As best as I can tell and recall, I unfortunately ran "sudo apt dist-upgrade" in the wrong terminal session, and now my pinebook no longer boots. I get a green power icon, but nothing else - no bios(?) or splash screen, no caps lock light - just a blank, black screen. So, no options to select a different boot media or the other options I have found while searching the forum.
Any advice or guidance, or forum posts or other resources I should reference to get this laptop back up and running?
Thank you.
I don't have a Pinebook so I probably can't help you directly, but it's likely useful to specify which OS and version you are/were running. "apt" only indicates it's a Debian *based* system.
I was running Ubuntu Mate 20.04 (Focal Fossa) when I ran the apt dist-upgrade command and then did not come back after the reboot to finish the upgrade/update process.
What OS were your running, Debian? (nvm, found your post with this info in the mod queue)
Have you already tried to boot from an SD? You may be able to chroot into your main drive from the booted SD and repair your main install.
(04-12-2023, 10:50 AM)tophneal Wrote: [ -> ]What OS were your running, Debian? (nvm, found your post with this info in the mod queue)
Have you already tried to boot from an SD? You may be able to chroot into your main drive from the booted SD and repair your main install.
The laptop does not let me get that far to chose different boot options, it does not post - just a blank/black screen.
I get a green power indicator but nothing displays on the screen.
Is there any key press combination to load or boot up different options like hardware test, or a busybox like environment, or force a boot up to the SD card?
(04-12-2023, 12:01 PM)rjtanner Wrote: [ -> ]The laptop does not let me get that far to chose different boot options, it does not post - just a blank/black screen.
I get a green power indicator but nothing displays on the screen.
Is there any key press combination to load or boot up different options like hardware test, or a busybox like environment, or force a boot up to the SD card?
The Pinebook Pro does not utilize a BIOS/UEFI, but instead uboot, so usually there is no boot device selection screen (outside of using Towboot.) To boot an SD, download a live image from the wiki, use an app like Etcher, or dd, to write the image to the sd. After the image is written to the card, insert it into the PBP microSD slot, then boot the PBP. If the uboot isn't damaged, it should prioritize booting from the SD over the eMMC.
(04-12-2023, 01:02 PM)tophneal Wrote: [ -> ]The Pinebook Pro does not utilize a BIOS/UEFI, but instead uboot, so usually there is no boot device selection screen (outside of using Towboot.) To boot an SD, download a live image from the wiki, use an app like Etcher, or dd, to write the image to the sd. After the image is written to the card, insert it into the PBP microSD slot, then boot the PBP. If the uboot isn't damaged, it should prioritize booting from the SD over the eMMC.
I followed the instructions for writing a live image to the SD card. The laptop still will not boot or post when trying to boot from the SD.
I am buying a new SD card tonight just to make sure that is not part of the problem here and will post my findings later tonight or tomorrow.
On a side note, how bad is it if uboot is damaged?
Is this a Pinebook or Pinebook Pro?
If a Pinebook Pro, you'll have to disable the eMMC to boot to micro-SD card. Then you can re-enable the eMMC and overwrite the U-Boot. I don't know anything about the Pinebook.
This is a Pine64 laptop, not the Pinebook Pro.
(04-12-2023, 10:19 PM)rjtanner Wrote: [ -> ]This is a Pine64 laptop, not the Pinebook Pro.
Well they make two. One is the Pinebook, the other is the Pinebook Pro. So yours is a Pinebook, I presume?