My experience with the Pine64
#1
Well, for starters let me say that I am very frustrated by my interaction with this board. I'm in no way a hardware guy, but I'm a developer, so it should be fairly easy for me to get this thing started. However, nothing works. I'm pretty sure my board is not DOA, but that it doesn't like something I do; only there are too many things that it can dislike, for me to try them all.

So, here's my setup:
1. Memory
I've seen the posts about counterfeit SD cards, and I'm fairly sure that mine is not. It's a 64GB SanDisk Class 10 card. Nothing fancy, but it should do the trick. Nothing else to say here.

2. Display
I originally tried hooking it up to my Samsung monitor, which only has DVI and VGA, so I used a DVI -> HDMI converter. After I saw all the "no-no" posts about this, I hooked it up to my Phillips TV, which has HDMI input. My TV is HD Ready (meaning 720p, however it does say that it supports 1080p coming from computers). The only thing I can't verify is my HDMI cable, but it does work on my XBox 360, so why shouldn't it work with the Pine?

3. Peripherals
Originally I started it with just HDMI and ethernet cable. After a few seconds, the ethernet connection started showing activity (both yellow and green lights lit up; this is the reason I think my board is not DOA). However after I saw the posts about not hooking anything up but the display and card, I also removed the ethernet cable.

4. Power
First I tried with an old no-name phone charger and the USB cable I got with my phone. Later I found out that the charger only gives 5V 1A, so next I tried it with my OnePlus One charger, which outputs exactly 5V 2A. The cable seems also pretty good quality. The only thing I'm worried about here, is that my OPO charger has a US-type socket, and I live in Europe, so I'm also using an adapter (but AFAIK that doesn't transform the current).

5. Software
I tried all 3 methods of flashing Android and RemixOS onto my card: Win32DiskImager, PhoenixCard and DD (the last one via ubuntu). Since I haven't found a video which follows this process from start till end (including sticking the card into the board and booting), I have no idea about stuff like what filesystem to use (for Win32DiskImager and DD -- PhoenixCard formats the card), and stuff like that.

6. Other stuff
I'm pretty sure I've tried almost all the suggestions on this forum, and no, nothing worked.

After trying all these things, I will probably try flashing Ubuntu as my last resort (although I'm not getting my hopes up), but the end result will probably stay the same: the board starts (red LED), stays on as long as I let it, however there's no video to my screen.

As I said at the beginning, my experience with this board is incredibly frustrating, and I can barely refrain myself from using certain words to describe the project leaders, because honestly? I don't think I'll ever get it to work. Some people say it can be resolved via a software improvement, but I think it's a hardware problem, and that I can throw the board away. In any case, in hopes that I'm wrong, I'll keep the board for a couple of months, and try again. If it still won't work, I'll throw it away and get myself a Pi3, and always be angry at myself for being to cheap to spend an extra $20 to go for the Pi from the beginning.

Also, I understand that the project owners are still having headaches to fulfill the Kickstarter pledges, but that does not in any way mean that they should neglect documentation & software. The wiki page is nothing more than a bunch of user-written suggestions. The Android & Ubuntu images are also user-contrib, so basically low-to-none software support from the creators, just a shiny board.

PS. What's up with the power button being in the yellow shipping bag?! It should be in the box at least. I've thrown it away and had to go through my trash to get it back.

I honestly hope you guys are having better luck than me Smile
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#2
Since you report the Ethernet LEDs blink I think that you are correct about your board not being DOA. I suggest you start by flashing a Linux img, checking the pine's ip address on your router, and ssh'ing into it. If this works, then the issue is pretty much narrowed down to the pine->screen connection. 

If you are on Windows just use the win32imager. Here is a selection of different Linux images - grab the debian or ubuntu. 

Report back after you have successfully ssh into the pine so we can confirm its a video issue. 

Side note: Theoretically your OnePlus charger could be a problem if it is a 'smart charger'.

[edit] here is a walkthough of flashing and booting up if you feel you need it: http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=622
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


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#3
Yup, SSH works with the latest Longsleep Ubuntu build, so it's the display connection.

Buying a new HDMI cable is okay, but I will not buy a new TV just to get this board working. Will update after I change my cable.

Thanks for the help.
  Reply
#4
(05-29-2016, 02:57 PM)edu2004eu Wrote: Yup, SSH works with the latest Longsleep Ubuntu build, so it's the display connection.

Buying a new HDMI cable is okay, but I will not buy a new TV just to get this board working. Will update after I change my cable.

Thanks for the help.

Hold your horses mate! I very much doubt its an issue with the cable. 

Could you link me you EXACT TV make and model? 

You can catch me for another 2 -3 hrs on IRC // I will be on tomorrow at different time intervals too.
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


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#5
OK, so with Luke's amazing help, I managed to get some output on my TV on Ubuntu (yaaay!), so I'll post our findings here.

Using another machine, SSH into the board (yes, SSH is enabled by default).

First, you need to update your kernel and u-boot. This is simply done via:

Code:
cd /usr/local/sbin
sudo ./pine64_update_kernel.sh
sudo ./pine64_update_uboot.sh


For me, the u-boot was already at latest version, so no worries if that happens. After both finish, reboot.

