NanoPC-T4 - second life - don't boot

[TinaB]

Hi,

 

I try to get my NanoPC-T4 a second life. Therefore I want to (re-) install Armbian but I'm stuck Andi don't know why.

I uses USBFlasher to flash the minimal Armbian on it (tried compressed and uncompressed) but the green blinking light indicates me, that he found no bootable device. I tried different images as well. Also differen SD cards, even DietPi image, always the same.

The only thing which runs instant is one of the eflasher Images of FriendlyARM. I also tried to change the image that the eflasher writes to the eMMC (by copy the uncompressed .img file to the SD card and renamed it to armbian.raw and changed the config file as the wiki said). While the flash process is working, it does not boot after that.

I'm out of ideas...

The final solution should be that has the bootloader on the eMMC while the rest of the os should be on the SSD, like it was before.

 

I would be very thankful for help.

[Werner]

moved

[usual user]

On 5/24/2025 at 5:03 AM, TinaB said:

I try to get my NanoPC-T4 a second life.

My NanoPC-T4 is still alive:

Spoiler

For a quick test, I used my NVME with my latest OS, which usually powers a different SBC:

Spoiler

Please do not let it bother you that the NanoPC-T4 uses an outdated kernel to run the OS. This is due to my negligence in building the current kernel without the necessary hacks needed for proper HDMI functionality. Some of the hacks have now been proper implemented in mainline, while others are still in flight. Until this process is completed, I have decided out of laziness to temporarily use an outdated kernel, as I do not miss any functionalities that a current kernel could provide me.

 

On 5/24/2025 at 5:03 AM, TinaB said:

the green blinking light indicates me, that he found no bootable device.

My status LED is not blinking at boot at all. To debug boot problems, blinking LEDs are the worst possible option. Only proper console logs are of value. During OS runtime, it is configured as an HDD LED to indicate access to the microSD, as this is important information for when it is safe to remove it.

 

On 5/24/2025 at 5:03 AM, TinaB said:

The final solution should be that has the bootloader on the eMMC while the rest of the os should be on the SSD

I am still running my firmware from the microSD, again out of laziness to copy it to the eMMC. But any of nessesary support for the NanoPC-T4 is availabe and maybe some boring day or some spezial demand let me revisit to configure it properly. Until then, the bitrottining configuration is sufficient to serve more or less as an always-on terminal server for several USB serial adapters, which provide me with console access to my other SBCs if necessary.