LM often doesn't boot on my MBM2 Pro

[SoulRescuer]

Hello everyone,

Recently i bought a MintBox Mini 2 Pro and mostly i am very pleased with it, but i have a problem. First of all from what i understand, when i shutdown the computer from the linux mint menu (i have LM 19 Tara with cinnamon) it doesn't shutdown completely. The power button of the mbm2 pro shows orange then, when i shutdown, but if i press and hold the physical power button for few seconds, then it will shutdown completely and there will be no light in the power button. When i press it to open the pc, it becomes green. So, green led is when the pc is powered on and im running linux mint, orange is when i shutdown from the software, and no light at all is when i press the physical power button for few seconds. I'm telling all this because they might be useful, i don't know.

Further more, linux mint just doesn't often boot and it shows me something about busybox, watchdog bug soft lockup. Here is some screenshots below.

rsz_1img_20180731_150616_hht.jpg

rsz_2img_20180728_173052_hdr.jpg

When i shutdown the computer completely from the physical button, then linux mint boots normally. But when i shutdown from the linux mint menu (orange led), and im pressing the button to open again, many times it shows me those things about busybox, watchdog..

Can anyone help? This is the first time i bought a mintbox, and i like very much linux mint cinnamon.. but i wish i didn't have this problem. I want each and every time i press the physical power button of the mintbox to just boot the distro normally.

[ldcjmd]

__Since you are a new GNU/Linux User, and inexperienced (we all start from somewhere)... which we can tell from your resorting to physical screenshots, recommend you contact the Seller of your nice 'Mintbox' A.S.A.P. and have THEM send you a Replacement, but with "Mint 18.3 LTS" installed and fully Updated by THEM... and also 'demand' that they fully TEST the Mintbox "before" they ship it to you. (You will likely need an RMA from them and a Shipping Label image from them, to print out... "before" you mail it back to them.)
Mint 19 is new, and as such has some Issues (several of my Client's laptops also have similar Shutdown problems), which the package maintainers "will" eventually get fixed... but you need a WORKING system NOW. So your best course of action is as recommended above.
[ FYI, you/everyone 'should' also own an External Hard Disk (500GB capacity is usually fine) which you connect to a USB Port on your computer. And LEARN, first/FIRST/first(!)... how-to create a real "Image" backup of the existing partitions of your computer's internal Hard Disk... which you can then use to restore "exactly" what you had... BEFORE you make changes to your system. This is an "Important" skill. Read/learn/practice it! ]

[grimnirson]

Hello together,

same problem here!

I'm sometimes also experiencing this watchdog-messages. But sometimes booting also stucks without showing any message at all. Usually all this happens, when the device was shut down for a view hours.

I also noticed that ( at least for me ) strange behaviour of the power-LED.


Therefore I started a thread at compulabs forum, see http://www.fit-pc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=171&t=6326 (I hope posting that is not against the forum-rules)

Regarding the LED they told, that this would be normal.
For the booting-issues, there was no relevant answer until now.


@ldcjmd: If you don't know, what he is talking about and you have nothing constructive to say, please let it be an don't talk down to people like this. Thx.

Greetings,
Christian

[SoulRescuer]

__Since you are a new GNU/Linux User, and inexperienced (we all start from somewhere)... which we can tell from your resorting to physical screenshots,

This have nothing to do with the subject but now that you mention it, i am curious. I really would like to know that, is there a way to take not physical screenshots before you enter the operating system? I am not using virtualbox.. this is not a virtualbox, so thats why the photos i uploaded are physical.

recommend you contact the Seller of your nice 'Mintbox' A.S.A.P. and have THEM send you a Replacement, but with "Mint 18.3 LTS" installed and fully Updated by THEM... and also 'demand' that they fully TEST the Mintbox "before" they ship it to you. (You will likely need an RMA from them and a Shipping Label image from them, to print out... "before" you mail it back to them.) Mint 19 is new, and as such has some Issues (several of my Client's laptops also have similar Shutdown problems), which the package maintainers "will" eventually get fixed... but you need a WORKING system NOW. So your best course of action is as recommended above.

