"You can't brick it"

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1

“You can’t brick it”, that is what Gerald says (or was it someone else).

Well, here I am.

(I posted earlier on this issue, please ignore the post “BBB with Ubuntu: locked out, no SSH response” as it is outdated.)

SUMMARY: After being flashed with Ubuntu or Debian, BBB does not respond to Serial or SSH session from PuTTY.

Debian

Received a BBB Rev C from Adafruit, Debian pre-installed.

I’m doing everything via USB so far.

Log in with PuTTY serial; BBB displayed the message that it was running Debian indeed.

Ubuntu

Flash Ubuntu onto eMMC from uSD (scrupulously following the rules as explained on various sites).

Log in on Ubuntu (SSH 192.168.7.2) and set a root password.

Power down, power up, log in as root, OK.

Change /etc/network/interfaces to change from DHCP to Static IP. Left the USB-section untouched.

All of the above exactly as I did before on another BBB.

NOW IT GOES WRONG:

Power down, power up, start PuTTY as SSH 192.168.7.2. The window opens, steady cursor, no response.

PuTTY Serial, the window opens, steady cursor, no response.

The LEDs show normal behaviour: USR0=heartbeat, USR2 shows slight CPU activity.

BBB appears on my PC in Devices and Printers as “Gadget Serial (COM3)”.

With Explorer on my PC, I can inspect the eMMC and even open START.htm (Firefox starts, the “Getting started” page displays)

Debian again

Flash Debian onto eMMC.

Power down, power up, start PuTTY with SSH 192.168.7.2. The window opens, steady cursor, no response.

PuTTY Serial, the window opens, steady cursor, no response.

The LEDs show normal behaviour: USR0=heartbeat, USR2 shows slight CPU activity.

Angstrom

After this I managed to flash Angstrom successfully, but never did I succeed with repeating Ubuntu or Debian flashes.

Note a few things:

· I did install the extra drivers on the PC as the Getting Started page says.

· Flashing Angstrom takes 40 min. During the process, the LEDs flash erratically (so it seems, BBB knows better of course).

· Flashing Ubuntu takes <5 min. The LEDs show a neat running light that bounces forth and back.

· From previous experience, I expect Angstrom and Debian to appear when I make a Serial connection, whereas Ubuntu requires SSH on 192.168.7.2.

2

"You can't brick it", that is what Gerald says (or was it someone else).

Go look up the definition of "bricking", for a device this applies
it's turns into a brick and will never load again..

Well, here I am.

(I posted earlier on this issue, please ignore the post "BBB with Ubuntu:
locked out, no SSH response" as it is outdated.)

SUMMARY: After being flashed with Ubuntu or Debian, BBB does not respond to
Serial or SSH session from PuTTY.

Sounds like a putty bug to me.. WFM..

Give the newest snapshot a try:

http://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#2014-10-08

Regards,

3

btw, i should also mention, unless you tell us what image
(date-name-etc) you actually tried to flash, i'm just ignoring bug
reports. :wink:

Regards,

4

Robert, it is very unlike there is anything wrong with puTTY. I’ve been using it for years, and it’s always been rock solid.

The problem is more likely user error. Meaning this person does not know enough about Linux to realize that network managers sometimes LOVE to screw with ones mind. . . But since there was no mention of a network scan for alternative DHCP address . . . how could we know.

5

I "think" he might be logging in via putty over serial and then
rebooting the beaglebone. But not restarting putty.. It's a virtual
usb serial, so when the bbb reboots that usb serial device
disconnects. (putty doesn't correct for this..) Then when the bbb
comes up again, it reinitailzes the usb flash/ usb networking / usb
serial gadgets..

Otherwise it works for me..

Regards,

6

g_serial would not be ssh though. As you most definitely know…

I was actually gong to suggest that he use g_serial( or whatever the g_multi equivalent is ). It’s mostly foolproof, once one knows how to setup puTTY for it.

By the way, puTTY defaults to XON/XOFF COMs I think, and between windows and puTTY they’re almost never the same. Until made so. So, check device manager to see what windows has set for the serial device, and just make sure puTTY is exactly the same.

7

The following is an “EXACT STEPS” txt log i made while setting up g_serial from Linux, to WIndows. Note, that the Windows driver will be different for g_multi, but the process is essentially the same.

lsmod
sudo modprobe g_serial
lsmod
ls -la /dev/ttyGS*
sudo nano /etc/inittab
----> T1:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyGS0 115200 vt102
sudo init q <— This reloads /etc/inittab without having to reboot.
sudo nano /etc/modules
----> add g_serial save and exit. If you want the module loaded automatically at boot.

Windows 7 host:
open start menu
right click computer
select properties
click windows update on lower left side
click check for updates on top left side
After searching windows update should find additional hardware to install. “ELMO LTD GMAS” device.
Select this update, and install.
open start menu
right click computer
select properties
click device manager top left
expand “Ports(COM & LPT )”
select “ELMO GMAS(COMx)”, where “x” is a valid COM port number. For me this was COM3
rightclick and select properties.
Select the port settings tab on the top
Change Bits per second to 115200
Change Flow control to none
Click ok, and we’re done here.
Download, install, then open puTTY ( google is your friend ).
Once open you’ll be on the puTTY configuration page.
COnnection type change to serial.
Serial line change to the COMx value listed in device manager ( again for me COM3 ).
Change speed from 9600 to 115200
Saved session change to your com port number ( COM3 for me )
On the very bottom left click serial.
Change FLow control to none.
Click Session on top left side, make sure all settings are as set above and click the save button on the far side middle( ish ).
Now on the bottom right click the Open button.
type in valid non root user name on the BBB.
Followed by the usernames passwd.
DOne.

8

Hi Robert, William,

thanks for digging into this.

I could spend many lines explaining that “this person” does have some experience in installing and configuring Linux devices such as NSLU2, SheevaPlug and BBB, eight devices so far.
Also could I respond to all the considerations you brought up. And I would be happy to do so if you are interested, just let me know
But let me cut short: I flashed BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.6-lxde-4gb-armhf-2014-10-08-4gb, and it works on serial.
So I will take it from there and start configuring the system as planned.

Remaining question is why I, alternately, can get into the BBB when it is flashed with Angstrom (and now the newest Debian) and not with Ubuntu or an older Debian. Believe me, I never had a problem with PuTTY setup on all these devices, and with this lates Debian: boom it works.

I will try again flashing the other images, but for now we can put this case to rest.

Thanks!