I recognise that behaviour, I encountered the same kind of behaviour. In my case it was because the bootloader code/GPU was trying to initialise the HDMI interface, and I run the pi headless.
I fixed that by adding the line: hdmi_safe=1 to config.txt I'm using a later level of GPU firmware than you are, but I think that line was supported on the version you're using. The files I use to boot to the installer are available here http://www.dowelld.net/?p=49 the txt file explains how I use them. Thanks Dave -----Original Message----- From: Davide <[email protected]> To: stanley garvey <[email protected]>; dowelld <[email protected]>; armedslack <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Sep 26, 2013 1:38 pm Subject: Re: [ARMedslack] A quick primer for the PI I can't get it to boot at all. If I turn the PI on I get the PER led solid on but the ACT led does this: first faint on, the bright on for a second or do then it goes off and stays off. I've tried 2 different SD cards supposing that the firs may have had some sort of compatibility issue but the second does the same thing. I downloaded updated boot stuff from here: http://www.daves-collective.co.uk/raspi/system/raspi-boot-20120801-fw-1_dbs.tgz ... but nothing seems to change. Is the PI finiky on where the dos partition should begin ? or on the formatting of it ? mine starts at sector 2048 (1Mb from the beginning of the device) and is fat32 formatted I suspect that its not booting because if I take out the SD and mount in on the PC fsck does not detect the filesystem dirty flag that I should have if the thing booted but showed nothing on the TV. ATB David Da: stanley garvey <[email protected]> A: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; Davide <[email protected]>; Slackware ARM port <[email protected]> Inviato: Giovedì 26 Settembre 2013 13:15 Oggetto: Re: [ARMedslack] A quick primer for the PI On Sep 26, 2013 08:25 "Davide" <[email protected]> wrote: >>I got a friend to lend me a PI for a week ... >>I had a quick look at the community links for slackware on the PI but none >>really tell me what i want to know: >>what does the GPU look for in the SD ? (as fas as I know it's the GPU that >>loads stuff from SD into memory and then passes control to it) >>does it look for a second stage boot loader like a uboot image or does it >>load kernel and initrd ? (bootcode.bin) >>I'm supposing that the first partition (the dos one) is where this stuff >>should be put ? >>The content in there looks about right: >>root@darkstar:/tmp# fdisk -l slackwarearm-14.0-8GB-20130623.img >>Disk slackwarearm-14.0-8GB-20130623.img: 2558 MB, 2558967808 bytes >>4 heads, 32 sectors/track, 39046 cylinders, total 4997984 sectors >>Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes >>Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes >>I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes >>Disk identifier: 0x00007091 >> Device Boot Start End Blocks >> Id System >>slackwarearm-14.0-8GB-20130623.img1 32 97663 48816 >> c W95 FAT32 (LBA) >>slackwarearm-14.0-8GB-20130623.img2 97664 878847 390592 >>82 Linux swap >>slackwarearm-14.0-8GB-20130623.img3 878848 15751167 7436160 >>83 Linux >>root@darkstar:/tmp# echo $((32 * 512)) >>16384 >>root@darkstar:/tmp# losetup -o 16384 /dev/loop0 >>slackwarearm-14.0-8GB-20130623.img >>root@darkstar:/tmp# modprobe vfat >>root@darkstar:/tmp# mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/floppy/ >>root@darkstar:/tmp# ls /mnt/floppy/ >>COPYING.linux* config-raspberrypi-3.2.27* start.elf* >>LICENCE.broadcom* config.txt* start_cd.elf* >>System.map-raspberrypi-3.2.27* fixup.dat* >>zImage-raspberrypi-3.2.27* >>bootcode.bin* fixup_cd.dat* >>cmdline.txt* initrd-raspberrypi.img* >root@darkstar:/tmp# >>I plan to play a little with a miniroot so I won't need an 8Gb SD :) >Hi David, Hi Dave ;) >The GPU looks for bootcode.bin, which looks for and loads loader.bin. >Loader.bin reads in config.txt (to configure the hardware) and loads start.elf >(the GPU binary blob). Once it has configured the hardware, it then >loads >kernel.img, and feeds it the contents of cmdline.txt. But on the readymade image from http://stanleygarvey.com/slackwarearm_rpi/index.php there is no loader.bin in the dos partition ! Is there something wrong with this image or is loader.bin optional ? > Hi Davide, ther is nothing wrong with the image, I use it at home, it could > be that loader bin is a new addition to the Fat32 boot partition for Debian > variants. the boot layout I use has not changed since last Christmas. >So you have to have bootcode.bin, loader.bin, config.txt, start.elf, >kernel.img, and cmdline.txt, then if you load a ramdisk image in the >cmdline.txt file you need the ramdisk image file. > yes Is the initrd loading governed by config.txt ? > yes I see in there ramfsfile=initrd-raspberrypi.img Can I change that manualy with vi and load a different initrd ? or comment it out to not load an initrd at all ? > Yes you can edit the file with vi and load a different initrd. It is > commented out in my config.txt as it is not required to boot a running > system. initrd-raspberrypi.img is the installer, It has been left there so > you can reinstall if you wish, it is a versatile-initrd that has been > modified with a modified version of the mk-tegra.sh. When is the HDMI output initiated ? >Before the system comes up as the GPU boots the system. > if you ate looking for a mini root try the installer image, it is 1GB and is > the standard slackwarearm installer so has busybox and other stuff. you won't > be able to install a full system on 1GB the 3rd partition is a stub and > should be deleted and recreated to use the remaining space on whatever size > card you have before stating 'setup'. you may be able to get a base > slackwarearm systm (a)(ap) series on a 4GB card. Hope that helps, Stanley.
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