Can i reinstall the os with an image using ubuntu? without having an sd card?

[PineBetter]

hi my pine phone is not starting , maybe i can repair it if installing an image working and using ubuntu. is it possible?

[Kevin Kofler]

Is this a PinePhone (original) or a PinePhone Pro? The PinePhone Pro, assuming it was ordered after July 2022, can be brought into USB mass storage mode without an SD card (hold the volume up button at startup), the original PinePhone requires a microSD card with JumpDrive installed.

[Ctrl_Amiga_1070]

Is this a PinePhone (original) or a PinePhone Pro? The PinePhone Pro, assuming it was ordered after July 2022, can be brought into USB mass storage mode without an SD card (hold the volume up button at startup), the original PinePhone requires a microSD card with JumpDrive installed.

Okay..... under the redirect of hold volume up, we get install tow-boot.
Question
What is "SPI" actually referring too? Please?
"By installing Tow-Boot to SPI, your PINE64 Pinephone Pro will be able to start using standards-based booting without conflicting with the operating system storage."

Thanks
EDIT:
The link looks great, but the files redirect is horrible.
I cannot find, as referenced in your main redirect referral page
https://tow-boot.org/devices/pine64-pinephonePro.html page
ON the
https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/tre...nephonePro
the file referenced in the command
spi.installer.img
So where do I find it, PLEASE.
Thanks

Scratch the last edit
Found the file in a different location
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=17529
then download from here
https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/releases
then extract TO A FOLDER
But a Question, what's with all the other files if all I need is the spi.installer.img ????
Or am I following incorrect or outdated instructions again.

[Kevin Kofler]

You do not have to install Tow-Boot to the SPI yourself. It is already installed. The only reason I linked to that "Tow-Boot on the PinePhone Pro" page is because it documents the magic volume keys available at bootup. It is not necessary to follow the installation instructions on that page.

You just need to hold the volume up button at startup to get into USB mass storage mode. Then connect the PinePhone Pro to a computer using a USB C-A or C-C cable and the phone's eMMC will show up as a mass storage device on the computer. Then you can flash an OS image (not a Tow-Boot image) using dd or any GUI flashing tool suitable for USB mass storage devices ("USB sticks").

[Ctrl_Amiga_1070]

Okay..... under the redirect of hold volume up, we get install tow-boot.
Question
What is "SPI" actually referring too? Please?
"By installing Tow-Boot to SPI, your PINE64 Pinephone Pro will be able to start using standards-based booting without conflicting with the operating system storage."

Thanks
EDIT:

https://tow-boot.org/devices/pine64-pinephonePro.html page
ON the
https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/tre...nephonePro
the file referenced in the command
spi.installer.img
So where do I find it, PLEASE.
Thanks

Killed it.
sde                           8:64   1 115.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1                        8:65   1    16M  0 part   
├─sde2                        8:66   1   256K  0 part   
├─sde3                        8:67   1   512K  0 part   
├─sde4                        8:68   1    64M  0 part   
├─sde5                        8:69   1    64M  0 part   
├─sde6                        8:70   1    32M  0 part   
├─sde7                        8:71   1    32M  0 part   
├─sde8                        8:72   1     8M  0 part   
├─sde9                        8:73   1     8M  0 part   
├─sde10                       8:74   1   512K  0 part   
├─sde11                       8:75   1   512K  0 part   
├─sde12                       8:76   1   512K  0 part   
├─sde13                       8:77   1   512K  0 part   
├─sde14                       8:78   1     2G  0 part   
├─sde15                       8:79   1    16M  0 part   
└─sde16                     259:0    1   1.8G  0 part  


But a Question, what's with all the other files if all I need is the spi.installer.img ????

My PinePhone Pro was ordered 27-06-2022, so I guess it's the RE-button version? But Vol+up on Boot = tow-boot. I am really confused
PS. ATM I am trying to get my emails changed. & working

[fxc]

@Ctrl_Amiga_1070 , the issue here is that you're clicking around in the files on GitHub. Instead you always want to download from the RELEASES section on GitHub instead.

Download https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/rel...006.tar.xz, it has the SPI installer file directly in the archive. 

Extract the file ("spi.installer.img") from the archive and write it to the microSD card using Balena Etcher.

Then insert the microSD card and boot the phone while (shortly) holding the RE button.

It should now boot into the installer, from where you can write Tow-Boot to it. If that doesn't work right away, try holding the RE button shorter (if the Tow-Boot installer starts but raises errors because the button was held too long) or longer (if it still boots to the eMMC installation).

[Ctrl_Amiga_1070]

@Ctrl_Amiga_1070 , the issue here is that you're clicking around in the files on GitHub. Instead you always want to download from the RELEASES section on GitHub instead.

