Armbian 24.2 is broken on Orange PI PC2

[Moklev]

Armbian 24.2 is broken on Orange PI PC2 (Debian Bookworm CLI)

 

Latest stable community release:

https://github.com/armbian/community/releases/download/24.5.0-trunk.123/Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.123_Orangepipc2_bookworm_current_6.6.20_minimal.img.xz

 

With update 23.11 -> 24.2 the orange pi pc2 no longer starts.

I tried a new sd installation and it too does not appear on the network. Right now I don't have a serial cable to check but it is possible that the network driver is missing or not working.

 

SD, SBC and PSU are 100% working: a revert to 23.11.2 makes it work perfectly.

 

Edited March 5 by Moklev

[Giulio Cervera]

same issue after upgrading to latest kernel (not sure if is the 6.6.20, but most probably is)

 

no time to debug now, but the fresh installation stuck after

Started systemd-udevd.service

 

guess is a kernel issue 

 

edit:

i can confirm my installation was broken after installing kernel 6.6.16 

reverted to 6.1.77-legacy-sunxi64 and im back

Edited March 5 by Giulio Cervera

[718aba]

Hello,

 

I am new here, so I do not know if I am using the correct topic.

I tried to upgrade my orange pi pc2 following the steps above, but no success. The devices tries to boot, but does not get any IP address and no HDMI output. The yellow led of the ethernet port blinks with a constant frequency (ca every 2 secs) and the device does not go any further.

I tried installation from the scratch, with the same result, using Rufus and balenaEtcher-Portable-1.18.11 and the following images:

Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.123_Orangepipc2_jammy_current_6.6.20_gnome_desktop.img

Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.123_Orangepipc2_bookworm_current_6.6.20_minimal.img

Then I tried installing again Armbian_23.02.1_Orangepipc2_bullseye_current_5.15.93.img, using Rufus, without any problems. The device booted and I could log in.

The problem is, my network infrastructure relies on 3 (and 1/2) different orange pi devices, so I am afraid, the upgrade could crash my network structure.

Last try: jammy desktop (see boot.log and bootstrap.log)

 

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

 

Thanks

 

 

jammy-boot.log jammy-bootstrap.log

[Moklev]

Yes Giulio, it's probably the kernel... no version after 6.1.x works

[Giulio Cervera]

@718aba until the kernel issues are sorted it's recommended to use armbian-config to stay on 6.1.x kernel

[Moklev]

@718aba Install the 23.11.2 on sd and block the kernel update in armbian-config, as recommended by Giulio. Configure everything and then make a full compressed backup of the whole SD with usbimager (gitlab).

[718aba]

Sorry, for an unknown reason, I could not login anymore. Hope it has been resolved now.

 

Anyway, thank you both Giulio and @Moklev. I will try a 6.1.x kernel.

 

[718aba]

Maybe a stupid question...

 

Does anyone know if this is a device specific or a general kernel problem? Meaning, is it secure to upgrade other orange pi devices?

[Moklev]

No, it's not 🙂
If you need something stable and safe, don't waste money on these crappy chinese sbc.

Buy a LP Intel like a Dell Wise 5070 on ebay (~80/90€ with a Celeron J, 4/8GB RAM and a SSD) and install Debian o CentOS. is rock-solid and requires only 5/8 Watt.

[718aba]

Thanks, @Moklev, you are right. I am already replacing my orangepi intranet nodes (piece by piece) with raspberry, using the orangepis mainly for entertainment or fall-back purposes.

And I will follow your advise and look for a thin client to run my NAS and a reliable backup server.

Anyway, I need to upgrade all.

 

[Giulio Cervera]

just tried today build 

Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.306_Orangepipc2_bookworm_current_6.6.23_minimal

 

still broken

[NoSpam]

Just tried  Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.367_Orangepipc2_bookworm_current_6.6.25_minimal.img and it is still broken.  Hangs after finding /dev/ttyS0

[Werner]

debug.armbian.de

[NoSpam]

I don't think the serial output will help, it boots the kernel and hangs in the linux startup.

[Werner]

Set verbosity to 7 in armbianEnv.txt

[NoSpam]

Thanks.  With the log level higher, the freeze is on:  

zram0: detected capacity change from 0 to941376

 

[bozden]

Pardon me for asking here. I need to re-install OPi PC 2 -which I use as a firewall/router- because the old Ubuntu from 2020 is EOL.

 

- Is the kernel problem stated here still an issue? Latest DL is Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.667_Orangepipc2_jammy_current_6.6.31_gnome_desktop.img.xz

- I also have Armbian_23.8.1_Orangepipc2_jammy_current_6.1.47_xfce_desktop.img.xz from the archives.

