Helios4 Support

gprovost · December 7, 2018

@Zykr The fact that you reach "Uncompressing Linux... done, booting kernel" means that u-boot found the boot.src on your boot device (assuming microSD Card) and loaded correctly the kernel, initramfs and the device tree file. So something might be wrong with the kernel rather than u-boot.

Could you copy your the boot output here.

Do you remember what was your kernel version before upgrade ?

Have you try a full port cycle ?

Tido · December 7, 2018

I might be wrong, but just lately on my tinker board, after an update it pointed to the 'wrong' kernel - so it was unable to boot ! By just changing the pointer it worked again.

Zykr · December 7, 2018

I had the default kernel in the image on the wiki, should have been 4.14.74-mvebu and the upgrade was from linux-4.4.153-mvebu/linux-image-mvebu_5.60_armhf.deb

I'm not sure how to see what the current pointer is nor how to set it from uboot.

Boot output:

Reveal hidden contents

Printenv:

Reveal hidden contents

ls of /boot on mmc:

Reveal hidden contents

gprovost · December 8, 2018

@Zykr It is very strange and not normal that the upgrade installed a 4.4.y instead of a 4.14.y kernel.

Did you do apt-get upgrade or did you manually choose the linux-image package ?

So it could be something similar that what pointed out Tido above.

The ext4ls mmc 0:1 /boot/ command doesn't show the symlink target unfortunately. But based on the load sizes in your uboot log, u-boot is loading the initramfs (uIinitrd) ver 4.14.83 and loading kernel (zImage) ver 4.4.153 which is completely wrong and explain why the boot fails.

The easiest would be to mount the microSD Card on your personal computer and check / fix that the following symlinks in /boot are as follow:

dtb -> dtb-4.14.83-mvebu

uInitrd -> uInitrd-4.14.83-mvebu

zImage -> vmlinuz-4.14.83-mvebu

@Igor Is it an issue you experienced before ?

gprovost · December 8, 2018

@Zykr to complement what I wrote before. You could use following u-boot commands to boot manually on the correct kernel. Then once booted as wrote above, you should fix the wrong symlink in /boot ;-)

setenv bootargs "console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait rootfstype=ext4 ubootdev=mmc scandelay loglevel=1"

load mmc 0:1 ${fdt_addr} /boot/dtb-4.14.83-mvebu/${fdtfile}
load mmc 0:1 ${ramdisk_addr_r} /boot/initrd.img-4.14.83-mvebu
load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/vmlinuz-4.14.83-mvebu

setenv fdt_high 0xffffffff
setenv initrd_high 0xffffffff

bootz ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r} ${fdt_addr}

Zykr · December 8, 2018

it was a normal apt-upgrade that provided the link, though I did download it with wget instead of apt since apt wasn't working for some reason(kept stalling out, less than x data in last 120 seconds).

However, I just put it in the apt cache folder and it found it. I supposed it could have gotten corrupted at some point but I'm not sure how.

trying the options in your second post sadly gives me only: "Ramdisk image is corrupt or invalid"

I also tried the same thing with the "4.4.153-mvebu" kernel, but got the same result.

Something must have gotten really screwed up somewhere, but I have no idea what or how.

I'm not at my linux laptop at the moment, so I'll have to try checking the symlinks with ls later.

Thank you very much for your help so far. Maybe I just need to reinstall and then blacklist that upgrade or pin the kernel version.

gprovost · December 9, 2018

@Zykr you could also replace the content /boot with the one you extract from an image. Under linux you can mount .img file with a loop device and browse its content.

aprayoga · December 9, 2018

Hi @Zykr, I just wanted to add on top of @gprovost instruction

On 12/8/2018 at 8:36 AM, gprovost said:
@Zykr to complement what I wrote before. You could use following u-boot commands to boot manually on the correct kernel. Then once booted as wrote above, you should fix the wrong symlink in /boot ;-)
setenv bootargs "console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait rootfstype=ext4 ubootdev=mmc scandelay loglevel=1"

load mmc 0:1 ${fdt_addr} /boot/dtb-4.14.83-mvebu/${fdtfile}
load mmc 0:1 ${ramdisk_addr_r} /boot/initrd.img-4.14.83-mvebu
load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/vmlinuz-4.14.83-mvebu

setenv fdt_high 0xffffffff
setenv initrd_high 0xffffffff

bootz ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r} ${fdt_addr}
Expand

Replace the loglevel in the bootargs with "ignore_loglevel earlyprintk earlycon" so the kernel can output debug message as earliest as possible.

