MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote

sdetweil

@Kastore can u show us the address: value in config.js, there was a security fix which changed the default

address: “” means localhost, ONLY stuff ON the same machine(localhost) can access the mirror app
u need to change to
address:“0.0.0.0” (or some other specific address if u want tighter control (this means anyone, and was the accidental default before)

if u got enough storage from pm2 flush, you are in big trouble. you should examine and clear whatever u don’t need.

So I ran updates via the commands, restarted and hoped it would work

git pull
npm install


if u have modules installed that contain a 'package.json' file, then THEY TOO need 
an npm install done in each such module folder..

the new upgrade script handles all that for future updates 
see https://github.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts

Kastore

@sdetweil

~~

~~@Kastore can u show us the address: value in config.js, there was a security fix which changed the default~~

~~address: “” means localhost, ONLY stuff ON the same machine(localhost) can access the mirror app~~
~~u need to change to~~
~~address:“0.0.0.0” (or some other specific address if u want tighter control (this means anyone, and was the accidental default before)~~

Not really sure how that connect to the problem with the remote? (just being curious)
The Pi is included in the network and I access it via the remotedesktop app from Windows. Just entering the name of the Pi and then name + password.

For some reason I now got access to the remote again… Not really sure why. BUT I may have entered the user name in capital letters and not lower case. ._.

Well… one problem down at least

if u got enough storage from pm2 flush, you are in big trouble. you should examine and clear whatever u don’t need.

Well I think I never cleared the logs in about 2y time or so. So… that was a bit of a problem. Plus i had 3 previous versions of the MM in the trashbin… those where the bigger problem. The pm2 flush made about 2gb, the trash-empty about 6gb

if u have modules installed that contain a ‘package.json’ file, then THEY TOO need
an npm install done in each such module folder…

But the problem had already been even prior to updating anything. (MM being stuck on booting)

sdetweil

@Kastore said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

Not really sure how that connect to the problem with the remote? (just being curious)

there are two remote access…

you can ssh to the console, independent of any app
and u can connect to an app (MagicMirror), independent of using ssh.

I was responding to this statement

The mirror is however still not accessable via remote and the MM is also stuck on the booting.

there are two things there that aren’t quite clear

mirror and MM

I just worked on my pi4 which had hung, and would not boot to the graphical desktop
I had run out of space. I could ssh and boot to the commandline (console mode)

it turns out two /var/log files (kern.log and syslog) had consumed all the space
even after erasing them…

this command showed me that the two files were being held open,

sudo lsof +L1

so I rebooted and disk space usage dropped from 100% to 25%

Kastore

@sdetweil said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

@Kastore said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

Not really sure how that connect to the problem with the remote? (just being curious)

there are two remote access…

you can ssh to the console, independent of any app
and u can connect to an app (MagicMirror), independent of using ssh.

I was responding to this statement

The mirror is however still not accessable via remote and the MM is also stuck on the booting.

there are two things there that aren’t quite clear

mirror and MM

Sorry for causing a confussion. What I meant was: I want to remotly access the Raspberry Pi via the remotedestop app from w10.

That issue has been resolved since - of course - the problem sat infront of the keyboard… like ever other problem always does ^^’

I now got access to the Pi again.

Did that clear it up?

I just worked on my pi4 which had hung, and would not boot to the graphical desktop
I had run out of space. I could ssh and boot to the commandline (console mode)

I did the same and plugged in my keyboard to the Pi directly. Pressed CTRL ALT F2 and logged in there. That is how I gained access and realized that the SD card was full.

That issue has also been resolved. I had the bin still full and the pm2 flush command.

So the remaining two are

The software MagicMirror 2 is stuck in “Booting” and has rc-services.local on the bottom right
the console is still showing and i cant exit it (The CTRL+ALT+F1)

sdetweil

@Kastore said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

The software MagicMirror 2 is stuck in “Booting” and has rc-services.local on the bottom right
the console is still showing and i cant exit it (The CTRL+ALT+F1)

‘booting’ is another word… that means from hardware power on…

so, it sounds like the hardware boot is failing, but u say u can access…

rc-services.local that has nothing to do with MagicMirror, it is an OS file…

the console is still shown?

so, are you booting your pi in console mode? use raspi-config to change that back to Desktop mode

Kastore

@sdetweil said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

@Kastore said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

The software MagicMirror 2 is stuck in “Booting” and has rc-services.local on the bottom right
the console is still showing and i cant exit it (The CTRL+ALT+F1)

‘booting’ is another word… that means from hardware power on…

Just quoting what it says on the screen. The Pi is starting and running (sub 5% on idle - 40% on npm installs). After restarting the 4 berries show, the starting screen shows (“desktop”) quick and then the MagicMirror 2 application launches.

The APP however displays “MagicMirror 2 - booting” and keeps being stuck in this state

(did that clear it up?)

so, it sounds like the hardware boot is failing, but u say u can access…

rc-services.local that has nothing to do with MagicMirror, it is an OS file…

Again - just citing what it shows

the console is still shown?

so, are you booting your pi in console mode? use raspi-config to change that back to Desktop mode

Aaaaaah! And I thought I need to press some fancy combinations -.-’

Went to
sudo raspi-config and changed the setting.

So only the “booting” issue is still active

sdetweil

@Kastore said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

The APP however displays “MagicMirror 2 - booting” and keeps being stuck in this state

how does MM start at boot? from using pm2? or some other mechanism?

mine use pm2, and I have never seen that message

a search on google shows that its probably a bad edit of /etc/rc.local (my guess is to add start at boot)
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=246236
restore the rc.local and use the pm2 setup script here https://github.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts

I have seen the splash screen that says booting, but the desktop hasn’t started yet…

Kastore

@sdetweil Yes excatly that one shows up and didnt go anywhere.

HOWEVER - Problems resolved.

–

I am using pm2 so i went and redid the autostart file (mm.sh and so on) [the shell script?]

After that I restarted and the Pi

started
showed the splash (see above)
showed the desktop
[I got that wrong apparently]
loaded the MagicMirror 2 app [bit slow but it loaded]

I really got no idea as to why it now works again :D

–

regarding the pm2-flush. You said that is a big issue? Any idea how i can maintain the Pi properly?

sdetweil

@Kastore said in MM stuck on boot up - cant connect via remote:

I really got no idea as to why it now works again

i bet it was because you were in console mode… raspi-config fixed that

I would build a regular set of steps to logon and check where disk is used
this will give u top 5

du -a / 2>/dev/null | sort -n -r | head -n 5

but if the pm2 logs are the disk space consumer, u need a bigger memory card

u should generally not run all the time over 75-80% usage

Kastore

@sdetweil
Well the issue with the Pi being stuck at the splash was already happening before the console… maybe it was multiple things?

The pi started up and forced me to log in suddenly (no clue why). That is what got me started on checking the SD card. Since i didnt get access via remote (“wrong” username) I had to swap to console, deleted files and couldnt figure out how to get back.

It works again ^^

–

Regarding the disk-space. I got a 16 gb sd card.

However it was the 3-4 previous versions of MM2 I forgot to delete from the bin.

I will keep an eye on it and hopefully never run into that problem ^^’

–

Really appreciate the help! Thanks alot and big thumbs up to the community here!

Also added the “solutions” to the first post so people may be able to find a quick solution as well.