Then, edit /boot/uEnv.txt and add the following line:

Code:
extraargs=console=ttyS0,115200 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 disp.screen0_output_mode=EDID:1280x720p50 rootwait rootfstype=ext4

Then reboot again.

Please note that (for me at least) after all this, there was still no signal coming into my TV, so I unplugged and re-plugged the HDMI cable into the board and voila! It started working.

Thanks Luke for all the help!

PS. Source links:
http://www.cubieforums.com/index.php/top...l#msg15218
if that doesn't work:
https://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic...388#p40416
  Reply
#6
Being my first post I wasn't sure where to post this about Rufus.exe....

Ok, first off, my hats off to all you guys (all inclusive general term ladies...don't get mad please....lol) who develop (code, program, I guess "developer" is now a general term for a lot of that) because although I do remember some of my basic DOS I learned way back when, and at 10yrs old my dad's Smith Corona PC with a whopping 256k of memory was "the shit!" I just never got into the soft side of things, but I love hardware and can build almost anything, but of course someone would have to program it...lol....

Which brings me to the point of this reply,

I'm not understanding why people are having so much trouble with their first boot from an SD Card??

When I got my 2GB Pine board I read up on making the SD bootable with the image of your choice?? 
As for typing in any code or line of characters for linux....which I've never actually used... I know I know, it's not that I've not had the time, it's that I'm sooooo very lazy... Smile

Phoenix screwed me big time when I used it. Although it said it was formatting and partitioning the SD Card in my card slot it was in fact doing it to my 2nd SSD...my data drive on my Asus G750! Needless to say I didn't touch Phoenix again.
I kept reading and found that RUFUS was what was being used by those that had had the same experience...

Rufus 2.yaddayaddayadda is what I used the second go round on trying to make one of these images work and not to piss on anyone's Wheaties or anything, but the three (3) images I've mounted to separate and basically cheap (all on sale over 2 months on Amazon) 16, 32, and 64gb cards have all worked the first time they were installed and except for the first image of Androind 5.1.1 a couple of months ago that was posted on Pine64's site which took 8-10 min to boot, have booted in less that 3 minutes and although I haven't checked all the functions but the basics, have all worked great....

AGAIN HATS OFF AND A BIG THANKS TO ALL THE GUYS THAT GO THROUGH THE DIFFERENT BUILDS OF EVERYTHING AND MAKE THEM WORK FOR GUYS LIKE ME!!!

I waited the last month or so because I had to wait (like everyone else I'm sure) for my 512mb version of the Pine64.

Here's a list of the three different Images I used and a link to RUFUS 2.7.855 that got my SD Cards bootable and imaged without any problems.

Rufus 2.7.855
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/68unkfqz2n8fyy...7.exe?dl=0

All three were run on the 2gb Pine64.

1) android-rooted-ver5.1.1-20160505-pine64    -   this took the longest to boot up the first time about 2 1/2 to 3 min. After that just a little under 2      minutes.

2) pine64-image-debianmate-310101bsp  -  this image build screams! It was up and going in under 2 minutes it's first boot and in about 1 minute after that.

3) remix-v2.0-20160415-pine64  -  This one also took right at about 3 minutes first boot and almost 2 minutes after that.

(NOW IF I COULD ONLY GET A VERSION OF WINDOWS 7 OR 8 THAT WORKED JUST AS EASY...)

All the connected peripherals stayed exactly the same: 

USB Keyboard (Dell - very basic without any extras like Multimedia keys or anything)
USB Wireless trackball (my baby...it's about fifteen yrs old and is still going strong...Logitech Trackman with the red trackball.

I also used a USB 4-port hub after the first boot (wouldn't boot with the first Android image a month or so ago unless everything was unplugged for the first boot. so I decided not to even try this time around)

and a wired (wireless by plug-in repeater/AP) ethernet connection.
  Reply
#7
(05-30-2016, 02:18 PM)justjager Wrote: Being my first post I wasn't sure where to post this about Rufus.exe....

Ok, first off, my hats off to all you guys (all inclusive general term ladies...don't get mad please....lol) who develop (code, program, I guess "developer" is now a general term for a lot of that) because although I do remember some of my basic DOS I learned way back when, and at 10yrs old my dad's Smith Corona PC with a whopping 256k of memory was "the shit!" I just never got into the soft side of things, but I love hardware and can build almost anything, but of course someone would have to program it...lol....

Which brings me to the point of this reply,

I'm not understanding why people are having so much trouble with their first boot from an SD Card??

When I got my 2GB Pine board I read up on making the SD bootable with the image of your choice?? 
As for typing in any code or line of characters for linux....which I've never actually used... I know I know, it's not that I've not had the time, it's that I'm sooooo very lazy... Smile

Phoenix screwed me big time when I used it. Although it said it was formatting and partitioning the SD Card in my card slot it was in fact doing it to my 2nd SSD...my data drive on my Asus G750! Needless to say I didn't touch Phoenix again.
I kept reading and found that RUFUS was what was being used by those that had had the same experience...

