problem with writting os image on micro SD

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z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 26, 2019, 8:53:43 AM6/26/19
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Hello, i have a beaglebone black board. i want to use "Debian 9.5 2018-10-07 4GB SD LXQT" os image for it, i downloaded it from http://beagleboard.org/latest-images/ and i try to write it on micro SD with "balena etcher" but it cann't write correctly, i repeat this process over and over and i deal with "You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it" any time.
14 daya ago, i did this process successfully, but my micro SD damaged and i have to change it, after that i have above problem.
i did this process with other os images, too but i had this problem, again. 
please help me! give me a solution!

Dennis Lee Bieber

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Jun 26, 2019, 2:16:40 PM6/26/19
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On Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:41:25 -0700 (PDT),
z.mome...@gmail.com declaimed the
following:
First step... FORMAT the SD card as the message says. Though if the SD
card has really failed, it may not take a format. The recommended program
for formatting is at https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/ (Windows
internal formatter may not be ideal). For the first time or when it appears
corrupted, use the "overwrite" format, not the quick format, and also the
option to adjust CHS (if it allows it).

If SDCard Formatter won't format the card, throw it away and get a new
one.


--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlf...@ix.netcom.com http://wlfraed.microdiversity.freeddns.org/

gra...@flex-radio.com

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Jun 26, 2019, 3:13:00 PM6/26/19
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The message "You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it" means that Windows can not read the file system on the uSD card.
Well, Windows can not read Linux file systems, so this is OK, and you should ignore the message.

The ".img" file and Etcher will install a Linux file system on the card.

Are you trying to install an image on the uSD card, so that you run from the uSD card?
Or, are you trying to install a flasher on the uSD card so that the uSD card will install the image in the Flash memory on the BBB?

Make sure you are using the correct image file to do what you are trying to do.

Is Etcher providing any errors?  If so, what does it say?
If Etcher does not report any errors, do not reformat the card like Windows says, and just put the Etcher programmed card in the BBB and run it.

--- Graham

==

z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 26, 2019, 8:48:04 PM6/26/19
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Thanks for your answer! I'm trying to install an image on the uSD and i want to run from that uSD card. i downloaded "Debian 9.5 2018-10-07 4GB SD LXQT" and i tried to write that on uSD with "Win32DiskImager". I formated my SD with "SD card formatter" such as  Dennis Lee Bieber said but it failed  and i tried with a new SD this process, but it's failed again.I don't know what to do,really!! please help me!

gra...@flex-radio.com

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Jun 27, 2019, 7:26:50 AM6/27/19
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The file as you download it is compressed in ".xz" format.
What are you using to un-compress the file to an ".img" file?

I recommend you use Etcher to install the image on the uSD card.
I don't think "Win32Diskimager" is recommended for BeagleBoards any longer.
Etcher will automatically verify the image as written is correct and complete, including the Linux file system.
You don't need to format it.  And for sure, do not format it after you write the image to the card with Etcher. That will erase the card.

Just eject it and put it in the BBB after you image it.
Make sure the card is fully seated, and not sitting sticking out on the eject spring.

Are you sure the BBB is good?

Do you have a good power supply running the BBB?
The high current peaks during booting require at least a 1 Amp supply, preferably a 1.5 Amp supply.
Too weak a power supply will cause it to hang during booting.

How old is the version of software in the Flash memory on board the BBB?
Will it boot from the on-board memory, without a uSD card installed?

--- Graham

==

z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 27, 2019, 12:32:51 PM6/27/19
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I used 7-zip for uncompressed that downloaded file. I used Etcher for write downloaded file on uSD card on windows and on ubuntu but on both of them, it's failed. after write i gave error "You need to format ...". i connected my board to my lap top and every thing about board is ok, when it connected, it turned on and its 4 User LED and power LED turned on and its drive showed and a notification "beaglebone is ready" showed on desktop. but when i used uSD card with image written on it on board, error "You need to format..." appeared.