Download https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/rel...006.tar.xz, it has the SPI installer file directly in the archive. 

Extract the file ("spi.installer.img") from the archive and write it to the microSD card using Balena Etcher.

Then insert the microSD card and boot the phone while (shortly) holding the RE button.

It should now boot into the installer, from where you can write Tow-Boot to it. If that doesn't work right away, try holding the RE button shorter (if the Tow-Boot installer starts but raises errors because the button was held too long) or longer (if it still boots to the eMMC installation).

Thanks. Found that file, and others.

Confused on the boot phone while (shortly) holding the RE Button.
-One set of instructions says to hold until red light appears. Red light appears as soon as power is supplied. May I assume, or conclude that the (shortly) mean as soon as the power is connected as in about 1second ?
I have also noticed because I was to tired that I also had/have and SDE drive on the sd-card
sde                  8:64   1  31.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1               8:65   1    12M  0 part   
└─sde2               8:66   1    22M  0 part  /media/mm3/57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b
sde1 is labeled (Firmware) tow-boot
EDIT--- This is on the SD-CARD.. I realised this when I unplugged it. The PHONE is SDF. Hope this helps sort-of

SDF
along with the above SDF, multiple partitions. The second SDF2 has UBOOT.scr

Q-Would this be normal, or a mistake?

I have noticed, if I hold the "RE Button" pasted the second Double buzz, the light goes out.
Q- Is this Normal
All this was after I wiped the sd-card, no partitions or formatting, just blank. Then mounted it on PC and dd the SPI .img file to it.

At this point of starting with a (short) RE button hold AND add power from cable, nothing happens NOW....
If I hold Vol-UP key and power on, wait until second double buzz I get Tow-Boot (Blue light), and lsblk command shows SDE + to partitions, SDF +16 partitions.
Q- Is this normal

FYI - I have the PinePhone Pro-Explorer Edition, purchased 23rd June 2022, according to my sales information.
Thanks
PS Still think it's now a paper weight but it's a computer, and computers can be reformatted and have an OS installed. It's just a matter of exactly HOW to do this.

---

@Ctrl_Amiga_1070 , the issue here is that you're clicking around in the files on GitHub. Instead you always want to download from the RELEASES section on GitHub instead.

Download https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/rel...006.tar.xz, it has the SPI installer file directly in the archive. 

Extract the file ("spi.installer.img") from the archive and write it to the microSD card using Balena Etcher.

Then insert the microSD card and boot the phone while (shortly) holding the RE button.

It should now boot into the installer, from where you can write Tow-Boot to it. If that doesn't work right away, try holding the RE button shorter (if the Tow-Boot installer starts but raises errors because the button was held too long) or longer (if it still boots to the eMMC installation).

Thanks. Found that file, and others.

Confused on the boot phone while (shortly) holding the RE Button.
-One set of instructions says to hold until red light appears. Red light appears as soon as power is supplied. May I assume, or conclude that the (shortly) mean as soon as the power is connected as in about 1second ?
I have also noticed because I was to tired that I also had/have and SDE drive on the sd-card
sde                  8:64   1  31.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1               8:65   1    12M  0 part   
└─sde2               8:66   1    22M  0 part  /media/mm3/57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b
sde1 is labeled (Firmware) tow-boot
EDIT--- This is on the SD-CARD.. I realised this when I unplugged it. The PHONE is SDF. Hope this helps sort-of

SDF
along with the above SDF, multiple partitions. The second SDF2 has UBOOT.scr

Q-Would this be normal, or a mistake?

I have noticed, if I hold the "RE Button" pasted the second Double buzz, the light goes out.
Q- Is this Normal
All this was after I wiped the sd-card, no partitions or formatting, just blank. Then mounted it on PC and dd the SPI .img file to it.

At this point of starting with a (short) RE button hold AND add power from cable, nothing happens NOW....
If I hold Vol-UP key and power on, wait until second double buzz I get Tow-Boot (Blue light), and lsblk command shows SDE + to partitions, SDF +16 partitions.
Q- Is this normal

FYI - I have the PinePhone Pro-Explorer Edition, purchased 23rd June 2022, according to my sales information.
Thanks
PS Still think it's now a paper weight but it's a computer, and computers can be reformatted and have an OS installed. It's just a matter of exactly HOW to do this.

Following these instructions on tow-boot spi install https://tow-boot.org/devices/pine64-pinephonePro.html
I've booted the phone (without and sd-card) and using tweezers for a short press of RE-Button, I had red light (removed tweezers) and then a short a buzz. After a few seconds (5 or so) I had a double short buzz then yellow light, then that's it. 
No Blue Light
No Blue Screen.
No device(s) found on lsblk via cable connected to PC.
But it gives me a good opportunity to re-charge the battery

Normally if I power on the phone in it's current (not working) condition, I get a red light and a short buzz, Red light remains lit. Then a short double buzz, and I think red light goes out (not 100% on this), then at about 10-15 seconds from power on, the red light blinks, and I get 10 short buzzes, then phone powers off and naturally reboots and repeats.

