A13 does not want to boot from sd-card (.img provided by Olimex)

[dywen]

I have an A13 Olinuxino wifi & I want to boot on Linux, on the sd card
For this I look at these instructions::

https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A13-OLinuXino#Linux

Which I have followed to the letter

--> Am I missing something?
- I have formatted the sd card to Fat32 (as it comes standard) -> 8gb hs10, brand new, Kingston
- And I have sudo dd'ed the image to the card
no errors

--> This should suffice?

-----> Anyway, the A13 does not want to boot on the sd card, it boots on Android



----> how can I troubleshoot this? Debug info?

Thanks

dywen

[Lurch]

The easiest way would be to plug a TTY-USB converter onto UART1 and connect it to your PC. Start a terminal program on your PC (115200 baud, 8 bit, no parity) and then boot from the sdcard.  The system output will show you what the board is doing.  Since all of the Allwinner boards (A10, A13, A20) use this, it makes sense to get at least one of those USB-TTY converters.

[dywen]

Hey,

- ok, thanks --> I will check with my local hackerspace if anyone has this TTY-USB
- I'm a Linux user, but I don't know how to start this:

Start a terminal program on your PC (115200 baud, 8 bit, no parity)

I know my terminal - and I know Arduino & the ide - so I can see where you are going but.. not totally!

--> just to confirm, this is the info dd gives:
sudo dd if=A13_debian_34_75_WIFI_RALINK_GCC_GPIO_X_I2C_100KHz_UVC_TS_FTDI_video_release_9.img of=/dev/sdb2
7774208+0 records in
7774208+0 records out
3980394496 bytes (4.0 GB) copied, 1771.43 s, 2.2 MB/s

[JohnS]

Probably should be /dev/sdb

There must be a million articles about terminal programs on Linux.  google is your friend...

John

[scout_3pm]

The command of dd should be directed of=... to the whole device, not to a single partition.
I.e you must point it to /dev/sdb not /dev/sdb2.

Code Select Expand


sudo dd if=A13_debian_34_75_WIFI_RALINK_GCC_GPIO_X_I2C_100KHz_UVC_TS_FTDI_video_release_9.img of=/dev/sdb


The way you did it pointing to the second partition (sdb2) the MBR is not written, the partitions are not on their right places.

Good Luck !

[dywen]

Hi, Scout,

Thanks for the tip - but it does not make a difference::

I tried all kinds of variations - being accustomed to installing systems and not images.
With dd-ing the image to sdb - alas - it still boots on Android..


(my last dd:
sudo dd if=A13_debian_34_75_WIFI_RALINK_GCC_GPIO_X_I2C_100KHz_UVC_TS_FTDI_video_release_9.img of=/dev/sdb
7774208+0 records in
7774208+0 records out
3980394496 bytes (4.0 GB) copied, 1807.9 s, 2.2 MB/s

(I want Debian! )

--> for the  TTY-USB debug, someone recommended Putty - must dive into that when I have the time & the cable..)

--> I also used dcfldd, a verbose version of dd --> nice, because you can follow the progress of the copying

--> the Micro sd card is fine, because now my OLinuXino-LIME is purring on it :-)

greetz
dywen

[JohnS]

Faulty IMG, SD card or SD slot or the like is about all that's left.

John

[dywen]

* hmmmm *


-> the Img is the official one
-> the sd card is fine - my Lime (with the appropriate image of course) boots on it purrrfectly
(wow, it's fast!)

:-/

[JohnS]

You're welcome to suggest other causes that fit your stated facts.

John

[LubOlimex]

Hey there,

Considering the microSD card and the image are reported to work ok then:

Please, for purely identifying purposes, also test with the other two images for microSD card:

- Armel (softfloat) Debian - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-bAEPML8fwlYnUwdnpkUllVNFU/edit?usp=sharing

- the Android one for 800x600 - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-bAEPML8fwlVF9zcUxzQ1NDbms/edit?usp=sharing

Additionally, when the board boots into Android insert the microSD card and check the file system - the card should be available as mass storage device (the same way and in the same menu where a connected to the USB flash drive appears).

If the board continues to boot into Android without recognizing a microSD card that means that either there is a problem with the microSD card connector (usually a pin wasn't properly soldered - had cold solder - and during transportation got faulty/disconnected), or there is a problem with a signal route, or the processor pins responsible for microSD card have problem.

From my experience I'd say it is the microSD card connector pins at the back that got un-soldered during transportation.

If the problem persists and the above two tests show no microSD card whatsoever please send the board for repair as explained here: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/GTC#Warranty

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX