Asus Tinkerboard on kernel 4.4.213-rockchip bricked after shutdown

[ericde45]

Hello,

 

 

yesterday i got a powerloss , and my Asus tinkerboard got shutdown. i think i had some updates installed but not yet rebooted

the Tinkerboard never restarted again.

i first suspected a crashed Emmc disk but i did the following tests and got to the conclusion that Armbian for Tinkerboard is currently broken

 

- restored a past complete image to either SD or Emmc : boots ok.

- shutdown then unplug/replug power : OK

- update with apt-get update + apt-get upgrade => reboot OK, but shutdown, and then never restart, bricked. shutdown down either with desktop or command line

 

tested also with a second Tinkerboard with no Emmc, SD re-image from working backup, boot on SD : OK. apt-get upgrade. reboot : OK. shutdown => bricked.

 

what can i check on my SD card ( i installed a Windows ext2/ext4 explorer) to correct the issue ?

 

 

[Igor]

Which image exactly? (how to properly report a problem https://www.armbian.com/bugs/ )

[ericde45]

the image i restore is a backup made using win32diskimager of my Tinkerboard Emmc done on 21 december 2020.

information i can find are ( i just restored it once again right now ):

 

Linux tinkerboardBuanderie4_4 4.4.213-rockchip #3 SMP Fri Dec 11 21:57:14 CET 2020 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux

Welcome to Armbian 20.11.3 Bionic with Linux 4.4.213-rockchip

 

the apt-get upgrade says it can upgrade :

 

 

The following packages have been kept back:
  armbian-config linux-bionic-root-legacy-tinkerboard sunxi-tools ttf-mscorefonts-installer
The following packages will be upgraded:
  apt apt-transport-https apt-utils armbian-bionic-desktop armbian-firmware bind9-host binutils binutils-arm-linux-gnueabihf binutils-common ca-certificates chromium-browser chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra curl dirmngr distro-info-data dnsutils firefox
  ghostscript gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0 gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0 git git-man gnupg gnupg-l10n gnupg-utils gnupg2 gpg gpg-agent gpg-wks-client gpg-wks-server gpgconf gpgsm gpgv gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good
  gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio hostapd initramfs-tools initramfs-tools-bin initramfs-tools-core iproute2 isc-dhcp-client libappindicator3-1 libapt-inst2.0 libapt-pkg5.0 libaudit-common libaudit1 libbind9-160 libbinutils libcaca0 libcurl3-gnutls libcurl4
  libdjvulibre-text libdjvulibre21 libdns-export1100 libdns1100 libexiv2-14 libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-bin libglib2.0-data libglib2.0-dev libglib2.0-dev-bin libgs9 libgs9-common libgstreamer-gl1.0-0 libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0
  libgstreamer-plugins-good1.0-0 libgstreamer1.0-0 libhogweed4 libirs160 libisc-export169 libisc169 libisccc160 libisccfg160 libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 libldap-2.4-2 libldap-common libldb1 liblwres160 liblz4-1 libmysqlclient20 libnettle6
  libnginx-mod-http-geoip libnginx-mod-http-image-filter libnginx-mod-http-xslt-filter libnginx-mod-mail libnginx-mod-stream libnss-myhostname libp11-kit0 libpam-modules libpam-modules-bin libpam-runtime libpam-systemd libpam0g libproxy1v5 libpython2.7
  libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib libpython3.6 libpython3.6-dev libpython3.6-minimal libpython3.6-stdlib libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules-db libseccomp2 libsmbclient libssl-dev libssl1.0.0 libssl1.1 libsystemd0 libtiff5 libudev1 libwavpack1
  libwbclient0 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 libx11-6 libx11-data libx11-dev libx11-xcb1 libzstd1 linux-dtb-legacy-rockchip linux-image-legacy-rockchip linux-libc-dev linux-u-boot-tinkerboard-legacy nginx nginx-common nginx-core openssl openvpn p11-kit
  p11-kit-modules python-apt-common python2.7 python2.7-minimal python3-apport python3-apt python3-httplib2 python3-problem-report python3-xdg python3.6 python3.6-dev python3.6-minimal samba-libs screen sudo systemd systemd-sysv tar tzdata u-boot-tools
  ubuntu-keyring udev wpasupplicant xdg-utils xserver-common xserver-xorg-core

 

 

reading that, i have the feeling that not upgrading linux-bionic-root-legacy-tinkerboard  might be in conflict with upgrading some other parts of the low level system such as linux-u-boot-tinkerboard-legacy ?

currently my kernel packages are :

 

root@tinkerboardBuanderie4_4:~# apt list --installed | grep -i tinker

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

linux-bionic-root-legacy-tinkerboard/bionic,now 20.11.3 armhf [installed,upgradable to: 21.05.1]
linux-u-boot-tinkerboard-legacy/bionic,now 20.11.3 armhf [installed,upgradable to: 21.05.1]

 

 

[Igor]

If it so hard to follow https://www.armbian.com/bugs/ and provide logs we are requesting? Things you thinks that are important, might not be enough. 

 

tl;dr;

Without logs, you are alone dealing with this problem.