Rufus 2.yaddayaddayadda is what I used the second go round on trying to make one of these images work and not to piss on anyone's Wheaties or anything, but the three (3) images I've mounted to separate and basically cheap (all on sale over 2 months on Amazon) 16, 32, and 64gb cards have all worked the first time they were installed and except for the first image of Androind 5.1.1 a couple of months ago that was posted on Pine64's site which took 8-10 min to boot, have booted in less that 3 minutes and although I haven't checked all the functions but the basics, have all worked great....

AGAIN HATS OFF AND A BIG THANKS TO ALL THE GUYS THAT GO THROUGH THE DIFFERENT BUILDS OF EVERYTHING AND MAKE THEM WORK FOR GUYS LIKE ME!!!

I waited the last month or so because I had to wait (like everyone else I'm sure) for my 512mb version of the Pine64.

Here's a list of the three different Images I used and a link to RUFUS 2.7.855 that got my SD Cards bootable and imaged without any problems.

Rufus 2.7.855
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/68unkfqz2n8fyy...7.exe?dl=0

All three were run on the 2gb Pine64.

1) android-rooted-ver5.1.1-20160505-pine64    -   this took the longest to boot up the first time about 2 1/2 to 3 min. After that just a little under 2      minutes.

2) pine64-image-debianmate-310101bsp  -  this image build screams! It was up and going in under 2 minutes it's first boot and in about 1 minute after that.

3) remix-v2.0-20160415-pine64  -  This one also took right at about 3 minutes first boot and almost 2 minutes after that.

(NOW IF I COULD ONLY GET A VERSION OF WINDOWS 7 OR 8 THAT WORKED JUST AS EASY...)

All the connected peripherals stayed exactly the same: 

USB Keyboard (Dell - very basic without any extras like Multimedia keys or anything)
USB Wireless trackball (my baby...it's about fifteen yrs old and is still going strong...Logitech Trackman with the red trackball.

I also used a USB 4-port hub after the first boot (wouldn't boot with the first Android image a month or so ago unless everything was unplugged for the first boot. so I decided not to even try this time around)

and a wired (wireless by plug-in repeater/AP) ethernet connection.

Thanks for that excellent report on how you got everything working using Rufus.  I am still waiting for my 2 gig board.
  Reply
#8
@ justjager, thanks for this. Do you feel that this is in any way shape or form an easier utility to use - e.g. for new or inexperienced users - thank win32imager ?

Cheers
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


  Reply
#9
Hello,

I've been able to burn properly pine64-image-debianmate-310101bsp.img on a 8Gb SD card (a new one). No video output via HDMI (Pine A64+ is connected to a Samsung SyncMaster BX2335). I've read that somehow there is need to edit uEnv.txt (located into /boot/) and mine contain the following :

console=tty0
kernel_filename=pine64/Image
initrd_filename=initrd.img
ethaddr=36:c9:e3:f1:b8:05
extraargs=console=ttyS0,115200 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 disp.screen0_output_mode=EDID:1920x1080i60 rootwait rootfstype=ext4

what is missing here ?

Also, I've checked the scripts in /usr/local/sbin/ and this is what I have

mplayer-play.sh pine64_eth0-mackeeper.sh pine64_health.sh pine64_update_uboot.sh
pine64_corekeeper.sh pine64_fix_whatever.sh pine64_update_kernel.sh resize_rootfs.sh

I've successfulyl run "resize_rootfs.sh", "pine64_update_kernel.sh", "pine64_update_uboot.sh" the others I never saw them mentioned in the various posts, so I let them be.

But still no output on HDMI. Can someone help me please?
  Reply
#10
(06-02-2016, 09:22 AM)Lord Eisenhorn Wrote: Hello,

I've been able to burn properly pine64-image-debianmate-310101bsp.img on a 8Gb SD card (a new one). No video output via HDMI (Pine A64+ is connected to a Samsung SyncMaster BX2335). I've read that somehow there is need to edit uEnv.txt (located into /boot/) and mine contain the following :

console=tty0
kernel_filename=pine64/Image
initrd_filename=initrd.img
ethaddr=36:c9:e3:f1:b8:05
extraargs=console=ttyS0,115200 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 disp.screen0_output_mode=EDID:1920x1080i60 rootwait rootfstype=ext4

what is missing here ?

Also, I've checked the scripts in /usr/local/sbin/ and this is what I have

mplayer-play.sh       pine64_eth0-mackeeper.sh  pine64_health.sh         pine64_update_uboot.sh
pine64_corekeeper.sh  pine64_fix_whatever.sh    pine64_update_kernel.sh  resize_rootfs.sh

I've successfulyl run "resize_rootfs.sh", "pine64_update_kernel.sh", "pine64_update_uboot.sh" the others I never saw them mentioned in the various posts, so I let them be.

But still no output on HDMI. Can someone help me please?

Strange, shouldn't be a problem as this is a 1080p panel.  Can you ssh into the pine ?  [edit] you obviously can ... sorry, havent had enough sleep tonight Wink

Can always join the chat - easier to troubleshoot.
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


  Reply


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