Ambian fails before the first hurdle. Refuses to boot on Banana Pro SOC board.

[Myron]

This is a simple one, but the most annoying.  The only Linux distribution I can not get to work in the Armbian on the Banana Pro.

 

Sandisk 32Gb Class 10 MicroSD card.

A USB power supply that does supply sufficient power and current.

 

I write the image to the MicroSD card, insert it into the Banana Pro's card holder, power it up, the red LED lights up and ................. that's where it stops. No heartbeat on the green LED.

 

The one thing I notice is that the image I download has only got one partition on it and that's the ext4 partition. It does not have the small FAT formatted partition and I think this is where it all goes wrong. The small FAT boot that is present on all the other SD card images is missing on the Armbian image.

 

I think once I get Ambian to boot on the Banana Pro then I think everything should just work as it should.   Can someone please help me with this?

 

I'm using the image from here . . . .   https://www.armbian.com/banana-pi-pro/

[Werner]

Have you tried the Hirsute test build with more recent kernel as well?

[Myron]

I have tried Hirsuit too.  Nothing happens.  (I don't have access to the serial console yet.)

 

The one thing I have noticed on the Armbian images is there there is only the ext4 partition.  I accustomed to there being two partitions.  One being a FAT partition with (Example from Rasbian for BananaPro image). . .

23/12/2014  19:17         4,822,944 uImage
02/02/2016  15:13            50,564 script.bin
23/12/2014  19:17               357 uEnv.txt
               3 File(s)      4,873,865 bytes
               0 Dir(s)      53,772,288 bytes free

Where uImage is the Linux Kernel and in the case of Rasbian for Banana Pro, the content is:

 

aload_script=fatload $device $partition 0x43000000 script.bin;
aload_kernel=fatload $device $partition 0x48000000 uImage;bootm 0x48000000
uenvcmd=run aload_script aload_kernel
bootargs=console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 consoleblank=0 disp.screen0_output_mode=EDID:1280x720p60 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait

 

This or similar does not exist in the Armbian image for the Banana Pro and I think this is the reason that the board will not start.  That the image to be written to the MicroSD is not formatted correctly for this board.

 

Could this please be looked into and if it's wrong, corrected or instructions on how to get the Armbian image to start-up?   I've tried the U-BOOT button and that's not also not worked.  Just a red LED, blue activity LED remains off and the green watchdog LED remains off.

 

I've tried Rasbian, but having major problems upgrading from Wheezy, which is the Lemaker provided image, to Jessie.  After the distribution upgrade to Jessie and the reboot, two services failt to start so it's impossible to login to any shell. I know how to modify uEnv.txt to init does not load, but the bash shell loads with Linux in its single user-mode, but from that point on I have no clue what I need to look for to solve this problem so I can then upgrade from jessie to stretch and then from stretch to buster.

 

I would rather start with Armbian, if I can get it to even boot-up on the Lemaker BananaPro board.

 

The image writes correctly (verified write, using Etcher) to the 32Gb Sandisk class 10 MicroSD card and the PSU provides 5.35 volts at 2 amps.  I've tried a smart USB PSU that can supply 3.8v to 6.5v up to 3 amps and all the other images I've tried did boot and did present a desktop for me to play about with.  (Just that all the other images on Lemaker's site for the BananaPro belong in a computing museum)

 

I got directed to https://www.armbian.com/banana-pi-pro/ from http://www.lemaker.org/product-bananapro-download-59.html . 

 

My level of expertise of Linux is that I've learnt a lot from the Internet god of searches called Google.  At the moment when something happens like a Distribution upgrade goes wrong and I can't login I hit the wall.

 

I wish to ditch Windows some time in the future and move to Linux, but I want to learn how to set-up a distro and learn how to fix it without losing data when something goes wrong.  I can't proceed with my plan without learning how to safely upgrade and then safely fix things when things go wrong.

[Werner]

Hard to tell without further logs for debugging. In any case when tinkering with SBCs having a USB UART adapter handy is really worth it and they are dirt cheap as well.

Try to get your hands on one and hook it up. This is the only option to get an idea if the board is dead or hanging somewhere at boot.

A20 is Allwinner family and has most likely a baud rate of 115200.

[Myron]

USB RS232 TTL (5v and 3.3v selectable) board on order.  The board is not dead.  That I know for a fact as every other distro I throw at is starts a the board and works and one common thing between them all is the FAT partition that holds the kernel and the command line passed to the kernel as well as other data needed to boot the system.  I shall wait for it to arrive before I try again.