[ericde45]

and i dealt with my problem !

i avoid doing apt-get update for now and my system is up and running.

 

but i also got back from storage an USB serial cable, and i will check serial communication using my second board and an SD running the same issue i had on the emmc version.

 

and don't be condescendant, i am a 50 years old IT coder, since i am 11. i checked your link after i sent the answer, and what i provided is important.

if users never come here to tell what's wrong, would you be able to find all issues by yourself ?

 

 

 

 

[Igor]

27 minutes ago, ericde45 said:

if users never come here to tell what's wrong, would you be able to find all issues by yourself ?

 

• this project is supported only with 1/1000 of needed resources. It is not possible to fix all issues you find. Not even close. People doesn't know what is our work or what not and there are "1000 people" before you asked for something. We don't know if that is a problem of our work or just something in 3rd party part.
• it is impossible to diagnose troubles without logs. I am sure we agree on that, but since this support is paid from our pocket, dealing with you is my direct expense, we choose what you need to provide or we pull out our scarce resource to problems where our time is respected. I need to see bigger picture then what you are giving me.
• support is not granted, but only our good will. Currently I don't know if this is our problem or problem made by you or some 3rd party software. I can't afford to spent a day findiong that out. Not possible. The moment I found out, its not our problem, I tune myself out in any case.

27 minutes ago, ericde45 said:

i am a 50 years old IT coder, since i am 11

 

Likewise.

[ericde45]

so i made progress

serial is working ont TTYS2

i mounted the SD card not booting as USB media.

 

i have an error message saying :

** File not found /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb **

 

in the dtb folder, i have no rk3288-tinker-s.dtb  file

i only have : rk3288-tinker.dtb

 

on a working 5.9.14 kernal Armbian, i have in dtb folder :

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 55821 déc.  11 22:00 rk3288-tinker-s.dtb

 

on a working 4.4.213, on which i did not do an apt-get upgrade i have :

 

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 70323 Dec 11 21:57 rk3288-tinker.dtb

and no -s

 

command load ${devtype} ${devnum} ${fdt_addr_r} ${prefix}dtb/${fdtfile} in boot.cmd might be the issue :

 

it seems that "apt-get upgraded 4.4.13 kernel" finds my board to be a tinker-s, even it is not really a tinker-s

the tinker i am testing on is not a tinker-s, no Emmcs on it.

and the working 'not apt-get upgraded' 4.4.13 is a tinker-s but has only rk3288-tinker.dtb and is booting fine.

 

copying rk3288-tinker.dtb to rk3288-tinker-s.dtb fixed the issue.

 

and regarding third party software ,  i have none, i am running python scripts i wrote on this Armbian device. and Node.js running  javascript. nothing that goes into U-Boot

 

 

complete bootup text is :

 

U-Boot 2018.11-armbian (May 06 2021 - 19:47:58 +0000)

Model: Tinker-RK3288
DRAM:  2 GiB
MMC:   dwmmc@ff0c0000: 1, dwmmc@ff0f0000: 0
Loading Environment from EXT4... Card did not respond to voltage select!
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Model: Tinker-RK3288
Net:   eth0: ethernet@ff290000
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc1 is current device
Scanning mmc 1:1...
Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr
3395 bytes read in 2 ms (1.6 MiB/s)
## Executing script at 00000000
Boot script loaded from mmc 1
210 bytes read in 0 ms
7233242 bytes read in 319 ms (21.6 MiB/s)
8580280 bytes read in 378 ms (21.6 MiB/s)
** File not found /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb **
libfdt fdt_check_header(): FDT_ERR_BADMAGIC
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
286 bytes read in 3 ms (92.8 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-i2c1.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
286 bytes read in 0 ms
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-i2c4.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
311 bytes read in 1 ms (303.7 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-spi2.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
537 bytes read in 2 ms (261.7 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-spidev2.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
287 bytes read in 1 ms (280.3 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-uart1.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
287 bytes read in 1 ms (280.3 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-uart2.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
Error applying DT overlays, restoring original DT
** File not found /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb **
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 21000000 ...
   Image Name:   uInitrd
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    7233178 Bytes = 6.9 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
ERROR: Did not find a cmdline Flattened Device Tree
Could not find a valid device tree
SCRIPT FAILED: continuing...
starting USB...
USB0:   USB1:   scanning bus 0

 

 

 

[Igor]

4 minutes ago, ericde45 said:

on a working 5.9.14 kernal Armbian, i have in dtb folde

 

You have perhaps jumped between legacy and modern kernels?

[ericde45]

i have 2 tinkerboard, one S and one not S.

i have several SD cards with 4.4.213 and 5.9.14

 

 

how could i have done that ? you mean upgrading to 5.9.14 and downgrading to 4.4.213 ?

i am not able to that

i had issues with a small lcd panel with 5.9.14.

so i made a lot of tests with 5.9.14 but never managed to have it work fine.

so i reversed back to 4.4.213

but i only download ambian images, write them to SD or emmc, and then apt-get upgrade them.

i am not good enough on linux kernel to try to make any change on them or something a bit 'clever'

 

and how could my current working 4.4.213 version, just applying a apt-get upgrade, got some 5.9.14 update for u-boot ?