[fxc]

@Ctrl_Amiga_1070 , the issue here is that you're clicking around in the files on GitHub. Instead you always want to download from the RELEASES section on GitHub instead.

Download https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/rel...006.tar.xz, it has the SPI installer file directly in the archive. 

Extract the file ("spi.installer.img") from the archive and write it to the microSD card using Balena Etcher.

Then insert the microSD card and boot the phone while (shortly) holding the RE button.

It should now boot into the installer, from where you can write Tow-Boot to it. If that doesn't work right away, try holding the RE button shorter (if the Tow-Boot installer starts but raises errors because the button was held too long) or longer (if it still boots to the eMMC installation).

Thanks. Found that file, and others.

Confused on the boot phone while (shortly) holding the RE Button.
-One set of instructions says to hold until red light appears. Red light appears as soon as power is supplied. May I assume, or conclude that the (shortly) mean as soon as the power is connected as in about 1second ?
I have also noticed because I was to tired that I also had/have and SDE drive on the sd-card
sde                  8:64   1  31.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1               8:65   1    12M  0 part   
└─sde2               8:66   1    22M  0 part  /media/mm3/57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b
sde1 is labeled (Firmware) tow-boot
EDIT--- This is on the SD-CARD.. I realised this when I unplugged it. The PHONE is SDF. Hope this helps sort-of

SDF
along with the above SDF, multiple partitions. The second SDF2 has UBOOT.scr

Q-Would this be normal, or a mistake?

I have noticed, if I hold the "RE Button" pasted the second Double buzz, the light goes out.
Q- Is this Normal
All this was after I wiped the sd-card, no partitions or formatting, just blank. Then mounted it on PC and dd the SPI .img file to it.

At this point of starting with a (short) RE button hold AND add power from cable, nothing happens NOW....
If I hold Vol-UP key and power on, wait until second double buzz I get Tow-Boot (Blue light), and lsblk command shows SDE + to partitions, SDF +16 partitions.
Q- Is this normal

FYI - I have the PinePhone Pro-Explorer Edition, purchased 23rd June 2022, according to my sales information.
Thanks
PS Still think it's now a paper weight but it's a computer, and computers can be reformatted and have an OS installed. It's just a matter of exactly HOW to do this.

---

@Ctrl_Amiga_1070 , the issue here is that you're clicking around in the files on GitHub. Instead you always want to download from the RELEASES section on GitHub instead.

Download https://github.com/Tow-Boot/Tow-Boot/rel...006.tar.xz, it has the SPI installer file directly in the archive. 

Extract the file ("spi.installer.img") from the archive and write it to the microSD card using Balena Etcher.

Then insert the microSD card and boot the phone while (shortly) holding the RE button.

It should now boot into the installer, from where you can write Tow-Boot to it. If that doesn't work right away, try holding the RE button shorter (if the Tow-Boot installer starts but raises errors because the button was held too long) or longer (if it still boots to the eMMC installation).

Thanks. Found that file, and others.

Confused on the boot phone while (shortly) holding the RE Button.
-One set of instructions says to hold until red light appears. Red light appears as soon as power is supplied. May I assume, or conclude that the (shortly) mean as soon as the power is connected as in about 1second ?
I have also noticed because I was to tired that I also had/have and SDE drive on the sd-card
sde                  8:64   1  31.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1               8:65   1    12M  0 part   
└─sde2               8:66   1    22M  0 part  /media/mm3/57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b
sde1 is labeled (Firmware) tow-boot
EDIT--- This is on the SD-CARD.. I realised this when I unplugged it. The PHONE is SDF. Hope this helps sort-of

SDF
along with the above SDF, multiple partitions. The second SDF2 has UBOOT.scr

Q-Would this be normal, or a mistake?

I have noticed, if I hold the "RE Button" pasted the second Double buzz, the light goes out.
Q- Is this Normal
All this was after I wiped the sd-card, no partitions or formatting, just blank. Then mounted it on PC and dd the SPI .img file to it.

At this point of starting with a (short) RE button hold AND add power from cable, nothing happens NOW....
If I hold Vol-UP key and power on, wait until second double buzz I get Tow-Boot (Blue light), and lsblk command shows SDE + to partitions, SDF +16 partitions.
Q- Is this normal

FYI - I have the PinePhone Pro-Explorer Edition, purchased 23rd June 2022, according to my sales information.
Thanks
PS Still think it's now a paper weight but it's a computer, and computers can be reformatted and have an OS installed. It's just a matter of exactly HOW to do this.