I was having this problem both with linux mint 19 preinstalled in my mintbox when i got it and even after i did a fresh clean install of LM 19 my self. But now i am running LM 18.3.. i decided to try it to see maybe the problem will be gone. But no.. the problem still exists. And also i did update bios to the last version.

But sometimes booting also stucks without showing any message at all. Usually all this happens, when the device was shut down for a view hours.

Yeah sometimes this is happening to me also, stucks with a black screen.. showing absolutely nothing.

I also noticed that ( at least for me ) strange behaviour of the power-LED.

Maybe if we could shutdown the computer completely inside of the operating system, from linux mint and not from the physical button, then we would not have this problem. At least for me the problem appears when i shutdown the system from the linux mint menu, the power led becomes orange. While the machine is in the orange led state, i press the physical button to open it again but then the problem appears with the busybox watchdog messages. And the only way to boot the system is to shutdown completely from the physical button (until there is no led light at all) and then press it again and boots LM normally.

Therefore I started a thread at compulabs forum, see http://www.fit-pc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=171&t=6326 (I hope posting that is not against the forum-rules)

Thank you Christian for the link, i will be watching the thread you started for sure and maybe i will post there also.

[carum carvi]

I am very interested in this issue since I was thinking about buying a minibox too. First of all, what a bummer to have a new linuxmint machine that does not start up properly.

As I have read your story I noticed that at one moment you made a change to the BIOS settings. Have you experienced problems before you made the changes in the BIOS? Have you experienced problems before you switched to Xfce? In other words: did the minibox work good out of the box? Or did it already have issues when you tested it for the very first time without any changes?

About these particular error messages that you show in your pictures, I have read on several forums that it could be related to the powersupply. Since the newest LM19 software is NOT yet fully compatible with all hardware this could be the cause of your problem as far as I could find out. It is just a suggestion for a direction to look into. I am just a newbie.

Installing LM 18.2 instead of 18.3 or LM 19 could be advisable also, because many people reported suspend problems when changing to 18.3 from 18.2. The relation between hardware conflicts and certain kernel versions is often found in this forum.

I will follow this thread. Wish you good luck. Hopefully you get help from Compulab. This is a serious issue for a brand new machine that is designed to work with Linux.

[grimnirson]

As I have read your story I noticed that at one moment you made a change to the BIOS settings. Have you experienced problems before you made the changes in the BIOS?

Well, in fact I didn't change this much in the bios. Only wakeonlan, which I really need and "OS Selection". Having this set to "Windows", installing always failed in some way. So I put it to "Linux".

Have you experienced problems before you switched to Xfce? In other words: did the minibox work good out of the box? Or did it already have issues when you tested it for the very first time without any changes?

Honestly, I don't know. After playing a while with Cinnamon, I realized quite quickly, the I want back my good, old XFCE. Obviously I'm not a Cinnamon-person.
@SoulRescuer: When did you notice this problems?

Hopefully you get help from Compulab.

I hope too, but reading the answers given till now, I don't expect too much.

Bye, Christian

[SoulRescuer]

I am very interested in this issue since I was thinking about buying a minibox too. First of all, what a bummer to have a new linuxmint machine that does not start up properly.

I am linux user and supporter for many years, but i would say do not buy this machine unless this problem get fixed somehow.

In other words: did the minibox work good out of the box? Or did it already have issues when you tested it for the very first time without any changes?

@SoulRescuer: When did you notice this problems?

For me the problem appeared even from the begging, i didn't change anything in the bios.

About these particular error messages that you show in your pictures, I have read on several forums that it could be related to the powersupply. Since the newest LM19 software is NOT yet fully compatible with all hardware this could be the cause of your problem as far as I could find out. It is just a suggestion for a direction to look into. I am just a newbie.

Installing LM 18.2 instead of 18.3 or LM 19 could be advisable also, because many people reported suspend problems when changing to 18.3 from 18.2. The relation between hardware conflicts and certain kernel versions is often found in this forum.

