Orange PI Plus 2: Headless boot not possible (Reboot, if no keyboard is connected)

[Ian Hubbertz]

My newly received Orange PI Plus 2 gets stuck in a reboot loop, if I try to boot headless (no USB, no HDMI; UART is connected to see boot messages).

 

Is such a problem known here? I have the same issue with some other linux images from other distributions, but hope to find some experience here.

 

In detail:

• Power supply: Regulated Power Supply set to approx 5.2V (max 2A, built-in analog amperemeter shows max 1.4A during boot).
• No cables connected except power supply and UART
• I tried various SD-Cards (8GB or 64GB SDHC)

 

--> The Orange PI Plus 2 boots till USB initialization and then reboots (sometimes it freezes).

 

 

If I connect a keyboard and HDMI, it boots completely, I can remove the keyboard and login via UART or ssh. 

A software reboot (reboot command on commandline), also works fine(!), but power-cycling results in the reboot loop again until I connect a keyboard. 

 

I left the HDMI connceted and I did not change my screen to use this as input, so I'm unsure if there is a video signal and if the connection is necessary for complete boot. (I want to go headless, so HDMI is out of scope for me).

Edited September 26, 2017 by Ian Hubbertz
typo

[Igor]

We are not clairvoyant or mind readers  Please describe your setup as best as possible so we know what your operating environment is like.

 

1. Logs, when you can boot the board: armbianmonitor -u (paste URL to your forum post)

2. If your board does not boot, provide a log from serial console or at least make and attach a picture, where it stops.

3. Describe the problem the best you can and provide all necessary info that we can reproduce the problem.

[Ian Hubbertz]

Ok, I did not had access to the Orange PI when posting, so I only posted the technical description, but no logs.

I consider bullet 3 as completed in my original post: The board always rebooted (or sporadically froze) when initializing USB - unless a USB device (keyboard) was connected.

 

This is not reproducible anymore today: The board boots headless now flawlessly.

 

Two important changes to yesterday:

• I updated the Kernel image to the latest legacy image (using the "normal" apt upgrade mechanism)
• I use a completely soldered wiring for power supply (with a cheaper 5V, 2A (USB) converter). Yesterday I tried that converter, but also a regulated PSU set to 5.0V (and later 5.2V) - but there was  a connection to the input socket (I also tried PIN 2 (5V) and 6 (GND)) using a probe and a croco clamp somewhere in the wiring.

I still think the power supply was not the issue - because it was still a good connection and especially because the board run stable after disconnecting the keyboard even while there was a quite high CPU load (installing SW updates and new SW) and also generating some RSA keys).

 

So, for me the issue is solved.

 

Just for the record: If your board don't boot headless with the downloaded image, try to connect USB keyboard/mouse (and maybe HDMI), upgrade the kernel and you are fine.