Adding the NVME causes boot loop?

[swulff]

Hi

Just received my NVME adapter today and had and m.2 nvme to stick in.

I took the back cover off, put all the parts in (without folding the cable), put it back together and booted.

My PBP saw the drive, I opened Gparted, created an MSDOS partition table (didn't know which to choose as it was default) and formatted the entire drive as an EXT4, with the intention of having it mount on bootup for extra storage.

after formatting the drive, I tried to mount if with the following result

Code:

swulff@Debian-Desktop:~$ sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 mount
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/nvme0n1p1,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error

       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so.

My DMESG showed the following

Code:

62.956427] FAT-fs (nvme0n1p1): utf8 is not a recommended IO charset for FAT filesystems, filesystem will be case sensitive!

I thought it strange that it would mention a FAT file system, so I decided to go into GParted and re-format the drive.

Opening up Gparted, caused the machine to reboot and after reboot, opening Gparted caused it to freeze entirely during the scan of the drive.

I shut down by holding power key, but I could not get anywhere with GParted or Terminal.

I read somewhere that the adapter cable should not sit on top of the speaker, so I opened it up and folded the cable like a video showed on youtube and turned on the PBP. Now when I tried to start up the PBP, it would just loop on the "Open Sesame" boot screen. and I can't get it to stop doing that.

I've disconnected the drive now (but left the adapter in place, connected, and the PBP works fine.

I've tried the NVME in a different laptop (but its really really tedious to get it in and out) and Ubuntu had no issue with the drive.

The drive is a Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance.

[zaius]

I've disconnected the drive now (but left the adapter in place, connected, and the PBP works fine.

I've tried the NVME in a different laptop (but its really really tedious to get it in and out) and Ubuntu had no issue with the drive.

The drive is a Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD.

Any suggestions ?

I would try re-formatting it in the laptop, where it works. Using the stock Debian, FAT32 USB drives work. As far as I know, both EXT4 and FAT32 should work for storage.

Also, I took a look at the webpage for that drive. It's possible that it's drawing too much power to work properly in the PBP.

[swulff]

I've disconnected the drive now (but left the adapter in place, connected, and the PBP works fine.

I've tried the NVME in a different laptop (but its really really tedious to get it in and out) and Ubuntu had no issue with the drive.

The drive is a Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD.

Any suggestions ?

I would try re-formatting it in the laptop, where it works.  Using the stock Debian, FAT32 USB drives work.  As far as I know, both EXT4 and FAT32 should work for storage.

Also, I took a look at the webpage for that drive.  It's possible that it's drawing too much power to work properly in the PBP.

Thanks, I will try to format. The power thing may be a factor although it seemed to work fine until I formatted it.. Any idea what a symptom of drawing too much power could be? I don't know much about that side of things but looping in boot seems odd.

[zaius]

Any idea what a symptom of drawing too much power could be? I don't know much about that side of things but looping in boot seems odd.

That the computer doesn't have enough power to run?  Maybe that's why it won't boot?

Someone reported a problem with an NVMe drive not working when the battery was low.  Make sure that your PBP battery is charged and power adapter is connected.  Disconnect any peripherals that draw power (eg. USB devices).

If you get it to boot, perhaps try reducing power consumption by dimming the screen.

[Arwen]

...

Also, I took a look at the webpage for that drive.  It's possible that it's drawing too much power to work properly in the PBP.

Thanks, I will try to format. The power thing may be a factor although it seemed to work fine until I formatted it.. Any idea what a symptom of drawing too much power could be? I don't know much about that side of things but looping in boot seems odd.

Some NVMes allow reducing power. For example, one of mine in my newish desktop has this;

Code:

Supported Power States
St Op     Max   Active     Idle   RL RT WL WT  Ent_Lat  Ex_Lat
0 +     9.00W       -        -    0  0  0  0        0       0
1 +     4.60W       -        -    1  1  1  1        0       0
2 +     3.80W       -        -    2  2  2  2        0       0
3 -   0.0450W       -        -    3  3  3  3     2000    2000
4 -   0.0040W       -        -    4  4  4  4     6000    8000

Then there is a way to limit the drive to a specific power level. Note that power states 3 & 4 are probably some type of standby. So the target of state 2, 3.8 watts is likely the best I can get. (Of course, 3.8 watts is a max, so it may run lower anyway.) Here is a link to limit the power;

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...2#pid54472

My other NVMe drive does not have any changable power states. It runs at 9 watts maximum. Too much in my opinion for our Pinebook Pros.

We still don't have a good idea of what the maximum power draw should be. The Google docs spread sheet for NVMe SSDs has a column for it, but no one has put in any values, yet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

Edit: I figured it was time to add how to change the NVMe power states to the PBP Wiki;
Wiki - Pinebook Pro - Post NVMe install power limiting

[hmuller]

Any idea what a symptom of drawing too much power could be? I don't know much about that side of things but looping in boot seems odd.

That the computer doesn't have enough power to run?  Maybe that's why it won't boot?

My gut tells me zaius has identified the source of your boot loop problem.