I tried LM 18.3 and i had problems again, but i didn't try LM 18.2...!! Right now i have LM 19 Cinnamon again, installed in UEFI mode. In the fit-PC forum (official forum of the company that created mintbox) the admin there who is replying in our subject, he said that we should have the latest version of LM and the bios updated to the last version. This is what i have right now, but i still have the problem!!!

I will follow this thread. Wish you good luck. Hopefully you get help from Compulab. This is a serious issue for a brand new machine that is designed to work with Linux.

Well to be honest, if i didn't love Linux i wouldn't buy the mintbox in the first place.. but... there is a but. This problem is a serious problem, if i knew that this problem exist of course i wouldn't buy the mintbox. I hope this problem get fixed so i can enjoy the machine, i don't want to be worried about if the machine will boot properly every time as it should.

Is there any help we can get about this problem, either from the Linux Mint side or from the hardware view? What can we do?

[carum carvi]

Soulrescuer, the one question I have for you is the following: does pressing the fysical power button "solve" the problem with starting up your mintbox? It did "help" grimnirson, the original poster of this thread. Or do you, Soulrescuer, also experience problems with starting up your mintbox when you DID USE the PHYSICAL power button to shutdown your mintbox?

Another question: have you been able to look into the possibility that something is not working right with the powersupply, because one of the posted error messages seems to indicate that. After a google search I found several power supply threads that were connected to the posted error messages. That would mean a serious error in finetuning this system for LinuxMint 19 though. Compulab should fix this, free of charge.

Well keep me informed about how everything is developping. I am very interested if you will find a solution.

[SoulRescuer]

It seems we have found a solution from the Compulab's Linux support.
http://www.fit-pc.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... c79#p21256

The following change resolved the problem for me:

- Press [Del] during boot to enter BIOS settings:
- Set Chipset -> South Cluster Configuration -> SCC Configuration -> SCC SD Card Support to [Disable]

I didn't see any "watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#2 stuck for 23s!" messages after this change.

[carum carvi]

Great news Soulrescuer! But is it true that you now cant use SD cards anymore? Well maybe that is a small price to pay for the fix. Nice to hear that you got help from Compulab, that reinstates my believe that the mintbox is not a product without good support.

[andyO]

I have noticed the same problem with a Mintbox Mini 2 I got recently. Will monitor the situation more closely and report back.

Thank you for posting the reported solution from Compulab Soulrescuer.

[mintage]

I had no success with the bios change disabling SD card in mintbox mini 2 pro. Suspend works fine. You just have to shut it down all the way by unplugging it or holding the power button until it shuts all the way off or it will not reboot from terminal:/shutdown now, logoff GUI + shutdown GUI, or menu shutdown GUI. This is a link to the last page at the mintbox mini2 (mbm2) mfr forum
http://www.fit-pc.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... &start=20 posted 181024. Standing by for response from R&D at this time.

[mintage]

Successful reboot!
Ran:

Code: Select all

~$shutdown 125

Restarted after more than 12 hours off.
I will update if it fails an overnight reboot from a Terminal command as above, or any of all the GUI options to Shutdown (it was failing to reboot doing last time I checked).
By the way, the SD Card is active and in use.

[carum carvi]

Great news that it works Mintage.

Thanks for posting your solution. Keep us informed if new troubles arise.

[JimTDI]

I have found that leaving a micro-SD card in the MBM2 Pro at all times, instead of disabling the SD card in the BIOS will work around the Power Down/Up issues. Let me know if this works for you.

[mintage]

The SD Card is installed and active. Using shutdown 130 has been booting, except it is not hibernate. Starting to check overnight shutdown using GUI methods. Hard to tell if it is behaving or not because I have too many switches involved that I switch during the boot process sometimes ( oops, I need to turn the monitor on, or a/b switch).
Some odd video display glitches, might be peculiar to my
2 PC input a/b sw to 1 HDMI setup +
4 USB (peripherals) input a/b sw to 2 PC setup.
Does not duplicate consistently.
CompuLab hasn't really said much new. I think they are waiting for me to figure out that I can just turn off the surge protector if the USB lights bother me that much.
Thanks for the help!