[RESOLVED] PineA64LTS doesn't want to boot.

[Guest]

Hello,

I have a PineA64LTS I use as a nextcloud server (running on docker).
A few days ago, I updated it (for the first time in a loong time) and ended up on a boot problem.
 

Loading, please wait...
Starting version 245.4-4ubuntu3.4
Begin: Loading essential drivers ... done.
Begin: Runing /scripts/init-premount ... done.
Begin: Mounting root file system ... Begin: Running /scripts/local-top ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-premount ... Scanning for Btrfs filesystems
done.
Begin: Waiting for root file system ... Begin: Running /scripts/local-block ... done.
done.
Gave up waiting for root file system device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
	- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! UUID=22b42cf5-1fe2-452f-a24f-517ca91c8f58 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v1.30.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.30.1-4ubuntu6.3) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) _

Thought this was no big deal, took my files and decided i would reinstall armbian later.
I just tried a fresh armbian install from here : https://www.armbian.com/sopine-a64/ and got the same problem.

Can anyone explain to me what is happening here ?

[tparys]

Explanation of what you're seeing: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/11366-alert-devmmcblk0p1-does-not-exist/?do=findComment&comment=120713

 

Short version is that the early boot is looking for your boot partition by UUID (sort of a unique fingerprint) and cannot find it.

 

You might be missing a driver in the initramfs, have a drive that's not being powered correctly, or just a bad image. I would start in that shell, and see what MMC block devices you have (/dev/mmcblk*) or hard drives (/dev/sd*) that you're expecting. Also worthwhile is to check the kernel log ( " dmesg | more " ) and check to see if any important hardware failed to initialize, missing firmware, etc ...

[Guest]

Thanks a lot for your answer.

I reflashed a sdcard with the link provided directly by pine64 here https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/SOPINE_Software_Release#Armbian using the "Armbian Debian Buster for Server and Light Desktop Usage" link.

It appears the UUID causing the problem is the same as the my "root=UUDI=" kernel argument.

Gave up waiting for root file system device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
	- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enougth?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! UUID=b9866ace-f260-437c-9794-8e1a363a3c71 does not exist. Dropping to a shell.

(initramfs) cat /proc/cmdline
root=UUID=b9866ace-f260-437c-9794-8e1a363a3c71 rootwait rootfstype=ext4 ........

 

I thought that the given UUID might not be the right one. But when I plug my sdcard and run blkid I have the same :
 

sudo blkid /dev/mmcblk0p1 
/dev/mmcblk0p1: UUID="b9866ace-f260-437c-9794-8e1a363a3c71" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a1a25812-01"

When i ran /dev/m* and /dev/s* I could not find any mmcblk* or sd* partitions (I guess that's normal since it couldn't find the root).

[Guest]

By the way I tried "cat /proc/modules" and this is the result : 

 

(initramfs) cat /proc/modules
realtek 24576 0 - Live 0xffff800008d5c000
pinctrl_axp209 16384 0 - Live 0xffff800008d48000
dwmac_sun8i 28672 0 - Live 0xffff800008d48000
mdio_mux 16384 1 dwmac_sun8i, Live 0xffff800008d40000

I will try to learn more about initramfs and it's modules.

[Guest]

On 4/20/2021 at 3:22 AM, tparys said:

Also worthwhile is to check the kernel log ( " dmesg | more " )

I could only see the lower part of those since I cannot access the 'more' command.
Maybe the debian-base and ubuntu-base initramfs rescue shells are different though.

[Patrick Peters]

Hi ArthurS,

 

You probably ran into the same problem as i did. At least if it is a SD card you are using?

 

Please see my posting with how i fixed it:

 

 

 

[Guest]

Hi Patrick, thanks for your answer.

I am using a sd card and made the changes you suggested.
The line to change was weirdly at 600 and not at 1200~ as written in your post.
 

		mmc@1c0f000 {
			compatible = "allwinner,sun50i-a64-mmc";
			reg = <0x1c0f000 0x1000>;
			clocks = <0x02 0x1f 0x02 0x4b>;
			clock-names = "ahb\0mmc";
			resets = <0x02 0x08>;
			reset-names = "ahb";
			interrupts = <0x00 0x3c 0x04>;
			max-frequency = <0x8f0d180>;
			status = "okay";
			bus-width = <0x04>;
			#address-cells = <0x01>;
			#size-cells = <0x00>;
			pinctrl-names = "default";
			pinctrl-0 = <0x25>;
			vmmc-supply = <0x26>;
			disable-wp;
			non-removable;
			cd-gpios = <0x27 0x05 0x06 0x01>;
			phandle = <0x69>;
		};

		mmc@1c10000 {
			compatible = "allwinner,sun50i-a64-mmc";
			reg = <0x1c10000 0x1000>;
			clocks = <0x02 0x20 0x02 0x4c>;
			clock-names = "ahb\0mmc";
			resets = <0x02 0x09>;
			reset-names = "ahb";
			interrupts = <0x00 0x3d 0x04>;
			max-frequency = <0x8f0d180>;
			status = "okay";
			#address-cells = <0x01>;
			#size-cells = <0x00>;
			pinctrl-names = "default";
			pinctrl-0 = <0x28>;
			vmmc-supply = <0x29>;
			vqmmc-supply = <0x2a>;
			non-removable;
			bus-width = <0x04>;
			phandle = <0x6a>;
		};

		mmc@1c11000 {
			compatible = "allwinner,sun50i-a64-emmc";
			reg = <0x1c11000 0x1000>;
			clocks = <0x02 0x21 0x02 0x4d>;
			clock-names = "ahb\0mmc";
			resets = <0x02 0x0a>;
			reset-names = "ahb";
			interrupts = <0x00 0x3e 0x04>;
			max-frequency = <0x8f0d180>;
			status = "okay";
			#address-cells = <0x01>;
			#size-cells = <0x00>;
			pinctrl-names = "default";
			pinctrl-0 = <0x2b>;
			vmmc-supply = <0x26>;
			vqmmc-supply = <0x2c>;
			bus-width = <0x08>;
			non-removable;
			cap-mmc-hw-reset;
			mmc-hs200-1_8v;
			phandle = <0x6b>;
		};

The boot problem still persist though. The following line loops until it throws me into the initramfs shell.
 

Begin: Running /scripts/local-block ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-block ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-block ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-block ... done.

...

 

Should i try to put non-removable on all mmc@* blocks ?

[Guest]

Just retried and now works on Armbian buster 21.05.1.
Image : Armbian_21.05.1_Pine64so_buster_current_5.10.34.img

Thanks for your help everyone