[Myron]

Got the RS232 TTL adapter.  Armbian has started, just that it NEEDED the adapter.  I have a login prompt on the debug serial port.

w

It took a l-o-n-g time to start the kernel.  What will be the reason for the timeouts which caused the delay?

 

U-Boot SPL 2020.10-armbian (Aug 08 2021 - 14:48:33 +0200)
DRAM: 1024 MiB
CPU: 912000000Hz, AXI/AHB/APB: 3/2/2
Trying to boot from MMC1


U-Boot 2020.10-armbian (Aug 08 2021 - 14:48:33 +0200) Allwinner Technology

CPU:   Allwinner A20 (SUN7I)
Model: LeMaker Banana Pro
I2C:   ready
DRAM:  1 GiB
MMC:   mmc@1c0f000: 0, mmc@1c12000: 1
Loading Environment from FAT... Unable to use mmc 0:1... Setting up a 720x576i composite-pal console (overscan 32x20)
In:    serial
Out:   vga
Err:   vga
Net:   eth0: ethernet@1c50000
230454 bytes read in 19 ms (11.6 MiB/s)
starting USB...
Bus usb@1c14000: USB EHCI 1.00
Bus usb@1c14400: USB OHCI 1.0
Bus usb@1c1c000: USB EHCI 1.00
Bus usb@1c1c400: USB OHCI 1.0
scanning bus usb@1c14000 for devices... 3 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus usb@1c14400 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus usb@1c1c000 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus usb@1c1c400 for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found
       scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found
Autoboot in 1 seconds
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0 is current device
Scanning mmc 0:1...
Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr
3964 bytes read in 3 ms (1.3 MiB/s)
## Executing script at 43100000
U-boot loaded from SD
Boot script loaded from mmc
154 bytes read in 3 ms (49.8 KiB/s)
11580575 bytes read in 645 ms (17.1 MiB/s)
7995296 bytes read in 442 ms (17.3 MiB/s)
Found mainline kernel configuration
40795 bytes read in 10 ms (3.9 MiB/s)
5532 bytes read in 11 ms (490.2 KiB/s)
Applying kernel provided DT fixup script (sun7i-a20-fixup.scr)
## Executing script at 45000000
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 43300000 ...
   Image Name:   uInitrd
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    11580511 Bytes = 11 MiB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Flattened Device Tree blob at 43000000
   Booting using the fdt blob at 0x43000000
EHCI failed to shut down host controller.
   Loading Ramdisk to 494f4000, end 49fff45f ... OK
   Loading Device Tree to 49481000, end 494f3fff ... OK

Starting kernel ...

[  235.049858] ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_p2p_create_p2pdev: timeout occurred
[  235.056396] ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_cfg80211_add_iface: add iface p2p-dev-wlan0 type 10 failed: err=-5

bananapipro login: root (automatic login)

 ____  ____  _   ____
| __ )|  _ \(_) |  _ \ _ __ ___
|  _ \| |_) | | | |_) | '__/ _ \
| |_) |  __/| | |  __/| | | (_) |
|____/|_|   |_| |_|   |_|  \___/

Welcome to Armbian 21.08.1 Focal with Linux 5.10.60-sunxi

System load:   221%             Up time:       4 min
Memory usage:  10% of 997M      IP:
CPU temp:      34°C             Usage of /:    13% of 29G


Waiting for system to finish booting ...

New to Armbian? Documentation: https://docs.armbian.com Support: https://forum.armbian.com

New root password:

 

[Igor]

On 9/10/2021 at 6:02 PM, Myron said:

That I know for a fact as every other distro I throw at is starts a the board and works and one common thing between them all is the FAT partition that holds the kernel and the command line passed to the kernel as well as other data needed to boot the system.

FAT partition is not needed, perhaps only for amateur usage. So that people who have Windows, can access this part and change thing. While most of them have no knowledge what to do with those files, so it is pretty irrelevant. FAT partition is there because all those distro tries to mimic Raspberry Pi, while cheap mainstream toy is not our amusement to follow. Raspberry Pi can't boot from anything else due its proprietary construction ...

 

Armbian controls this hardware with a very different modern hardware interface, written from scratch, from the moment you plug the power. There is no relationship with the demo level software you are mention as a working ones. Those were made just to present hardware functions and abandoned right after then. Many years ago. I am sure you don't want to use those and I highly recommend you to stay away from those other (fake) distros.

 

Also make sure to read this.

 

25 minutes ago, Myron said:

Armbian has started, just that it NEEDED the adapter.  I have a login prompt on the debug serial port.

