nanopi-r5s SD card and EMMC

[sami]

hello guys,

 

i ve been lately working with nanopi-r5s which comes with a default openwrt os installed on EMMC.

but i prefer working on the armbian images. that is why i installed debian 12 bookworm from https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-r5s/

anyway, r5s refuses to boot from sd card for no matter what. until i corrupted the emmc by mistake(i started flashing a default image to emmc but then took the power off before it is done). 

so now it boots from sd card.  but now when m trying to install the image from sd card to emmc through armbian-install. it only shows option 5 and 6. as if it can not detect the emmc.

 

so what m trying to figure out is:

how to force nanopi r5s to boot from sd card even though there is openwrt at emmc and how then could i flash my sd os to the emmc.

 

thanks in advance

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 6:42 AM, sami said:

trying to install the image from sd card to emmc through armbian-install. it only shows option 5 and 6.

Expand  

Please try to replace the /usr/sbin/armbian-install file with this new version:

packages/bsp/common/usr/sbin/armbian-install

 

Please show the output of the `lsblk` command.
Please post screenshots of the armbian-install dialog.

[sami]

lsblk:

lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk1      179:0    0 28.9G  0 disk
└─mmcblk1p1  179:1    0  1.2G  0 part
mmcblk1boot0 179:32   0    4M  1 disk
mmcblk1boot1 179:64   0    4M  1 disk
mmcblk0      179:96   0 29.1G  0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1  179:97   0 28.8G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                      /
zram0        251:0    0  1.8G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1        251:1    0   50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2        251:2    0    0B  0 disk
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there i posted three screenshots of the output of armbian-install

where i choose second option and then i confirmed then it says done in less than one second. 

and i did replace the file with what u proposed.

 

 

 

 

editted:

sorry m adding this extra picture:

 

 

Edited August 7, 2024 by sami

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 10:21 AM, sami said:

and i did replace the file with what u proposed.

Expand  

It looks very strange.

 

It looks like this to me:

leo@bananapim3:~$ lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM    SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda            8:0    0      0B  0 disk 
mmcblk0      179:0    0    7,4G  0 disk 
└─mmcblk0p1  179:1    0    7,4G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                        /
mmcblk2      179:8    0    7,3G  0 disk 
└─mmcblk2p1  179:9    0    7,2G  0 part 
mmcblk2boot0 179:16   0      4M  1 disk 
mmcblk2boot1 179:24   0      4M  1 disk 
zram0        253:0    0 1005,7M  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1        253:1    0     50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2        253:2    0      0B  0 disk

leo@bananapim3:~$ bash --version
GNU bash, версия 5.2.15(1)-release (arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf)

leo@bananapim3:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Armbian_community 24.8.0-trunk.104 bookworm
Release:        12
Codename:       bookworm

 

I booted from the SD card and

sudo armbian-install

[going]

@sami Please publish your OS and BASH version.

 

leo@bananapim3:~$ lsblk --version
lsblk from util-linux 2.38.1

 

[sami]

root@nanopi-r5s:/usr/sbin# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Armbian 24.8.0-trunk.525 bookworm
Release:        12
Codename:       bookworm
 

 

 

 

 

root@nanopi-r5s:~# bash --version
GNU bash, version 5.2.15(1)-release (aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
 

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 11:19 AM, sami said:

Codename:       bookworm

Expand  

I'm shocked. We use the same versions of the system packages.
There is something else that needs to be checked.
Wait for me to type it now.

[sami]

i believe it has to do with the hardware m using.

i just cant figure it out as well.

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 11:50 AM, sami said:

i believe it has to do with the hardware m using.

i just cant figure it out as well.

Expand  

No

 

Create a check-command.sh file:

#!/bin/bash

cm="ls grep awk blkid tr lsblk xargs sync mount df head cat sed mktemp nl chroot lsof parted partprobe mkfs fdisk"

for c in $cm
do
	echo "#  $c =: $(command -v $c)"
done
echo "====="

root_uuid=$(sed -e 's/^.*root=//' -e 's/ .*$//' < /proc/cmdline)

root_partition=$(blkid | tr -d '":' | grep "${root_uuid}" | awk '{print $1}')
root_partition_name=$(echo $root_partition | sed 's/\/dev\///g')
root_partition_device_name=$(lsblk -ndo pkname $root_partition)
root_partition_device=/dev/$root_partition_device_name
emmccheck=$(ls -d -1 /dev/mmcblk* 2>/dev/null | grep -w 'mmcblk[0-9]' | grep -v "$root_partition_device")
diskcheck=$(lsblk -l | awk -F" " '/ disk / {print $1}' | grep -E '^sd|^nvme|^mmc' | grep -v "$root_partition_device_name" | grep -v boot)

echo "root_partition_device=$root_partition_device"
echo "emmccheck=$emmccheck"
echo "diskcheck=$diskcheck"

 

and make it executable.

chmod +x check-command.sh

 

Run on board and publish

 

sudo ./check-command.sh

 

