Wandboard not working

[Christopher Dzoba]

Hello,

I purchased a wandboard quad.  I loaded Ubuntu 11.04 on the SD, and it didn't boot.  I loaded yocto and didn't boot.  I purchased a null modem cable and a USB to serial adapter.  

I am not getting anything on the terminal after plugging in the null modem cable.  Is there anyone that would be willing to talk me through this?

Thanks,

Chris

[Christopher Dzoba]

I'm including a screenshot of my minicom session - perhaps someone can point out what I'm doing wrong.

[Christopher Dzoba]

I've also connected a mini USB adapter, removed the SD card, and powered it up and the device does not show up on my machine. 

I am beginning to believe I was shipped a bad board - can anyone confirm?

On Friday, August 2, 2013 9:39:12 PM UTC-7, Christopher Dzoba wrote:

[Christopher Dzoba]

And now in a last ditch attempt, I've tried the dev image and still nothing.

I'm getting something coming through the serial connection when I plug and unplug the power, but its just 00 on unplug and 00 on plug in.

Pretty sure the thing is screwed.

On Friday, August 2, 2013 9:39:12 PM UTC-7, Christopher Dzoba wrote:

[www.wandboard.org]

Hi,

A couple things that goes wrong with people often.

1. use the SD cardslot that is on the Wandboard module. NOT the SD cardslot on the connector board. The module SD card is covered by the heatsink and might be overseen on the Wandboard Quad.

2. Recreate your SD card. It might be that something went wrong on your side and your card is not operational.

3. Check your power adaptor. It often happens people use a too small or old adaptor. (you need 5V adaptor with 2A / 10Watt). Old adaptors tend to drop the voltage

(for example that old adaptor that you left in the wallsocket for 4 years might now only give you 3V )

4. Read the sticky post and do all items step by step and do not overrush.

Hope this helps.

[Christopher Dzoba]

Thanks for the reply.

1) Yep I'm certain I've got the SD card slot correct (I tried the other one any way just in case).

2)  I've recreated the SD card many many times, at least 6.

3)  As of today I've tried 4 different power adapters (all 5V 2A 10 watt)

4)  I've done the steps in the wiki numerous times.  

I've contacted Future Electronics and asked for a replacement.

[Wand Board]

HI,

Can you please connect your wandboard by USB OTG to your computer and after that apply power to the board. (no SD card inside). It will pop up as a Freescale device after some time.

Your messages all point to a wrong SD card image given that you get "00" on your serial output and not to a malfunctioning board.

It therefore can pinpoint to the following:

1. wrongly created SD cards. (do you follow the instructions in the userguide or online from other sources?)

2. SD card with "issues"

3. wrong image (do not use wandboard dual images with wandboard quad or other way around)

4. good quality power adaptor

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 7:22 AM, Christopher Dzoba <ch...@dzoba.com> wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

1) Yep I'm certain I've got the SD card slot correct (I tried the other one any way just in case).

2)  I've recreated the SD card many many times, at least 6.

3)  As of today I've tried 4 different power adapters.

4)  I've done the steps in the wiki numerous times.  

I've contacted Future Electronics and asked for a replacement.

On Saturday, August 3, 2013 5:58:46 PM UTC-7, www.wandboard.org wrote:

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[Christopher Dzoba]

Hi,

I already did that - nothing shows up on my computer.

I just did it again right now - nothing shows up on my computer.  I have tried this with both OSX and Ubuntu.

[Christopher Dzoba]

When I considered buying a wandboard I was attracted to the price.

I did not realize I would have to buy a power supply, an SD card - but I got over it and bought it any way.

However, I then had to buy a null modem cable.  Then I had to buy a serial to USB converter.  Then I bought extra power supplies because the thing doesn't even work.  Then I bought a micro USB cable.  Now, after having read that USB OTG is different than a standard USB cable I'm going to have to go buy that as well.  This has not been a good introduction to this product.  

I'll report back after I spend more on a USB OTG

On Sunday, August 4, 2013 8:31:38 PM UTC-7, www.wandboard.org wrote:

[Wand Board]

Hi,

We have no problem to help you. But in that case. Please respond to questions asked and provide details on your setup and what you connected to the board (which monitor, mouse/keyboard or what other peripherlas) so we can be constructive and get you moving forward.