Following these instructions on tow-boot spi install https://tow-boot.org/devices/pine64-pinephonePro.html
I've booted the phone (without and sd-card) and using tweezers for a short press of RE-Button, I had red light (removed tweezers) and then a short a buzz. After a few seconds (5 or so) I had a double short buzz then yellow light, then that's it. 
No Blue Light
No Blue Screen.
No device(s) found on lsblk via cable connected to PC.
But it gives me a good opportunity to re-charge the battery

Normally if I power on the phone in it's current (not working) condition, I get a red light and a short buzz, Red light remains lit. Then a short double buzz, and I think red light goes out (not 100% on this), then at about 10-15 seconds from power on, the red light blinks, and I get 10 short buzzes, then phone powers off and naturally reboots and repeats.

Everything you write here suggests that your phone is shipped with Tow-Boot pre-installed.

Could you please power down the phone, remove the microSD card and then hold VOLUME UP and shortly hold POWER to power on the phone while still holding VOLUME UP? Does it show any LED colors there?

[Ctrl_Amiga_1070]

Everything you write here suggests that your phone is shipped with Tow-Boot pre-installed.
--- I must have been one of the very early ones to receive as I ordered and was shipped at very end of June 2022. Yippie...

Could you please power down the phone, remove the microSD card and then hold VOLUME UP and shortly hold POWER to power on the phone while still holding VOLUME UP? Does it show any LED colors there?

Yep. Done all that. Hold vol+up on attaching USB cable connected to PC, NO-Sd-Card. I get Red Light and short buzz, red light stays on for 5 or so secs, then double short buzz, then Blue Light.

I have lsblk showing
sde                           8:64   1 115.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1                        8:65   1    12M  0 part   
└─sde2                        8:66   1    22M  0 part  
using KDE Partition Manager I see
sde                          UMS Disk 0 - 115.25Gib 
├─sde1                        unknown (type)    partition Label = Firmware (Tow-Boot) 
└─sde2                        ext4 (type)            partition Label = spi-installer

From what I almost remember this is normal. All I have to do is add or install which OS I am interested in...
Yes???
OR
No???

Oh!. To install stuff on SD-Card I use the following in order
1. DD
2. UnetBootin (Linux)

I'm not using that "Balena Etcher" thing website mentioned. So... fxc...  I follow this
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_P...o_the_eMMC
yes or no ??
Thanks to FXC. Can I Plus 1 you for your assistance or up armour or something similar?

[fxc]

Everything you write here suggests that your phone is shipped with Tow-Boot pre-installed.
--- I must have been one of the very early ones to receive as I ordered and was shipped at very end of June 2022. Yippie...

Could you please power down the phone, remove the microSD card and then hold VOLUME UP and shortly hold POWER to power on the phone while still holding VOLUME UP? Does it show any LED colors there?

Yep. Done all that. Hold vol+up on attaching USB cable connected to PC, NO-Sd-Card. I get Red Light and short buzz, red light stays on for 5 or so secs, then double short buzz, then Blue Light.

I have lsblk showing
sde                           8:64   1 115.2G  0 disk   
├─sde1                        8:65   1    12M  0 part   
└─sde2                        8:66   1    22M  0 part  
using KDE Partition Manager I see
sde                          UMS Disk 0 - 115.25Gib 
├─sde1                        unknown (type)    partition Label = Firmware (Tow-Boot) 
└─sde2                        ext4 (type)            partition Label = spi-installer

From what I almost remember this is normal. All I have to do is add or install which OS I am interested in...
Yes???
OR
No???

Oh!. To install stuff on SD-Card I use the following in order
1. DD
2. UnetBootin (Linux)

I'm not using that "Balena Etcher" thing website mentioned. So... fxc...  I follow this
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_P...o_the_eMMC
yes or no ??
Thanks to FXC. Can I Plus 1 you for your assistance or up armour or something similar?

The vibration and the LED colors are coming from Tow-Boot, so there is already Tow-Boot on the phone installed. That means you don't have to worry about Tow-Boot or the RE button anymore.

On the eMMC it appears that you accidentally wrote the SPI installer image to the eMMC (which should not be done and is definitely a mistake).

The solution for this is to write a disk image to "sde" here, correct. Download an image, extract it from the archive and then flash it using:

Code:

sudo dd if=IMAGE.img of=/dev/sde bs=1M status=progress conv=fsync

In this example replace the "IMAGE.img" with the filename of the image (make sure the image is compatible with the PinePhone Pro and that you extracted it from the archive, check the file extension) and make sure your device is called /dev/sde.