[SOLVED] First boot, can't boot (from SD Card), red light on

[Shakipu]

Hi everyone,

I've just received 3 days ago an OlinuXino A20 without NAND Rev E. It seems to be a good hardware but I can't boot from my SD Card. I use a Sandisk Ultra 8Gb Class 10 which is formatted under Arch Linux with the Debian Image distributed by Olimex. I tried to format it twice.

In order to power my OlinuXino, I use a Ohmeron Switching Power Supply capable of 12V - 1A (3V, 4.5V, 5V, 6V, 7.5V, 9V, 12V). I tried to use it in 6V mode and 9V mode but in both cases, the red led still on and nothing happened. The positive lead is on the inside of the barrel jack and ground on the outside.

I tried to use a serial cable on the UART but there's nothing.

I have an HDMI screen plugged in but nothing appears.

On my last trial, I saw a little bit of smoke but I don't know where it came from so I unplugged it and decided to explain my case on this forum. There was no bad smell.

So, what do you think this could be ? Bad powering ? Bad SD Card ? Broken component ?

Thank you for your consideration. I spent almost one entire day trying to find some informations and trying other solutions (I tried to power it from the USB_OTG, I tried with a mouse plugged in, with a SATA disk plugged in...).

And also, I can't unplugged the power SATA. The cable is plugged but there's no way to unplug it and I'm afraid I could break the connector by trying to hard. Any recommandations ?

[Lurch]

Smoke is never good .. can't help there.

can't unplugged the power SATA

There are two tiny bumps of plastic that keep the plug from coming loose. You can usually use a pin to pry the socket a little while pulling on the plug. You should use a razor blade to remove the bumps unless the board is going to be shaken or subjected to vibration in use.
If the board didn't completely boot because of power problems (needs 12V @ 1+A, maybe a bit more if you're running SATA), then the image may be corrupted. You could try to copy the image again.  How exactly did you create/copy the sdcard image?
Without the sdcard plugged in, Android should boot from the NAND - takes a looong time (minutes), don't stop to soon. If the board is dead, then contact Olimex using their support eMail address.

[Shakipu]

Thank you for your response.

I tried to plug in a battery (the 6600mAh one) that is fully charged and nothing happens. No led lighting up, nothing happens when I push the buttons. Nothing was plugged in except the battery and the SD card.

Also, I don't have the NAND model so does the boot from SD card take a long time too ?

I bought my OlinuXino from Exp-tech.de so I think I should see with them in case of problem. I just hope they won't accuse me of misusing.

EDIT: this morning, I tried to power it up using the USB_OTG. When I plug the USB, the leds on the Ethernet blinks once. And that's it, nothing more happens, no other leds lighting up.

EDIT2:

There are two tiny bumps of plastic that keep the plug from coming loose. You can usually use a pin to pry the socket a little while pulling on the plug. You should use a razor blade to remove the bumps unless the board is going to be shaken or subjected to vibration in use.

I finally succeed in pulling the plug. But I was really afraid I could break it. Thank you for your advices.

[otyugh]

the red led still on and nothing happened. The positive lead is on the inside of the barrel jack and ground on the outside.

I tried to use a serial cable on the UART but there's nothing.

I have an HDMI screen plugged in but nothing appears.

Hey,
I did have the same kind of concern. But I had the green light blinking too. Maybe you didn't noticed it first, and corrupted your microSD when you power it up/down again and again.

What I think you should try is the following : re flash a microSD (dd if=deb-secondrelease.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M).
Then mount it (mount /dev/sdX2), modify the "/etc/network/interfaces", and add "auto eth0" and "iface eth0 inet dhcp") ; for it to get a IP adress when pluged on.

When you will try to power on your board with 12V while connected to you LAN by ethernet, check if there is a green LED blinking, or ethernet reacting. If not, I have no clue (and my serial-USB never gave any feedback to me... Never figured out if my usb-serial is bad or the board have an issue).

Well. Then back on your PC, "nmap 192.168.1.*" figure out which IP got the A20, "ssh root@IP", then the passw is "olimex", get in and launch ~/change_resolution.sh
Then every display should work.

I hope it's that simple for you, I just summed up what I'd liked to read when I got the board in first place >.>.

[Shakipu]

microSD

I use an SD Card, not a microSD (dunno if it could change something). I will try tomorrow what you said but I'm not sure it will be better because as I told before, there's only a red led lighting up when powered with 6-16V from jack barrel (and noticed a little bit of smoke too last time I tried :S). With fully charged battery or powering from USB_OTG, nothing happens (except USB_OTG : ethernet leds blinks once). Really nothing : no led, no sound, nothing.

Is there someone here from Olimex who can tell me if there is test points where I could put a multimeter and see if some parts of the power supply circuit are broken ? After seeing a little bit of smoke, I don't want to try too much things, I'm afraid it could be damaged irreversibly.

I also sent a mail to my supplier, waiting for an answer.

[adinu]

Is there someone here from Olimex who can tell me if there is test points where I could put a multimeter and see if some parts of the power supply circuit are broken ?

Hi Shakipu,

All the schematics are on the github: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/tree/master/HARDWARE/A10-OLinuXino-MICRO
Maybe they can help you figure out if you have a hardware problem.

[Shakipu]

I tried quickly with the USB_OTG plugged in and I got 5.24V on 5V_PWR and 3.39V on the 3.3V from UART0. Seems normal to me. Trying to get other voltages seems difficult and precise and I don't have accurate probes.

[bubi]

Hi Shakipu,
in order to boot you must use the microSD. The board doesn't boot from the SD (as said in the wiki).

Regarding the smoke: it could be investigate. Maybe it came from the internal voltage regulator. If you have a tester you can verify if it work again

[Shakipu]

in order to boot you must use the microSD. The board doesn't boot from the SD (as said in the wiki).

I've checked what you say and you're right, sorry. I must have made the confusion with the A10. I will try with a microSD. Thanks for notifying .

Anyway, there should be a led that should light up when plugged on the USB_OTG or the battery, isn't it ? The wiki doesn't tell anything about which led should be on.

Maybe it came from the internal voltage regulator. If you have a tester you can verify if it work again

I may look like a noob but if you know some places where I can put my probes to test the voltage regulator, it would be really great. As said before, my probes are not so small and I may connect two leads accidentally so I need to know exactly where I should take the voltage on this small and well design circuit. I don't want to make any mistake.

Thank you all for your help, great community.

[Shakipu]

Today, I have successfully booted into Debian using a microSD (Samsung 16 Gb Class 6) and powering it with batteries. I tried to power it using USB_OTG with a 1A 5V power supply but the led green stays on 10 seconds and then turns off definitely. I may try to debug the boot process with an UART -> USB cable.

I will try with a standard power supply (6 - 16V) later, hoping that nothing is broken and that I will not see smoke again.

[Shakipu]

Everything is working now and it's working wonderfully. Thanks everyone ! Case solved !