Dennis Lee Bieber

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Jun 27, 2019, 3:00:22 PM6/27/19
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On Thu, 27 Jun 2019 07:23:52 -0700 (PDT),
z.mome...@gmail.com declaimed the
following:

>I used 7-zip for uncompressed that downloaded file. I used Etcher for write
>downloaded file on uSD card on windows and on ubuntu but on both of them,
>it's failed. after write i gave error "You need to format ...". i connected
>my board to my lap top and every thing about board is ok, when it
>connected, it turned on and its 4 User LED and power LED turned on and its
>drive showed and a notification "beaglebone is ready" showed on desktop.
>but when i used uSD card with image written on it on board, error "You need
>to format..." appeared.
>

If using Balena Etcher (recent version) you do NOT have decompress the
.xz file. Using

bone-debian-9.5-lxqt-armhf-2018-10-07-4gb.img.xz

on a freshly formatted (whether it needed to be formatted or not, I wanted
to clear out a Raspberry-Pi installer that was on it first) I ran Etcher
and wrote to a 16GB SanDisk card.

I did have to kill the Acronis Active Protection process -- stupid
software kills any attempt to overwrite the MBR region of a "disk", and
doesn't seem to have any controls to exclude SD cards.

Once Etcher completes, Windows can not read the SD card, and would say
it needs to be formatted -- just EJECT the card. Ubuntu might complain if
it is expecting to see a FAT file system (it appears the new image creates
ext4 filesystem).

Put the newly written SD card into my BBB and booted. It took a while,
but eventually the "BeagleBone Getting Started" virtual drive appeared
(while I have a CAT-5 cable connecting the BBB to my router, I was powering
it from a USB cable -- so both USB and Ethernet are active).

Used PuTTY to SSH into the BBB (using the router assigned IP. not the
USB IP).

Then followed the sequence at
https://www.element14.com/community/community/designcenter/single-board-computers/next-gen_beaglebone/blog/2017/07/17/extending-micro-sd-card-space-for-beaglebone-black-use-windows-users
to resize the SD card partition to take up the entire card. Note: rather
than the "su - root", just use "sudo su" to get into root account; there is
no root password on modern images so one can't use the bare "su ... "
syntax. Also, once root, you do NOT need to preface the subsequent resizing
commands with "sudo".

The ext4 did trigger another step as the fdisk asked me if I wanted to
clear that setting -- I answered N; if new images are ext4 I wasn't going
to downgrade to ext3. "partprobe" also gave me a few error messages, but
they might have been warnings, as the resize appeared to complete and after
a reboot I got...

debian@beaglebone:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev 215M 0 215M 0% /dev
tmpfs 49M 6.0M 43M 13% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p1 15G 2.9G 12G 21% / <<<<<<< lots of free space
tmpfs 242M 0 242M 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 242M 0 242M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 49M 0 49M 0% /run/user/1000
debian@beaglebone:~$

z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 27, 2019, 5:41:09 PM6/27/19
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Thank you very much for your answer! I tried to connect to BBB via putty and SSH,before. now can you tell me about connection to BBB via any other way with using uSD? how can i do that? now, i write os image on uSD such as you said and seems it did successful, but i gave same error "you need to format ...", now i want to eject it and plug it on BBB and connect to board via other way, if it is possible. tell me about it, please.

z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 27, 2019, 5:41:12 PM6/27/19
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after written os image on uSD, and gave error "you need to format ..." and plug it on board, i tried to BBB with HDMI cable and monitor, but didn't show any thing!