 

what i find to be installed as u-boot packages before apt-get update are :

linux-u-boot-tinkerboard-legacy/bionic,now 20.11.3 armhf [installed,upgradable to: 21.05.1]
u-boot-tools/now 2019.07+dfsg-1ubuntu4~18.04.1 armhf [installed,upgradable to: 2020.10+dfsg-1ubuntu0~18.04.2]

 

and after apt-get upgrade still on 4.4.213:

linux-u-boot-tinkerboard-legacy/bionic,now 21.05.1 armhf  [installé]
u-boot-tools/bionic-updates,now 2020.10+dfsg-1ubuntu0~18.04.2 armhf  [installé]

 

 

[Igor]

7 minutes ago, ericde45 said:

how could i have done that ? you mean upgrading to 5.9.14 and downgrading to 4.4.213 ?

 

Yes. But if you haven't, its something else. Trying to reason why this happened. It looks like you are missing Device tree package, which comes in a separate package: linux-dtb-legacy-rockchip ... if you install that package or copy the content to your failed session, it should boot up.

 

Tinker or Tinker S can use same settings, from S model.

[ericde45]

u-boot version 4.4213 once  updated with apt-get install tries to find the file /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb. It acts as the 5.9.14 version.

if i copy /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker.dtb to /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker.dtb , yes ,it boots

 

i will try another test : download current 4.4.213 version of armbian, and check it. before apt-get upgrade and after.

 

 

 

[ericde45]

i flashed file Armbian_21.05.1_Tinkerboard_buster_legacy_4.4.213_xfce_desktop.img.xz to SD

i booted and followed boot log through serial , log above

 

i got the error : ** File not found /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb **

 

so i get to the conclusion that the current 4.4.213 build for tinkerboard is broken.

do you agree ?

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

U-Boot 2018.11-armbian (May 06 2021 - 19:47:58 +0000)

Model: Tinker-RK3288
DRAM:  2 GiB
MMC:   dwmmc@ff0c0000: 1, dwmmc@ff0f0000: 0
Loading Environment from EXT4... Card did not respond to voltage select!
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Model: Tinker-RK3288
Net:   eth0: ethernet@ff290000
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc1 is current device
Scanning mmc 1:1...
Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr
3395 bytes read in 1 ms (3.2 MiB/s)
## Executing script at 00000000
Boot script loaded from mmc 1
161 bytes read in 1 ms (157.2 KiB/s)
5829234 bytes read in 2450 ms (2.3 MiB/s)

8580280 bytes read in 3588 ms (2.3 MiB/s)
** File not found /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb **
libfdt fdt_check_header(): FDT_ERR_BADMAGIC
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
286 bytes read in 1 ms (279.3 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-i2c1.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
286 bytes read in 1 ms (279.3 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-i2c4.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
311 bytes read in 1 ms (303.7 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-spi2.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
537 bytes read in 2 ms (261.7 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-spidev2.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
287 bytes read in 1 ms (280.3 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-uart1.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
287 bytes read in 1 ms (280.3 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT overlay rockchip-uart2.dtbo
No FDT memory address configured. Please configure
the FDT address via "fdt addr <address>" command.
Aborting!
Error applying DT overlays, restoring original DT
** File not found /boot/dtb/rk3288-tinker-s.dtb **
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 21000000 ...
   Image Name:   uInitrd
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    5829170 Bytes = 5.6 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
ERROR: Did not find a cmdline Flattened Device Tree
Could not find a valid device tree
SCRIPT FAILED: continuing...
starting USB...
USB0:   USB1:   scanning bus 0 for devices... cannot reset port 1!?
cannot reset port 3!?
5 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus 1 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
       scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found

Device 0: unknown device
ethernet@ff290000 Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete....... done
Speed: 1000, full duplex
BOOTP broadcast 1
BOOTP broadcast 2
*** Unhandled DHCP Option in OFFER/ACK: 125
*** Unhandled DHCP Option in OFFER/ACK: 125
DHCP client bound to address 192.168.1.113 (457 ms)
*** Warning: no boot file name; using 'C0A80171.img'
Using ethernet@ff290000 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.1; our IP address is 192.168.1.113
Filename 'C0A80171.img'.
Load address: 0x800800
Loading: T T T T T T T T T T
Retry count exceeded; starting again
missing environment variable: pxeuuid
missing environment variable: bootfile
Retrieving file: pxelinux.cfg/01-2c-4d-54-42-b1-16
Speed: 1000, full duplex
Using ethernet@ff290000 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.1; our IP address is 192.168.1.113
Filename 'pxelinux.cfg/01-2c-4d-54-42-b1-16'.
Load address: 0x100000
Loading: T T T

 

 

[Igor]

Aha, I see. Problem was introduced here: https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/2791 even there was a lot of testings.

[ericde45]

ok, thanks, i will follow the next steps on your link

[Igor]

Just now, ericde45 said:

ok, thanks, i will follow the next steps on your link

By opening a ticket https://armbian.atlassian.net/browse/AR-776 my job is done. I have other troubles to deal with.