Boot problems
#1
Just got my PBP a few days ago. Booted fine but, I decided I wanted to play with things  Undecided . Installed Manjaro on a SD card and wiped the EMMC in my PBP.
Unfortunately it didn't boot so, I tried reinstalling Manjarno on the EMMC. This also did not work I also tried manjaro-arm-flasher to no avail.
eventually I ran updates on the Manjarno install on the SD and it told me I should update the boot loader, so I ran the recommended dd commands and now the SD doesn't boot Sad . Just tried flashing my SD card from my desktop with:
Code:
sudo dd if=Manjaro-ARM-sway-pbpro-20.10.img of=/dev/sdd  bs=1M status=progress conv=fsync
The amber power light comes on, but nothing comes up on the screen. Does anyone have any ideas for what I'm doing wrong?
  Reply
#2
Some of manjaro's uboots are not so good
On a SD, where it is easy, backup good uboots before changing
bs=1M count=16 of=suitable_name,,, since it is same device, no need to mess with mbr
It is not sure if or maybe not some uboot remnant on emmc, this may or may not interfere
(from failed installs)
Because there is a battery, it can remember a "bad state", you may have to do "long presses"
Easiest to reburn image on SD, as your dd command line
If it then boots, then try to install
The long press dance........
If not, hard pwr-off(8s), try start (don't just tap, hold 1-2s, try twice (or 3) times)
If not, hard reset (20+s), try start
if not, try hard pwr-off again
I actually have had to this above dance, somewhat annoying
  Reply
#3
(05-10-2021, 12:17 PM)wdt Wrote: Some of manjaro's uboots are not so good
On a SD, where it is easy, backup good uboots before changing
bs=1M count=16 of=suitable_name,,, since it is same device, no need to mess with mbr
It is not sure if or maybe not some uboot remnant on emmc, this may or may not interfere
(from failed installs)
Because there is a battery, it can remember a "bad state", you may have to do "long presses"
Easiest to reburn image on SD, as your dd command line
If it then boots, then try to install
The long press dance........
If not, hard pwr-off(8s), try start (don't just tap, hold 1-2s, try twice (or 3) times)
If not, hard reset (20+s), try start
if not, try hard pwr-off again
I actually have had to this above dance, somewhat annoying

So far, the only recent distro that I have personally tried that actually boots every time is Kali. I don't think kali runs very well, but so far, it always boots.

Manjaro is a crapshoot. After it fails to locate my EMMC 4 times, it launches an emergency shell.
Sometimes it finds my EMMC first try, sometimes 4th. If it misses the 4th attempt, manjaro will never boot, but the boot logo will keep spinning lol. 

How can I build a uboot that keeps listening for the EMMC, rather than giving up after 4 tries? Does a noob guide exist to do this? I have some experience in C++ and Python. 

I have seen the output often enough to know that it can fail more than once and still end up booting. Maybe on the 14th check it will connect and boot. However the limit is 4. 

