Fixing Garbage on Boot [ SOLVED!? ] - Please test!!!

[mattmc97]

So I was thinking about how to start troubleshooting garbage on boot.

Reading over what I found out about the new install I did vs what PlugAdmin has in the guide.

Original Instructions:

Code:

setenv mainlineLinux yes
setenv arcNumber 2097
setenv bootargs_console console=ttyS0,115200

setenv bootcmd_mmc 'mmcinit; ext2load mmc 0 0x0800000 /uInitrd; ext2load mmc 0 0x400000 /uImage'
setenv bootcmd 'setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console); run bootcmd_mmc; bootm 0x400000 0x0800000'
saveenv

New install Instructions:

Code:

setenv mainlineLinux yes
setenv arcNumber 2097
setenv bootargs_console console=ttyS0,115200
setenv bootargs_root root=/dev/mmcblk0p2
setenv bootcmd_mmc 'mmcinit; ext2load mmc 0:1 0x01100000 /uInitrd; ext2load mmc 0:1 0x00800000 /uImage'
setenv bootcmd 'setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console) $(bootargs_root); run bootcmd_mmc; bootm 0x00800000 0x01100000'
saveenv

Lines 1-3: No changes
Line 4: New version requires you to manually point to root location on SD Card
Line 5: New version has 0:1 AFTER mmc on both the uInitrd and uImage, PLUS different uInitrd and uImage versions?
Line 6: New version adds $(bootargs_root); PLUS once again boots newer versions of the two files above.


This link: http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=2002 suggests that it could be a hardware change that the old kernel did not support???

I am leaning to it being something was changed on the plug and the debian arm guys fixed it. I have confirmed that I can still boot the OLD plug with the the new setenv commands, with the same result.  Therefore, it would seem to me since the initial boot log is clear but AFTER 'Uncompressing Linux...................' it goes to garbage, that it is a linux version problem and not a Uboot problem.

I have searched thru the plugcomputer forums and while there are a few cases of people reporting the same issue, there is no solution other than upgrading the kernel.... linky: http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=2008.0

[invictive]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on lines 5 and 6 it is also reading/writing from a different location in memory no? 0x400000 vs. 0x00800000

[PlugPBX Admin]

Interesting...

My own logic says its either kernel of initial disk image, or a combination. I may have some time sunday to tinker (no more family vacations for awhile). Keep plugging away boys

I have a large backlog on the honey-do list

[mattmc97]

I am thinking it is a kernel issue as well, I am thinking I may try to upgrade just the kernel.

I will have to google that, anyone have any pointers on a kernel upgrade?

thanks.

[mattmc97]

Cross posted on Plugcomputer forums.....

**UPDATE** Think I figured it out. I have not tried to initiate SIP test yet, but everything seems to be up.

THIS ONLY REALLY EFFECTS ANYONE WHO HAS A NEWER PLUG, PLEASE BACKUP YOUR EXISTING INSTALL PRIOR TO TRYING THIS FIX AS I HAVE NOT RUN ANY CALLS OVER WITH THE CHANGE YET!

I am trying to boot an older SD card image (Dec 2009) and I am getting garbage on boot after 'Uncompressing Linux......"

I read posts here: http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=2002 suggests there was a hardware change sometime in the last 6 months. The solution being upgrade the kernel to 2.6.32 which will include a patch to support the new revision.

So here is what I did:

Code:

PlugPBX:~#uname -r
2.6.30-2-kirkwood

PlugPBX:~#apt-get update

PlugPBX:~#apt-cache search linux-image

PlugPBX:~#apt-get install linux-image-2.6.32-5-kirkwood

..........................
Selecting previously deselected package linux-image-2.6.32-5-kirkwood.
Unpacking linux-image-2.6.32-5-kirkwood (from .../linux-image-2.6.32-5-kirkwood_2.6.32-15_armel.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package firmware-linux-free.
Unpacking firmware-linux-free (from .../firmware-linux-free_2.6.32-15_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libapt-pkg-perl (0.1.24+b1) ...
Setting up libuuid-perl (0.02-3+b1) ...
Setting up linux-base (2.6.32-15) ...
Setting up linux-image-2.6.32-5-kirkwood (2.6.32-15) ...
Running depmod.
Running update-initramfs.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-kirkwood
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 2.6.32-5-kirkwood /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-kirkwood
Setting up firmware-linux-free (2.6.32-15) ...
PlugPBX:~# uname -r
2.6.30-2-kirkwood
PlugPBX:~# reboot

When the system comes back up....

Code:

Linux PlugPBX 2.6.30-2-kirkwood #1 Sun Sep 27 22:57:55 UTC 2009 armv5tel

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Fri Jul 16 23:29:23 2010 from 192.168.100.100
PlugPBX:~# uname -r
2.6.30-2-kirkwood

So it appears the kernel upgrade installed without a hitch, but it is still booting the old kernel.


**After further investigation... **


After installing from apt-get, issue the following:

PlugPBX:~#flash-kernel

PlugPBX:~#shutdown -r now

When it comes up, you no longer have garbage on boot and you have the new kernel.

PlugPBX:~# uname -r
2.6.32-5-kirkwood

[PlugPBX Admin]

So long story short, slight hardware rev requires a slightly newer kernel. Cool. Mystery solved!

