[SOLVED] FreedomBox Pioneer Edition – Board fails to boot after shutdown

[denis.beurive]

Hello,

I recently installed the latest stable version of FreedomBox OS on the FreedomBox Pioneer Edition from Olimex.

For context, I purchased this unit back in 2020, but only started using it for the first time yesterday.

Everything was working as expected until I shut down the system using the halt command. I waited approximately five minutes to ensure the board had completely powered down, given that it operates rather slowly. I then unplugged it to relocate it to a more convenient spot.

However, upon powering it back on, the board remained unresponsive.

Please note that the device is correctly connected to both the Ethernet and power cables.

Thinking the issue might be related to the SD card, I reinitialized it and began reinstalling the system. Unfortunately, the board still does not boot, and nothing appears in the console.

Would you happen to know what might be preventing the board from starting?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,

Denis

[denis.beurive]

@denis.beurive

FreedomBox Pioneer Edition

Hello,

After reading the following post:

FACTORY RESET, Sd re Install not working

Extra data: even without the SD card it works and opens up the main login page, if i put any user and pas it goes blank. Followed this FreedomBox/Download - Debian Wiki too. I dont get to the fresh setup menu. I don get it. Also in my router settings the eth2 connections says FAIL (where it is connected), i tried restarting the router and all. What am i missing?

I was able to identify the issue.

I simply disconnected the battery (a 3.3V Li-Po, 1400mAh), then restarted the board—
and voilà! It booted successfully.

The problem therefore appears to be related to the battery itself. It may have deteriorated due to prolonged inactivity (it hasn’t been used since 2020), which could be the cause of the malfunction.

Shall I change the battery ?

Best regards,

Denis

[Ged]

I dont own a Pioneer, so please take my comments with a pinch of salt.

The Plinth interface does not present the user with the halt option. As far as I know, halt does not power down the hardware but rather freezes all cpu activity while also dropping all users to a single user.

I may be wrong, but maybe you didnt physically power off the device and possible broke ldap. When you disconnected the battery, the device physically went off and rebooted once power returned.

Was there a reason you preferred halt over shutdown?

Edit: The problem may not be the battery. Can you try shutting down the FBX through plinth, reconnect the battery and try a boot-shutdown sequence?

[denis.beurive]

Yes, you’re absolutely right — the halt command does not ensure a clean system shutdown.

Since the board was running on battery power, it didn’t fully power down…

I usually rely on shutdown, but this time I used halt, unaware of the difference between the two commands.

Regards,

Denis

[Ged]

good to hear that denis. im marking this issue solved if theres not more youd like to add.

[denis.beurive]

Yes, the issue has been resolved. I reconnected the battery, powered down the board, then turned the power supply off and on again. The board subsequently booted up without any problems!