Unable to start Pine

[MarkHaysHarris777]

@Topgun505, hi-- most of the time boot problems on the pine board are not boot problems at all;  to put that more succintly, 98% of the time the pine boards are booting just fine ( and running too ) but the hdmi output is not visible ( for any number of reasons, but usually the hdmi modes (15) are not supported by the hdmi device ).

An essential component to have on hand is a serial to usb ttl bridge adapter cable that may be plugged into another computer running terminal emulation software to give you access not only to the bootup record of the pineboard ( you can see it booting on the serial console ) but also give you logon access via the same serial console !

Often things can be fixed using the serial console so that hdmi will now work, or so that the network interface will work allowing ssh or vnc control of the pine board remote ( there are other permutations of this theme ).

You gain access to the serial console of the pine board via the EXP header on pins 7, 8 , & 9.  pin(7 Tx), pin(8 Rx), pin(9 ground).  On the serial cable the green wire plugs into pin(8), the white wire plugs into pin(7), and the black wire plugs into pin(9).  The red wire (5v+) plugs into NOTHING! (very important).

You can use a terminal emulation program like minicom, or screen, from your notebook computer (or other PC) then when you boot your pine board the boot process logs will show up on the serial console and eventually you will get a login prompt.   

Give it a try.

[Topgun505]

Topgun505,

Welcome aboard!  As mentioned, you're going to learn lots and quickly.  Your first lesson being: "WTF???!"  Ahh.. the subtle joys of hacking!

Now.  My first PB (pine boot) was from an early 8 gig image onto a card that was supposed to be 64GB.  Got it at "Best Buy."  Thought it was a sandisk.  It turned out to be a waste of money.  Just dd'ng that image onto the card worked fine, it was only 8 gb into it.  When I expanded the partitions to use the whole card, that's when card i/o errors started popping up and the whole thing failed.

Went and got a 32GB class 10 sandisk from WalMart, imaged it with"xubuntu-xenial-mate-20160528-longsleep-pine64-8GB.img", and it worked.  

Like it's been said, the pine64 does not have a bios.  It doesn't post.  My display is an hdtv, hdmi 1.4.  The thing about hdmi is hdcp.  Unless the connection clears an encryption handshake, it's not going to display.  So unless the boot gets past that, you'll not see a thing.

I'm betting that if you are using an hdtv, the input shows up and you're able to pick it, but then it goes out.  hdcp.  Sucks.

Anyway, I use GNU/Linux to burn my images, dcfldd specifically.  And just to avoid complications, I do it from a tty device, not from within a window manager.  dd is the goto tool for this stuff.  But so far as I know, Windows doesn't have it.

Because your ARE now using GNU/Linux, I recommend you set up your main pc to dual boot W#/Linux.  Ubuntu is the most accessible distribution I've used, and it is popular because it is easy and full blown GNU/Linux.  (It doesn't try to look or be like Windows.)

The pine64 sits inside a number of categories, including embedded computing (due to the arm64/AArch64 cpu), and there are goobs of things you can do with this board.

In case you suspect a doa (pretty sure is isn't), you can access it through the top usb port, which is an OTG port, and so long as there in NO microSD card in it, do a FEL Boot:

Code:

https://linux-sunxi.org/FEL/USBBoot

will get you started, and that will give a sanity check on the pine64.  You'll need an "A plug" to "A plug" cable, which is not common.  I've been looking for an easy way to sanity check these boards, and there are a number of ways to do that, but none of them are "easy," using stuff an ordinary user would have on hand.  (Which drives a point: you are no longer an ordinary user.)  ssh was mentioned, but that likely does not work if hdcp is failing, which it is.  I've only suggested the FEL boot because I've done it, and it verified the board for me, at which point I proceeded to get a good image onto a good microSD, and now it works.

I do not know how much you know, about this stuff, though I see you've said you are new to GNU/Linux.  This can be overwhelming at first, cause you know how to do stuff in "dos" but now you're in linux.  It is almost easier, I think, if you knew nothing at all, cause it will frustrate you when things work differently.  They are different here.  Better too, but you'll have to see that for yourself.

As is the case in all learning, none of this is hard once you're familiar with what you are doing, and what you are doing it with.  Booting to GNU/Linux and using that to work with this (pine64) overcomes many of your initial difficulties, because you'll be able to use the same tools used to build the pine64 in the first place.  Think of it as "leveling" on the quick.  This should help too:

Code:

https://learn.adafruit.com/what-is-the-command-line

Knowledge without experience is just an idea.  You're now becoming truly knowledgeable about computers.  Heck, later you can even build your own kernel!  Something you'll NEVER be able to do in M$.

