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+--- Thread: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? (/showthread.php?tid=8483)
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - electriccrowbar - 12-05-2019
(12-05-2019, 04:40 AM)danielt Wrote: ...
PS Soft bricking through bad images in either eMMC or SPI are pretty obvious... the power LED doesn't come on.
I'm sorry but I don't see this is a positive at all.
It gives no information to the user about a failure. If anything it misdirects them into thinking it's a hardware failure because the machine doesn't visibly power on and is entirely unresponsive.
I had this happen when my emmc got corrupted and thought the machine died on me until I attached a serial monitor.
I don't know uboot at all but I think ideally it would somehow indicate as early as possible that it's running. Less display drivers perhaps setting the power led to amber as early as it can and letting the linux kernel switch it to green would be a solution.
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - Arwen - 12-05-2019
There may be a way to re-load the eMMC drivers after using the switch, but waiting too long. I've not tested it, so can't say it will work. I have however, used something similar on my x86/x64 media server for changing it's MicroSD card. I basically call an un-bind and bind function.
If someone wants to test, I can supply the commands.
Eventually I will setup my RockPro64 and do my own testing. No telling when I will have time.
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - dazld - 12-06-2019
@Arwen that would be helpful, I can't seem to find the right 2 second spot to make the MMC visible to the OS without booting off it.
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - danielt - 12-06-2019
(12-05-2019, 06:06 PM)electriccrowbar Wrote:(12-05-2019, 04:40 AM)danielt Wrote: ...
PS Soft bricking through bad images in either eMMC or SPI are pretty obvious... the power LED doesn't come on.
I'm sorry but I don't see this is a positive at all.
It gives no information to the user about a failure. If anything it misdirects them into thinking it's a hardware failure because the machine doesn't visibly power on and is entirely unresponsive.
Agreed. I didn't mean to imply that it's positive! As it happens I can usually tell power comes on by the high frequency noises the board makes... but I'm getting older and don't expect to be able to hear that for much longer
.It's more that if the light does come on then the board probably *isn't* soft bricked. In other words, whether it is a great user experience or not, it is good to know what we learn from watching the lights.
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - Arwen - 12-06-2019
@dazld Here you go:
Un-TESTED!!!! Use at your own risk. This is from the default Debian, but may
work on others.
While powered off, switch eMMC to disabled state. Then power on. If the user
is not fast enough with the switch to enabled state, the OS image on the SD card
won't see the eMMC. Thus, it may be needed to un-bind and re-bind the eMMC driver.
Note, it is still REQUIRED to enable the eMMC via the hardware switch. These
instruction below, MAY allow the OS to find it after boot.
The first 2 outputs may show nothing, which could happen if OS thinks the eMMC
does not exist. The 3rd command checks and sees if it's possible to unbind and bind.
Lines 4 & 5 are the real work. Though again, line 4 may not do anything if the device
is already un-bound.
Code:
# blockdev --getsize64 /dev/mmcblk1
125069950976
# readlink /sys/block/mmcblk1
../devices/platform/fe330000.sdhci/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:0001/block/mmcblk1
# ls /sys/bus/platform/drivers/sdhci-arasan
bind fe330000.sdhci uevent unbind
# echo fe330000.sdhci >/sys/bus/platform/drivers/sdhci-arasan/unbind
# echo fe330000.sdhci >/sys/bus/platform/drivers/sdhci-arasan/bindRE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - wvdschel - 12-06-2019
(12-04-2019, 04:38 PM)Surehand53 Wrote: Have you solved it ?
I solved it in a roundabout way, I connected a TV over USB-C, at which point I got a picture out of it (as a second display).
Not sure what the problem was, but reflashing Debian to the eMMC fixed it for now, and I haven't had time to investigate further.
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - dazld - 12-07-2019
@Arwen thank you! those instructions worked fine. I managed to write a new image to the emmc, enabling it after booting off sd card!
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - Arwen - 12-07-2019
(12-07-2019, 04:02 AM)dazld Wrote: @Arwen thank you! those instructions worked fine. I managed to write a new image to the emmc, enabling it after booting off sd card!
Great, your welcome. After cleaning up the instructions, I'll put it on the Wiki. That way if someone asks, we can send them to the Wiki with 2 methods. The first with the 2 second delay. And the second, this unbind / rebind method if they were not fast enough switching back.
Hopefully I'll be able to test it myself. That way I can get the wording and possible output correct.
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - Firestorm - 12-13-2019
I'm sorry but I'm a little confused with the different images and flashing options.
So far, I have taken the Manjaro ARM RC 4 image (the normal, not eMMC one) and used balenaEtcher to write that image onto an microSD card.
The machine boots just fine and it all works.
Now, if I want to actually install Manjaro ARM permanently onto the PinebookPro, that is into the eMMC. What exact image do I need to put exactly where?
I thought the answer would be trivial but reading this thread gave me some doubts
And besides, what happened to good old: "plug a USB stick with the OS image in, start the machine, click install, follow instructions..."?
RE: Bricked PBP after writing image to eMMC? - tophneal - 12-13-2019
(12-13-2019, 10:33 AM)Firestorm Wrote: I'm sorry but I'm a little confused with the different images and flashing options.
So far, I have taken the Manjaro ARM RC 4 image (the normal, not eMMC one) and used balenaEtcher to write that image onto an microSD card.
The machine boots just fine and it all works.
Now, if I want to actually install Manjaro ARM permanently onto the PinebookPro, that is into the eMMC. What exact image do I need to put exactly where?
I thought the answer would be trivial but reading this thread gave me some doubts
And besides, what happened to good old: "plug a USB stick with the OS image in, start the machine, click install, follow instructions..."?
You can use the same image from your Manjaro SD. The easiest way would be to install Etcher in Manjaro, download the image you want to flash, and use Etcher to write it. You can also use dd through the terminal.
However, if you opt to write the Manjaro PBP eMMC image, if I recall correctly, it will boot like the SD image with the option to install directly to your eMMC. (That's how it worked for the eMMC image on the PB1080P, you could boot like a LiveUSB and if you made any changes, the eMMC installer would carry them over.) I'd suggest using this one to write to your eMMC.
That particular method has been discussed in several other threads. If I recall correctly, that is currently limited by booting firmware of ARM boards. It is an intended goal for ARM, down the line, though.
For further clarification, I'd suggest heading over the the Manjaro Arm forums. They're very friendly and helpful.