A13 not booting?

[ar22dp]

Hi!

I have a A13 rev. c that i got from a friend, thats not starting. When i connect it to the power source the red led lights up, and i have checked the voltages on the back of the card and they are all ok.

I have connected a monitor via VGA and inserted a micro SD with linux for A13 pre installed(that i bought), but nothing happens, i have tried reset and power buttons but its simply dead. Trying to start without the SD-card gives the same result, nothing but the red power works.

Is there anything i have missed, or is my A13 simply broken?

[Lurch]

Lots of possibilities.
If the sdcard is messed up, it won't start. This can happen when you cut the power while the system is running.
Should be able to check the boot partition by mounting the card on a PC card reader and checking whether you can see the partition.  If you can, you can copy the VGA script.bin to the boot root - maybe it was set up for LCD by someone else.
It would, of course, be very helpful if you had a RS232-USB converter that you could plug onto the UART-0 pins on the board.  This uart port outputs the boot messages at 115200 baud during boot.

[ar22dp]

Thanx for the help!

I have a USB-Serial FTDI that i connected to UART1 and then booted the olinuxino A13, it gave me the code below. Without the SD-card it wont do anything at all. Is my onboard NAND-flash broken and my SD card faulty aswell?

Code Select Expand

-Boot SPL 2013.01-rc1-04929-g1b9f6ab-dirty (Nov 22 2012 - 17:22:15)
Board: A13-OlinuXinoM
DRAM: 256MB
SUNXI SD/MMC: 0


U-Boot 2013.01-rc1-04929-g1b9f6ab-dirty (Nov 22 2012 - 17:22:15) Allwinner Technology

CPU:   SUNXI Family
Board: A13-OlinuXinoM
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
MMC:   SUNXI SD/MMC: 0
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  3  2  1  0
reading uEnv.txt
** Unable to read file uEnv.txt **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
reading boot.scr
236 bytes read
Jumping to boot.scr
## Executing script at 44000000
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Wrong Image Format for bootm command
ERROR: can't get kernel image!
reading script.bin
27628 bytes read
reading uImage
3971796 bytes read
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 48000000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-3.0.52+
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    3971732 Bytes = 3.8 MiB
   Load Address: 40008000
   Entry Point:  40008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK

Starting kernel ...

<6>Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset

<5>Linux version 3.0.52+ (root@hehopmajieh-office) (gcc version 4.3.5 (Debian 4.3.5-4) ) #10 PREEMPT Wed Dec 5 16:01:52 EET 2012

CPU: ARMv7 Processor [413fc082] revision 2 (ARMv7), cr=10c5387d

CPU: VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache

Machine: sun5i

<6>Memory Reserved:

<6> SYS  : 0x43000000 - 0x4300ffff  (  64 kB)

<6> VE   : 0x44000000 - 0x48ffffff  (  80 MB)

Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writeback

<2>kernel BUG at kernel/printk.c:681!



Another boot gave me this:

Code Select Expand


U-Boot SPL 2013.01-rc1-04929-g1b9f6ab-dirty (Nov 22 2012 - 17:22:15)
Board: A13-OlinuXinoM
DRAM: 256MB
SUNXI SD/MMC: 0


U-Boot 2013.01-rc1-04929-g1b9f6ab-dirty (Nov 22 2012 - 17:22:15) Allwinner Technology

CPU:   SUNXI Family
Board: A13-OlinuXinoM
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  256 MiB
MMC:   SUNXI SD/MMC: 0
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  3  2  1  0
reading uEnv.txt
** Unable to read file uEnv.txt **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
reading boot.scr
236 bytes read
Jumping to boot.scr
## Executing script at 44000000
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Wrong Image Format for bootm command
ERROR: can't get kernel image!
reading script.bin
27628 bytes read
reading uImage
3971796 bytes read
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 48000000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-3.0.52+
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    3971732 Bytes = 3.8 MiB
   Load Address: 40008000
   Entry Point:  40008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK

Starting kernel ...