On Thursday, June 27, 2019 at 11:30:22 PM UTC+4:30, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:

Dennis Lee Bieber

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Jun 27, 2019, 10:00:37 PM6/27/19
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On Thu, 27 Jun 2019 14:24:10 -0700 (PDT),
z.mome...@gmail.com declaimed the
following:

>Thank you very much for your answer! I tried to connect to BBB via putty
>and SSH,before. now can you tell me about connection to BBB via any other
>way with using uSD? how can i do that? now, i write os image on uSD such as
>you said and seems it did successful, but i gave same error "you need to
>format ...", now i want to eject it and plug it on BBB and connect to board
>via other way, if it is possible. tell me about it, please.
>

You connect to the BBB the same way -- the only difference is if the
board boots using the image in the eMMC or boots using the image on the SD
card. Recent cards (those with eMMC flashed in the last three years or so)
should automatically boot from the SD card, otherwise you have to hold down
the boot select button /while/ plugging in the power cable.

z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 28, 2019, 12:29:31 PM6/28/19
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i tried but i'm faild again. i could write any os image for example rasbian on uSD successfully, but i couldn't write debian for BBB.

Graham Haddock

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Jun 28, 2019, 9:36:55 PM6/28/19
to BeagleBoard
Does Etcher install the image and verify without errors?

Did you try Dennis' suggestion to hold down the boot-select button while plugging in the USB/power cable?

--- Graham

==

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Dennis Lee Bieber

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Jun 28, 2019, 11:16:32 PM6/28/19
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On Fri, 28 Jun 2019 08:08:55 -0700 (PDT),
z.mome...@gmail.com declaimed the
following:

>i tried but i'm faild again. i could write any os image for example rasbian
>on uSD successfully, but i couldn't write debian for BBB.
>

Raspbian is a version of Debian customized for the RPi -- and shouldn't
work on a BBB. Putting pure Debian on an RPi is tricky, as one needs a
custom bootloader https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi Also -- RPi
(Raspbian) images are configured to be /copied/ into a /FAT/ formatted SD
card; when booted, they reconfigure the card with a small FAT boot
partition and install the rest of the operating system into an EXT4
partition they create that uses the rest of the card (I've just updated two
SD cards for Raspbian "Buster" [pre-release -- the RPi 4 needs Buster, but
Debian hasn't formally released it yet, so it is a "testing" archive]).

BBB Debian images do NOT GO ON FAT PARTITIONS. {Very old images DID
have a FAT partition, but that is now emulated} Etcher (or other) does a
low-level overwrite of the entire card, making it a Linux EXT# format and
that format is not understood by Windows... Once Etcher completes, the card
will NOT be recognizable by a Windows computer (and may not be recognized
by a Linux computer if that computer expects to find a FAT format on SD
cards). NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THE CARD AT THIS STAGE UNLESS ETCHER REPORTS
AN ERROR.

You say "couldn't write debian for BBB" but you never state any exact
error message. Did Etcher complete or did IT report a failure. IGNORE any
Windows message from trying to open/explore the SD card; once written by
Etcher is is not usable by Windows.

What does the BBB do after you install the SD card and reboot? What
does it do if you hold down the boot select button and /then/ connect the
power? What do the BBB LEDs do?

z.mome...@gmail.com

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Jun 29, 2019, 4:23:14 PM6/29/19
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Thank you very very very much for your answer and your help!!! I changed uSD file system to EXT4 and after that i tried to write debian os image on my uSD with Etcher and it did without error, after that, i plug uSD on BBB and i holded down S2 button and plug BBB to lap top with USB cable, after 2 minute beaglebone drive appeared and the notification "beaglebone getting started" was shown!! 

Dennis Lee Bieber

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Jun 29, 2019, 5:17:10 PM6/29/19
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On Sat, 29 Jun 2019 07:33:48 -0700 (PDT),
z.mome...@gmail.com declaimed the
following:

>Thank you very very very much for your answer and your help!!! I changed
>uSD file system to EXT4 and after that i tried to write debian os image on

Which should not have been needed -- Etcher does raw device I/O and
REPLACES whatever file system was on the SD card with whatever is in the
image file...

>my uSD with Etcher and it did without error, after that, i plug uSD on BBB

Did ETCHER produce the error... As we've said, after Etcher completes
it is the OS that may complain (Windows doesn't know anything about EXT#
file systems, and a Linux system might have been looking for FAT and
suddenly doesn't see it). THAT is not an error in writing the SD card --
only a misunderstanding of what you expected to see.
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