And since you encountered problem with the ramdisk, maybe just skip it for now

Below is the modified command

setenv bootargs "console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait rootfstype=ext4 ubootdev=mmc scandelay ignore_loglevel earlyprintk earlycon"

load mmc 0:1 ${fdt_addr} /boot/dtb-4.14.83-mvebu/${fdtfile}
load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/vmlinuz-4.14.83-mvebu

setenv fdt_high 0xffffffff
setenv initrd_high 0xffffffff

bootz ${kernel_addr_r} - ${fdt_addr}

lanefu · December 28, 2018

just an anecdote. I received my Helios4 (from second production run) on Christmas eve.. what a present!

Anyway I've got it up and running with just the stable armbian stretch image with OMV running raid 5 on 3x3TB enterprise drives and the thing is just a work of art. I wish we'd get more SBCs on the market like this thing... not everyone needs a TV box.

gprovost · December 28, 2018

@lanefu Thanks for the anecdote, always nice to hear some feedback from user.

Would be great if you can post a picture of your setup on our FB page or/and our Twitter. Cheers.

hatschi1000 · December 28, 2018

Talking about anecdotes: Some of you might remember the issue of booting my helios4 with 2 HGST Deskstar HDDs I had approx. half a year ago (https://forum.armbian.com/topic/6033-helios4-support/?do=findComment&comment=57981).

After we weren't able to find a solution on why the specific problem appeared here on the forum, I got in contact with @gprovost directly and after some back and forth messaging he kindly asked for the defective board to be sent back to Singapore. Soon after I received a fixed board back with which the problem did not appear anymore.

Right now I'm still tinkering around my setup (2x2TB HDD in btrfs-RAID1 underneath OMV4 with (at some point at least) an automated offsite backup using btrfs-snapshots), without having had any significant problems - a big thumbs up to @gprovost and the entire helios team for the straightforward communication and flawless exchange of the faulty carrier board.

gprovost · December 28, 2018

@hatschi1000 Happy to hear all going smoothly.

GeckoX · December 29, 2018

Hi,

I don't know if someone else had the issue but I cannot connect to my Helios 4 through the graphic interface of MacOS even though I can connect using the terminal command. When I click on Finder, on the left I can see 'Network' then 'Helios 4' then I click on 'Connect as'. I enter my username and password and then, it returns: "Connection failed". I contacted Apple Support but were unable to help me. They said it is probably a compatibility problem but I find it weird that I can see it. I tried to check the firewall but it was already disabled.

I have no issue to reach it using Linux Mint (using terminal or graphic interface).

Is there any work around?

Thank you.

GeckoX · December 31, 2018

Finally, after tinkering for quite a while, I found the solution.

Initially, I configured RAID using mdadm and then tried to configure the disks and file sharing with Open Media Vault.

Funnily, OMV could see my RAID config but didn't allow me to perform any action on it. I decided to brute force it, went to mdadm to reset everything then connected to OMV and performed the configuration. From there, I had to Setup the file sharing (enable Apple filing) and then Tadaaa!!! my Mac allowed me to connect.

I should have had started with OMV but I am a beginner on NAS.

Hope it will be helpful for someone.

Happy New Year everybody!

Edited December 31, 2018 by GeckoX

Koen · December 31, 2018

Finally my purchase arrived. I was so excited to check it out, but no microSD in the box. I thought i had read something about a sandisk UHS-I 16Gb card being in the bundle, @gprovost ?

thermalz · January 1, 2019

Hi all,

received my kit last week and put it together today.

I seem to be having issues with one of the fans. Only one will spin up, the other connected to J17 does not rotate. It's specific to J17 as swapping the fans around reverses the fan which doesn't spin.

I unplugged J17 connector and plugged it back in, the fan spun up for around 3 seconds then stopped, so I currently have a system with only 1 fan functioning.

Does anyone have any hints?

aprayoga · January 2, 2019

On 1/1/2019 at 6:42 PM, thermalz said:

Hi all,

received my kit last week and put it together today.

I seem to be having issues with one of the fans. Only one will spin up, the other connected to J17 does not rotate. It's specific to J17 as swapping the fans around reverses the fan which doesn't spin.

I unplugged J17 connector and plugged it back in, the fan spun up for around 3 seconds then stopped, so I currently have a system with only 1 fan functioning.

Does anyone have any hints?

Expand

Hi @thermalz, could you try

sudo systemctl stop fancontrol
echo 255 | sudo tee -a /sys/devices/platform/j17-pwm/hwmon/hwmon*/pwm1

and see whether the fan running full speed

gprovost · January 2, 2019

@GeckoX Good to hear you figure it out. Yes OMV is the easiest approach to setup your NAS without the need to be too much Linux savvy.

@Koen No there is no microSD card included in the kit.

Some users of the 1st batch got a free microSD card but it was a free goodie from the PCBA factory to apology from their repeated delay.

thermalz · January 2, 2019

On 1/2/2019 at 2:45 AM, aprayoga said:
Hi @thermalz, could you try
sudo systemctl stop fancontrol
echo 255 | sudo tee -a /sys/devices/platform/j17-pwm/hwmon/hwmon*/pwm1
No change, fan stays off.

