flashing_eMMC
Did you do that?
2.) That file pretty much fills up a 4 G memory space. There may not be enough space to add much on the 4G eMMC or a 4G uSD card.
3.) Is there a reason that you would not want to buy a larger uSD card , like 16 G or 32 G or … and run from that card ?
4.) If that is acceptable, then understand that the installation image only uses 4 G on a card, no matter how much larger the card is, until you follow the instructions to expand the file system to use the entire card, at
http://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#Expanding_File_System_Partition_On_A_microSD
If you buy a quality uSD card, the speed difference for running from a uSD card versus eMMC is negligible.
— Graham
Thanks, Graham. I thought that holding the boot button down until the leds light does flash the MMC and that the flasher image was instead of holding the button while powering up. I'm using 32 & 64 cards, but I didn't expand the memory partition on either one. I'll just do that and run from the 64.
Thanks & best regards-
David
David:
The whole button press thing is old information.
Even then, you needed to have either a “flasher” or a uSD card resident package.
The software installation process has evolved a lot. (for the better.)
The good news is that the Beaglebone and embedded Linux are rapidly evolving.
The bad news is that there is a lot of old/obsolete information available on the internet.
Good luck,
— Graham
Thanks, Graham! I’ll just use my 64G uSD card, expand the file system, and go back to JRMC on Debian. I guess the older images didn’t fill the eMMC, so I still had room for JRMC - but the latest one tipped the scale too far. I’ve been viewing having to run from the card as a sign of defeat, for some odd reason!
You never said how you are running the BBB.
If you are running without a video display, local or remote, then you don’t need about half of what is in the full package.
Then you could load a minimum “console” package, which will only fill 1.7G of your 4 G eMMC, then add in what else you need to run your application.
So, you would have about 2 GB of play space.
If you have a video display you are better off going with the full package…
— Graham
Except when I’m experimenting with it for fun, my 'bone is used only to play music. I ran it headless when I was using MPD, but there are a lot of cautionary posts on the appropriate forums about having a monitor connected when booting JRiver Media Center - so I planned to leave an HDMI cable connected to one of the inputs on the nearest monitor but never use it (I access the program via JRemote on handhelds). However…I’ve not tried using JRMC headless myself, and there seem to be many people doing this without difficulty.
I won’t access my network via WiFi because USB is the only way for the music to get to the DAC, and sound quality can suffer when files are being brought in and out via the same USB. So I use eth0 to access my FLACs on NAS and leave wlan0 disabled.
I think using the card with an expanded file system sounds like the best bet for me - I won’t suffer serious emotional trauma from having to abandon my quest to use the MMC.
Graham (or anyone who knows…):
I use my BBB as a VPN server running Softether. Right now, it is all running from a 16gb uSD card which means that I have to hold the button every time I power it up. Can you tell me how to get this all into the eMMC memory? I don’t use any video or GUI but don’t know how to eliminate those features from the Debian Jessie 8.4 that I am running so that there would be room for Softether as well in the eMMC.
Thanks in advance for help with this…Arnie
Graham (or anyone who knows…):
I use my BBB as a VPN server running Softether. Right now, it is all running from a 16gb uSD card which means that I >have to hold the button every time I power it up.
The reason for this is that you have an older bootloader on the emmc. You can change this behavior if you wish. BY two differnt method I personally am aware of.
Can you tell me how to get this all into the eMMC memory? I don’t use any >video or GUI but don’t know how to eliminate >those features from the Debian Jessie 8.4 that I am running so that there >would be room for Softether as well in the eMMC.
Thanks in advance for help with this…Arnie
You download and put a flasher image onto an sdcard. Instead of a standalone image.
It should automatically boot from the card without having to push the boot button.
On Debian 8 and later, this usually means that you do not have the “boot bit” set on the card.
If you created the card by installing the resident version of Debian, then expanding the partition, the “boot bit” should already be set.
If you created the card some other way, then put it in a Linux desktop, and run Gparted. Go into the option-menus and manually set the boot bit. It should then automatically boot, whenever you apply power to the BBB.
There is probably some other way to manually edit the card and set the bit, but I find Gparted very easy to use.
I am running a BBG as a SoftEther VPN server and it works fine. No need to push buttons to get it to boot.
— Graham
On Debian 8 and later, this usually means that you do not have the “boot bit” set on the card.
No . …as I said. It means there is an older bootloader on the emmc. If you remove the bootloader, said problem goes away.
Thanks William. So I just want to make sure… all I need to do is flash the eMMC with Debian Jessie 8.4. Once I do that, it should boot up and automatically run my Softether VPN server located on the uSD card?
Yes?
Thanks…Arnie
This question will reveal what a newbie I am:
I have seen several posts that say I have to un-comment out a particular line in uENV.txt on the SD card. My question is, how do I find that file? I don’t even know how to get a listing of files and directories on the SD card. Help!!?
Thanks…Arnie
Thanks William. So I just want to make sure… all I need to do is flash the eMMC with Debian Jessie 8.4. Once I do that, it should boot up and automatically run my Softether VPN server located on the uSD card?
Yes?
Thanks…Arnie
I have no idea what a Softether VPN server is. But no, a flasher image is used for only one purpose. Flashing a working image onto the eMMC. What’s more, the flasher image will also very likely wipe the contents of the eMMC first.