I have a USB 3.0 external hardrive that I can attach and use after the PBP has started. But if I plug it into the PBP then start the PBP, then it goes into a boot loop too. The external hard drive draws too much power when starting to allow the PBP to boot properly (even when the PBP is attached to the external power source), I expect the same occurs with your NVMe drive. It is probably drawing too much power while the PBP is trying to boot.

[swulff]

Any idea what a symptom of drawing too much power could be? I don't know much about that side of things but looping in boot seems odd.

That the computer doesn't have enough power to run?  Maybe that's why it won't boot?

My gut tells me zaius has identified the source of your boot loop problem.

I have a USB 3.0 external hardrive that I can attach and use after the PBP has started. But if I plug it into the PBP then start the PBP, then it goes into a boot loop too. The external hard drive draws too much power when starting to allow the PBP to boot properly (even when the PBP is attached to the external power source), I expect the same occurs with your NVMe drive. It is probably drawing too much power while the PBP is trying to boot.

I reformatted the drive and tried with power adapter plugged in but same issue. So most likely this is drawing too much power.

I do have another laptop with an NVMe in it I could try to swap around but this one is just an absolute pain to crack open.

Im going to scour the forum for a known working one and probably just buy that once the funds have recovered from Christmas time.

Appreciate your input

---

...

Also, I took a look at the webpage for that drive.  It's possible that it's drawing too much power to work properly in the PBP.

Thanks, I will try to format. The power thing may be a factor although it seemed to work fine until I formatted it.. Any idea what a symptom of drawing too much power could be? I don't know much about that side of things but looping in boot seems odd.

Some NVMes allow reducing power. For example, one of mine in my newish desktop has this;

Code:

Supported Power States
St Op     Max   Active     Idle   RL RT WL WT  Ent_Lat  Ex_Lat
0 +     9.00W       -        -    0  0  0  0        0       0
1 +     4.60W       -        -    1  1  1  1        0       0
2 +     3.80W       -        -    2  2  2  2        0       0
3 -   0.0450W       -        -    3  3  3  3     2000    2000
4 -   0.0040W       -        -    4  4  4  4     6000    8000

Then there is a way to limit the drive to a specific power level. Note that power states 3 & 4 are probably some type of standby. So the target of state 2, 3.8 watts is likely the best I can get. (Of course, 3.8 watts is a max, so it may run lower anyway.) Here is a link to limit the power;

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...2#pid54472

My other NVMe drive does not have any changable power states. It runs at 9 watts maximum. Too much in my opinion for our Pinebook Pros.

We still don't have a good idea of what the maximum power draw should be. The Google docs spread sheet for NVMe SSDs has a column for it, but no one has put in any values, yet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

Edit: I figured it was time to add how to change the NVMe power states to the PBP Wiki;
Wiki - Pinebook Pro - Post NVMe install power limiting

Thanks for your input. I've a question around your guide to set the power states;

If I stick the NMVe into another laptop (given that I can't boot with it in the PBP) and perform this, will it persist in the NVMe or is it something that is OS/Kernel  dependent?

[Arwen]

...

...
Some NVMes allow reducing power. For example, one of mine in my newish desktop has this;

Code:

Supported Power States
St Op     Max   Active     Idle   RL RT WL WT  Ent_Lat  Ex_Lat
0 +     9.00W       -        -    0  0  0  0        0       0
1 +     4.60W       -        -    1  1  1  1        0       0
2 +     3.80W       -        -    2  2  2  2        0       0
3 -   0.0450W       -        -    3  3  3  3     2000    2000
4 -   0.0040W       -        -    4  4  4  4     6000    8000

Then there is a way to limit the drive to a specific power level. Note that power states 3 & 4 are probably some type of standby. So the target of state 2, 3.8 watts is likely the best I can get. (Of course, 3.8 watts is a max, so it may run lower anyway.) Here is a link to limit the power;

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...2#pid54472

My other NVMe drive does not have any changable power states. It runs at 9 watts maximum. Too much in my opinion for our Pinebook Pros.

We still don't have a good idea of what the maximum power draw should be. The Google docs spread sheet for NVMe SSDs has a column for it, but no one has put in any values, yet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

Edit: I figured it was time to add how to change the NVMe power states to the PBP Wiki;
Wiki - Pinebook Pro - Post NVMe install power limiting

Thanks for your input. I've a question around your guide to set the power states;

If I stick the NMVe into another laptop (given that I can't boot with it in the PBP) and perform this, will it persist in the NVMe or is it something that is OS/Kernel  dependent?

Yes, in theory it's part of the NVMe SSD. I've not done it, but whence we have a good list of NVMe SSDs and their minimum power settings, I likely will buy one and use that procedure.

You can test it in the other laptop by first checking current setting, changing, removing it, then reinstalling and checking again. If that other laptop is much easy to install & remove a NVMe SSD than our Pinebook Pros, that's probably the easiest verification.

If you do limit the NVMe SSD power in another laptop and it sticks, let us know. I'll update the PBP Wiki so others can benefit from your experience.