Re: I can't make my NSLU2 boot with Debian squeeze (nor any other release for that matter) :(
Hi Nicola
On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 09:08, Nicola Bernardini <nicb@sme-ccppd.org> wrote:
> First, I tried to install Debian proper following Martin Michlmayr
> instruction here[0]. It wouldn't go past the "all four leds on" stage
> (top led yellow). So I followed a hint and opened the case and removed
> the RTC battery. And voilà, the di-nslu2.bin (taken from here[1])
> suddendly booted and started the installer. So I logged in and started
> the installation process. Unfortunately, it won't complete. I tried many
> times but I couldn't go past the "Install the base system" stage. The
> (direct, wired) ssh connection would drop and when reconnecting, I would
> have to start the "Install the base system" stage again and so I went
> nowhere with that method. One good thing was that the machine was
> immediately (so to speak) available on the network at the canonical
> address 192.168.1.77.
The squeeze installer uses too much memory, so what is likely
happening is that the kernel out of memory handler is killing the
installation process. This is a known problem [1], and nobody has come
up with a fix yet. The way around this problem is to use the lenny
installer to install lenny, and then upgrade to squeeze. This method
works well - I have done it many times. BTW, I suspect that the
squeeze installer problem is not going to get fixed. We did try all
the simple things to fix it, but it seems that the problem requires
more effort than anybody is willing to dedicate.
> So I switched to another page from Martin's, the one that suggests to
> install a Debian 6.0 tarball on an external disk, then upslug this
> squeeze image[2] and boot from there. This time, the leds do the usual
> boot routine, then only the network led remains lit and the machine goes
> into meditation mode and is hardly accessible from outside (yes, I also
> checked with nast -m to make sure that it did not get an IP address).
> The attached disk doesn't show any activity, so it looks like the boot
> doesn't even get to fsck it or whatever. I waited also for entire nights
> for the device to boot, but to no avail. I set up the bootlogd default
> to yes, but of course since it doesn't get to the disk nothing gets
> written on it. Nor read, for that matter. I tried with and without the
> RTC battery, no show.
I've never tried the tarball installation method, so I'm not sure what
could be going on here. It should work. I believe others have used it
very successfully. Martin may have some ideas for you to try.
Gordon
[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-arm/2011/01/msg00010.html
--
Gordon Farquharson
GnuPG Key ID: 32D6D676
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