I just got a brand new RockPro64 yesterday and I have not been able to get it to boot. I've tried several different OS images (OMV, Ubuntu, Debian, and Armbian). I've tried 2 different microSD cards. I've tried prepping the microSD cards using Ubuntu and MacOS, using built in tools and Etcher.
I get the same results no matter what I do:
- The green power LED turns on
- Ethernet lights turn on, and blink as if there is activity but never appears on my network.
- If I hold down the power button the ethernet lights turn off
I am definitely using RockPro64 OS images.
Am I doing something wrong or did I get a bad board?
::UPDATE::
I sent the board back to the store I bought it from and they determined that it had a faulty MicroSD card reader.
Turns the whit LED on? Do you have an working UART adapter?
(01-05-2019, 11:02 PM)randyc Wrote: [ -> ]I just got a brand new RockPro64 yesterday and I have not been able to get it to boot. I've tried several different OS images (OMV, Ubuntu, Debian, and Armbian). I've tried 2 different microSD cards. I've tried prepping the microSD cards using Ubuntu and MacOS, using built in tools and Etcher.
I get the same results no matter what I do:
- The green power LED turns on
- Ethernet lights turn on, and blink as if there is activity but never appears on my network.
- If I hold down the power button the ethernet lights turn off
I am definitely using RockPro64 OS images.
Am I doing something wrong or did I get a bad board?
My waters say your board is OK. It could be the SDcard slot is non-functional, or your SDcard writing is duff (yeaf I hear you have maultiple/many tries!)
Green LED means your PSU works as far as the socket on the RPro64
Flashing Ethernet lights mean the board is trying to boot BUT
NO white LED means no bootable image found.
As per Bullet64 tracing with a UART adapter would be ideal. But - my 6p is
1) Stick to the Ubuntu minimal image
here.
2) Check
this thread.
(01-06-2019, 01:09 AM)Bullet64 Wrote: [ -> ]Turns the whit LED on? Do you have an working UART adapter?
No white LEDs. And no, unfortunately I don't have an UART adapter either.
(01-06-2019, 10:35 AM)dukla2000 Wrote: [ -> ]My waters say your board is OK. It could be the SDcard slot is non-functional, or your SDcard writing is duff (yeaf I hear you have maultiple/many tries!)
Green LED means your PSU works as far as the socket on the RPro64
Flashing Ethernet lights mean the board is trying to boot BUT
NO white LED means no bootable image found.
As per Bullet64 tracing with a UART adapter would be ideal. But - my 6p is
1) Stick to the Ubuntu minimal image here.
2) Check this thread.
I just tried the Ubuntu minimal image and same result - completely unresponsive other than green power light and ethernet lights.
I read through the linked thread but unfortunately it seems there was never a confirmed resolution by the OP?
Thanks to both of you for trying to help.
(01-07-2019, 06:02 AM)dukla2000 Wrote: [ -> ]Had an off-the-wall thought - presume you do not have an eMMC? If you do, remove it as it has boot preference. (Or it is perfectly possible to flash an image to it as per this thread.)
In any event, jumper the eMMC and SPI to prevent them interfering with an SDcard boot. Arguably in a previous life someone messed with the SPI on your board.
Yeah, I don't have an eMMC. I tried the jumper(s) and still had the same result. I contacted the store I bought the board from and they've set me up with an RMA. Hopefully I'll have better luck with a new one.
Thanks for trying to help!
::UPDATE::
I sent the board back to the store I bought it from and they determined that it had a faulty MicroSD card reader.
I got my new RockPro64 today.
I couldn't get it to boot either. The lights were on, but no-one was home.
Then, after swapping out the SD card for a premium one, it worked!
Spent the evening flashing images, ahem.
Nice board, I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but thats part of the fun!
Thanks to all the devs for all their hard work
Great to hear
!
Yeah I've seen various threads of people having trouble booting from SD card. Even when using the Pine64 installer. The reality of it is, SD cards are just super unreliable in general. I have had great luck with a new 32 Gb Sandisk SD card fresh out of the box from WalMart. Any image I want flashes/ boots fine onto it using the Pine64 installer.
On the other hand, I have had ZERO luck trying to flash a 32 Gb PNY card that I used to use in a mobile phone. I don't know if using it in an Android phone does something to it to screw of the file-system or what, but no luck whatsoever with that card. I even tried formatting it with 'fdisk' to try to clean it with no luck.
So point being, anyone having trouble booting from an SD card, if it is not a new card, and you used it in a mobile phone or some other device previously, I STRONGLY recommend trying to flash a brand new card. Try it before you decide you have a bad board. Most likely it is the SD card you are using and not your new board (although to be fair,
had a bad board according to the manufacturer, but I'm guessing this is the minority of cases).
Knowing now how unreliable SD cards are (for example read -->
https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=3554), long term I certainly plan on buying the PCIe adapter and hooking my board up to a nice SSD hard drive. I really like the board so far, and I'd like to set it up as a reliable home dev server, and not worry about the SD card taking a shit on me.