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 2:17 PM, Christopher Dzoba <ch...@dzoba.com> wrote:

When I considered buying a wandboard I was attracted to the price.

I did not realize I would have to buy a power supply, an SD card - but I got over it and bought it any way.

However, I then had to buy a null modem cable.  Then I had to buy a serial to USB converter.  Then I bought extra power supplies because the thing doesn't even work.  Then I bought a micro USB cable.  Now, after having read that USB OTG is different than a standard USB cable I'm going to have to go buy that as well.

Given this difficulty of getting this thing running - I can advise others that I cannot imagine this board being worth it in the long run.  If I intended to make money off it, or I did this as my day job then sure - however I've wasted an entire weekend on this with nothing to show for it except a broken board.

On Sunday, August 4, 2013 8:31:38 PM UTC-7, www.wandboard.org wrote:

[Christopher Dzoba]

The amount of money and time I've wasted on this is ridiculous .  I bought the USB OTG cable you told me to.  I also had to buy another cable so I could connect it to my computer.  

GUESS WHAT?  Still doesn't work.  

Yes I'm sure the SD card is not in the board.  Yes I'm sure its the right power adapter.  Yes I bought the null modem cable and bought the USB to serial connection.  Yes I remade the SD card about 10 different times.

As I said:  The. Board. Is. Broken.  

[Mark Schiech Jr]

Chris, apparently you didn't read the last statement about providing details of your setup. Give details such as the model/part number on the different accessories. What are the details on the power adapter, TV/Monitor, keyboard/mouse, USB-Serial adapter and whatever else you're using on the board. Some USB-Serial adapters don't have all the signals the wandboard uses ran to the serial end. Also, this board is for hardware/software developers and you don't sound like one. You see something cheap, money wise, and buy it without knowing what it is or what it does and expect it to work right away. The next time you buy something, think it through and do the research on what it is and what it does.

On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 10:45 PM, Christopher Dzoba <ch...@dzoba.com> wrote:

This is ridiculous.  I bought the USB OTG cable you told me to.  I also had to buy another cable so I could connect it to my computer.  

GUESS WHAT?  Still doesn't work.  

Yes I'm sure the SD card is not in the board.  Yes I'm sure its the right power adapter.  Yes I bought the null modem cable and bought the USB to serial connection.  Yes I remade the SD card about 10 different times.

As I said:  The. Board. Is. Broken.

[Christopher Dzoba]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your reply.  You are correct, I neglected to include the full details of my setup in the previous reply.  Here, let me provide them to you and I'll look forward to your reply.  For clarification, I am a software developer.  It seems odd to have to say this, but, since you bring it up: I have a master's degree in computer science and while I did choose the Wandboard because it was inexpensive, I did not expect it to be cheap.  For further clarification, I intended to use the Wandboard as part of a distributed computing system that I have already built, and was looking for an inexpensive way to easily boost the computing power of my system.

The Display: I have attempted using the Wandboard on three different displays.  The first of which is a Samsung LN40C650 using an HDMI cable.  The second of which was a television at my friend's house (he has a masters in Electrical Engineering), though I don't know the model information off hand.  The third was a monitor, a Dell.  Granted, with this third option I did use an HDMI to DVI converter, which (after having read the forums) I understand thats something the Wandboard can have difficulties with.

The Power Adapter: The power adapter I used is one recommended to me by the staff at Future Electronics.  Somewhat surprisingly, they recommended a competitor's power supply because Future Electronics was currently out of stock.  The power adapter is Digikey part number T1088-P5P-ND.  Additionally, I went to a local computer supply store and purchased an (admittedly, used) power supply, spec'd at 5V 2Amp.

The Keyboard: My intentions for using the Wandboard were to use it without a keyboard and SSH into it when I wished to manage it.  My initial attempts using the Wandboard were without no keyboard - should the Wandboard be able to boot without a keyboard attached?  In an attempt to make my configuration match exactly what is mentioned in the Wandboard documentation, I did attach a keyboard.  It was a black Dell keyboard without shortcut keys of any variety.

