Big issue with Ubuntu 14

Discussion in 'UDOO QUAD' started by Gianugo Altieri, Feb 11, 2016.

  1. Gianugo Altieri

    Gianugo Altieri New Member

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    Dear All,
    when I feed my Udoo Quad's with Android, they start up normally. When I load Ubuntu 12, no problem whatsoever. But when I try Ubuntu 14, namely UDOObuntu_qdl_v2.0rc1.img, it's a disaster. Most of the time Udoo doesn't start at all. It shows the logo (but without the usual hardware info on top of page) and then it turns video off and freezes forever. Sometimes, on the contrary, system starts normally and works fine, but it's less than 10% of the times. By the way, the previous Beta version of the 14.04 worked perfectly, 100% boot success on all boards.
    I tried different Udoo Quad boards, different micro-sd memories, from slow 4GB up to fast 32GB, to no result. It's apparently random. This afternoon, for example, I loaded the system using a 4GB micro-sd. Since it didn't have enough space for my application, but provided a successful boot, I shut the system down, removed the micro-sd and stored it away to keep it as a reference working system. Then I repeated exactly the same image transfer procedure onto an 8GB, a 16GB and a 32GB micro-sd. None worked. All of them failed boot. So I put back the 4GB and now, guess, it doesn't work either!
    This issue is driving me crazy. I have been stuck this whole week. Please help!
    Gianugo
     
  2. Andrea Rovai

    Andrea Rovai Well-Known Member

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    My first suggestion is to follow the guide.
    The guide states clearly that you need 8GB Micro SD Card to boot. "Please consider that the micro SD card size must be at least 8GB"
    Check: http://udoo.org/docs/Getting_Started/Create_A_Bootable_MicroSD_card_for_UDOO.html
    This is to say that the board is NOT supposed to be used with a 4GB Micro SD Card.
    Moreover, how are you powering the board? Are you using a 12v 2A power supply?
    I suggest besides to follow the troubleshooting instructions here: http://udoo.org/docs/Troubleshooting/Why_My_UDOO_Wont_Boot.html
     
  3. Gianugo Altieri

    Gianugo Altieri New Member

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    Our power supply is a 12V 5A, but we also test with two 12V 2A of different manufacturers.
    Today, a new chapter of the saga. We flashed the system onto a 32GB micro-sd and it booted properly. We installed a lot of software and tested our own program. Everything worked flawlessly for more than an hour. Then we shut it down and boot it up again and again just to test if it was reliable enough. No problem whatsoever! We then decided to copy ("dd") the working micro-sd onto another similar 32GB piece. We tested the copy and it was perfect also, with all software already installed, working great! We put back the "master" on the original instrument and set it aside.
    An hour late a second similar instrument had been assembled by our technicians, using a UDOO quad and we put the copied micro-sd into it. It didn't boot. We tried the same on a stand-alone UDOO quad: nope, no boot. Then, knowing how naughty this thing can be, we reverted to the the first instrument, where we worked for hours, with its own micro-sd and to our dismal it stopped working either. From having 2 perfectly working micro-sd, now we are lost: none of the two is working on any UDOO board.
    Now we are stuck again.
    I tried to look into the "http://udoo.org/docs/Troubleshooting/Why_My_UDOO_Wont_Boot.html" page, where it explains how to do a usb debug, but link to relevant page "easy steps on our Docs" is not working and leads to a dead page.
    Please help!
     
  4. waltervl

    waltervl UDOOer

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  5. Gianugo Altieri

    Gianugo Altieri New Member

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    I have an update: by mapping the network I can "see" the supposedly dead system. I could even log in using ssh to user "udooer". Therefore it's not a matter of not loading system, but it's a matter of video output. My primary connection from UDOO is towards an HDMI tv set and I also test with an HDMI->VGA converter and a HiRes VGA monitor. When video works, both are fine. I used the VGA-converted video to setup system and both software and video appeared perfect. Now no video output works but system is up and running, so it's strange. I tested two different HDMI cables and I am about to buy a third with golden connections to see if it's the cable. Yet it's strange that the same cable, from time to time, either works perfectly or not at all.

    I have a question for UDOO software developers: have you changed anyhow video detection routines between Ubuntu 12 and 14? Because it seems that Ubuntu 12 could detect video much better. Unfortunately I can't use Ubuntu 12 because I need newer libraries.

    @Walter Today I will try that link, thanks Walter
     
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  6. his

    his New Member

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    A small electrostatic change in the cable makes my udoo screen crazy. After rebooting, it works. When i plug a keyboard or unplug, because of ESD, the screen is lost with random colors. Maybe same thing is happening in your board. The other reason, in my udoo, if i plug a fan, the udoo resets itself. I have also 5A 12V source but something wrong in the board.
     
  7. waltervl

    waltervl UDOOer

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  8. Gianugo Altieri

    Gianugo Altieri New Member

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    Thank you Walter, it was quite an interesting reading.

    All these information converge into demonstrating that video output for UDOO is a big hassle. I finally managed to solve the issue by using a Samsung T220HD TV as a monitor. This one was chosen after testing five different devices (branded LG, Haier, Samsung, Asus), and four different HDMI / HDTV cables. Some combinations never work, some others work every now and then (and it's the worst situation), and only the mentioned Samsung with (practically) all cables seems to work always.
    For the time being we will resort to this kind of Samsung screens but for the future we expect UDOO designers to provide a more reliable video output. Otherwise either output will be redirected over the Ethernet to an external PC or, more probably, we will abandon UDOO altogether, run a standard Arduino on the device and pilot everything via USB or Ethernet from an external PC.

    Thanks to all of you who helped and good luck!
     
  9. Andrea Rovai

    Andrea Rovai Well-Known Member

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    Hi @his,
    Code:
     I have also 5A 12V source but something wrong in the board.
    Hi @Gianugo Altieri,
    yes, the kernel has changed, some driver has changed, so we are still investigating the issue.
     

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