The Case of the Vanishing EMMC
07-28-2024, 04:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-28-2024, 04:23 PM by dchang0.
Edit Reason: added more details
)
I don't think you can "damage" the eMMC by using GParted to wipe the partition table.
The fact that you can use dd to erase the bootloader portion of the eMMC and still write a new bootloader onto the eMMC indicates you have quite a lot of leeway as to what you can do with the eMMC and still recover.
Re: [1.636224] mmc1: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
This does make me suspect that your microSD+SIM card slot is broken. If you are trying to boot from or install from microSD, that might never work as long as the microSD card slot is untrustworthy.
Are you able to put the eMMC into USB mode so that you can write an image directly to it? If so, my recommendation is to bypass the microSD card slot. Put the PPP's eMMC into USB disk mode, attach it directly to a LINUX computer, use the LINUX computer to write an OS image directly to the eMMC (I recommend the Mobian image, as this is exactly what I did myself).
Also, if you hold the RE button down for too long while booting, it will effectively completely disable the eMMC (make it inaccessible to the OS that you are booting from the microSD). Hold the RE button down only past the first single vibration (LED should be RED) and let go of the RE button before the double vibrations (LED should turn yellow).
The fact that you can use dd to erase the bootloader portion of the eMMC and still write a new bootloader onto the eMMC indicates you have quite a lot of leeway as to what you can do with the eMMC and still recover.
Re: [1.636224] mmc1: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
This does make me suspect that your microSD+SIM card slot is broken. If you are trying to boot from or install from microSD, that might never work as long as the microSD card slot is untrustworthy.
Are you able to put the eMMC into USB mode so that you can write an image directly to it? If so, my recommendation is to bypass the microSD card slot. Put the PPP's eMMC into USB disk mode, attach it directly to a LINUX computer, use the LINUX computer to write an OS image directly to the eMMC (I recommend the Mobian image, as this is exactly what I did myself).
Also, if you hold the RE button down for too long while booting, it will effectively completely disable the eMMC (make it inaccessible to the OS that you are booting from the microSD). Hold the RE button down only past the first single vibration (LED should be RED) and let go of the RE button before the double vibrations (LED should turn yellow).