[Tiny-tux] question about flashing SD cards

[Alison Chaiken]

All right, you guys are as liable to know the answer as anybody.

I've been having problems creating images on SD cards reproducibly.
Sometimes I get bootloader errors when I've only changed the root
filesystem (using Kickstart) and have made no (intentional) changes to
/boot, which contains uboot.    Listing /boot using a USB flashcard
writer plugged into my top shows the same files in working cards as in
non-working ones.    The working cards always boot and the non-working
ones never boot, so the problem is not that the board itself is
unreliable.

Questions:
1. Is there a general-purpose validation method (like a CRC) for
checking the /boot filesystems or at least comparing the working ones
to the non-working ones?    Can someone suggest an open source tool?

2. Are interruptions of the writing process a problem?    In other
words, should I be performing the writes with my laptop at runlevel 3
in single-user mode?   Presumably Ctrl-Zing out of an ongoing write
destroys the card, or no?

3. Anyone else have this problem or have other suggestions?

Thanks for any suggestions anyone might have.    And I'm interested in
carpooling up to the meetings too.   I'd definitely like to share a
ride for the 12/30 meeting.    My not particularly luxurious or clean
car could take 3 additional people.

-- 
Alison Chaiken
(650) 279-5600  (cell)
             http://www.exerciseforthereader.org/
Freedom is not an abstract concept in business. -- Bob Young, founder of Red Hat