I tried flashing the uboot from kali onto manjaro, but that didn't work, it seems quite a bit different. Also, when booting from kali, the LED exhibits significantly different behavior.
  Reply
#4
The more I know, the less I know (yes, I know, I should get serial)
@djhnsn ,, maybe a clash between uboot minimal dtb and kernel dtb,, just a guess
manjaro has a bsp uboot, based on mrfixit, maybe try that
If there is a uboot on emmc, that is supposed to be the 1st found,, and the only one used
The way to be sure,, save 1st 16M, & mbr (on SD OR emmc), blank 1st 16M, restore mbr
So that there is ONLY 1 uboot, see what happens
To boot emmc (if that is what has blank uboot), a small card with ONLY uboot on it
If you get 'NO LED', remove 'bad' uboot, do long press dance (with 'good' uboot inserted)
  Reply
#5
(05-10-2021, 12:17 PM)wdt Wrote: Some of manjaro's uboots are not so good
On a SD, where it is easy, backup good uboots before changing
bs=1M count=16 of=suitable_name,,, since it is same device, no need to mess with mbr
It is not sure if or maybe not some uboot remnant on emmc, this may or may not interfere
(from failed installs)
Because there is a battery, it can remember a "bad state", you may have to do "long presses"
Easiest to reburn image on SD, as your dd command line
If it then boots, then try to install
The long press dance........
If not, hard pwr-off(8s), try start (don't just tap, hold 1-2s, try twice (or 3) times)
If not, hard reset (20+s), try start
if not, try hard pwr-off again
I actually have had to this above dance, somewhat annoying
so, I tried the dance a couple of times with no success. Then I opened the case and removed the emmc and it booted just fine. put it back and, it doesn't work again...
going to make a UART cable to see if that gives any info
  Reply
#6
got a serial console. I see this:
Code:
U-Boot TPL 2021.04-2 (May 08 2021 - 08:24:23)
Channel 0: LPDDR4, 50MHz
BW=32 Col=10 Bk=8 CS0 Row=15 CS1 Row=15 CS=2 Die BW=16 Size=2048MB
Channel 1: LPDDR4, 50MHz
BW=32 Col=10 Bk=8 CS0 Row=15 CS1 Row=15 CS=2 Die BW=16 Size=2048MB
256B stride
lpddr4_set_rate: change freq to 400000000 mhz 0, 1
lpddr4_set_rate: change freq to 800000000 mhz 1, 0
Trying to boot from BOOTROM
Returning to boot ROM...

U-Boot SPL 2021.04-2 (May 08 2021 - 08:24:23 +0000)
Trying to boot from MMC2
mmc_load_image_raw_sector: mmc block read error
Trying to boot from MMC2
mmc_load_image_raw_sector: mmc block read error
Trying to boot from SPI
Trying to boot from MMC1
mmc_load_image_raw_sector: mmc block read error
SPL: failed to boot from all boot devices
### ERROR ### Please RESET the board ###
  Reply
#7
Well, idbloader is doing its job, to enumerate and activate the memory
The cpu has only enough memory to run idbloader
I suspect your failed installs have put part of the uboot package on emmc, but not all
Try seeing what uboot tells you with emmc removed, you did get a successful boot with only SD
  Reply
#8
(05-11-2021, 02:06 PM)wdt Wrote: The more I know, the less I know (yes, I know, I should get serial)
@djhnsn ,, maybe a clash between uboot minimal dtb and kernel dtb,,  just a guess
manjaro has a bsp uboot, based on mrfixit, maybe try that
If there is a uboot on emmc, that is supposed to be the 1st found,, and the only one used
The way to be sure,, save 1st 16M, & mbr (on SD OR emmc), blank 1st 16M, restore mbr
So that there is ONLY 1 uboot, see what happens
To boot emmc (if that is what has blank uboot), a small card with ONLY uboot on it
If you get 'NO LED', remove 'bad' uboot, do long press dance (with 'good' uboot inserted)

I have tried the bsp uboot, and it exhibits the same symptoms. It seems like pretty much exactly the same thing.
  Reply
#9
@djhnsn
Yes, I have a bit of experience with mis-matched uboot-OS, different than you
I suppose it could be a hardware problem, but you are sometimes getting boots - emmc recognition
I assume you have checked that emmc is seated in its socket, or tried unplug - replug
You could setup pbp like mine, until you find a satisfactory uboot,, emmc 1st 16M blanked, mbr restored
Then, the only uboot is on SD, lsblk and dmesg | grep mmc to see what is happening
Then, try 'satisfactory' uboot ONLY on SD to see if will boot emmc (blank mbr on SD, note sector #s)
Sometimes a couple second pause seems to make a difference, I don't know how to set this up
-----
(the point to doing all uboot experimentation on SD, if you screw up or something badly mis-matched, easier to recover)
  Reply
#10
(05-12-2021, 11:33 PM)wdt Wrote: Well, idbloader is doing its job, to enumerate and activate the memory
The cpu has only enough memory to run idbloader
I suspect your failed installs have put part of the uboot package on emmc, but not all
Try seeing what uboot tells you with emmc removed, you did get a successful boot with only SD
Yes, without the emmc it boots to the SD just fine. I've got the USB interface for the EMMC on order, I'll see if I can fix it with that.
  Reply


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