Unable to start Pine

[MarkHaysHarris777]

@Topgun505, hi-- most of the time boot problems on the pine board are not boot problems at all;  to put that more succintly, 98% of the time the pine boards are booting just fine ( and running too ) but the hdmi output is not visible ( for any number of reasons, but usually the hdmi modes (15) are not supported by the hdmi device ).

An essential component to have on hand is a serial to usb ttl bridge adapter cable that may be plugged into another computer running terminal emulation software to give you access not only to the bootup record of the pineboard ( you can see it booting on the serial console ) but also give you logon access via the same serial console !

Often things can be fixed using the serial console so that hdmi will now work, or so that the network interface will work allowing ssh or vnc control of the pine board remote ( there are other permutations of this theme ).

You gain access to the serial console of the pine board via the EXP header on pins 7, 8 , & 9.  pin(7 Tx), pin(8 Rx), pin(9 ground).  On the serial cable the green wire plugs into pin(8), the white wire plugs into pin(7), and the black wire plugs into pin(9).  The red wire (5v+) plugs into NOTHING! (very important).

You can use a terminal emulation program like minicom, or screen, from your notebook computer (or other PC) then when you boot your pine board the boot process logs will show up on the serial console and eventually you will get a login prompt.   

Give it a try.