Pinebook Pro- configuration aborts setting keyboard layout
#1
I encountered this issue when I first received and tried to set up my Pinebook Pro, a little over a week ago. Life events have prevented me from revisiting it until now...

When I first started the PBP, I was presented with a screen to select a keyboard layout. As I have an ANSI variant, I used the arrow key to try to select it, but the system instead took me to the "create a user" screen. So, I typed in a user name and pressed "Enter," at which point the system reported "Configuration aborted. Restarting OEM script..." then clear the screen and print that message again.

Eventually I was able to get out of that loop using the left arrow. This would return me to the keyboard layout selection screen. At this point, I was able to select the ANSI layout but, when I pressed "Enter," the user creation screen flashed briefly, but then the system returned to "Configuation aborted. Restarting OEM script..."

I have powered the PBP down, and revisited it hours, a day, and a week later, just to see if anything would be different, but it isn't (not surprisingly, I guess)

I imagine this might be a software issue, and might be helped by working with a fresh image (which I may have some time to figure out in the next few days), but I also wondered if there might be something funky going on with the keyboard.

Has anyone experienced this behaviour and/or know how to resolve it?

I am really excited to try the PBP, but this month has been tough, and I'm feeling a little defeated at this point. Any help would be appreciated Smile
  Reply
#2
Manjaro, I presume. The version of Manjaro that comes pre-installed on this batch of PBPs seems to really struggle with the keyboard settings. I was able to get it to install, which was very difficult. Then I updated and all was well. If you can't do that, perhaps you can download a different (newer?) version of Manjaro, and flash to a micro SD card on another computer. Or, try Debian, which doesn't have these issues, but isn't quite as functional as Manjaro. (Good enough for most everyone though). Or, pick yet another operating system.
  Reply
#3
(09-23-2020, 04:15 PM)scroall Wrote: I encountered this issue when I first received and tried to set up my Pinebook Pro, a little over a week ago. Life events have prevented me from revisiting it until now...

When I first started the PBP, I was presented with a screen to select a keyboard layout. As I have an ANSI variant, I used the arrow key to try to select it, but the system instead took me to the "create a user" screen. So, I typed in a user name and pressed "Enter," at which point the system reported "Configuration aborted. Restarting OEM script..." then clear the screen and print that message again.

Eventually I was able to get out of that loop using the left arrow. This would return me to the keyboard layout selection screen. At this point, I was able to select the ANSI layout but, when I pressed "Enter," the user creation screen flashed briefly, but then the system returned to "Configuation aborted. Restarting OEM script..."

I have powered the PBP down, and revisited it hours, a day, and a week later, just to see if anything would be different, but it isn't (not surprisingly, I guess)

I imagine this might be a software issue, and might be helped by working with a fresh image (which I may have some time to figure out in the next few days), but I also wondered if there might be something funky going on with the keyboard.

Has anyone experienced this behaviour and/or know how to resolve it?

I am really excited to try the PBP, but this month has been tough, and I'm feeling a little defeated at this point. Any help would be appreciated Smile

So I am not one of the Pine64 wizards, however I can try to help you a tiny bit with what is SOUNDS like...

To me, it sounds like your keyboard is set to a wrong locale and is sending the wrong key presses... maybe why when you push left, the highlighted selection moved down. If it were me, I would try other arrow keys and attempt to just get past that first keyboard selection screen - Manjaro may operate better [correctly] after you tell it the correct one.

However, if that didn't work at all and it were ME.... I would goto the Wiki @ Software and OS download section:
[Lol, issue with Elementary OS copy/paste.. sorry, but its easy to find!]

And I'd download the newest Manjaro OS for SD Card & eMMC image.
If you know how to burn an image, great... if not the info is on the wiki OR I'll be happy to walk you thru it. Then, I would insert that newest Manjaro SD Card in the Pinebook Pro and boot from SD.

If that fixes the issue, go ahead and create your account on that SD Card... and then,
Use pamac to download manjaro-arm-flasher... Run it, and you flash Manjaro back to the eMMC. Then you'll have that correct and working version on your eMMC as if it were brand new out of the box.

I will help you through any of this if you need. (If you understand all this, its pretty normal ARM/singleboard computer stuff so don't take offense if you know how to do all of this.)
I *think* that this might work for you, as one other poster said they heard of keyboard issues... I have expereinced none but was on the most recent shipping round. (Newer Manjaro build...) 

Last, if burning to the SD Card didn't work, I think I would research keyboard firmware here... but I suggest trying this first. 
For me, figuring these machines out *IS* what I like about them... I hope you don't get discouraged, as its not the computers fault. Either the Manjaro build has an error, the firmware needs updating, or we'll figure it out with you. Lets get you using this PBP!!
-----
 pAULIE42o
.  .  .  .   .  . .
/s
  Reply
#4
Thank you so much for the suggestions. I'll try a few key combinations to see if I can get past the keyboard selection screen. If that doesn't work, I will try the latest Manjaro when I get a chance.