 

Which one is to go? When I start, I'll probably lose my Internet connection...

 

[bozden]

Never mind, still broken, 23.8.1 worked.

[Moklev]

Yes, still broken, after six months, it's almost a record XD
You can use 24.02 or 24.05 with old 6.1.xx kernel (disable kernel upgrade in armbian-config)

Or better remove Armbian and use vanilla Debian:

https://sd-card-images.johang.se/boards/orange_pi_pc2.html

(try Bookworm 12.5 - kernel 6.1.190, 27/05/2024)

[Werner]

3 hours ago, Moklev said:

Yes, still broken

It is community maintained. You are a community member. Feel free to go ahead and fix whatever the issue is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If there even is an issue since nobody managed to provide full proper debug logs.

 

Anyway I'd start at the place you suggested and check the code. Maybe there is an (easy) fix that could be ported. This is how open source works.

 

3 hours ago, Moklev said:

after six months, it's almost a record XD

Not really. There are issues existing way longer but we neither have enough funding nor enough man power to deal with all of them That's the reason why we have to give back support for certain boards into community hands to get some weight off of our shoulders.

[bozden]

In my case, I have 10+ of OPi boards in the drawer, which I wanted to put to some good use. I started with the single one in use.

 

I said "23.8.1" worked, but with a single apt update/upgrade it gets stuck on boot. I spent a day debugging the issue to no avail, so I put that away.

I'm with no firewall and PiHole now, ads really suck. I'll revisit the issue when my current project is over. ... or just put an RPi 3 there...

 

@Moklev, thank you for the pointers.

 

I wonder: If the kernel is broken, why does the community create new image versions?

 

Edited May 28 by bozden

[going]

24 минуты назад, bozden сказал:

I wonder: If the kernel is broken,

Excuse me, are you sure it's the kernel that's not working?

[Werner]

43 minutes ago, bozden said:

I wonder: If the kernel is broken, why does the community create new image versions?

Assembly is done via CI: https://github.com/armbian/community

[bozden]

14 minutes ago, going said:

Excuse me, are you sure it's the kernel that's not working?

No, I just had that impression, it might be the toolset, settings etc.

 

2 minutes ago, Werner said:

Assembly is done via CI: https://github.com/armbian/community

Thank you @Werner, I'll look at that when I have time.

[going]

23 минуты назад, bozden сказал:

No, I just had that impression, it might be the toolset, settings etc.

Try to make a "knight move".

Boot from the old image that works for you.
Download and install the kernel and dtb packages using the dpkg -i command.

 

P.S. In fact, this is harmful advice. Try it if there's nothing else left.

Edited May 28 by going
Add P.S.

[NoSpam]

Here is a serial log from the Bookworm 6.6.31 minimal release.  Verbosity=7 this time.

 

OPiPC2-uart.txt

[Giulio Cervera]

someone have a copy of a working image? i cant find it anywere 😕

[Giulio Cervera]

trying to find a working linux image, i have just installed Lakka and it is running kernel 6.6.30 (maybe the armbian issue is not completly kernel related?) ... but i have no network  

still searching a working image ...

 

edit:

just found older image:

https://armbian.systemonachip.net/archive/orangepipc2/archive/

Edited June 2 by Giulio Cervera

[going]

02.06.2024 в 10:34, Giulio Cervera сказал:

... but i have no network  

still searching a working image ...

All Armbian images require the user to have an internet connection.
Before the first start, your device must be connected to the router using a cable and the router must distribute IP addresses via DHCP.

Almost all devices do not have a watch with a battery. Therefore, after the kernel boot stage, the OS service tries to configure the system clock by sending a request to the NTP server. If there is no response, then the system waits for it and kind of stops. The user sees a blank screen.

 

31.05.2024 в 21:44, NoSpam сказал:

Here is a serial log from the Bookworm 6.6.31 minimal release.  Verbosity=7 this time.

 

OPiPC2-uart.txt

This line says that the system turned out to be in the past.

[    6.026051] systemd[1]: System time before build time, advancing clock.

At the same time, it cannot properly process the file system that is in the future.

 

 

Possible solutions to the problem:

1) Purchase a watch with a battery and connect it to the 40 pin connector.

Add a dtbo overlay file for this type of watch. Set the system clock to the current time.

 

2) Connect the device to a local network in which there is another device with a watch with a battery.

Configure and run an NTP server on this device.

 

On a device without a watch, specify the NTP address on the local network.

 

[Flole]

Using the new kernel with the old dtb's works fine. So the issue is likely part of one of the dtb files.