The Mouse: Again, as with the keyboard, my initial attempts to use the Wandboard were without mouse - I merely wanted to get it running.  In the end I added a cheap black dell mouse - it was an optical mouse.

The USB Serial Adapter And Null Modem Cable: The serial adapter I used is from Amazon, the, TRENDnet USB to RS-232 Serial Converter TU-S9 (White).  The cable I used is Amazon's Tripp Lite 6ft Null Modem Gold Cable DB9F/F (P450-006).  Additionally, I wondered if the cable was too long for the Wandboard to handle and purchased a shorter one, the details of which I don't have on me at the moment.

The USB OTG Cable : I used Amazon's Afunta Android Tablet Cable Adapter Connector Set-bend Angle Micro USB OTG Cable; Bend Angle Mini USB OTG Cable; Straight Angle Micro OTG Cable; Straight Angle Mini OTG Cable.  Though the package did some with many cables, I selected the mini USB OTG cable and used that one.  I also used a double male ended usb cable to connect the USB OTG cable to my computer - unfortunately I bought this at a local computer shop and (brand new) and can't supply the part number for you at present.

What is interesting to me is there has been no mention of the lights on the board.  When I plug the board in, I see one bright green light immediately come on, and stay on.  The red light from the optical audio port also comes on and stays on.  Are both of those behaviors expected?

Lastly, Mark, I'm not sure why you assume I did not think through what the Wandboard is and what it does.  I am well aware of the advertised capabilities of the Wandboard.  I also served 3 years on the steering committee of the local Linux Users Group - I am familiar with the lack of polish that these projects often have.  I'll admit that I have not had experience with running an OS on ARM before, and I was curious what sort of limitations I'd run into with certain software not being able to run.  What I wasn't expecting, however, was not being able to run any software on the device - and continually being told to go out and purchase more and more things in order to debug what should be a simple process (after all, your documentation contains only 2 steps for Linux users).  Additionally, the assumption that I've been the one causing the problem ( I was advised "do not use wandboard dual images with wandboard quad or other way around", are you kidding me?) has been quite frustrating.

I hope that this information is what you were looking for and I am legitimately looking forward to your response.

[nizamov...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 9:39:47 PM UTC+2, Christopher Dzoba wrote:

What is interesting to me is there has been no mention of the lights on the board.  When I plug the board in, I see one bright green light immediately come on, and stay on.  The red light from the optical audio port also comes on and stays on.  Are both of those behaviors expected?

There are 2 leds in wandboard (on the module and the mainboard), according to schematics both connected to power supply, so they just indicate that the board is powered. spdif connector has also one led, and as long as the linux kernel is booting it shuts down. So it really can serve as an indicator of the correct functioning of the system.    

A few days ago there was a message here claiming that one of the power coils is slightly misaligned. I think that there are some assembly problems.

Best regards,

[jth...@gmail.com]

Hello Christopher,

Yes, you should be able to create a default bootable image by simply dd'ing the relevant reference image.  If dd completed successfully when writing the uSD and you were able to verify the rootfs from your host everything should be good to go.  Given you have hooked up to two HDMI televisions/monitors and got absolutely nothing on the display I'd agree the board is likely bad.  You mentioned earlier you had contacted Future for a replacement.  Is that in process?

BTW, my WBQUAD runs with both the green power LED and the red SPDIF LED illuminated.  LEDs also flicker on the ethernet port when attached to a live network.

I received my WBQUAD (from Future) the first week they were available.  My challenge was no display on a DVI monitor when using an HDMI<->DVI cable.  I took my board home, plugged it into a TV/monitor with HDMI inputs.  First try, nothing.  I hit the reset button and, Voila!, video.  After that the DVI challenge remained and, with the latest 3.11 RC4 kernel, native display resolution finally arrived (just yesterday for me). 

