Issues with "recovery" button

[danielt]

Hello PBP users!

I am currently trying to work with the "rkdeveloptool", and I'm having trouble getting my PBP to show up as a USB device. I have successfully installed the "rkdeveloptool" on Ubuntu 19.04 (amd64). With my PBP I removed the bottom cover and, with no OS booted and the power off, pressed the "recovery" button once. As I understand it, this should cause the SoC to start in to a alternate mode (maskrom) where I can then manipulate it via USB on my other PC. I am using a USB A to USB C cable to do this. After connecting this cable, the PBP does not show up in Ubuntu. lsusb does not see the device, neither does the tool from rock-chip. I tried this again with all bootable media removed, it did not make any difference, also the only cable connected is USB C.

Any help would be amazing! Has anyone else had this issue? Am I stupid and missing something obvious?

Thanks!

Mask rom will use the USB on-the-go controller and I believe the type A USB3 socket is connected to this controller rather than to the type-C socket. In other words I think you might need a USB-A to USB-A cable (which are a pain to purchase because it is hard to craft a suitable search engine query ;-) ).