athmoss Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Hello armbian community, I am coming from the official Hardkernel minimal Ubuntu image to armbian (I need a newer kernel than the 3.16 in Hardkernel images). I'd like a headless setup, so I have downloaded and flashed what is inside Armbian_5.49_Odroidc2_Debian_stretch_next_4.17.3.7z. So far so good, the image boots to login prompt. However when I want to log in, the characters typed do not appear on the screen. I have tried several keyboards (one of them being the same keyboard I'm typing this post on so I know it works), both wired and wireless, connected directly or via a USB hub, still nothing. I've also tried flashing the desktop image from Armbian_5.49_Odroidc2_Debian_stretch_next_4.17.3_desktop.7z with the same result (a desktop does not come up, only CLI login, but that would not be an issue). I have also tried boot the C2, wait a few minutes and then just blindly type root<enter>1234<enter> - nothing happens. I went back to the Hardkernel image - all my keyboards work, no problem there. Any idea what to try or what could be wrong with my setup? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 12 hours ago, athmoss said: Any idea what to try or what could be wrong with my setup? USB section in a modern kernel is sensitive, hotplugging doesn't work ... you need to boot with the attached USB device. Then it (usually) work ... a small price for running a modern kernel. This is also noted on the download page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athmoss Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 Well it's rather sensitive indeed :) During my yesterday's tests I had my keyboards connected before booting as well as hot plugged. Today I played some more with it. The only time I managed to get the keyboard work is when it was the only USB peripheral and it was connected directly (not via a USB hub). But even that only worked until the first reboot. Anyway, thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technicavolous Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Sorry for the late post on this, but I also have had keyboard issues but with ALL of my SBC's, not just my Odroid XU4 or C2. I have determined it is simply a chip compatibility issue. In my setup I have a small powered USB hub. I have two keyboards that work fine through the hub and two that will only work plugged direct, to any of the boards. All the keyboards work through another unpowered hub that I have. At first I thought it was a power issue, but then I found a keyboard (wireless usb dongle) that would not work on the unpowered one, but will on the powered one. I finally gave up troubleshooting as I wish to keep my hair. Sometimes it's not bad hardware, just bad marriages ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 2 hours ago, Technicavolous said: Sometimes it's not bad hardware, just bad marriages ... My lab keyboard is this: Spoiler ultra cheap RF keyboard. It is clumsy, impractical, battery dies quickly ... It is really hard to type anything, but I don't recall a situation that it didn't work. Sometimes I use it via HUB, sometimes directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyMac32 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 On 7/28/2018 at 3:02 PM, Igor said: It is clumsy, impractical, battery dies quickly ... It is really hard to type anything, Sounds amazing... I have a Chicony-made "Amazon basics" for primary lab use, I would like to mention that on 4.17 in particular I had USB problems (as in no usb at all on Lepotato or NanoPi K2. I assume that means C2 would have the same issue). Appears to have been cleared up on 4.17.7 or so, I haven't seen what was the issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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