But goes full speed if I do this for j10-pwm.
Expand

thermalz · January 2, 2019

I've now come home to a board which has the Power led on, 1 spinning fan at max rpm and the system won't boot/post.

Nothing on the serial console. I looked through the thread and tried the unplugging of the SOC. Still nothing.

malcolm · January 3, 2019

I have some discrepancy in the reported CPU temperatures.

motd reports 32C

htop reports 69C

armbianmonitor reports 52C

I believe the armbianmonitor but wonder why the difference.

Thanks.

aprayoga · January 3, 2019

@malcolm armbianmonitor get the value from wrong sensor. It's inherited from sensor list under Linux kernel 4.4.
We have reported it to Armbian on this issue 1135.

We are working to fix this. Since this could affect other board as well, we need to test carefully.

The correct reading is the one reported by htop. You could also read the CPU temp using

 cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

gprovost · January 3, 2019

@thermalz please PM me and we see from there if we should proceed to a replacement of the board.

Just reminder to all, as mentioned on our wiki in several place :

malcolm · January 3, 2019

On 1/3/2019 at 4:03 AM, aprayoga said:
armbianmonitor get the value from wrong sensor. It's inherited from sensor list under Linux kernel 4.4.
We have reported it to Armbian on this issue 1135.

We are working to fix this. Since this could affect other board as well, we need to test carefully.

The correct reading is the one reported by htop. You could also read the CPU temp using
 cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
Expand

@aprayoga Thanks!

taziden · January 3, 2019

Hi,

I'd like to use Wireguard on my Helios4 (btw thx for the great job, I'm really happy with it so far!), and for that, I need to have the kernel headers installed.

What would be the best way to have kernel headers installed ? Recompile using https://github.com/helios-4/build ?

Edited January 3, 2019 by taziden
formatting

aprayoga · January 4, 2019

@taziden which kernel version/release currently installed on your system?
you can check using

uname -r

if it's 4.14.88-mvebu you can download the header and install it using

wget https://apt.kobol.io/pool/main/l/linux-4.14.88-mvebu/linux-headers-next-mvebu_5.68_armhf.deb
sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-next-mvebu_5.68_armhf.deb

Other than that version you can install it using the usual apt

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-next-mvebu

Koen · January 4, 2019

On 1/2/2019 at 4:04 AM, gprovost said:

@GeckoX Good to hear you figure it out. Yes OMV is the easiest approach to setup your NAS without the need to be too much Linux savvy.

@Koen No there is no microSD card included in the kit.

Some users of the 1st batch got a free microSD card but it was a free goodie from the PCBA factory to apology from their repeated delay.

Expand

I guess we know what DPD should do then for its delays and tracking issues.

Imho, since my understanding is you need a microSD card to get started (even if you eventually would choose to install to USB / SATA), is it would be good if it were included (even at extra cost) so one can get started once the kit arrives; or at least made more clear it's something to procure separately.

Anyway, i hope to soon take it for a spin.

Tom3kK · January 4, 2019

Hi there,

got my Helios4 on 28th Dez'18, delivery tracking told me on 15th Jan'19, so I hope this one is really mine

Everything went fine, setup (kit, OS, Omv) was easy.

Today my wife asked me, if this "THING" must run all the time?

Do you know, when AutoShutdown/WOL will be available?

chwe · January 4, 2019

On 1/4/2019 at 10:48 PM, Tom3kK said:

Today my wife asked me, if this "THING" must run all the time?

Expand

just answer with yes.. :lol: sorry, I had to comment on this when I unlocked the post..

I don't know the helios well but one of my boards has all LEDs disabled so that nobody gets upset by blinking lights.. I wouldn't recommend it cause those LEDs actually make sense but well it's a working solution.. :rolleyes: (and NO there isn't a spycam on it :lol: )

matzman666 · January 6, 2019

On 1/2/2019 at 4:04 AM, gprovost said:

@GeckoX Good to hear you figure it out. Yes OMV is the easiest approach to setup your NAS without the need to be too much Linux savvy.

@Koen No there is no microSD card included in the kit.

Some users of the 1st batch got a free microSD card but it was a free goodie from the PCBA factory to apology from their repeated delay.

Expand

OMV may be the easiest approach, but keep in mind that your performance will significantly suffer when using OMV.

OMV only supports raid creation using the whole disk, which leads to a significant performance loss according to my experience.
When using the OMV encryption plugin to create your dmcrypt device, an encryption algorithm will be used that is not supported by the hardware encryption engine, which again leads to suboptimal performance. There is no way to change the encryption algorithm in OMV.

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