RockPro64 not coming online after reboot

[imapc99]

I just purchased a RockPro64 and eMMC module and am configuring it for the first time. Everything goes well with system installation and first boot, but upon running `reboot` command, the system does not come back online. Power LEDs stay lit, but the white LED stays off and there is no visual output or presence on the network.

I have tried a number of different distributions - Armbian Stretch and Bionic, Ayufan's Stretch and Bionic and OMV, mrfixit2001's Debian, DietPi. All have the same issue.

Have seen forum postings and GH issues dating back a few years, none of which with any resolution. Wondering if the board is faulty or if it has just remained an unresolved issue with all of these boards for the past few years.

[imapc99]

As an update - with any OS installed on an SD card, the system is able to reboot with the `reboot` command.

However, if an eMMC is present - can be completely blank or have filesystem on it - then the system will not reboot with the command.

[martinayotte]

However, if an eMMC is present - can be completely blank or have filesystem on it - then the system will not reboot with the command.

Are you sure that the eMMC is "completely blank" ?
If there is some kind of u-boot present in the boot sectors, it can be the cause of boot hanging ...
You can erase those boot sectors using "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=1024 count=1000" and try again to boot from SDCard.

[imapc99]

Are you sure that the eMMC is "completely blank" ?
If there is some kind of u-boot present in the boot sectors, it can be the cause of boot hanging ...
You can erase those boot sectors using "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=1024 count=1000" and try again to boot from SDCard.

Ah you are correct, if I write 0's to the eMMC I can boot from the SD card and then successfully run the `reboot` command with both eMMC and SD card present.

So the hanging after `reboot` command issue only occurs when the eMMC module with a boot sector is present.

One option could be keeping the /boot on the SD while leaving root partition on eMMC to get the best of both worlds (eMMC speed and a machine that can reboot).

However, since the board and eMMC are newly purchased, I am wondering if I should pursue an RMA with the vendor (AmeriDroid). Part of me thinks that it is not a hardware issue since I have seen the same issue from others as well, but it might be worth a shot to narrow this down?

[martinayotte]

One option could be keeping the /boot on the SD while leaving root partition on eMMC to get the best of both worlds (eMMC speed and a machine that can reboot).

You can also copy the U-Boot sectors from SDCard to eMMC and boot without any SDCard inserted ...

However, since the board and eMMC are newly purchased, I am wondering if I should pursue an RMA with the vendor (AmeriDroid). Part of me thinks that it is not a hardware issue since I have seen the same issue from others as well, but it might be worth a shot to narrow this down?

AmeriDroid maybe provided eMMC with pre-loaded with some unkown version of U-Boot, and as any Rockchip SoC start looking at eMMC before trying SDCard, this eMMC U-Boot has priority.

[imapc99]

AmeriDroid maybe provided eMMC with pre-loaded with some unkown version of U-Boot, and as any Rockchip SoC start looking at eMMC before trying SDCard, this eMMC U-Boot has priority.

Yes they shipped the eMMC with some boot and OS on the chip. I overwrote them with the rockpro64 image though before booting on the board.

You can also copy the U-Boot sectors from SDCard to eMMC and boot without any SDCard inserted ...
AmeriDroid maybe provided eMMC with pre-loaded with some unkown version of U-Boot, and as any Rockchip SoC start looking at eMMC before trying SDCard, this eMMC U-Boot has priority.

I tried copying the entire working disk contents from the SD card to the (again blank) eMMC card; unfortunately I still get the same issue with only the eMMC card connected.

So, it appears that if there is any boot sector on the eMMC present, then the system hangs after `reboot` command. If there is an SD card present with boot sectors, and the eMMC is present with no boot sectors, then the issue does not happen. I have also written some filesystem to the eMMC card and mounted it at boot which was fine. Its just if the eMMC has boot sectors does the issue occur.