Wow I sure do like to type....



David

To be totally honest I knew it wasn't going to be easy.  I knew learning a new system would take some time.  I had seen the steps to get the image on the SD card and it didn't seem that bad ... But if it is going to turn into a huge project JUST to get the bloody thing booted up it's almost starting to sound like more trouble than it's worth.  Sorry but I'm not setting my main pc in a duel boot mode just to get this thing up and working.  And the monitor currently being used is the only monitor I have available to try and get this thing working.

---

Don't mean to be snippy. To answer early questions ... no ... know ABSOLUTELY ZERO about Linux of any sort. Nor am I much on networking either so most of what has been suggested thus far has been largely greek to me and has just been rather frustrating.

[Ghost]

To be totally honest I knew it wasn't going to be easy.  I knew learning a new system would take some time.  I had seen the steps to get the image on the SD card and it didn't seem that bad ... But if it is going to turn into a huge project JUST to get the bloody thing booted up it's almost starting to sound like more trouble than it's worth...<edit> ...most of what has been suggested thus far has been largely greek to me and has just been rather frustrating.

Cutting to the chase, your issue is either your monitor, microSD, or power supply.

What is the resolution of your monitor? Can you try the Pine on a HD television instead?

$35 for a 128GB microSD is very cheap, good reviews or not. Cheap usually equals poor quality. Poor quality microSD cards are prone to failure and typically cannot handle the random I/O speeds required of running an operating system.

What power supply are you using?

[pfeerick]

To be totally honest I knew it wasn't going to be easy.  I knew learning a new system would take some time.  I had seen the steps to get the image on the SD card and it didn't seem that bad ... But if it is going to turn into a huge project JUST to get the bloody thing booted up it's almost starting to sound like more trouble than it's worth.  Sorry but I'm not setting my main pc in a duel boot mode just to get this thing up and working.  And the monitor currently being used is the only monitor I have available to try and get this thing working.
 To answer early questions ... no ... know ABSOLUTELY ZERO about Linux of any sort.  Nor am I much on networking either so most of what has been suggested thus far has been largely greek to me and has just been rather frustrating.

And you shouldn't need to put your machine in dual boot mode - that is really just a personal preference thing - and absolutely not a requirement.

There is no need to be apologise, coming into this cold turkey and having problems at this early stage would frustrate anyone! xD

As Ghost said, see if you can try on another monitor / TV, and see if you're having issues there. Otherwise, I'd go and get a 8GB or 16GB microSD (genuine SanDisk as worked bets for me for reliability, but I'll also be getting some Samsung EVO 32s for performance) so you can rule out that MicroSD card (which is way too cheap - I can't get a reputable brand 128GB microSD for less than AU$150 locally).

You should also get yourself a USB to serial adapter, which will let you connect directly to the pine64 serial console, and see what is happening at boot up (and also removes the need for a monitor, keyboard and mouse to control the pine64 if you just want a command line interface). Something like this will do the trick, although I'd recommend getting the Adafruit version if you're in the US as they have good product support.

[tampadave]

The pine64 is essentially, as is the raspberry, et. al., a linux system.  So learning linux (GNU/Linux to be more precise) is largely unavoidable.  And a driving reason for using it.

If you're thinking you'll be able to build this without learning any linux, well, good luck with that.  This is not a finished product, but a work in progress.  Only you can decide if that is worth it.

Just saying.


David

[Green Cherry]

Hi

I had a similar issue and resolvedit by booting it without the monitor plugged in. As MarkHays has pointed out there is an HDMI issue, which resolves itself once Linux has been installed.

Depending on the distro you use, I found that you should leave it unplugged for approx 20 mins.

Ensure that the Pine is switched off, unplug the video, insert the microsd and plug in the power. After 20 mins, plug the video back in and you should see a login screen.

Alternatively, check the PSU - it should be 5v @ 2A. Anything less than 2A (i.e. 2000 mA) and the likelihood of it not booting is quite high.

[Gnx]

ive had an issue a few times with the pine not wanting to boot on initial power or at least display on initial power. I resolved the issue once I installed a tactical switch for power/reset. I think it had something to do with how the board powers up instantly when plugged in or has to do with the above hdmi issue. Regardless the switch fixed it for me.

Im also using the pine as a learning platform. Its been different to say the least. But im enjoying the process so its worth it.