PINE64

Hi All:

I've installed the following CentOS 7 image onto an SD card which successfully boots the RockPro64 with 4 Gb RAM and eMMC card:

    Centos-7.4.1708 with kernel from Armbian-5.67.img.xz

It was downloaded directly from the Project31 GitHub web page:

    https://project31.github.io/pine64/

After first boot the /root/finish-centos-install.sh script was run to complete setup.

Then GNOME was installed with the following command which completes successfully:
    
Next, attempt to launch GNOME using the command:

It fails to launch due to a segmentation fault from "dmidecode" shown below:
Jan 18 08:50:35 localhost nm-dispatcher: req:3 'connectivity-change': start running ordered scripts...
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Bad mode in Error handler detected, code 0xbf000000 -- SError
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Internal error: Oops - bad mode: 0 [#1] SMP
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Modules linked in: af_packet xt_tcpudp ip6t_rpfilter ipt_REJECT nf_reject_ipv4 ip6t_REJECT nf_reject_ipv6 xt_conntrack ip_set nfnetlink ebtable_nat ebtable_broute bridge stp llc ip6table_nat nf_conntrack_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_nat_ipv6 ip6table_mangle ip6table_security ip6table_raw iptable_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_defrag_ipv4 nf_nat_ipv4 nf_nat nf_conntrack iptable_mangle iptable_security iptable_raw ebtable_filter ebtables ip6table_filter ip6_tables iptable_filter dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log snd_soc_rockchip_hdmi_dp ip_tables x_tables autofs4
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: CPU: 5 PID: 727 Comm: dmidecode Not tainted 4.4.166-rockchip64 #17
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Hardware name: Pine64 RockPro64 (DT)
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: task: ffffffc0e9475400 task.stack: ffffffc0e941c000
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: PC is at 0x7f8cc65cd0
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: LR is at 0x7f8cc65ca0
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: pc : [<0000007f8cc65cd0>] lr : [<0000007f8cc65ca0>] pstate: a0000000
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: sp : 0000007fc7ebf2f0
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x29: 0000007fc7ebf2f0 x28: 0000000000000000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x27: 0000000000010000 x26: 0000007f8cbc1000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x25: 0000005575e22720 x24: 0000005575e3f000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x23: 0000000000000000 x22: 0000000000010000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x21: 0000007f8cbc1000 x20: 00000055ae82f010 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x19: 00000055ae82f010 x18: 0000007fc7ebf390 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x17: 0000007f8cc65be0 x16: 0000005575e3fe40 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x15: 0000000000005788 x14: 0000007f8cbe2a94 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000008 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x11: 0000005575e22720 x10: 0000007f8cbe4c28 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x9 : 000000000008ab48 x8 : 00000000000000de 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x7 : 0000000000000023 x6 : 000000000000007c 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x5 : 00000000000f0000 x4 : 0000000000000000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000002000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x1 : 0000007f8cbc1000 x0 : 00000055ae82f008 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Process dmidecode (pid: 727, stack limit = 0xffffffc0e941c000)
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: ---[ end trace 5795f018d82a6a48 ]---

The same segmentation fault occurs at the command line if "dmidecode" is run by itself.

Re-booting, 'yum update'. or starting over with a new SD card does not help.

Has anyone else had the same problem trying to install and run GNOME (or KDE) on CentOS on RockPro64?

This issue is a real blocker trying to get a graphical interface up and running.

Any hints or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

I'm also having `dmidecode`-related issues on my Pinebook Pro.

I use Puppet to configure my system. Puppet uses a tool called `facter` to gather information about the system. And `facter`, among other things, calls `dmidecode`. On my Pinebook Pro, calling `dmidecode` crashes the system. The power LED starts flashing with an amber light, and nothing works.

This happens both when running the standard Debian-based distribution which came with the Pinebook Pro, and the stock Debian setup from https://github.com/daniel-thompson/pineb...installer/

Something similar has been reported on Ubuntu 18.04: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sourc...ug/1821632

It looks like `dmidecode` is broken on ARM systems. A commit was added to the `dmidecode` Git repo in August 2019 which seems to fix the issue: http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/dmid...8a5cf5ec1d

I have compiled `dmidecode` with the latest sources from http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/dmidecode.git/log/ and the problem is gone.

I had the same problem but did not get a reply. Tried only with default Debian. Comment to follow up the thread

Why are we attempting to convince you to move to Gnome 3? KDE, Xfce, Budgie, and Mate are likely to provide you with a more enjoyable experience. It's a matter of taste. These posts appear every now and then, and the message is always the same: "pick the desktop you want," and in this case, Gnome 3 is clearly not for you. It isn't for me, either.

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You can test this with the following command. If you receive output that looks similar to above, then you have the same issue.

The dmidecode program is used to retrieve BIOS information from a Linux machine. If you are experiencing the segmentation fault when running either GNOME or KDE, you can resolve this issue by installing the dmidecode package.
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