The A64-Olinuxino freezing

[c0ffymachyne]

Hi,

The A64-Olinuxino Rev.E is freezing. I did try twice already with different images. After checking out github https://github.com/YosysHQ/icestorm.git and building it with command "make -j${nproc}" (instruction are over here http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/) it seems to be trying to build but after a while system hangs. After that I could not reboot the system and had to rewrite the image on the sd drive. I found some old posts earlier where someone had similar problem and the power supply was a suggested issue.
This is the power supply I am using (5V 2A as suggested in getting started guide) -> https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0777HWN87/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I put a heatsink on the CPU but it didn't change anything and I can tell CPU is running pretty hot (it's hot when touched).

Thank you.

[c0ffymachyne]

Hello,
I've got it little bit under control and managed to run 4 threads on 4 cores without hanging but it's still very prone to hanging. Any extra process I run literally freezes the system.
As it seems the "Armbian_5.92.1_Olinuxino-a64_Ubuntu_bionic_next_5.2.5_desktop" image has max value exceeding this of the CPU thus I capped it to 1008000 and so far it's little bit slower but runs 4 threads.
Is it normal ? There is still something happening. When it hangs, the CPU cools down over time implying it's some kind of a deadlock or so but it never recovers.

[LubOlimex]

Did you test how it goes with our official images? You can find them here:

https://images.olimex.com/release/a64/

[c0ffymachyne]

I found out what it is. It's running our of ram !

[c0ffymachyne]

I managed to resize main partition to install extra packages and it works great until I power down. After powering it down the system no longer boots. This happens with focal and buster. Any idea what to do ?

[c0ffymachyne]

With Official Buster or Focal image the board boots up only until first power down. After power cycling the system does not start anymore. Tested both cases again.

The Official Bionic (from official FTP) is the only image that does boot up after powering cycling.

The SD Card: SanDisk 64GB Ultra microSDXC UHS-I

What may be a reason for such behavior ?

[LubOlimex]

Usually configuration is set the first boot. If first boot is ok and it doesn't start on second boot, then wrong configuration was loaded for the board.

There are several reasons for why that might happen and several ways to fix it. Do you have access to USB-serial cable?

[c0ffymachyne]

Something like below ?
https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/Olimex-Ltd/USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F?qs=C3feHhap9PoFAH91%252Bsut6A%3D%3D

[LubOlimex]

Yes, something like that is good enough. As long as it has free leads to connect to the board AND it works at 3.3V - it should be alright.