This is great. All the pieces are coming together to build the next PlugPBX.

[PlugPBX Admin]

Just an FYI for those of you out there upgrading your kernel  -  Updating a kernel will break MeetMe and a few other features (Dahdi's kernel module will have to be rebuilt for the newer kernel on a system)

You have to compile the dahdi module for the exact kernel version you are running. Its not a deal breaker for %99 of people out there, I broke mine on my own in house system awhile back and its not a big deal in the short term - we don't exactly host conference calls often

Just an FYI. I know asterisk has a newer scheme for conferencing and what not that moves away from the dahdi module (aka zaptel) . I wonder now that Asterisk 1.7 is out thats mature and supported by FreePBX now?

Anyone know off hand? Getting away from kernel modules crap would be nice for users, they can apt-get upgrade their kernels at will and not worry about having to do messy compiling etc to gain back 100% of the features.

[mattmc97]

It appears meetme may be on the way out as you have stated. I can't really find anything saying why confbridge is better, but the plug does NOT NEED DAHDI since there is not a hardware requirement for it.

Here is some input from the developer....



User Question: Is there a good bug discussing the story behind the differences of ConfBridge and MeetMe, or where it came from, or if I'm right that ConfBridge is a new approach to MeetMe?

There is no bug because it wasn't really driven out of a bug being present.
Development of it was driven by the internal way we bridge channels together and how it isn't
flexible for what we really need. Let me explain a bit about each application.

MeetMe as you know is a conferencing application that requires DAHDI. It doesn't
just require DAHDI because of timing it also requires it because the actual conferencing
engine/mixing takes place inside of DAHDI itself. Rewriting MeetMe not to use DAHDI would
essentially be writing a new application.

ConfBridge is a conferencing application that uses a new internal architecture
for developers. The application itself is basically a user of the architecture and provides some additional
outside capabilities like an IVR menu, join/leave sounds, etc. The actual mixing is done underneath in the
architecture's core by a separate Asterisk module.

I originally wrote ConfBridge as a test application of the architecture but in
the end it just made sense to continue development on it and make it available as many individuals wanted a
conferencing application that did not require DAHDI and it was simple to maintain.

User Question: What's the best way for me to be able to play with ConfBridge? Do I need to pull down trunk and build that? I just took a look through 1.6.1.0 for app_confbridge.c and it's not there, so perhaps this will be going into 1.6.2.*

If you would like to give it a test it is already available in 1.6.2 and the
documentation for it available by typing "core show application ConfBridge".

-- Joshua Colp Digium, Inc. | Software Developer

Link: http://markmail.org/message/tpjmg6nh7x7vslf5

I haven't looked into it yet.

Post on timing in asterisk: https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/164/diff/5/#index_header

[mattmc97]

Reading the timing article above, it seems like DAHDI is no longer required.

here is the output of my search for timing on my NEW BUILD (Not on the original build)....

/usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/asterisk/modules/res_timing_dahdi.so
/usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/asterisk/modules/res_timing_pthread.so
/usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/asterisk/modules/res_timing_timerfd.so

I searched /var/log/asterisk/full and both _pthread.so and timerfd.so are in the logs with no errors.

I am about to look into confbridge setup vs meetme. Although I can say, I have never initiated a conference call, I have participated in a few and it would be good to have if you need it.

[cannibalflea]

Hi all,

I had been having problems with the system clock running too fast and I discovered it was due to the new hardware (in fact I started a thread about this and was pointed to this page for more info). I was away for a long time and now that I'm back I was trying to get this and the terminal grabage problem fixed. So I followed the instructions here, but after running flash-kernel and rebooting, I can no longer boot into debian. Here is the output:

Code:

SDHC found. Card desciption is:
Manufacturer:       0x64, OEM "PC"
Product name:       "     ", revision 1.0
Serial number:      6327
Manufacturing date: 7/2010
CRC:                0x00, b0 = 0

** Unable to read "/uInitrd" from mmc 0:1 **

1434220 bytes read
## Booting image at 00800000 ...
   Image Name:   Debian kernel
   Created:      2010-12-23  20:58:11 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    1434156 Bytes =  1.4 MB
   Load Address: 00008000
   Entry Point:  00008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
OK
## Loading Ramdisk Image at 01100000 ...
Bad Magic Number

I've set the environment variables as was posted in the first post. I've checked the Martin Michlmayr's troubleshooting page (http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/troubleshooting.html) but can't figure out what to do to fix this. Any thoughts? Anyone else with this problem?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Bests,
Al

[cannibalflea]

Hi all,

I didn't get any response to my post above so I thought I would try again. I know that a newer version of PlugPBX is in the works and features the latest software that would fix these problems. However, I'm trying to get my setup back to what it was before while I move to the new system. As I said before, I tried the procedure in this thread to update the kernel. However, now I can't boot into debian anymore. Now, In my stupid optimism that this would work without any serious problems, I did not backup my settings and customizations. So now I'm desperately trying to boot into debian and at least save my settings. If anyone can point out what the problem is or even how I may be able to salvage my settings from SDCard and migrate it to a fresh setup, I would be really grateful.

Thanks.
Al