Error when installing Ubuntu Mate 20.04.2 LTS on Raspberry Pi 3B+

Support & Help Requests Raspberry Pi
#1

I have been trying to install Ubuntu Mate 20.04 on a Raspberry Pi 3B+.

I was just following this tutorial, but I was facing some problems.

I downloaded the Ubuntu Mate 20.04.2 image from the official website. I selected the 32-bit version 20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa). I extracted the image and flashed it to a micro-SD 64GB class 10 using balenaEtcher.

When this was done, I inserted the micro-SD card in the Raspberry Pi 3B+, connected a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard and then powered it with a micro USB charger.

The following errors appeared in the screen:

[Firmware Bug]: Bootloader left irq enabled: bank 1 irq 9
cma: CMA area linux,cma could not be activated
DMA: failed to allocate 1024 KiB pool for atomic coherent allocation
kvm [1]: Error, CPU 0 not supported!
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 0 config (-12 80)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 1 config (-12 81)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 2 config (-12 82)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 3 config (-12 83)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 4 config (-12 84)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 5 config (-12 85)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 6 config (-12 86)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 7 config (-12 87)
spi-bcm2835 3f204000.spi: could not get clk: -517
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 2 config (-12 82)
raspberrypi-exp-gpio soc:firmware:expgpio: Failed to get GPIO 2 config (-12 82)
bcm2835_vchiq 3f00b840.mailbox: could not allocate DMA memory
spi-bcm2835 3f204000.spi: cannot prepare fill_tx_desc - not using DMA mode
sdhost: failed to allocate log buf

After waiting for about 3 minutes, the screen went black and after some more time I eventually got the installation screen to select the language. However, the keyboard and mouse were not working, so I was not able to continue the process. I tried with different USB power sources (all of them 5V and between 2000 mA and 2600 mA), tried the four different USB ports of the Raspberry, and tried connecting only the mouse or only the keyboard. Nothing helped.

I also tried the 64-bit version, also without luck.

Eventually, I gave it a try with version 20.10 (Groovy Gorilla). I followed exactly the same steps, and with this version all problems disappeared.

Unfortunately, since I want to install ROS, I cannot use 20.10. I need version 20.04.2 for that.

Any ideas about why the installation with version 20.04.2 fails?
Is there any way to get that version installed?

#2

Me too. Then I choose ubuntu 20.10, other people said ubuntu18 then update

#3

This error was reported a couple of times on this server. I personally experienced it when trying to flash a fresh image on the SD-card. There seems to be something wrong with the image, but it never gets corrected. The only solution I found was to flash the Ubuntu 18 and then run the distribution upgrade to 20.04. Only then it worked.

#4

Not an answer to your question but I highly recommend getting a Pi4 maybe with additional ram like 2G or 4G. The difference in speed, efficiency, video, etc. is tremendoys,

1 Like
#5

That's right, and I succeed in this way. Thanks for your help.

2 Likes
#6

This advice is useless. I am searching for an older working Ubuntu Mate distribution that can be installed on Raspi 3 model B. Unfortunately, the Ubuntu makers appear to throw away their older versions. I am hardly trying to download from somewhere version 16 of Ubuntu Mate for Raspi 3 Mod B- this i know it was working...Ofcourse if you offer to buy me an Raspi 4.. be my guest..

#7

one thing I have done on my pi3+ is to install ubuntu server & then install the mate desktop on top of it.

#8

I have news. I found that the link provided in Raspberry site : Install Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi | Ubuntu- are conducting to image files that will not work on your Pi3 ModB device. You need to search deeper into Ubuntu archive FTP´s and you´ll find a proper image that really works. I have found and installed version 16.04 armhf that works ok, version 18. that also works. Just don´t follow that link.

#9

For Ubuntu MATE for Raspberry Pi 3 Mod B try this link:
https://releases.ubuntu-mate.org/archived/

1 Like
#10

thanks for the link. I was having issues from ubuntu-mates iso file from the main page. my Pi 3 B would take forever to load, and once running it was always frozen or take forever to do a move. I Installed 18.04 arm64. Now it works so smooth.