02-03-2022, 04:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-03-2022, 06:06 PM by tckosvic.)
There are numerous threads including some from this author relating to booting procedures. The wiki is very unclear and incomplete in helping user try to sort out the boot process.
I will try to summarize it as I see it and raise questions that I hope others can try to fill in. At the end of the day perhaps someone can get a clear understanding. of booting Excerpts from wiki in normal font. My comments are in bold
From "BOOT Section of wiki" -- On the PinePhone Pro the eMMC (the internal storage of the phone) has a higher boot priority than the microSD card. But, the Explorer Edition comes with a modified U-Boot pointing to the microSD card to boot ahead of the pre-installed to the eMMC. The microSD card can be (temporarily) booted instead of the pre-installed operating system, when the power key is shortly held at boot. What does shortly held mean? Shortly compared to what? Is shortly a tap of button. Then, how to know what you are running from, SD or eMMC ( a question of mine elsewhere).
To always boot from the microSD card it is recommended to wipe U-Boot from the eMMC. I thought the above said that the U-Boot was there to temporarily boot from the SD and, hence, removing it would revert back to default booting from the eMMC. Where is U-Boot in the directory structure? Is U-Boot a file that can be removed and where is it?
When the pre-installed bootloader was overwritten with a bootloader without such a configuration, the RE button underneath the back cover of the phone can also be used to temporarily bypass the eMMC. I do not have any idea what this sentence is saying. There is no description of where/what the RE button is. I did find it under the back cover. It is a recessed button needing a sharp object (a pen) to push in. There is an RE label. What is the RE button and what is it for (REset)?
The button (RE???) may however only be pressed shortly for a few seconds during boot, otherwise the eMMC won't be initialized in the operating system. This is another incoherent sentence. Appears to say that you hold RE button recessed for a short period while pushing boot key to boot to the eMMC. You need cover off to do this. When cover is off these is no boot button. I really have no idea what this is saying.
Later on in doc it says --Due to the boot order it is strongly recommended to boot from the microSD card only, leaving the eMMC vacant. I don't see the meaning of this sentence and what boot order has to do with why one should boot always from the microSD. A microSD is for extra storage not for running your phone.
I do have my phone running in spite of these incoherent directions but perhaps other won't have to do a trial 'n error process.
tom kosvic
I have no ideal how to get rid of font etc messages. they were not there when pasted in. if someone can do that go ahead, please
I have manjaro in emmc and sailfish in microSD
If I put the microSD and press the power button for 4 or 5 seconds, sailfish starts.
If I do the same but without microSD manjaro starts
02-05-2022, 07:35 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-05-2022, 07:37 PM by lllsondowlll.)
Just put an SD card in with the image installed to it via Etcher or DD. It should just boot directly off the SD card at that point. The only time you need any of the other steps is if you softbrick your phone. The instructions are fairly clear and straight forward from where I sit.
02-06-2022, 08:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-06-2022, 08:50 AM by tckosvic.)
(02-05-2022, 07:35 PM)lllsondowlll Wrote: Just put an SD card in with the image installed to it via Etcher or DD. It should just boot directly off the SD card at that point. The only time you need any of the other steps is if you softbrick your phone. The instructions are fairly clear and straight forward from where I sit.
Yes, that is how the preinstalled version is set up to work, i.e., boot first from SD card. This is stated to be temporary through a temporary boot file. Permanent opertion is to boot first from the eMMC. The system is constructred to run off the eMMC memory not an SD card. SD card is for extra storage if needed. Why put installed memory in if it is not to be used.
Overall the wiki is pretty good, however there are some opinions
that have been listed as facts.
Use some common sense and ask questions, in conjunction
with reading the wiki.
LINUX = CHOICES
**BCnAZ**
Donate to $upport
your favorite OS Team
02-06-2022, 12:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-06-2022, 12:06 PM by kqlnut.)
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: I thought the above said that the U-Boot was there to temporarily boot from the SD and, hence, removing it would revert back to default booting from the eMMC. Where is U-Boot in the directory structure? Is U-Boot a file that can be removed and where is it? U-Boot is the bootloader and is needed to boot the system. Without it, the system can't boot. It's behaviour can be configured, but I've never tried messing around with it and if you want to, I would make sure first you know what you are doing to not end up with an unbootable system. Here is some more info, not sure if everything there can be applied to the PinePhone Pro.
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: When the pre-installed bootloader was overwritten with a bootloader without such a configuration, the RE button underneath the back cover of the phone can also be used to temporarily bypass the eMMC. I do not have any idea what this sentence is saying. There is no description of where/what the RE button is. I did find it under the back cover. It is a recessed button needing a sharp object (a pen) to push in. There is an RE label. What is the RE button and what is it for (REset)? Yes, that should be the reset button. I'm not sure if it has another function apart from bypassing the eMMC.
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: The button (RE???) may however only be pressed shortly for a few seconds during boot, otherwise the eMMC won't be initialized in the operating system. This is another incoherent sentence. Appears to say that you hold RE button recessed for a short period while pushing boot key to boot to the eMMC. You need cover off to do this. When cover is off these is no boot button. I really have no idea what this is saying. The power button is still there without the cover and can still be pressed. You don't need the plastic cover from the case to press it.
