1.10 Helium fails in embedded console setup

Hi,
I was hoping someone else would notice this, but apparently not. I have been using Vyatta and VyOS through 1.05 on an “embedded” setup with an Atom processor and a flash drive. I notice at least one minor and one major failure when attempting to use 1.10. The Live-USB works and I use “install system” to install on a flash drive. The resulting system on boot has the following problems:
Minor - The boot process does not recognize that I have no keyboard and video, and therefore does not default to a serial console connection as previous versions.
Major - The boot process never completes. If I manually select the Serial console option in the menu. I get the following output with no further action when (initramfs) is displayed -

Again, all previous versions worked correctly.

Thanks, Mike B.

------- Console displayed boot output ---------
[ 0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
Loading, please wait…
mdadm: No devices listed in /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:

  • Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
    • Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
    • Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
  • Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
    ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/bd10c949-9687-4dd3-964e-7b786dea99cc does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v1.19.0.git (2014-08-17 22:00:51 UTC) built-in shell (ash)
Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.

/bin/sh: can’t access tty; job control turned off
(initramfs)
-------------- end of output -----------

Actually “install system” is deprecated, you should use “install image” (as specified in the splash screen).

This issue in my system seems to be a little more involved on further trials. First, I cannot even boot the Live USB on this particular Intel Atom 3815 processor. So I booted the Live USB on a similar but older Intel Atom Z530 and was able to use “install image” this time. The resulting flash drive image did boot properly on the Z530 processor and I was able to configure the operating parameters using the “configure” utility.

But when I put the working flash drive into the Atom 3815 based system all of the same problems shown above returned except that it did properly recognize that I was using a serial console. The Intel Atom 3815 differs from the older Z530 type processors in that it now integrates the North-South bridge functions in one die.

It could be that the key to the problem is the first displayed error
“tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed”
and things start going bad from there.

Note that VyOS 1.05 works fine on the Atom 3815 processor. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks Mike B.

Hello mikeb.

Have you ever read this article?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18055593/how-to-solve-fast-tsc-calibration-failed-issue-that-occurs-on-boot-in-virtualbox

I just googled “Fast TSC calibration failed”.
If I have same situation, I will try to add clocksource=tsc at boot time config.


Hiroyuki Sato.