step forward, step back

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1

What works:

1. my SD card must be somewhat right because
I can now boot all the way to Angstrom desktop
and it shows the kernel version (3.017) I expected.
I consider this a big victory but it comes at a cost...

What doesn't work:

1. I can't get to u-boot prompt at all. I hit keys
like crazy during the "stop autoboot" countdown
and it ignores them and keeps booting. (To be
fair: I occasionally saw this with the BB fresh out
of the box.)

2. Without the SD card plugged in, board still
appears "bricked." (As per previous post.)

3. As per previous post, output from BB console
port (accessed via uart and terminal emulator)
ceases just after this message: "Uncompressing
Linux... done, booting the kernel."

Comments/suggestions welcome.

/Rafe

2

rafe_b wrote:

What works:

1. my SD card must be somewhat right because
I can now boot all the way to Angstrom desktop
and it shows the kernel version (3.017) I expected.
I consider this a big victory but it comes at a cost...

What doesn't work:

1. I can't get to u-boot prompt at all. I hit keys
like crazy during the "stop autoboot" countdown
and it ignores them and keeps booting. (To be
fair: I occasionally saw this with the BB fresh out
of the box.)

Check your serial cabling, being able to see messages
but not send is a very prominent error case when
using the wrong cabling

2. Without the SD card plugged in, board still
appears "bricked." (As per previous post.)

yes, you deleted the NAND content, it will appear
so, don't worry.

3. As per previous post, output from BB console
port (accessed via uart and terminal emulator)
ceases just after this message: "Uncompressing
Linux... done, booting the kernel."

I guess you don't set up the correct console,
thus you dont see linux console log messages.

3

Thanks Vladimir, my responses are below.

rafe_b wrote:

What works:

  1. my SD card must be somewhat right because
    I can now boot all the way to Angstrom desktop
    and it shows the kernel version (3.017) I expected.
    I consider this a big victory but it comes at a cost…

What doesn’t work:

  1. I can’t get to u-boot prompt at all. I hit keys
    like crazy during the “stop autoboot” countdown
    and it ignores them and keeps booting. (To be
    fair: I occasionally saw this with the BB fresh out
    of the box.)

Check your serial cabling, being able to see messages
but not send is a very prominent error case when
using the wrong cabling

The cabling worked fine until the moment I
started messing with the u-boot environment.
In fact, it had to have worked in order for me to
enter commands at the u-boot prompt,
thereby messing up the u-boot environment.

  1. Without the SD card plugged in, board still
    appears “bricked.” (As per previous post.)

yes, you deleted the NAND content, it will appear
so, don’t worry.

What do I need to do so that I boot again
without the SD card present?

  1. As per previous post, output from BB console
    port (accessed via uart and terminal emulator)
    ceases just after this message: “Uncompressing
    Linux… done, booting the kernel.”

I guess you don’t set up the correct console,
thus you dont see linux console log messages.

I am using ‘cu’, to wit:

cu -l ttyS0 -s 115200

This works fine (most of the time.) Can you suggest
a more appropriate terminal emulator to use? (my host
system runs Ubuntu 11.10.)

Thanks again for any help you can provide.

/Rafe