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: Later on in doc it says --Due to the boot order it is strongly recommended to boot from the microSD card only, leaving the eMMC vacant. I don't see the meaning of this sentence and what boot order has to do with why one should boot always from the microSD. A microSD is for extra storage not for running your phone. For now it's recommended to not overwrite the eMMC with another image, because things are not very stable yet and installations may break. If the bootloader on the eMMC gets messed up by that, you won't be able to boot anymore without bypassing the eMMC. That's because the eMMC is always checked first in the boot order and if something to boot is there, but it's broken, you won't get any further. The preinstalled bootloader points to the SD card, so as long as you don't touch it, you will always be able to boot off the SD card and if something on the card breaks, you can easily flash a new image to it. The eMMC is not easily accessible for flashing if you break the bootloader. Of course you can do whatever you want, but be aware that fixing a broken eMMC installation is a lot more hassle than working off the SD card.
(02-06-2022, 12:04 PM)kqlnut Wrote: (02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: I thought the above said that the U-Boot was there to temporarily boot from the SD and, hence, removing it would revert back to default booting from the eMMC. Where is U-Boot in the directory structure? Is U-Boot a file that can be removed and where is it? U-Boot is the bootloader and is needed to boot the system. Without it, the system can't boot. It's behaviour can be configured, but I've never tried messing around with it and if you want to, I would make sure first you know what you are doing to not end up with an unbootable system. Here is some more info, not sure if everything there can be applied to the PinePhone Pro.
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: When the pre-installed bootloader was overwritten with a bootloader without such a configuration, the RE button underneath the back cover of the phone can also be used to temporarily bypass the eMMC. I do not have any idea what this sentence is saying. There is no description of where/what the RE button is. I did find it under the back cover. It is a recessed button needing a sharp object (a pen) to push in. There is an RE label. What is the RE button and what is it for (REset)? Yes, that should be the reset button. I'm not sure if it has another function apart from bypassing the eMMC.
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: The button (RE???) may however only be pressed shortly for a few seconds during boot, otherwise the eMMC won't be initialized in the operating system. This is another incoherent sentence. Appears to say that you hold RE button recessed for a short period while pushing boot key to boot to the eMMC. You need cover off to do this. When cover is off these is no boot button. I really have no idea what this is saying. The power button is still there without the cover and can still be pressed. You don't need the plastic cover from the case to press it.
(02-03-2022, 04:14 PM)tckosvic Wrote: Later on in doc it says --Due to the boot order it is strongly recommended to boot from the microSD card only, leaving the eMMC vacant. I don't see the meaning of this sentence and what boot order has to do with why one should boot always from the microSD. A microSD is for extra storage not for running your phone. For now it's recommended to not overwrite the eMMC with another image, because things are not very stable yet and installations may break. If the bootloader on the eMMC gets messed up by that, you won't be able to boot anymore without bypassing the eMMC. That's because the eMMC is always checked first in the boot order and if something to boot is there, but it's broken, you won't get any further. The preinstalled bootloader points to the SD card, so as long as you don't touch it, you will always be able to boot off the SD card and if something on the card breaks, you can easily flash a new image to it. The eMMC is not easily accessible for flashing if you break the bootloader. Of course you can do whatever you want, but be aware that fixing a broken eMMC installation is a lot more hassle than working off the SD card. Regarding the REbutton, are you sure that the function is to by pass the SD and boot from the eMMC or is it to bypass the eMMC and boot from the SD? Also, do you just depress the RE then boot or do you need to hold it down and boot? thanks, at least I'm getting some coherent sounding answers to my queries
02-06-2022, 01:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-06-2022, 02:04 PM by lllsondowlll.)
(02-06-2022, 08:47 AM)tckosvic Wrote: (02-05-2022, 07:35 PM)lllsondowlll Wrote: Just put an SD card in with the image installed to it via Etcher or DD. It should just boot directly off the SD card at that point. The only time you need any of the other steps is if you softbrick your phone. The instructions are fairly clear and straight forward from where I sit.
Yes, that is how the preinstalled version is set up to work, i.e., boot first from SD card. This is stated to be temporary through a temporary boot file. Permanent opertion is to boot first from the eMMC. The system is constructred to run off the eMMC memory not an SD card. SD card is for extra storage if needed. Why put installed memory in if it is not to be used.
That's not true. I've flashed Manjaro Phosh to the eMMC and it still boots from SD Card if a boot image / distro is detected. If there isn't a boot loader / distro on it, it will boot from eMMC and use SD card as storage. In fact you can boot from SD card by holding down power for 5 seconds, or internal when holding down power for 2-3 seconds.
Most distro images for Pinephone Pro include the boot loader setting SD card as highest priority. I'm not sure what you are talking about.
To recover from a corrupt bootloader (partial boot) soft brick, you simply need to insert the SD card, press the RE pinhole on the back of the phone, and press power to boot to SD card. This forces SD card boot by temporarily cutting off eMMC access, once booted the eMMC will initialize so you can fix it by overwriting it with a clean image. Holding RE during boot for more than 3-5 seconds causes it to boot from SD card, but not initialize eMMC after boot.
All this information is outlined in the wiki. I'm not understanding where the confusion is.
|
