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Pi Desktop won't boot from mSATA PCI-E SSD

imartin

Hi,

 

Does anyone have any pointers as to how I might troubleshoot this further?

 

I have A Raspberry Pi3 B+ installed in a Pi Desktop case.

 

Having failed to get the pi to boot from the SSD using the instructions (and various other methods by googling) I tried this route:

 

Using Etcher on a Window PC and the M2 in a USB3 SSD caddy I was able to transfer the latest image.

 

Transferring the caddy to one of the USB ports on the pi Desktop I can then reliably boot from the SSD without a micro sd card installed.

 

On fitting the SSD to the Pi Desktop SSD 'daughter' card the pi refuses to boot. The monitor senses this and goes into power saving mode - so I guess hdmi out on the pi is dead at this point.

 

Thinking it might be the PSU I am now using a 3.0 amp version. This made no difference.

 

The daughter card appears to be working as when I remove the ethernet cable (left for several hours) and reboot - the data and time are current.

 

 

Any advice gratefully received.

 

Message was edited by: Ian Martin Brain fade as to SSD type

Parents

  • Hi Ian,

     

    I'm guessing you're connecting the M.2 via external USB, using an adaptor, and not plugging in any mSATA in the Pi Desktop board.

    Like   I'm afraid I can only guess the issue, I've not seen the Pi Desktop in real life.

    Anyway, it's best to eliminate things to narrow down the issue. Personally I'd try to remove the Pi Desktop and test the Pi on its own with the USB boot capability. Once that works, then install in the Pi Desktop. The Pi Desktop board is not needed for the USB boot functionality to be tested, because that functionality is part of the Pi 3B+.

     

    Also, there is a note here that states that the feature is experimental and doesn't work with all devices.

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/bootmodes/msd.md

     

    If the feature doesn't work with your M.2 SSD + adapter combination, then you could use it just for a USB connected file system, and still boot from micro SSD.

  • in reply to shabaz

    Hi thanks for replying.

     

    I made a miskate in describing the SSD - it is a Samsung MZMPC256HBGJ-000D1 256 GB mSATA PCI-E SSD drive.

     

    It does fit onto the ssd board that is supplied to fit on top of the raspbery pi.

     

    This ssd will boot the pi when connected to one of the three remaining usb ports using a usb caddy.

     

    Using this ssd on the 'daughter' board the pi then doesn't even seem to boot.

     

    I don't know if there are any diagnostic commands to see if the daughter board is functioning - when booted from the USB caddy via the raspberry pi usb ports.

     

     

    Regards,

     

    Ian

  • in reply to imartin

    Hi Ian,

     

    The documentation states the USB connection on the daughter board is for a USB Flash drive, but a SSD consumes more power, or there may be some other limitation due to the difference between Flash and SSD sticks, so I'm wondering if that port really can only be used for a USB flash drive (aka typical memory stick) or not. From what I can tell, the combination of Pi and the daughter board are really only designed for the specific scenarios as per the user instructions, and any straying off it (even something slightly) can result in difficulty it seems. There are others who wanted to do things like (say) auto-power-on after a power outage, and this scenario is not supported for instance.

    Another possible test is to see if, once booted fron microSD, can the internal USB port be used for accessing a file system on the SSD? And another could be to try to boot off a memory stick just to verify that USB port functions, but at some stage it may be easier to just leave the SSD attached to the Pi's USB port if that can work for you practically and aesthetically. I think it's unfortunately all experimental to reach your goal, unless someone else can try it out and report on it too.

    I've not seen close-up photos of the board and case, and if cables could be routed appropriately, so I don't know if that is practical or not.

     

    EDIT: Just noticed you mention it's not an M.2 disk? In that case, if the on-board mSATA connection isn't working, it sounds like a board issue. But it's just a guess. Hopefully you get a response from someone else who has used that SSD, or otherwise can identify the issue.

Reply
  • in reply to imartin

    Hi Ian,

     

    The documentation states the USB connection on the daughter board is for a USB Flash drive, but a SSD consumes more power, or there may be some other limitation due to the difference between Flash and SSD sticks, so I'm wondering if that port really can only be used for a USB flash drive (aka typical memory stick) or not. From what I can tell, the combination of Pi and the daughter board are really only designed for the specific scenarios as per the user instructions, and any straying off it (even something slightly) can result in difficulty it seems. There are others who wanted to do things like (say) auto-power-on after a power outage, and this scenario is not supported for instance.

    Another possible test is to see if, once booted fron microSD, can the internal USB port be used for accessing a file system on the SSD? And another could be to try to boot off a memory stick just to verify that USB port functions, but at some stage it may be easier to just leave the SSD attached to the Pi's USB port if that can work for you practically and aesthetically. I think it's unfortunately all experimental to reach your goal, unless someone else can try it out and report on it too.

    I've not seen close-up photos of the board and case, and if cables could be routed appropriately, so I don't know if that is practical or not.

     

    EDIT: Just noticed you mention it's not an M.2 disk? In that case, if the on-board mSATA connection isn't working, it sounds like a board issue. But it's just a guess. Hopefully you get a response from someone else who has used that SSD, or otherwise can identify the issue.

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