Restore default Debian system

[bcnaz]

Are you using a bootable sd card ? ....
perhaps try turning off the eMMC with the onboard switch to boot to the sd card, then turn it back on after it boots so you can flash the eMMC..?
I 'think' I saw that suggestion in another area of posts.

---

There was another post similar,
that someone discovered the ribbon cable from the sd card daughter board had come loose in shipping
reconnecting that made it possible to boot from the sd card.

[perceg]

I was looking for instructions like this. Everything worked as planned until I tried to reboot. Now the machine is stuck in a loop trying to boot. It never makes it to the boot screen. I can't even run the desktop from the SD now. Any clue as to what I can do?
Thanks.

Same thing here. In order to boot from the SD I needed to switch off the eMMC using the onboard switch. In order to do that you need to open up the bottom cover, look for the white switch to the left of eMMC (numbered 24 on the Pinebook Pro Internal Layout photo at https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo..._Main_Page) and push it sideways into the off position. 

Now I can boot from the SD, but obviously still looking for the way to successfully flash default Debian system back to eMMC.

[zaius]

I was looking for instructions like this. Everything worked as planned until I tried to reboot. Now the machine is stuck in a loop trying to boot. It never makes it to the boot screen. I can't even run the desktop from the SD now. Any clue as to what I can do?
Thanks.

Same thing here. In order to boot from the SD I needed to switch off the eMMC using the onboard switch. In order to do that you need to open up the bottom cover, look for the white switch to the left of eMMC (numbered 24 on the Pinebook Pro Internal Layout photo at https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo..._Main_Page) and push it sideways into the off position. 

Now I can boot from the SD, but obviously still looking for the way to successfully flash default Debian system back to eMMC.

It's a known problem.


https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8162
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8163
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8031

You can edit the SD card so that it boots with Debian installed on the eMMC.

You could switch the eMMC off, boot SD, then switch the eMMC back on.  However, opening up a computer that is powered up is generally a bad idea.

You could boot Ubuntu off SD, follow the instructions in the tutorial section to install it to eMMC, then boot Debian off SD, then install it to eMMC.

[cristobalhdez]

I was looking for instructions like this. Everything worked as planned until I tried to reboot. Now the machine is stuck in a loop trying to boot. It never makes it to the boot screen. I can't even run the desktop from the SD now. Any clue as to what I can do?
Thanks.

Sorry to read that you can't boot.
I don't have any issues booting from the SD or eMMC.
With the steps that I provided there is no way (that i know) that you can loose the capability to boot from the SD because it has priority.
Please try to rewrite the Debian Image from another computer to the SD.

[electriccrowbar]

With the steps that I provided there is no way (that i know) that you can loose the capability to boot from the SD because it has priority.

Not permanently but a badly configured uboot on the emmc will prevent the sdcard from booting. That can happen such that the power LED wont even come on. Serial terminal would be the only sign of life. (I know from experience)

[bcnaz]

I was looking for instructions like this. Everything worked as planned until I tried to reboot. Now the machine is stuck in a loop trying to boot. It never makes it to the boot screen. I can't even run the desktop from the SD now. Any clue as to what I can do?
Thanks.

Sorry to read that you can't boot.
I don't have any issues booting from the SD or eMMC.
With the steps that I provided there is no way (that i know) that you can loose the capability to boot from the SD because it has priority.
Please try to rewrite the Debian Image from another computer to the SD.

>>  The pre-boot is on the eMMC,  that points it to boot from the sd card...
     So if something is messed up on the EMMc it will not boot from the sd card..
      I am not a pro at this, but I have read that in a bunch of posts.

[Arglebargle]

>>  The pre-boot is on the eMMC,  that points it to boot from the sd card...
     So if something is messed up on the EMMc it will not boot from the sd card..
      I am not a pro at this, but I have read that in a bunch of posts.

The onboard rk3399 bootloader looks for a boot payload in this order: SPI > eMMC > SD; it then loads the first payload it finds (we're using u-boot) and the boot process continues.

Googling "rk3399 boot sequence" should give a bunch of useful information but this is a concise overview:
http://wiki.t-firefly.com/en/Firefly-RK3...-mode.html

Das u-boot is a little confusing right now: the default boot order is to look for bootable partitions on devices in this order: eMMC > SD. Mrfixit has released a patched u-boot that boots in the reverse order: SD > eMMC. If you have unpatched u-boot on your eMMC (old mrfixit image, or any ayufan image) and your eMMC system image is damaged to the point of failing to boot you're going to bootloop and be unable to boot from the SD card.

If you're unable to boot due to a broken u-boot or unbootable eMMC system image you could use the recovery switch on the mainboard to boot into recovery mode and reflash the eMMC over USB from another computer. I'm not sure how exactly to do this as I haven't ever needed to and the wiki documentation for the PBP is sparse right now so I'd go ask in IRC and see if someone can help. Once you've done that you should install the patched u-boot to your eMMC so that you can boot from an SD card in the future.

If you have a USB or SD adapter for your eMMC you can pop the eMMC out and patch your u-boot from another machine, then you'll be able to boot from an SD card to fix whatever is wrong with your eMMC system image.

Yes, all of this is a bit of a mess right now. If you're unable to boot your PBP at all and don't know what you're doing then go on the pine64 IRC and politely ask someone to help you fix things.

[Mrfixit2001]

SD boot issue resolved in the latest release today

[markh66509]

Hello,
I am still new to Linux and have a question, I was able to load the new default OS to the SD and have it boot with no issues. I was able to then down load and extract the new pinebookpro debian release and extract it.

When I attempt the following command to move the file to the emmc I get and error as noted:
>sudo dd if=pinebookpro-debian-desktop-mrfixit-191123.img of=/dev/mmcblk1 status=progress
>dd: failed to open 'dev/mmcblk1' : No such file or directory

When I used Gparted I can see the emmc (/dev/mmcblk1), and /dev/mmcblkp1 is shown with a lock key and the mount point is /media/rock/BOOT (size:64MiB) and the /dev/mmcblk1p2 is shown with a lock key and the mount point is /media/rock/e9e67......ect (size:116.36GiB)

I have reviewed all the forum notes I could fine related to this but I am not sure what the next step is. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Also, when the image is copied to the to the emmc, is the BOOT section rewritten? If not then should I be actually using of=/dev/mmcblk1p2 in the dd command?
Thanks, Mark

[Watercourse]

markh66509, i've found that the best place to work through issues like this is the IRC:
https://www.pine64.org/web-irc/
The folks there are awesome and terrifically helpful, and can help you with discovery and resolution of most issues.