Hi,

I am using A20 Micro Olinuxino card. I have problems with legacy built (Ubuntu 3.4.110). I also tried the other built Vanilla (Ubuntu 4.4.1). The second one is successfully booted. However the first one, although I have tried several SD cards, did not continue after loading the kernel. The monitor shows a noisy image and stop working. I couldn't connect to it with SSH either. So the problem is not only with the HDMI  connection or Xorg. Somehow kernel stops booting.

 

The reason I want to use the older kernel is because it has NAND Flash support and video HW acceleration support (as stated in armbian.com).

Please point me to right direction.

 

Regards.

If you can, build image from latest sources. There has been some problems with Olimex boards on recent build but I am not sure if this is related. Can you provide more details? Do you have a serial console?

Unfortunately, no I don't have a serial console. Can I use any other image that is generated for the other boards? Since they are all similar, is there any Ubuntu linux image that might work for A20 Micro?

I am gonna try to build an image myself. But before going that path I wanna make sure that the armbian Ubuntu 3.4.110 image is not working.

I tried building just the kernel for A20 Micro. My host is Mint 17.1 64-bit. Kernel version is 3.13.0-37-generic.

Unfortunately it did not finish. The error is:

[ error ] ERROR in function compile_uboot [ common.sh:155 ]
[ error ] Building u-boot failed, check configuration
[ o.k. ] Process terminated

 

Regards,

Did you also get a warning that your build host might not be supported? Anyway: If I were you I would order this here now. Since you'll need it rather sooner than later.

 

In case you downloaded the legacy desktop image please keep in mind that these images are larger and the contents consumes more disk space. So it's a good idea to check your SD card first before burning an image to it: https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/blob/master/documentation/user-faq.md#how-to-prepare-sd-card

Did you also get a warning that your build host might not be supported? Anyway: If I were you I would order this here now. Since you'll need it rather sooner than later.

 

In case you downloaded the legacy desktop image please keep in mind that these images are larger and the contents consumes more disk space. So it's a good idea to check your SD card first before burning an image to it: https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/blob/master/documentation/user-faq.md#how-to-prepare-sd-card

Thank you tkaiser.

I have used several SD Cards (2 8GB and 1 16GB and one 32GB). All the SD cards work with the image which has newer kernel. So I think the SD card is not the issue here. About the cable that you have posted, I have some USB to RS232 cables. Do you think it works if I just connect its RX and TX pins to the boards?

 

In the build phase, it says the host distribution is not supported. At the moment I am trying to build on a Virtualbox image which has Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit.

Thanks.

So I think the SD card is not the issue here.

 

In other words: You refuse to spend a few minutes of your time to download a free test software and start the recommended test that would ensure that it's not a hardware issue (as it is +95% of the times when people report "Armbian is not booting")? Thx, thread can be closed already.

 

Note to myself: Never again step into threads where the root cause of 'Armbian problems' might be hardware (crappy SD cards, insufficient power supplies). Applies fortunately to +95% of threads here

Sorry, let me understand. Maybe I missed your recommendation. What are you telling me to check in a few minutes?

Sorry, let me understand. Maybe I missed your recommendation. What are you telling me to check in a few minutes?

 

It's still https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/blob/master/documentation/user-faq.md#how-to-prepare-sd-card

 

Might it help if we adjust the documentation so that it not reads

 

Important: Make sure you use a good & reliable SD card. If you encounter boot troubles or simply as a measure of precaution, check them with F3 or H2testw.

 

but instead

 

IMPORTANT!!! Make sure you use a GOOD & RELIABLE SD card. If you encounter boot troubles or simply as a measure of precaution, check them with F3 or H2testw!!!!

It's still https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/blob/master/documentation/user-faq.md#how-to-prepare-sd-card

 

Might it help if we adjust the documentation so that it not reads

 

 

but instead

)) OK. I am testing it with F3 right now. Thanks.

The micro SD card looks OK. Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

homeless@nesimi ~/Desktop/f3-6.0 $ ./f3write /media/homeless/USBDisk/
Free space: 15.03 GB
Creating file 1.h2w ... OK!                           
Creating file 2.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 3.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 4.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 5.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 6.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 7.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 8.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 9.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 10.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 11.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 12.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 13.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 14.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 15.h2w ... OK!                         
Free space: 806.30 MB
Average writing speed: 12.45 MB/s
homeless@nesimi ~/Desktop/f3-6.0 $ ./f3read /media/homeless/USBDisk/
                  SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 2.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 3.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 4.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 5.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 6.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 7.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 8.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 9.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 10.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 11.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 12.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 13.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 14.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 15.h2w ...  509928/        0/      0/      0

  Data OK: 14.24 GB (29870056 sectors)
Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
           Corrupted: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
    Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
         Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average reading speed: 18.03 MB/s

The micro SD card looks OK. Do you have any other suggestions?

 

Yes, the card seems to be OK (ext4 formatted while testing?). As Igor already mentioned there were some problems with A20 Olimex boards and it's hard to tell anything without a serial console (RS232 won't help IIRC).

 

You could get a 5.04 image for Cubietruck or Banana Pi and then simply adjust /etc/hostname and relink /boot/script.bin to the correct file in /boot/bin/ before trying to setup the build system. And even if you do the latter without the serial console you might still neither be able to boot nor to provide us with information what happens

I compiled a fresh image for A20 Micro. I'll give a try after lunch. I'll let you know.

Thanks tkaiser.

I have built an image on an Ubuntu 14.04 host. But, the image did not work. It stucks at the same place as the prebuilt Ubuntu legacy. 

@Igor Any suggestions?

Hi guys,

Today I also tried the Debian Legacy version. It did not boot either.

Regards.

I tried 4.4, 4.5 and 5.0 legacy versions of Ubuntu. They all failed with A20 micro. I also tried my own built (5.05), no luck with that one either.

You are wasting time finding a problem without serial console. There is also possibility of a hardware failure but all this we could figure out from logs.