> Neither way works. Tha same image self-installs on other (older!)
> BBBs but not on this particular one.
That's awfully suspicious. I'd try some basic debugging.
1. Verify your SD card is OK and the Beagle can actually read it.
Yes, it can be read. I have the SD card plugged in at the moment and
I can see it as /dev/mmcblk0p1 mounted on /media/rootfs. I can cd to
/media/rootfs and see the directory structure and files of the image.
Boot the Beagle from Debian 7 in eMMC, insert the SD card with Debian 9.
Have a look at the SD card with fdisk to see the partition is there.
Mount it, have a look at "/etc/dogtag" - it should state Debian 9.4 or
something similar.
It automounts, no problem and (as noted above) has files on it.
Usually the SD/eMMC devices on the Beagle are named:
/dev/mmcblk0 - SD card
/dev/mmcblk1 - eMMC
Yes, exactly what I see.
While you're at it, check that the wipe-and-install command is activated
(I don't actually remember which way it is on vanilla images). The file
/boot/uEnv.txt on the SD card should have the following line uncommented:
cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh
Yes, I've been through all this. The last line of
/media/rootfs/boot/uEnv.txt is as above.
2. Connect to the serial debug header and post what uboot is saying when
you boot with the SD card inserted and User Boot button pressed down.
Not so easy, the BBB is on a boat (which is where I am at the moment)
I have someewhat limited hardware facilities here. I have a laptop
(running Linux) and the BBB and that's about it. I do have a
soldering iron and wire but the laptop doesn't have a serial input.
Is anything useful reported by the boot process in the logs or dmesg?
> Yes, of course, it's a new installation, not an upgrade.
>
> It's a *big* pity that Debian doesn't have a do-release-upgrade
> command like Ubuntu. I know it's not guraranteed to be 100% reliable
> and that a clean install is sometimes a good idea but on the other
> hand being able to 'upgrade' from one release to the next is very
> handy.
To my knowledge it's possible and quite simple in Debian - I recall
updating the /etc/sources.list file to point to the new release and
executing "aptitude full-upgrade". Don't trust my advice, though. I've
been running Debian testing for a long time and don't really have the
big bang upgrades (nor do I miss them).
Yes, I'm considering doing it this way, it might be the easiest way
out for me. I've seen a few sets of instructions for doing it.