For development purposes, if you haven't set up your uSD card using the method described on Robert Nelson's "Linux on ARM" site I recommend you do.  It is much easier to make modifications and verify things are where they're supposed to be.  The URL is http://www.eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/Wandboard

I've been doing embedded development for decades and my workstation/workspace reflects it.  There is ready access to good old RS-232 DB-9 serial ports and an old-fashioned parallel port along with the stack of assorted cables, gender benders, null modem and breakout box wiring.  The investment in materials is that, an investment.  Getting started is always expensive.  You will be better prepared the next time.

wandboard.org folks - you listening?  A suggestion - assign a static IP address to the wired interface in the default images so one can ssh into the system.  That way one can tell whether the board booted or not without needing the serial cable and null modem and without need for video output. 

All the best,   Joe

[Mark Schiech Jr]

Chris, you say you have a master's degree in computer science? I always thought when dealing with computers that providing details as a must. With that said, why couldn't you provide the details of your setup from the beginning? When I said about doing research into something, I didn't mean just reading the comparison chart with the specs of the different boards. I meant reading the forums, because if you did read the forums you would've found out what would've been needed for debugging the board. Also, you forgot some info about a main item, the SD card. On August 4th Wandboard informed you of this:

Your messages all point to a wrong SD card image given that you get "00" on your serial output and not to a malfunctioning board.

Did you try using an ethernet connection to at least check the status lights? Did you try using a different SD card?

[John Weber]

On 8/7/13 5:28 PM, jth...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hello Christopher,
>
> Yes, you should be able to create a default bootable image by simply dd'ing
> the relevant reference image. If dd completed successfully when writing the
> uSD and you were able to verify the rootfs from your host everything should be
> good to go. Given you have hooked up to two HDMI televisions/monitors and got
> absolutely nothing on the display I'd agree the board is likely bad. You
> mentioned earlier you had contacted Future for a replacement. Is that in process?

I think there is one variable missing here and that is the SD card. It is
difficult to confirm that the SD card is correct unless you DD back the image
from the card (getting exactly the right number of bytes) and then comparing it
to the original image file. U-boot must be in the right place on the card and
it sits outside any partitions, so you can't confirm that it is good by mounting
and examining the rfs or boot partitions.

A few gotchas that I've run into: Make sure that the blocksize with DD is set
to a larger value (like 1M). I've had problems when I've left blocksize unset.
And make damn sure that Linux is not mounting the SD card as well when you are
trying to write to it with dd.

Also, I've had issues with Prolific-based USB-serial (PL2303) converters on both
Linux and Windows hosts. I've had no issues at all with FTDI-based ones, but
those are harder to find these days.

~snip~

> wandboard.org folks - you listening? A suggestion - assign a static IP
> address to the wired interface in the default images so one can ssh into the
> system. That way one can tell whether the board booted or not without needing
> the serial cable and null modem and without need for video output.

Joe - This would require that you set up your local network to conform to
whatever pre-assigned IP subnet Wandboard.org would hypothetically program into
the uboot environment, correct? In my opinion, serial ports are WAY easier to
use than to reconfigure internet routers.

[iafg]

I can appreciate that you are frustrated. It's not that hard to get tyre board up and running.

The very basic first step is to get serial output using a correctly programmed sdcard, with a known good reference image
Nothing else needs to be connected.
Either you have a problem with the sdcard, the programming of the sdcard, or the serial connection.

Since you did get a '00' on the serial ,it tends to o point to sdcard or programming the sdcard.

Can you describe in detail how you are programming it. Maybe try a different method - like the windows programming program? (sorry can't recall the name right now, and I'm on my phone)

Perhaps you could escribe

[ARM Fan]

I work a lot with micro controllers and therefore also serial ports. Please try finding an adapter with FTDI chipset. This is no advertisment, but real experience. My university, too, only uses them. I think you even can get one on Amazon.

To sd card image writing: I had huge problems with linux and dd because of auto mounting under ubuntu. Some times dd simply seemed to hang nearly at the end. But it worked fine with the windows tool. You find it in the official ubuntu image.

[John Weber]

On 8/8/13 8:33 AM, ARM Fan wrote:
> I work a lot with micro controllers and therefore also serial ports. Please
> try finding an adapter with FTDI chipset. This is no advertisment, but real
> experience. My university, too, only uses them. I think you even can get one
> on Amazon.

