Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 18:48 Post subject: SD Mod with 1 gig MicroSD chip.......help.
I know this has been covered, but I can't find the answer. I've done several SD mods using the MicroSD chip and SparkFun's nifty little reader board. It works very well. Up until today, I've use chips of 512MB or less, and haven't had any significant issues. So today, I try it with a 1 gig chip...brand new, Kingston chip. I can't get it to work. After enabling all the proper goodies, and formatting the chip using Panasonic's SD formatter in Windows, I boot the router. This is how I've always done it, and it's always worked. So it gets to the point where it's almost done booting, and the white Cicso LED lights up and starts to flash. That's great!!......that's where the ext2 file system is being installed. But it goes on for a very long time.....probably 5 minutes. When it ends, the white LED stops, the amber LED lights up and the DMZ LED flickers briefly......this is all as it should be.....the DMZ LED flickering is indicative of the card being mounted....it will do that every time the router is rebooted. However, instead of staying in an operable state, the router starts that sequence over again.......white Cisco LED flashing for 5 minutes, yada yada. This time when it's done, it just shuts off the white, amber and DMZ LED's and sits.....forever. Telnetting in and checking lsmod and df reveal the card, but no file system. So, it appears to me that the card is seen, and DD-WRT is trying to install the ext2 file system, but fails......and after 2 attempts, it gives up.
I've tried several different builds of DD-WRT, SP2 and SP3, I even tried putting the 1 gig chip in my personal router and it does the same thing. I've got 2 of the 1 gig Kingston chips, and they both act the same way, so I doubt it's a bad chip. The 512MB chip from my router works fine in the new one, as does a 256MB chip I have. So, do I have to do anything special to the 1 gig chip? Is there a way, say with WinSCP3, that I can manually install ext2 on the chip? Any ideas are welcome. Thanks!!
What info are you getting from dmseg in telnet
It might be you have to format the card before you install it - I also have only used small cards so im not sure.
Interesting... I've ran on a 1GB Kingston microSD for a week now and it seems to be working fine. Though I doubt this matters, but I have a regular SD slot and have the microSD inside the converter that it came with. I've set up my microSD in two ways, format to FAT in windows, and format to ext2 in Linux before I put the card in and it worked both times. I also have a 1G PNY microSD and that one works fine. If there is anything you'd like me to test, I'd be glad to.
Oh and to note what happens to my cards upon first insertion... White led/DMZ light blinks for about 5 minutes, then no blinking for another 3-5 minutes and then the router boots up. I used SNMP to monitor when the router was up.
Well, we're on the same page. I did try dmesg, but I have no idea what I'd be looking for. I assume an entry to the effect that there is no ext2 file system found. I have serial capabilities.....perhaps I should run it through its sequence with serial monitoring it and post the capture from that. You guys know a lot more than I do as to what to look for and what it means. I'll give that a shot in a bit.
You both mention manually formatting the chip with ext2 prior to inserting it. Is that possible in Windows? I have no idea how to go about it. Suggestions on that are appreciated (with DETAILED instructions).....I'm a Linux/scripting IDIOT!!
Here are my suggestions if you know how to use something like PartitionMagic:
1) Partition Magic
2) GParted -- http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
3) if you already have access to a linux/unix system let me know and I can give you step by step instructions
4) If not, download Knoppix, a bootable Linux distro, and just use Qtparted to format the drive to ext2. If you know how to use Partition Magic, you should know how to use that. All you do is, download/burn Knoppix to a CD/DVD, boot into it, click the lower left button (The one with a K over a gear looking thing), go to the System menu and click Qtparted. There are two options, either is fine. If you have trouble with this route, let me know.
Here are my suggestions if you know how to use something like PartitionMagic:
1) Partition Magic
2) GParted -- http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
3) if you already have access to a linux/unix system let me know and I can give you step by step instructions
4) If not, download Knoppix, a bootable Linux distro, and just use Qtparted to format the drive to ext2. If you know how to use Partition Magic, you should know how to use that. All you do is, download/burn Knoppix to a CD/DVD, boot into it, click the lower left button (The one with a K over a gear looking thing), go to the System menu and click Qtparted. There are two options, either is fine. If you have trouble with this route, let me know.
You sir, are AWESOME!! It works now!! Since I already had Knoppix, and was somewhat familiar with it, I booted it up and tried it first. I had the 1 gig MicroSD chip in its SD adapter, inserted in my USB card reader. I tried everything I knew, and Knoppix would not see the MicroSD chip. All it would see was my 2 hard drives and the CD drive that the Knoppix CD wasn't in. I poked around for awhile and it just wouldn't see the USB card reader. So.....
I downloaded and burned Gparted and booted to it. It recognized the card reader and the MicroSD chip right away. A couple of clicks and 6 seconds later I had a 1 gig MicroSD chip formatted to ext2!! I popped it in the router and booted it up.....the lights acted like they should and I can see and make directories on the chip!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! I owe ya!! Laterzzzzzzzz. _________________ Clear 4G Wimax.
Linksys WRT54G-TM w/14929 std-nokaid, fan-cooled, 2 GB SD mod, Primary Router.
Linksys WRT54G v.3 w/15230 std-nokaid, Client Bridge.
Linksys E2000 w/15200 "Big"
Linksys WRT54G v.4
La Fonera 2100, fan-cooled
Linksys WRT54G v.3.1
Linksys WRT54G v.1.1
Linksys WRT54GS v.1
2x Linksys WRT54G v.2.2
I recently installed the SD mod and exactly the same happened to me with a Goodram 1GB stick. I had to format it from my desktop linux too.
One question though... is it normal that when it writes to the SD it does not write inmediatly but a few seconds later the router freezes (DMZ led is on, so it's writing) until it's done (quite a while)? Looks like it caches the data or something.
The problem is that sometimes it takes so long that it makes the router reboot.
Is it because of the SD Card I am using or this is normal?
I knew it'd be slower due to the SPI mode, but never thought it'd be this slow _________________ HW: WRT54G v3.1 - FW: DD-WRT v23 SP2 (09/15/06) std