Normally I enjoy solving these sorts of problems, but my Dad had been quite sick for the past month, and he died on Saturday, so life has been busy and I've been quite tired. But I have this beautiful PBP sitting here, and I really want to start using it Smile

I'll let you know how it goes.
  Reply
#5
I have gotten to various places in the initial setup by messing around with different keys/combos (I got to enter a username, got to enter my full name at one point) but I haven't been able to get to a point where anything is permanently improved, and never past entering a password for the account, blank or otherwise.

I've tried burning a newer Manjaro image to microsd, but either the images I burn weren't created correctly, the PBP isn't recognizing the card reader, or the boot order is not set to prioritize the microSD slot, as I've read in a number of places it is meant to do.

I'm not sure when the next time will be that I can spend any significant time sorting this out. Tomorrow, for sure, I need to spend a few hours helping my mom dig out of the digital clutter my dad left behind.

I knew when I bought the PBP that there might be issues, and I was prepared for that. I've managed to get various flavours of linux running on all manner of discarded Macs and PCs, so I figured I would be able to work through whatever came my way. But this has left me pretty deflated. I can't even get this thing to sort-of work Sad

I'll try to revisit it in a few days...
  Reply
#6
Have you tried to move selection with <tab> ?
With some ncurses menus, <space> equals <enter>
Let us know, and BTW, my sympathies
  Reply
#7
(09-28-2020, 06:00 PM)wdt Wrote: Have you tried to move selection with <tab> ?
With some ncurses menus, <space>  equals <enter>
Let us know, and BTW, my sympathies
Bingo!!

Apparently the secret this whole time was <tab> and <space>...

Setup finally complete! Unfortunately no time to play around with it tonight, as it's time for bed, but excited for tomorrow Smile

Thank you @wdt (and others!). It was a frustrating start, but made much better by such a welcoming community. Looking forward to learning and sharing!
  Reply
#8
Unfortunately, my Pinebook Pro remains unusable, despite the fact that I finally got it set up. There seems to be a couple different problems, and I'm not clear whether they are related.

The biggest problem seems to be with the function of the return key. When pressed, it seems to repeat. For instance, when I went to Firefox to access my home NAS, I was able to open a new tab, enter the web address and press return. However, when the login page comes up, it immediately begins logging in, despite the fact that I have not touched the keyboard since entering the web address.

More problematic, this problem has made it impossible to use the terminal as well. When I opened Konsole with the cursor, it opened without issue, waiting for my input. When I entered a sudo command and pressed RETURN, the terminal scrolled through three sudo password attempts before stopping and informing my about my three failed password attempts. On another occasion, I opened Konsole via Krunner using ALT + SPACE. I entered "konsole" into the search window and pressed RETURN. When the terminal window opened, it immediately started repeating the prompt, as if I was repeatedly pressing RETURN.

There also seems to be a problem, maybe not consistent, with the cursor randomly selecting items it passes over. I wondered if it might be a function of tap-clicking on the trackpad, but I am still having the problem when I use a USB mouse.

There is another issue that manifests as a rapid flickering, either of the cursor (in some circumstances), or of the address bar in Firefox when I attempt to click into the address of an existing tab. With the cursor, I am able to access the system settings (when something else isn't inadvertently selected). The cursor appears normal until I click in to the "input devices" setting pane, at which point it starts to rapidly flicker between the cursor, and the spinning disk of a busy system.

Any thoughts about what might be going on?

I have established that the MicroSD reader seems to work and when I restart with the card in, I get the Manjaro setup process, so I assume that I should be able to fetch a different image and try a different install if that is the best route forward to being able to use the PBP.
  Reply
#9
I don't know if this will be helpful
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11730
  Reply
#10
(10-04-2020, 11:37 PM)wdt Wrote: I don't know if this will be helpful
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11730

I popped the enter key cap off and, when I used the switch directly, it did behave better and seems to have solved most of my problems. Unfortunately, however, I haven't been able to get the key cap back on. Do you know if there are any diagrams of how the mechanism works that might help me make sense of it?

Thanks for your help
  Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Pinebook Pro vs Pinetab2 Lotech 0 189 02-13-2024, 08:57 PM
Last Post: Lotech
  When setting locale what is the code for the United states? Nobot 2 2,212 04-24-2023, 05:59 AM
Last Post: Kevin Kofler
  Maximum size of boot MicroSD for RockPro64 and Pinebook Pro commiecam 0 1,648 08-07-2022, 10:47 AM
Last Post: commiecam
  Keyboard layout dealie 0 1,489 08-27-2021, 12:55 PM
Last Post: dealie
  Please Help: Bricked Pinebook Pro with Keyboard Update dumbguywhobrokehiscomputer 3 3,903 07-14-2021, 02:49 PM
Last Post: wdt
  First time user experiencing weird keyboard issues kendew 5 6,029 06-19-2021, 08:14 AM
Last Post: rotwang
  Java on Manjaro ARM Pinebook Pro gulagpyromaniac 3 3,790 05-25-2021, 11:05 AM
Last Post: tophneal
  Setup My Pinebook 64 and Lost Password jersdayoff 5 5,691 05-01-2021, 10:29 PM
Last Post: wdt
  How to boot from SD card on pinebook pro linux123 3 5,954 12-02-2020, 10:29 AM
Last Post: linux123
  Setting up QT for compiling on my desktop vincer 0 2,022 09-19-2020, 03:31 PM
Last Post: vincer

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)