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TinyPilot failed to start

By David @david2024-05-03 12:13:28.819Z

Solved in post #4, click to view
  • 4 replies
  1. Justin Garrison @jgarr
      2024-05-02 23:59:56.233Z

      I'm having a similar problem. I've been using the voyager 2a for about a month and today I unplugged it to move it and when I turned it back on I received the error message web page. I SSHd in and saw the tinypilot service wasn't running. I tried debugging it a bit and noticed that /opt/tinypilot/venv was completely missing and even /opt/tinypilot/app/main.py was blank.
      I tried doing a upgrade via /opt/tinypilot/scripts/update-service but it failed

      Traceback (most recent call last):                                                                                                                
        File "/opt/./tinypilot/scripts/update-service", line 19, in <module>                                                                            
          import log                                                                                                                                    
      ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'log'
      

      Looking like other python files were missing.
      When I looked at the system services I only saw 1 service degraded

      systemctl --failed
        UNIT              LOAD   ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION
      ā— ustreamer.service loaded failed failed uStreamer - Lightweight, optimized video encoder
      

      After trying to install with curl -L https://tinypilotkvm.com/pro/install.sh | sh and rebooted but it still wouldn't start.

      I flashed the microSD with the factory image and now the service won't start and SSH isn't enabled (because I can't get to the web page). I don't get any web page to load and can't figure out how to troubleshoot from here. My only guess is my microSD card is bad even though it detects and reads just fine from my computer.

      I went ahead and flashed a new microSD card with the tinypilot factory image and the machine still will not boot (or at least I can't load the webpage to access it). Should I start an RMA process?

      1. David @david2024-05-03 12:38:57.952Z

        Hi @jgarr, I'm sorry you're running into these issues with your TinyPilot.

        I'm happy to help with troubleshooting to find the underlying issue and figure out a solution.

        When you power your TinyPilot, do you see the solid red power LED and the flashing green activity LED? And do you see the two Ethernet LEDs lighting up too?

        One way to get SSH access after a re-flash (without access the TinyPilot web interface) is to add an empty file called ssh to the top level of TinyPilot's bootfs partition before the first boot.

        Could you re-flash your microSD card again, add the ssh file to the TinyPilot's bootfs partition, and then power your TinyPilot? I'm hoping that in the case that you can't access the web interface, you will have SSH access to troubleshoot further.

        Please let me know if you have any questions.

        1. Justin Garrison @jgarr
            2024-05-03 16:26:06.177Z

            I reflashed the original sd card and touched the ssh file and can ssh into the tinypilot with default credentials.

            I get activity lights as you described.

            Logging in it appears all of the services started properly and the web interface is available at the IP address of the tinypilot.

            I think my system is working again although I have no idea why it failed in the first place.

            ReplySolution
            1. David @david2024-05-06 11:10:29.703Z

              Thanks for the update, @jgarr! I'm glad you're back up and running.

              The symptoms you described sound like the ones we see with filesystem corruption on the microSD card. Typically, filesystem corruption presents itself with missing files or directories.

              Filesystem corruption can sometimes occur when the device experiences an unexpected power drop. Instead of pulling TinyPilot's power cable to turn off the device, I'd recommend a soft shutdown using the option in TinyPilot's menu (System > Power > Shutdown).

              I'd also recommend enabling TinyPilot's read-only filesystem to help increase the lifetime of your microSD card and reduce the risk of filesystem corruption from unplanned shutdowns.

              I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any questions.