+1. However, the problems I've had with Prolific PL2303-based USB-serial
converters exhibit as missed characters, locked-up terminals, etc. Not a
complete failure to communicate.

Searching Amazon for "FTDI" will usually yield some good results.

>
> To sd card image writing: I had huge problems with linux and dd because of
> auto mounting under ubuntu. Some times dd simply seemed to hang nearly at the
> end. But it worked fine with the windows tool. You find it in the official
> ubuntu image.

sudo umount /dev/sd<your sd card letter>* is quick and dirty but works great.

[jth...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 6:36:23 PM UTC-7, John Weber wrote:

~snip~
> wandboard.org folks - you listening?  A suggestion - assign a static IP
> address to the wired interface in the default images so one can ssh into the
> system.  That way one can tell whether the board booted or not without needing
> the serial cable and null modem and without need for video output.
Joe - This would require that you set up your local network to conform to
whatever pre-assigned IP subnet Wandboard.org would hypothetically program into
the uboot environment, correct?  In my opinion, serial ports are WAY easier to
use than to reconfigure internet routers.

Hi John,

Yes, serial ports are easier when you have them and the necessary cabling/adapters.  Don't know about you but I keep several small ethernet switches (even an old hub for packet sniffing too) readily available for all kinds of troubleshooting.  Why?  Because almost every dev host - laptop, desktop or whatever - and target has an RJ-45 ethernet port available.  Disconnect your dev host from the mother network, plug the target and dev host into the little switch, configure your dev host IP to something valid on the "debug network" and you can see what's going on - IFF (that's the mathematical "if and only if") the target has a known IP. 

The only point I was trying to make is there are ways to troubleshoot startup problems without additional cabling or converters if default images are set up to do so.

Best,   Joe

 

[Christopher Dzoba]

This is the SD card I'm using:

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-MicroSDHC-Memory-Adapter-SDSDQU-032G-AFFP-A/dp/B009QZH7BU

[Mark Schiech Jr]

Did you try using another SD card to rule out the possibility of this card being defective? Did you read the reviews on the product page you provided? Here's a review that may apply to you:

Worked for 2 months - then dead, August 13, 2013

By 

Stephen Rawlins "EnglandGreen" (Houston, Texas USA)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SanDisk Ultra 32 GB MicroSDHC C10/UHS1 Memory Card with Adapter (SDSDQU-032G-AFFP-A) (Personal Computers)

I had this Sandisk 32Gb Class 10 micro SDHC card in a Pittasoft Blackvue DR500GW-HD in-car camera DVR. It worked like a champ for 2 months and then died with the dreaded "Please format the SD card" errors. Stuck it in my Mac Mini (2011) and it is unrecognizable. Same with Windows PC. Even the low level HP SD card formatter cannot reformat it. So in the garbage it goes. I have 2 more of these cards in my Garmin GPS devices and they continue to work (so far) but they are not being written to continually every day like the Blackvue. So a word of advice; if you need to write to these cards often - buy something else.

And another, this is the 64GB version card with heat issues:

Warning, read this!, September 2, 2012

By 

Kelly "Kelly"

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SanDisk Ultra 64 GB microSDXC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card 30MB/s with Adapter SDSDQUA-064G-U46A (Personal Computers)

If your card gets hot enough to be painful, it is defective and you need to contact SanDisk!

From my experience, the larger micro SDs run hot on format and writing, but not to the pain threshold!

I purchased one of these cards to use in a camera and Android tablet. Great read speed but write speed was okay. Used card for about two weeks and then all my files disappeared! Tried to format the card and three different computers with XP, Windows, and Linux couldn't format it. The camera and tablet couldn't format it. I RMA'd it and got another because SanDisk is a good brand. I did notice that when formatting or writing the card it got hot, very hot.

Second card didn't last 24 hours and had the exact same symptoms as the first card. Write a file or format it resulted in the card getting hot enough to reach the pain threshold. I called up SanDisk and while explaining this was the second card I'd received with the exact same symptoms, when I mentioned it getting hot, they immediately issued me an RMA. They said they were told to issue an RMA the moment they heard a card ran hot.

Smaller SanDisk micro SD's or regular SD's I have or use don't do this. I think SanDisk has an issue with this card.

