Originally published at: https://osmc.tv/2015/01/osmc-alpha-3-lands/
Hi, Happy New Year! I’m happy to announce OSMC Alpha 3 which builds on Alpha 2’s success. This build fixes a few problems and adds features that make it almost as feature complete as Raspbmc! We’re still only offering builds for Raspberry Pi for now, but we will have Apple TV (1st generation) and i.MX6…
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We van just ‘sudo apt-get dist-upgrade’ from proposed alpha 3?
Not at this stage. I’ve added some packages such as remote support that won’t get brought in if you do this.
Everything will be upgradable via apt-get dist-upgrade once we hit a stable release
Cheers
Sam
been looking forward to this one thanks again Sam
Having an issue with USB install on 256MB Pi with error reporting “Install failed: can’t mount root.” Install log from SD has the following:
Thu Jan 1 00:00:11 1970 Starting OSMC installer
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Detecting device we are running on
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Mounting boot filesystem
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Trying to mount to MNT_BOOT (/mnt/boot
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Using device.boot: /dev/mmcblk0p1 and FS: vfat
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Preseed file found, will attempt to parse
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Found a definition for storage: usb
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 Creating root partition
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 From a root partition of /dev/sda1, I have deduced a base device of /dev/sda
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 Must mklabel as root fs is on another device
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 Going to mklabel with device: /dev/sda with a label type of MSDOS
Thu Jan 1 00:01:19 1970 Calling mkpart for device: /dev/sda and fs: ext4 with start 4096s and end 100%
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Calling fmtpart for partition /dev/sda1 and fstype ext4
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Mounting root
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Trying to mount to MNT_ROOT (/mnt/root
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Using device.root: /dev/sda1
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Error occured trying to mount root of /dev/sda1
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Halting Install. Error message was: can’t mount root
Hi
- How large is the USB drive?
- Do you have a Linux system to run a couple of tests on the USB?
Cheers
Sam
16GB USB 3 If I recall correctly. Sadly, I live in Windows so no go on the Linux tests.
If it’s a Sandisk with U3 that could be causing some problems, but other than that I’m not sure of the issue. I’ve tested USB installs and they seem to work OK, so I’d suggest trying another USB for now.
If you had a Linux LiveCD of Ubuntu I could help you get some logs so we could see where the process is failing
Sam
Not a U3 Sandisk for sure and I’ve been using it for some time quite successfully for numerous Raspbmc versions and OSMC Alphas 1 & 2. I could always attempt making an Ubuntu LiveCD/USB drive if you think it would be worth the time?
Let’s wait and see if anyone else reports issues. If not, then a log would certainly be useful.
I might as well just go ahead and make one anyway so I have it for future use, yes? 
That would help.
-
Download a Ubuntu LiveCd
-
After booting, install ‘parted’
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install parted -
Now, identify which disk your USB is. Probably /dev/sdb – you can do this with:
sudo parted -s /dev/sdb print
-
Until you get a disk size that seems right.
Then paste the output of the print command so that we can see if the partitoning really worked.
Then I’d recommend:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=512 count=1
substituting X for the real device letter
And then try a new install. You can even use Download - OSMC and do it from the LiveCD
Cheers
Sam
No issues installing from Windows. i installed on a old 1gb SD card, all I had at the time.
Must say what a beautiful skin interface. Really like it. Have been navigating through a lot of the menus and haven’t come across any issues. My two favorite subtitle plugins installed fine and seem to be working.
OK. went down a bit of a rabbit hole there but I’m out the other side now. Output of the parted command as follows:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted -s /dev/sdb print
Model: Lexar JumpDrive (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 2097kB 32.0GB 32.0GB primary ext4
Should I go ahead and run the suggested dd command, then?
Have noticed a few issues myself but we should get those resolved pretty quickly
It looks like the installer formatted the partition fine, so that’s odd you had an issue.
Yes – I’d run that command. Make sure you run it on /dev/sdb.
Cheers
Sam
Well, ran the prescribed instructions and did the re-install from the Ubuntu LiveCD but the net result is the same. Still reporting the same error. Current install.log from SD as follows:
Thu Jan 1 00:00:11 1970 Starting OSMC installer
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Detecting device we are running on
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Mounting boot filesystem
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Trying to mount to MNT_BOOT (/mnt/boot
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Using device.boot: /dev/mmcblk0p1 and FS: vfat
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Preseed file found, will attempt to parse
Thu Jan 1 00:00:17 1970 Found a definition for storage: usb
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 Creating root partition
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 From a root partition of /dev/sda1, I have deduced a base device of /dev/sda
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 Must mklabel as root fs is on another device
Thu Jan 1 00:01:18 1970 Going to mklabel with device: /dev/sda with a label type of MSDOS
Thu Jan 1 00:01:19 1970 Calling mkpart for device: /dev/sda and fs: ext4 with start 4096s and end 100%
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Calling fmtpart for partition /dev/sda1 and fstype ext4
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Mounting root
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Trying to mount to MNT_ROOT (/mnt/root
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Using device.root: /dev/sda1
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Error occured trying to mount root of /dev/sda1
Thu Jan 1 00:01:20 1970 Halting Install. Error message was: can’t mount root
I’d suggest trying another USB disk for now if we don’t get any further reports of issues. This is certainly odd.
If you had a serial (UART) connection I would be able to help you diagnose this further. Perhaps we should print the output of the mount command when/if it fails. I’ll try get that in for the next release.
Cheers
Sam
Sadly, I don’t currently have a serial (UART) cable though I’d certainly be willing to pick one up. That wouldn’t happen for a day or two until I could get down the tech shop. Also, I am, unfortunately, out of handy USB sticks so… maybe, I’ll just try to run a straight SD install and see how well the 256 Pi performs under the new management. 
Sounds like a plan, let me know how it goes!