<6>Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset

<5>Linux version 3.0.52+ (root@hehopmajieh-office) (gcc version 4.3.5 (Debian 4.3.5-4) ) #10 PREEMPT Wed Dec 5 16:01:52 EET 2012

CPU: ARMv7 Processor [413fc082] revision 2 (ARMv7), cr=10c5387d

CPU: VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache

Machine: sun5i

<6>Memory Reserved:

<6> SYS  : 0x43000000 - 0x4300ffff  (  64 kB)

<6> VE   : 0x44000000 - 0x48ffffff  (  80 MB)

Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writeback

<6>BROM Ver: 1100 1100 1625

<6>chip-id: A13 (AW1625)

<7>On node 0 totalpages: 65536

<7>free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat c077814c, node_mem_map c082e000

<7>  Normal zone: 512 pages used for memmap

<7>  Normal zone: 0 pages reserved

<7>  Normal zone: 65024 pages, LIFO batch:15

<7>pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768

<7>pcpu-alloc: [0] 0

Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 65024

<5>Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait loglevel=8 panic=10

<6>PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)

<6>Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)

<6>Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)

<6>Memory: 256MB = 256MB total

<5>Memory: 169492k/169492k available, 92652k reserved, 0K highmem

<5>Virtual kernel memory layout:

    vector  : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000   (   4 kB)

    fixmap  : 0xfff00000 - 0xfffe0000   ( 896 kB)

    DMA     : 0xffc00000 - 0xffe00000   (   2 MB)

    vmalloc : 0xd0800000 - 0xf0000000   ( 504 MB)

    lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xd0000000   ( 256 MB)

    pkmap   : 0xbfe00000 - 0xc0000000   (   2 MB)

    modules : 0xbf000000 - 0xbfe00000   (  14 MB)

      .init : 0xc0008000 - 0xc0031000   ( 164 kB)

      .text : 0xc0031000 - 0xc072bf2c   (7148 kB)

      .data : 0xc072c000 - 0xc077e8b8   ( 331 kB)

       .bss : 0xc077e8dc - 0xc082dc88   ( 701 kB)

<6>SLUB: Genslabs=11, HWalign=64, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1

<6>NR_IRQS:96 nr_irqs:96 96

<6>timer0: Periodic Mode

<6>Console: colour dummy device 80x30

<6>Calibrating delay loop... <c>1001.88 BogoMIPS (lpj=5009408)

<6>pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301

<6>Mount-cache hash table entries: 512

<6>Initializing cgroup subsys cpuacct

<6>Initializing cgroup subsys devices

<6>Initializing cgroup subsys freezer

<6>Initializing cgroup subsys blkio

<6>CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok

<4>------------[ cut here ]------------

<4>WARNING: at kernel/sched.c:4125 rest_init+0x7c/0xa4()

<d>Modules linked in:

[<c003dbb8>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0x134) from [<c00601dc>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64)

[<c00601dc>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64) from [<c0060210>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x1c/0x24)

[<c0060210>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x1c/0x24) from [<c0511554>] (rest_init+0x7c/0xa4)

[<c0511554>] (rest_init+0x7c/0xa4) from [<c0008a50>] (start_kernel+0x254/0x2ec)

[<c0008a50>] (start_kernel+0x254/0x2ec) from [<40008054>] (0x40008054)

<4>---[ end trace 1b75b31a2719ed1c ]---

<6>hw perfevents: enabled with ARMv7 Cortex-A8 PMU driver, 5 counters available

<6>devtmpfs: initialized

<6>print_constraints: dummy:

<6>NET: Registered protocol family 16

<6>hw-breakpoint: debug architecture 0x4 unsupported.

SOFTWINNER DMA Driver, (c) 2003-2004,2006 Simtec Electronics

<6>Initialize DMAC OK

<6>bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0

<5>SCSI subsystem initialized

<6>usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs

<6>usbcore: registered new interface driver hub

<6>usbcore: registered new device driver usb

<6>Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.