The last 4 digits of the part number refer to the date code and origin of the card. Both cards had different date and origin codes.

[Christopher Dzoba]

I just purchased it, and I am able to write to it from my computer (though, I am sure I don't have it mounted when I run the dd command).  Since I just purchased it and I am able to write to it from my computer, I think its highly unlikely its a problem with the card and since I'm trying to minimize costs, I have not tried another SD card (doesn't seem to be a reason to).

I've been in touch with Future Electronics to get a replacement Wandboard sent out but the process is going very slow.

[Mark Schiech Jr]

It doesn't matter if you just bought the card or owned it for several years, I have a 32 GB uSD card and after just a few days of barely using it I had problems and it's a name brand. This is the last time I ask these questions, did you try using an ethernet connection to check the status lights, and, have you tried another SD card? 

On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 3:18 AM, Christopher Dzoba <ch...@dzoba.com> wrote:

I just purchased it, and I am able to write to it from my computer (though, I am sure I don't have it mounted when I run the dd command).

I've been in touch with Future Electronics to get a replacement Wandboard sent out but the process is going very slow.

[Joshua Kurland]

Hi Mark, this is slightly off topic, but what kind of problems have you experienced on your faulty SD card?  I purchased an 8gb class 10 from SanDisk.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I've been sticking with my older kingston class 4 card most of the time.

[Mark Schiech Jr]

I have several uSD cards, Kingston 8GB, 16GB and 32GB; SanDisk 8GB and 16GB, all class 4 or 6. SanDisk 32GB class 10. Also several 2GB and 4GB generics class unknown. The problems I had were with the Kingston 32GB, after copying media to it and unmounting it then remounting it a couple days later the filesystem was so corrupt folders were seen as files and nothing could be accessed. I tried running scandisk and several linux based repair programs with no success and was forced to reformat. I haven't checked the card since. The cards I use on the wandboard have been working fine.

[Mark Schiech Jr]

I also own a couple Lexar 1GB uSD cards.

[Seth Baker]

I had the same problem. I tried multiple OS images, SD cards, power supplies (met 5V 2a requirement) and HDMI displays, and serial console. Never got any output, so I returned it, I couldn't say that it was pain free, I had to convince guys over at Mouser that I wasn't doing something stupid. It took 2 weeks to get a refund. I try another one from Digi-Key soon.

[Christopher Dzoba]

Hi Mark,

Here is a photo of the lights on the board.  Amber on the left, green on the right.

http://i.imgur.com/CBQrGly.jpg

No I have not tried another SD card.  Unfortunately my budget for this project has already been blown with the other debugging tools and I can't afford an SD card now.  The only information I can provide is that the card works just fine on desktop machines.

I think it would be good if Wandboard recommended which items to buy, that have been successful.  Having never purchased a null modem cable or serial to USB adapter before, I had no idea about the things some people are bringing up.  Same thing with USB OTG cable.   Also, it sounds like you have a preferred microSD card - I'd have been more comfortable buying one that was known to work well.  I think the list would make the product more friendly to newcomers. (The Parallella team actually sells a kit: http://shop.adapteva.com/collections/parallella/products/parallella-accessory-bundle )

Also, Mark, I'd be happy to debug this with you over the phone.  Or if you want to send me an SD card that you're certain works, we could try that too.

Are you absolutely certain that the wandboard-quad-ubuntu-12.04-20130708.zip on the http://www.wandboard.org/index.php/downloads page works?  I've seen a lot of people having issues with the quads, and a lot of people offering new images they made.

[nizamov...@gmail.com]

Am Dienstag, 20. August 2013 08:08:15 UTC+2 schrieb Christopher Dzoba:

Are you absolutely certain that the wandboard-quad-ubuntu-12.04-20130708.zip on the http://www.wandboard.org/index.php/downloads page works?  I've seen a lot of people having issues with the quads, and a lot of people offering new images they made.

I can assure that this image worked on my wb/quad. Can not say very much about it because shortly after that I moved to building the Robert Nelson's kernel with ubuntu 13.04. But sometimes WB do not start without pressing reset button - seems that reset on power circuit has too short start-up time. If this is the case then it strongly depends on the power supply. It happens rarely that's why I did not investigated it.