[going]

leo@bananapim3:~$ sudo ./check-command.sh 
[sudo] пароль для leo: 
#  ls =: /usr/bin/ls
#  grep =: /usr/bin/grep
#  awk =: /usr/bin/awk
#  blkid =: /usr/sbin/blkid
#  tr =: /usr/bin/tr
#  lsblk =: /usr/bin/lsblk
#  xargs =: /usr/bin/xargs
#  sync =: /usr/bin/sync
#  mount =: /usr/bin/mount
#  df =: /usr/bin/df
#  head =: /usr/bin/head
#  cat =: /usr/bin/cat
#  sed =: /usr/bin/sed
#  mktemp =: /usr/bin/mktemp
#  nl =: /usr/bin/nl
#  chroot =: /usr/sbin/chroot
#  lsof =: /usr/bin/lsof
#  parted =: /usr/sbin/parted
#  partprobe =: /usr/sbin/partprobe
#  mkfs =: /usr/sbin/mkfs
#  fdisk =: /usr/sbin/fdisk
=====
root_partition_device=/dev/mmcblk0
emmccheck=/dev/mmcblk2
diskcheck=sda
mmcblk2

 

[sami]

this is my output!!!! 

very strange!!!!!

 

 

 

root@nanopi-r5s:~# sudo ./check-command.sh
#  ls =: /usr/bin/ls
#  grep =: /usr/bin/grep
#  awk =: /usr/bin/awk
#  blkid =: /usr/sbin/blkid
#  tr =: /usr/bin/tr
#  lsblk =: /usr/bin/lsblk
#  xargs =: /usr/bin/xargs
#  sync =: /usr/bin/sync
#  mount =: /usr/bin/mount
#  df =: /usr/bin/df
#  head =: /usr/bin/head
#  cat =: /usr/bin/cat
#  sed =: /usr/bin/sed
#  mktemp =: /usr/bin/mktemp
#  nl =: /usr/bin/nl
#  chroot =: /usr/sbin/chroot
#  lsof =: /usr/bin/lsof
#  parted =: /usr/sbin/parted
#  partprobe =: /usr/sbin/partprobe
#  mkfs =: /usr/sbin/mkfs
#  fdisk =: /usr/sbin/fdisk
=====
root_partition_device=/dev/mmcblk1
mmcblk0
emmccheck=
diskcheck=
 

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 12:11 PM, sami said:

root_partition_device=/dev/mmcblk1

Expand  

Is your OS loaded from eMMC?

Your OS is loaded from eMMC!!

Insert the SD card on running OS and run armbian-install

[sami]

I inserted my sd card on a new r5s which contains a friendlywrt os on its emmc, but the problem is that i can not choose to boot from sd card!!!!

it always boots from emmc!

 

and how is it loaded from emmc? since whenever i remove the sd card then it wont boot again! at all!

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 12:28 PM, sami said:

I inserted my sd card on a new r5s which contains a friendlywrt os on its emmc, but the problem is that i can not choose to boot from sd card!!!!

it always boots from emmc!

 

and how is it loaded from emmc? since whenever i remove the sd card then it wont boot again! at all!

Expand  

 

Let's try to figure out where you are.

Boot from the SD and print the output of the df -h command

[sami]

that;s what m trying to say bro.

this r5s would not boot from any external environment if the emmc is loaded with an OS.

it only booted from sd card because i corrupted the emmc by mistake.

well this is exactly my main concern: how could i force boot from an external environment if the emmc is loaded with the default friendlywrt os?

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 12:37 PM, sami said:

it only booted from sd card

Expand  

 

Boot from the SD.

  On 8/7/2024 at 10:21 AM, sami said:

lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk1      179:0    0 28.9G  0 disk
└─mmcblk1p1  179:1    0  1.2G  0 part
mmcblk1boot0 179:32   0    4M  1 disk
mmcblk1boot1 179:64   0    4M  1 disk
mmcblk0      179:96   0 29.1G  0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1  179:97   0 28.8G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                      /

Expand  

Try to clear (write zeros) the first 10 megabytes on the /dev/mmcblk1 disk.

Try the installation again from the CD.

[going]

  On 8/7/2024 at 12:37 PM, sami said:

that;s what m trying to say bro.

Expand  

If your device is in the same condition, I will ask you to provide some additional information about the downloaded operating system.

Your case is unique.
Your device and mine have the same OS and the same set of packages installed.

But the armbian-install script behaves completely differently and crashes in your case.
I need to understand why this is happening and correct the erroneous behavior.

Please post the output of the following commands:

cat /proc/cmdline | tr " " "\n"

lsblk -Py

df -h

sudo blkid

 

  On 8/7/2024 at 12:37 PM, sami said:

how could i force boot from an external environment if the emmc is loaded with the default friendlywrt os?

Expand  

1) You can use a utility from the manufacturer of the chip or device. If this software exists.

2) You can become a hacker, listen to the following harmful tips, or find them on the Internet:

Boot the device in any way and get access to the command line with superuser rights.

The bootloader, u-boot or other, can be written in whole or in parts to three locations on the eMMC:

/dev/mmcblkXboot0
/dev/mmcblkXboot1
/dev/mmcblkX

X - This is the number for your eMMC

In order for the device not to boot from eMMC, it is necessary to clear those areas in which parts of the bootloader can be placed.

sudo su
echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblkXboot0/force_ro
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblkXboot0 bs=1M count=4

echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblkXboot1/force_ro
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblkXboot1 bs=1M count=4

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblkX bs=1M count=10

After these steps, your device will be able to boot from the SD card correctly.

 

You can also use the helpful tips described in great detail in the wiki documentation for NanoPi R5S.

 

With respect

 

[sami]

i will try this tomorrow and will update.

 

big thanks for all of that infos. 

i hope this would work!