No connection to PiKVM V3 anymore

PiKVM PiKVM V3 Pre-assembled
1

Hi,

I have a pikvm v3 pre-assembled:

I used it succesfully on iregular basis the last 3 years. Everything went fine as expected. Last time I used it succesfully was a few days ago. Only non-critical issue is that the display is slowly fading.
Recently I am reorganizing my network and reinstalled pikvm. I was a bit hasty and did some clueless connecting cables. I think I put the power cable on all three usbC ports for trying and realize now this could have destroyed the pikvm hat. Can it? I also may have disconected power during booting one or more times, it probably broke something. Can it?

What do I see on the pikvm itself?

  • ACT led is burning red
  • display is black

What could I do to see of anything works at all?

  1. look in my router to see if pikvm shows up
    pikvm shows up yes/no
  2. connect hdmi cable between the lower part of pikvm and my monitor
    pikvm shows up yes/no
  3. watch the leds and display on the pikvm itself
    which leds/display shows what
    These three I used on all below.

What did I do to resolve the issue?

  1. Booted up pikvm. Result 1>no 2>no 3> act led burns red. activity led on rpi4b blinks green, display is black
  2. Made sure the rpi4b itself was still working. Result 1> pikvm shows up 2>
    raspbian shows up in monitor and works fine 3> act led burns red. activity led on rpi4b is off, display is black.
  3. I red ‘known issues’ and ‘HDMI backpowering’.
    PiKVM V3 HAT & pre-assembled quickstart guide - PiKVM Handbook
    disconnected the jumper #14 and rebooted. Result same as 2.
  4. I flashed a new image on a different SDcard. v3-hdmi-rpi4-aarch64-box-latest.img.xz
    Flashing PiKVM OS image - PiKVM Handbook
    Result 1>no 2> I get a rainbow colored screen en nothing else 3> act led burns red, activity led on rpi4b is off, display is black
  5. I flashed a new image on a different SDcard.
    v3-hdmi-rpi4-aarch64-latest.img.xz
    Result: same as 4
  6. In 1-6 all I typed ‘pikvm-update’ on the keyboard connected to the pikvm
    Result: nothing new.

At any moment (thought in 4) I got a screen with info before the pikvm halted. See the picture I made. Relevant message I think is:

$ switch_root: failed to execute /sbin/init: Accessing a corrupted shared library
$ … Kernel panic -not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007e00

Would be nice if anyone could help me on. Pikvm halting means network reorgazing is halting :grinning_face:

2

Have you tried booting the Pi4 without the v3 HAT attached, does it boot all the way? Try using Raspian on a microSD instead of the PiKVM OS, or try the v2 image that doesn’t expect the v3 board and see if it boots all the way.

Connecting power to all the ports may have fried something.

3

Have you tried booting the Pi4 without the v3 HAT attached, does it boot all the way? Try using Raspian on a microSD instead of the PiKVM OS, or try the v2 image that doesn’t expect the v3 board and see if it boots all the way.

I already explained in my initial post under 2. Raspbian worked.

While I waited the approval of my post, I continued trying. I solved the issue, but have no clue why suddenly Pikvm woke up again.

What did I do?
I connected usbC-usbA cable between CON-port pikvm and my laptop and rebooted pikvm. > FAQ & Troubleshooting - PiKVM Handbook

  • ttyUSB0 shows up in my filesys on /dev/ttyUSB0
  • I found a hint to install tio on my linuxsys to make a connection, did install tio
    GitHub - tio/tio: A serial device I/O tool · GitHub
  • ‘sudo tio /dev/ttyUSB0’ brings me in a shell which says ‘Connected’ and ‘Password:’
  • I cannot make a succesfull login with admin/admin, but root/root is succesfull. That was all I did before exiting tio.
  • Suddenly pikvm shows up in my router again and can I make a regular connection to my guest device on the pikvm.
  • I did a reboot of pikvm and everything is fine again.
4

Sorry I missed that. Awesome that you were able to get it solved with the tio and CON connection, but crazy that even a new flash on a microSD didn’t bring it around before that!