PBP won't boot (no amber or green LED)

[ian-s-mcb]

Has anyone recovered from an unlit power LED state? I've seen plenty of posts with people fixing their amber LED boot problem, but this is different. Also, can somebody tell me what it looks like when PBP is in maskrom mode? Does the laptop screen display anything? Should the power LED light up?

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Here is my situation:

While using a working Manjaro OS on my eMMC, I tried flashing my SPI. I used instructions on this wiki (https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebook_Pro_SPI), but I may have followed it incorrectly, leading me to the broken state of my PBP.

Currently, the power LED on my PBP, which ordinarily shines amber then green, is unlit, but the red charging LED is lit when I plug in a charger.

I cannot boot using any of the following methods, which all were previously successful but now result in an unlit power LED:

• microSD Manjaro OS
  
• USB ARM Arch Linux OS
  
• eMMC Manjaro OS
  

I also tried booting with all bootable devices disconnected, but that too results in an unlit power LED.

I tried the two methods of booting into maskrom mode (the one involving recovery/reset buttons and the one with the two chip pins that need to be shorted), but rkdeveloptool outputs the same message: "not found any devices." I tried two machines with rkdeveloptool installed on and two USB cables, but still no luck.

I'm seriously wondering if my PBP is totally bricked

[KC9UDX]

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure you can't brick it.

It sounds like you need a serial terminal.

Have you tried holding down the power button? Occasionally I have to do this to turn it off (when I've buggered it) before it can reboot.

[wdt]

>Have you tried holding down the power button?
20-25 seconds, when no leds, other than charge, forces complete shutdown
I call it "extra long press" , when you put wrong uSD card in for other SBC
--edit--
for rkdeveloptool, all bootable devices MUST be removed, includes emmc

[ian-s-mcb]

Thanks for the suggestions KC9UDX and wdt.

I just tried holding down the power button for 30 seconds and then attempting a boot. No luck. The power LED still is unlit.

@wdt What does it look like when rkdeveloptool works? Should the PBP LED and display light up? Obviously, the command should produce output on the connected computer, but should the PBP show signs of life?

[wdt]

I hope you know about this?
https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebook_Pro_SPI

Knock wood,, I have managed to NOT brick my pbp other than needing an extra long press 3 occasions
It really does not like a64 uSD,,,, and netBSD current,, I think maybe an EFI boot
something else, I forget
--edit--
It is possible that you may have to run rkdeveloptool as root/sudo, I don't know
You know, I hope, that up arrow recalls previous commands? So you only have to type once

[ian-s-mcb]

I hope you know about this?
https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebook_Pro_SPI

Knock wood,, I have managed to NOT brick my pbp other than needing an extra long press 3 occasions
It really does not like a64 uSD,,,, and netBSD current,, I think maybe an EFI boot
something else, I forget

Yes, I know about that wiki article. I referenced it in my first post of this thread. Thanks though.

[bcnaz]

There are some older posts dealing with recovery :  when the flashing of the SPI is 'botched'...
Last year it was discussed a lot,  and it was suggested to use Extreme caution when/or if  flashing the SPI.

I had purchased the NVMe adapter and a PCIe/m.2 SSD planning on installing it in my then new PBP.
But I had decided to wait until the boot software was a bit more  'ready for prime time'.

I believe @Wizzard  and @danielt had success and posted how they were able to make the NVMe drive bootable.

Good Luck

[ian-s-mcb]

There are some older posts dealing with recovery :  when the flashing of the SPI is 'botched'...
Last year it was discussed a lot,  and it was suggested to use Extreme caution when/or if  flashing the SPI.

I had purchased the NVMe adapter and a PCIe/m.2 SSD planning on installing it in my then new PBP.
But I had decided to wait until the boot software was a bit more  'ready for prime time'.

I believe @Wizzard  and @danielt had success and posted how they were able to make the NVMe drive bootable.

Good Luck

Thanks, @bcnaz. When I read about the success @Wizzard, @clover, @pcm720, and @as400 had, I thought it would work fine for me.

I underestimated the chance of failure, but it has to be said that the firmware on the PBP is highly sensitive and poorly explained to users. You'd think that there would be an official page with the releases of firmware images, that the images would work predictably, and they would come with complete instructions. Forum posts about the releases of firmware images and the struggle people using that firmware doesn't seem right to me.

Ok, that's the end of my rant. I think my only option now is to wait for the Pine Tech Support to review my service ticket.

Thank you all for offering your advice in this thread.

[clover]

We are all very upset that the SPI flash was unsuccessful for you. Please try following these instructions to recover your pinebook pro: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=9059

[wdt]

Well maybe you have given up .....
It seems to me if the recovery button is "flaky" there is no reason
that the reboot button could not also be so
For that matter, if either button is bad, it will not work
So, try opening 90 deg, face down on table, screen hanging down,
near edge of table so that after you get back off you can
slide it slightly so pwr button is accessable
Try a 5 second off and a 20 second off
(short clk, 1 second on, rkdeveloptool ld)
OR you could try holding recovery and pwr cycling however
BTW, when you push these buttons down, I hope you are giving them a (gentle) wiggle?
While maintaining pressure