How to debug boot issues on ODROID-HC2

[g00d]

Hello all,

 

I am unsuccessful in setting up FDE (Full-Disk-Encryption) on an ODROID HC-2. This device has no display output and I have no clue if and how it's possible to debug the boot issue. The boot is done through the micro-SD card and I can mount the micro-SD card successfully on any other host for insight. Is there any known trick how to see what fails during the boot process? How can I do this?

[NicoD]

You need to use ssh to login to it, and then configure everything like that.
This video shows how to install headless(without hdmi).

I'm not sure, but I think OMV can do full disk encryption easily. For that you need a Debian (buster, bullseye) image and OMV can be installed with armbian-config.
Here how to install OMV. Search google for full disk encryption on OMV.

 

[g00d]

Hello Nico,

 

I appreciate the feedback but I'm really curious if you red my question at all

[NicoD]

47 minutes ago, g00d said:

I'm really curious if you red my question at all

Yes I did.
 

 

6 hours ago, g00d said:

This device has no display output and I have no clue if and how it's possible to debug the boot issue.

With ssh, or serial connection.
 

 

6 hours ago, g00d said:

The boot is done through the micro-SD card and I can mount the micro-SD card successfully on any other host for insight. Is there any known trick how to see what fails during the boot process? How can I do this?

By using ssh and connecting to it, or use a serial cable.
And if you want full disk encryption I think you can use OMV for that.

[g00d]

vor 27 Minuten schrieb NicoD:

With ssh, or serial connection.
 

By using ssh and connecting to it, or use a serial cable.

And if you want full disk encryption I think you can use OMV for that.

Hello Nico. The system is not booting, the NIC is not up, there is no IP (tried both DHCP and static IP address) so I cannot SSH into it. My thought was that I fail boot, then unmount the micro-SD card and mount it on another host and check the dmesg or syslog but I wasn't able to find any useful information in the log files under /var/log. I even don't know how to view and debug via serial console that's why I asked here can I debug somehow through serial console on the ODROID-HC2 and see what is going wrong during the boot process?

 

Thanks for the hint about OMV, but that is not what I aiming for.

[phelum]

9 hours ago, g00d said:

Hello Nico. The system is not booting, the NIC is not up,

Hi,

I think you need a serial cable connected to the UART0 port (try 115200 8N1).  This will show you the U-Boot output.  The U-Boot output should end with "Starting kernel ...".  If you see nothing after this then either the kernel isn't starting or its bootargs are specifying the wrong console for output.  The primary console in the bootargs should be "ttyS0,115200".

 

I hope this helps.  I don't know the board and are assuming it uses the standard Armbian boot script.

 

Cheers,

Steven

[Werner]

Perhaps increase boot verbosity like suggested in the documentation.

https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Fine-Tuning/#how-to-toggle-verbose-boot

[g00d]

@Steven: I have no clue how if the ODROID-HC2 has a serial port and how to connect to it. I searched the net and found this thread which leads to this USB UART module kit. Honestly said, I don't think this is the right way as I'd have to spend more money, just to be able to connect with serial port to the device. Maybe there's a more convenient way to achieve this?

 

@Werner: Thanks for the hint. I mounted the micro-SD card onto my notebook, then I touched the hidden file and also added the verbosity level 7 to the armbianEnv.txt inside the boot partition. Then I inserted the micro-SD back into the ODROID-HC2 and tried booting which will fail of course. Then I wait for 5mins, turn off the ODROID-HC2 and reinsert the micro-SD into the notebook. I mount the encrypted LUKS partition to /mnt and the unencrypted boot partition to /mnt/boot. When I look inside /mnt/var/log folder, there is absolutely no syslog, no daemon.log, no messages, no kern.log ... I guess this is an additional indicator that shows the system was not booting at all.

 

Is there any other way than serial debugging to find out what is causing the problem ?

[phelum]

9 hours ago, g00d said:

@Steven: I have no clue how if the ODROID-HC2 has a serial port and how to connect to it. I searched the net and found this thread which leads to this USB UART module kit. Honestly said, I don't think this is the right way as I'd have to spend more money, just to be able to connect with serial port to the device. Maybe there's a more convenient way to achieve this?

Granted it's not a very attractive suggestion.  It does involve purchasing a specialised device and then learning how to use it.  And it won't actually provide a solution, just some clues hopefully.  Can you download the software release again and try with a different uSD card ?  Or just try some other release to verify that the hardware is okay ?

 

Cheers,

Steven

[g00d]

hi Steven. The hardware IS ok. Tried many other micro SD cards which are proven to be good and we also tried the same procedure on a friends' ODROID-HC2. I can install and run all various images in the "normal" unencrypted state. But the full-encrypted setup does not boot.

[g00d]

want to add that I purchased and received the USB UART module kit. I am able to see what is happening while booting in u-boot. My issue is related not to hardware but to the setup/boot config. I have already posted that in the Full-Disk-Encryption thread. Thanks to all so far.