Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT not initialising

Users
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1

Booting Ubuntu 20.04 LTS “Focal Fossa” on UEFI Firmware v1.32 cannot initialise the Raspberry Pi 4 PoE+ hat / fan. The former PoE hat fan seems to be driven differently and works with the above software / firmware combo. Not sure what initialises the newer PoE+ hat / fan or what can be done, is there a missing package or command that can be injected via cloud-init?

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I too have this issue. I’ve looked at various RPI utilities for controlling fans but none of them seem happy on the generic ubuntu with UEFI. I think such tools expect to find specific device names.

I’ll post anything else I find out.

Thanks for the tip that the old hat works though. I’ve read a couple of reviews that say it is better anyway (unless you need lots of power)

3

@tu630c please can you report if the former PoE hat adjusts fan speed? And just to make sure, is this the PoE you have with working fan? https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-power-over-ethernet-poe-hat

4

Just grabbed another old PoE (2018) hat off the shelf, does not initialise. The one I referenced earlier is on flat out, assume its not initialising just stuck on. The PoE+ hat switching supply becomes extremely hot without cooling.

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Yes, the RPI processor gets too hot under load as well. Before PoE I used passive cooling cases which were great, but not an option with the hat on. So we need a cooling solution for this setup.

BTW how are you power controlling your PoE from MAAS? I just posted this https://gilesknap.github.io/maaspower/main/explanations/devicetypes.html#web-gui-control

6

Using a Unifi PoE switch remotely, eventually was planning to use the Unifi controller API to power cycle them. Without fan cooling will have to tie in PoE+ fire extinguishers to use Ubuntu Arm on these…

7

You are ahead on power management via the switch, that is pretty brilliant.

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PoE fire extinguishers :laughing:

If you are going to do a Unifi API interface, you might consider adding it to https://gilesknap.github.io/maaspower. The framework is all there and instructions for adding new API support is here https://gilesknap.github.io/maaspower/main/how-to/addapi.html

(mind you if Unifi has a CLI then you are already covered)

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FYI, I’m also working on building my own custom OS image for MAAS. I have it working for x86 and if I can make it work for Arm64 I may be able to base it on the official RPI ubuntu. That might help with issues like this fan problem. But I’m unclear if the UEFI will get in the way of that.

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@tu630c I get the impression from your post that you worked out your own method of making RPI work with MAAS. Have you seen this https://maas.io/tutorials/build-your-own-bare-metal-cloud-using-a-raspberry-pi-cluster-with-maas#1-overview ??

I’d be interested in your comments on what you did differently from the above.

Thanks!

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I actually followed your work (https://github.com/gilesknap/IaC-at-home/blob/main/nas/03-maas/RaspiMASS.md) and just had it up and running last night. Great job mate, first rate. Have been working on this 6 months when I stumbled on MAAS and the work being done here. Had the lab mostly up in about a week. On to solve the cooling and power issues. I am determined to operate these Pi’s with one cable.

12

I actually bought a UA subscription to use the private PPA to shoehorn a raspbian image into MAAS to get around the cooling issue, but to date no ubuntu rep has given me access to the private PPA that enables the maas-image-builder so I am left dismantling raspbians exec on what exactly is being done to init the new PoE hat. It is interesting the complexity of the newer PoE+ model, it even has a ready indicator to tell you that it is active.

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@anton5mith Is there any chance you can help @tu630c with the PPA access he mentions above? It’s for the RPi Bramble Cause! :slight_smile:

(https://www.reddit.com/r/BareMetal/comments/tajfeb/maasberry_pi_building_an_rpi_bramble_with_maas/)

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@tu630c If you can’t get the PPA access you could also have a go at following what I’m trying - I would certainly like a 2nd pair of eyes on this https://github.com/gilesknap/IaC-at-home/tree/main/imagebuild (its been on hold for a week while I get PoE control working)

See link at the very end for progress on Arm64.

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hi, for some reason I can’t see any comment there when I click that link :frowning:

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Hmmm, I think I have made a confusing post. I put the link to Bramble post for tu630c’s benefit.

The query about PPAs is just above here Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT not initialising

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Oh, sorry. I am tired! I just booted a server under my desk inSweden from a MAAS-in-the-Cloud (in a GCP VM) in Australia. I’m going to write that up soon.

Anyway - about the PPA access, two things:

  1. if you paid for UA-I then you should get access to MIB. Have you contacted support and nagged them? Otherwise, PM me with your details.
  2. we are moving towards packer based images. So if you really want to do a custom image, you should try to do it with packer anyway.
2 Likes
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Packer: that’s cool because it is what is used in my earlier link https://github.com/gilesknap/IaC-at-home/tree/main/imagebuild.

MAAS in the cloud: I want one! :slight_smile:

1 Like
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We can all have a MAAS in the cloud :heart_eyes:

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Does your GCP VM incur charges or does it sit under the free usage?