Best regards,

[Wand Board]

The LED's on connector board and module indicate you provide at least the correct voltage to the board.

The LED's on the LAN connector and SPDIF indicate that your board is not burnt and broken and you use a 10/100Mbps hub (not gigabit) given that both LED's on the LAN connector are lit up.

This indicates that you either have the following. (back to square one).

1. not compatible or broken SD card.

2. faulty created SD card

3. incompatible display (this can be checked if you have a NULL modem cable and can provide logfile).

All points that you have a good board but a bad SD card or peripheral.

--

[nizamov...@gmail.com]

Am Mittwoch, 14. August 2013 07:07:45 UTC+2 schrieb Christopher Dzoba:

This is the SD card I'm using:

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-MicroSDHC-Memory-Adapter-SDSDQU-032G-AFFP-A/dp/B009QZH7BU

This is not a regular microsd card, this is UHS - note that "I" after  HC. Look here for explanations:
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/electronics/detail-page/c26-B007WTAJTO-faq-uhs-vs-u1.pdf

It is clearly stated that these cards are backward compatible with SDXC, but it is not clear if they are also compatible with SDHC. In any case - this is not a regular microsd card and it worth trying another card, 8gb suffices in most cases.

Best regards,

[Scott Ellis]

I use those same Sandisk Ultra HCI cards with Wandboards (Gumstix, Beaglebones) all the time.
They are the fastest commercial off-the-shelf cards I've found.

I've only tried 8 and 16GB versions.

Just another data point.

[Joshua Kurland]

I can also confirm that the HC1 card works amazingly well with the wandboard dual and quad.  A new SD card is what, $10?  That's not even enough for lunch where I am.

However, I have also had some problems with the official Ubuntu image for the quad.  It hangs near the end of the boot process.  It was downloaded within the past week, Md5 check was good.  I don't recall, have you tried any other images?  The yocto wandboard worked fine on my quad.  I you'd like I can send you a copy of the custom image I've been building.  It doesn't have much, but it does display terminal on the screen and can play video.

--Josh

[Joshua Kurland]

Hey I've got a dumb question.  Are you reformatting your card after each new image?  I have no clue if that is necessary, but I ALWAYS make sure to do it, just in case.

[Scott Ellis]

I do reformat the cards whenever I install new images. Both the FAT and the EXT3
partitions. It's a pretty quick process with those Sandisk Ultra cards.

I generally don't repartition SD cards except the first time or if I was using the
card with another type of board with a different partitioning layout.

I'm using Yocto, but I'm not using the *.sdcard single binary image format.

I have script(s) that handle formatting the 2 partitions, dd'ing u-boot, copying the
kernel and extracting the rootfs tar.xz as separate steps. It's pretty painless.

I do it this way so I get the full SD card space without any repartitioning afterwards
regardless of the SD card size I'm using.

It's just one way to do it.

[Joshua Kurland]

Hey Scott, 

This should probably be on a separate post, but...do you think you could share that script?  I always use the .sdcard and resize afterwards, which is a true pain.  I am still learning/experimenting with Yocto.

Thanks,

Josh

[Christopher Dzoba]

Hi there www.wandboard.org,

1.  The SD card works when connected to my computer.  Other commenters say they use that brand of SD card without issue.  Do you still think it could be a faulty SD card?

2.  I have followed the card creation instructions exactly several times, with different images.  I have successfully created a card for my Raspberry Pi in a similar fashion.  Perhaps your instructions are wrong or incomplete?

3.  I have tried this on two displays.  I have also used the null modem cable.  I see no output other than the "." that comes back on power connect and disconnect (reset as well).  Could it be that the Wandboard is simply broken?

Thanks Scott for your additional data point!

Hey Joshua, I have not been explicitly formatting the SD card upon trying new images.  I don't think that would be it, but, seeing as it doesn't cost any money, I have no problem trying it!

Its also less about the additional $10, than about the ~$150 extra dollars in unplanned expenses that this board has cost me (especially when I really don't think its a problem with the SD card).