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[conorwynne]

Hi all,

Not sure if this should be in software or hardware but here goes:

I received my MX today in the post, read the manual (for a change), ran through the initial config which progressed nicely
(albeit slowly compared to my esata sheevaplug).

It accepted my timezone choices etc and then the screen went black.
I left it for one hour and same issue.

So I pressed the power button four times to power down, but it doesn't respond - even after another hour.

So I pulled the power and rebooted.
During initial boot I can see the graphics on screen, but then it goes black.

I pressed the button four times once more to no avail.

Suggestions? Is there a reset option? Or failing that, can I install another distro? Fedora? Debian 6? Anything?

Regards
Conor.

[NewITMalcolm]

Hi Conor,

I have noticed the Efika does not respond to the power button with certain powered hubs attached. If you have one connected try unplugging then pressing the power button.

There is recovery image and instructions available here:

http://www.powerdeveloper.org/platforms/efikamx/linux

Some more useful links here:

http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2245.0.html

Other distro's are in the Pipeline (Ubuntu 11.04, Debian Squeeze (a hard float version and a headless version),  as well as Flash, gstreamer with 720p/1080p video decoding ability and new Xorg driver with Xv.

NewITJames

[conorwynne]

Hi Conor,

I have noticed the Efika does not respond to the power button with certain powered hubs attached. If you have one connected try unplugging then pressing the power button.

There is recovery image and instructions available here:

http://www.powerdeveloper.org/platforms/efikamx/linux

Some more useful links here:

http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2245.0.html

Other distro's are in the Pipeline (Ubuntu 11.04, Debian Squeeze (a hard float version and a headless version),  as well as Flash, gstreamer with 720p/1080p video decoding ability and new Xorg driver with Xv.

NewITJames

Thanks, I'll try a re-image so.
I've no USB hub connected at the moment, just a Dell USB keyboard and mouse (wired not wireless), and they both worked during the initial config.

I've disconnected both and pressed the power four times again as in the manual, but still no joy.
Ah well. I've noticed what sounds like clock ticks coming through the TV speakers, not sure if that's normal but hey, just mentionning it. Its not loud so should not be intrusive to watching movies.

For the re-image, I assume I just write to a USB key and then boot off that, is that correct?
Do I need to hit any key combo's to make it boot from USB?

I don't plan of using any more than two USB devices as everything will stream over wifi from my sheevaplug.

Regards
Conor.

[NewITMalcolm]

Conor,

You will need to write the image to an SD card, The Efika is configured to multiboot from SD card then the internal SSD.

Do you have a monitor you could try the Efika on to rule out a HDMI mode selection issue with your TV.

NewITJAmes

[conorwynne]

Conor,

You will need to write the image to an SD card, The Efika is configured to multiboot from SD card then the internal SSD.

Do you have a monitor you could try the Efika on to rule out a HDMI mode selection issue with your TV.

NewITJAmes

I was thinking the same thing as yourself about mode selection on the TV. Unfortunately I only have the one philips HD-TV to test with. I'll test it at my parents on their two tv's - so three different manufacturers should be comprehensive enough. I'll also purchase a gold plated cable this evening as I was planning on getting one anyway.

[NewITMalcolm]

Conor,

There is a newer Kernel available which should work with more HDMI/DVI devices. The kernel will install with the Ubuntu package installer but you need to be able to see the screen first. I will build and upload either an Ubuntu image with the new kernel or I have a ported version of the Guiplug I could also upload with the new kernel on it ready to run from SD card.

NewITJAmes


EDIT:

Here is the link to the newer kernel for those who wish to try it.
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/linux-image-2.6.31.14.24-efikamx_2011.06_armel.deb

There are couple of tweakable options to go with this but I will save explanations for another post.

siihdmi.force_dvi=1
siihdmi.teneighty=1

[NewITMalcolm]

Conor,

The techies at Genesi say you could also try a reinstall with a wired ethernet with internet connection. This is to allow ntp to pick up the time which could have defaulted to 1969.

                                                                                                                                 

[conorwynne]

Conor,

The techies at Genesi say you could also try a reinstall with a wired ethernet with internet connection. This is to allow ntp to pick up the time which could have defaulted to 1969.

I'll give it a go, but first I'll need to be able to reflash... so far I have not been able to do so.
Here's what I have tried so far:

1. downloaded various images from here :
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/asset/by-id/123
2. connected my new sdcard reader/writer to my linux laptop and wrote the image as follows:

xz –dc maverick-installer.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdb
(sdb being the SDCARD as determined by dmesg)

Placed it into the device and booted up. Alas, it just ignored the sdcard and booted up anyway.
Is there any way (via keyboard keys) to force it to boot from sdcard?

3. I also tried the firmware update and the droid release to no avail.

[guidol]

Other distro's are in the Pipeline (Ubuntu 11.04, Debian Squeeze (a hard float version and a headless version),  as well as Flash, gstreamer with 720p/1080p video decoding ability and new Xorg driver with Xv.

Hi NewITJames,
where can I read something about Ubuntu 11.04 and debian Squeeze for the Efika MX? Sounds interesting to me

[NewITMalcolm]

Hi Guidol,

where can I read something about Ubuntu 11.04 and debian Squeeze for the Efika MX? Sounds interesting to me Smiley

Here are some interesting links regarding Debian Squeeze and the Hardfloat version in particular.

http://wiki.debian.org/ArmHardFloatPort
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=14953#14953
https://wiki.linaro.org/Linaro-arm-hardfloat

NewITJames

[NewITMalcolm]

Conor,

I'll give it a go, but first I'll need to be able to reflash... so far I have not been able to do so.
Here's what I have tried so far:

1. downloaded various images from here :
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/asset/by-id/123
2. connected my new sdcard reader/writer to my linux laptop and wrote the image as follows:

xz –dc maverick-installer.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdb
(sdb being the SDCARD as determined by dmesg)

Placed it into the device and booted up. Alas, it just ignored the sdcard and booted up anyway.
Is there any way (via keyboard keys) to force it to boot from sdcard?

3. I also tried the firmware update and the droid release to no avail.

Try the Guiplug image from this post.

http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2253.0.html

I have configured it to be the most compatible with Hdmi TV's

You will need to download it then unzip and finally 'dd' the .img file onto the SD card.

The image is the GuiPlug ported directly from the Dreamplug version. It will boot and run Debian Squeeze with a Gnome desktop directly from the SD card without writing anything to the internal SSD.
Please make sure the TV is connected and switched to HDMI before starting the Efika.

Let me know how you get on with it.

NewITJames

[panto]

Just to add I have exactly the same.
Got though the set up (was not connected to the Eithernet/WiFi) and then blank screen. On boot get the boot screen then it goes blank.

Can see the boot screen on both My LG 42" and IIyama 26". (I dont have anything smaller with HDMI).

Currently downloading the two Images (http://www.powerdeveloper.org/asset/by-id/124) and (http://downloadsnewit.co.uk/SD-images/EfikaMX/NewIT-efika-4Gb-guiplug-v2.6.1.img.gz). Will try those.
Also, tried the mavarick_20110722.img, but got the same, ignores the SDHC and only boots from the internal memory.

I have the dev connector, so do you know then magic values for doing a bootm for this board?
What mem locations I can copy into, and possibly have a minimal rootfs that I can run from memory (only need ssh or console - for now) . Once I can get it running from memory then can see if I can get the
monitor set-up working.

Is there an OpenEmbbedded script that you know about that I can use to get a minimal setup to work?

PS: for my project I don't really need X, framebuffer with access to VPL is enough.

[panto]

Works with your image.