<6>cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain

Init eGon pin module V2.0

<6>Switching to clocksource aw 64bits couter

<2>kernel BUG at kernel/printk.c:681!

<1>Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000

<1>pgd = c0004000

<1>[00000000] *pgd=00000000

<0>Internal error: Oops: 805 [#1] PREEMPT

<0>Internal error: Oops - undefined instruction: 0 [#2] PREEMPT

<d>Modules linked in:

CPU: 0    Tainted: G        W    (3.0.52+ #10)

PC is at down_trylock+0x24/0x50

LR is at down_trylock+0x18/0x50



[progmetalbg]

What is your A13-OLinuXino board model?
A13-OLinuXino-MICRO
A13-OLinuXino
A13-OLinuXino-WIFI
Only the WIFI model has 4 GB NAND flash and your boot log is from u-boot & kernel compiled for the MICRO version (256 MB RAM).
So I assume you are using wrong SD card?
Check the products page on Olimex site to see what is the model of your board. Then go the Wiki page, download the latest official Debian image for your board, write it to (another) SD card with dd (linux) or Win32 Disk Imager (Windows) and try to boot from it.

[Lurch]

You can probably get it to fly ....
If you have a PC or laptop with a builtin sdcard slot, you can download and burn an image (with Win32DiskImager.exe).  USB Cardreaders don't seem to work for this.
To do this, you should read this page of the A13 WiKi: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A13-OLinuXino
There are also instructions there for downloading and installing Android using just the USB OTG socket.

[ar22dp]

It is either a WIFI or the non-wifi. There is a text that says "wifi" but there isnt any wifi connected to it. Looking at the prebuilt downloads, the latest is called "video/headless.." is this the one i want if i am going to connect it to a VGA monitor?



I have a windows computer with a SD-cardreader, i will halfto get an SD-Micro SD adapter though.

[progmetalbg]

This is the A13-OLinuXino board w/o NAND flash & WIFI:
https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A13/A13-OLinuXino/open-source-hardware
Download the release 7 debian image from wiki:
https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A13-OLinuXino
and write it to microSD card.

[zoom2x]

I have the same problem. My board is A13-OlinuXino-wifi. It worked over a half of an hour, and then image on my display has disappeared. I tried to conect board to PC over usb-otg, board was seen by my computer some times, but now PC even doesn't see my board. What should I do? May be I have damaged board?

[ar22dp]

No my Olinuxino is up and running Debian! Thanx for all the help!

[olimex]

just note for the other "zoom2x" managed to corrupt his flash NAND image by powering off the board by simple disconnecting power instead to power off with power button!

this is LINUX you can't cut the power of Linux/Android computer without power off procedure or you can damage your NAND flash image

[JohnS]

Something's wrong - if you do that then on next boot it should recover perfectly.  I guess software bug(s) specific to these boards/chips

Still, I expect most can just power off properly.

In case there's no warning or not enough warning in the Olimex manual, I suggest you add it / add more.

John

[olimex]

you say you usually pull the power cord on your desktop linux computer and nothing wrong can happen?

define "enough"

practice says nobody reads the manual before corrupt his NAND flash and send us e-mail asking what is wrong

[JohnS]

Endless people have had their power go out on Linux, quite common on desktops.  Never had problems and don't expect to due to the journalling file system etc.

I'm sure you're right that many people don't read the manual

John

[jess]

Endless people have had their power go out on Linux, quite common on desktops.  Never had problems and don't expect to due to the journalling file system etc.

I'm with John and feel quite uneasy for olimex stand on 'correct way' to power down their Allwinner based boards. It should be fixed and not even mentioned in manuals (yes, I read them.... oh well, occasionally

[olimex]

unfortnately power supply glitches corrupt the NAND Flash and SD cards from time to time and this has nothing to do with Allwinner processors as same happens with imx233 boards too, this doesn't happend every time but you should not count on it
as for the desktop you can switch off yours several times to have some statistical info after how many switch off your HDD will get corrupted