We need to know:

- exact version of boot loader (u-boot) very early print
- armbianmonitor -u (if you have network operational)
- cat cat /etc/armbian-release 

- do you have monitor attached and what kind of

- how do you power the board

 

Helping you is our expense. You can also try asking for support at Lemaker, but I am 100% sure nobody will answer to you. Not at any distro you are mentioning.

[Myron]

I'm starting right from scratch with Armbian and it is Armbian I wish to use.   PSU supplies 5.35 volts at a maximum of 2 amps.  The monitor, at the moment, is a Sony Bravia 43" TV, but I wish to use the BananaPro headless through terminal and X11.

 

I've just reflashed the mmc with the buster image that has xfce4 set-up and setting this up through the serial console first.  I am looking towards donating to this project.

 

On the topic of setting-up Linux absolutely from scratch, my lever of expertise of Linux is somewhere between beginner and moderate.

 

Right now I have no clue how to get anything to show on the TV through the HDMI cable.  It stays blank.  I've only set-up Armbian through the serial console.and now have it connected to the network.

 

The output from armbianmonitor is here: https://pastebin.com/z6TWmUqG

 

Content of /etc/armbian-release:

# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
BOARD=bananapipro
BOARD_NAME="Banana Pi Pro"
BOARDFAMILY=sun7i
BUILD_REPOSITORY_URL=git@github.com:armbian/build
BUILD_REPOSITORY_COMMIT=aec64805a
DISTRIBUTION_CODENAME=focal
DISTRIBUTION_STATUS=supported
VERSION=21.08.1
LINUXFAMILY=sunxi
ARCH=arm
IMAGE_TYPE=stable
BOARD_TYPE=conf
INITRD_ARCH=arm
KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE=Image
BRANCH=current

 

 

[Igor]

41 minutes ago, Myron said:

Right now I have no clue how to get anything to show on the TV through the HDMI cable.  It stays blank.  I've only set-up Armbian through the serial console.and now have it connected to the network.

Those boards - even they are old - makes us grey hair sometimes. You can see down in the Allwinner A20 forum:
 

which we mitigated with this: https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/2963 but it seems we loose HDMI on this particular board. I am looking into it.

[Myron]

3 hours ago, Igor said:

The board maybe old, but at least it works and seems to be stable not I got it working and Linux updated.  Anything I can help with regarding getting the HDMI port working on this board?

 

As it's now working, and thank-you for your assistance, I'll have a look at the Allwinner A20 forum.  I would particularly like to know if it is possible to get the green LED to show a watchdog heartbeat and the blue LED to show MMC activity, if possible.
 

Quote

 

Those boards - even they are old - makes us grey hair sometimes. You can see down in the Allwinner A20 forum:
 

which we mitigated with this: https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/2963 but it seems we loose HDMI on this particular board. I am looking into it.

 

 

 

[Igor]

I think I have found a fix. I made many reboots with most recent boot loader and it worked fine, perhaps just on this board. HDMI is up. It will take few days that fixed images are populated around CDN. (when version 21.08.2 shows up).

[Myron]

10 hours ago, Igor said:

I think I have found a fix. I made many reboots with most recent boot loader and it worked fine, perhaps just on this board. HDMI is up. It will take few days that fixed images are populated around CDN. (when version 21.08.2 shows up).

Thank-you. I had this BananaPi Pro in storage for quite a long time still in it's original packaging. Recently unpacked it, put it in a safe transparent case and powered it up. All the Lemaker referenced distros have an out of date kernel.  I wish to stay with Armbian.  Now all I need to do is get xfce4 and xrdp to behave and play nice!  I set-up a original Raspberry Pi Pro without any difficulties and also xfce4 and xrdp played nice right out of the box, but it's a lower powered SOC board, but suitable to run a SoftEtherVPN server.

 

I guess I'll try uninstall xfce4 and xrdp, try clean both off Armbian and try again.  I think I installed xrdp first then xfce4.  I am using the Armbian image download that had xfce4 already installed onto it.

 

Let me know when this image is up, where to get it from and I'll try it for you.

[Igor]

1 hour ago, Myron said:

Let me know when this image is up, where to get it from and I'll try it for you.

 

Problem was fixed and its super cool that solution was found this fast. Its not uncommon that a weeks goes by and a problem is not solved (you can imagine expense of lost week, while users are willing to give perhaps 20 USD for that while asking for more at the same time). You just need to wait that maintainers and infrastructure makes the rest. I don't have information, when images will be up - its a complicated procedure since its not designed to satisfy just one person needs. Checking manually when correct image will show up (you can also do that) and manually notifying you is not an option.