Hard Brick After Failed Armbian Upgrade (Jammy to Noble)

[Lekshmi]

Subject: [R58X] Hard Brick After Failed Armbian Upgrade (Jammy to Noble)

 

Hello,

 

My Mekotronics R58X running Armbian Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) hard-bricked after a failed attempt to upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble).

Initial Failure: The upgrade crashed, and the device would not boot/log in properly .

 

Recovery Attempt: I successfully flashed a new Ubuntu 24.04 image using the official Mekotronics documentation/tool.

 

Current Status: After the flash completed successfully and the device went offline, it is now completely dead.

It will not power on.

No LED activity.

I cannot enter recovery mode (Loader or MaskROM) using standard methods.

It appears the device is hard-bricked, possibly due to bootloader corruption. Has anyone recovered an R58X from a similar state?

 

Thank you for your help.

[Werner]

moved

[Lekshmi]

moved meaning???

 

[Werner]

moved to the appropriate place

[Lekshmi]

Hi,

 

Thank you for responding, but honestly I didn’t understand the solution you mentioned. My R58X is still completely dead after flashing, with no power, no LEDs, and no way to enter Loader or MaskROM mode.

 

Could you please provide a clear step-by-step method to bring the device back to life?

Right now I only need a solution to power on the device and make it work again.

The reply was “moved to the appropriate place”, but I still didn’t get the actual fix.

 

Please guide me on how to recover the board.

 

Thank you.

[Werner]

I never mentioned any solution. Moving your post to an appropriate location is a forum moderation task and the post was FYI only.

I don't have this board nor do I know how to fix it.

[NicoD]

Hi. Forgive me for my memory is very bad.
There is a video somewhere on how to unbrick mekotronics Rockchip devices. I've been searching for it the last half hour but can't find it. I know I've got it on my pc somewhere.
Email mekotronics and they'll give you a link to it. If I find it I'll share it.
 

[Werner]

Perhaps this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhZahmbb03Q

[NicoD]

I send them a mail to ask. Will let you know when I hear something, also asked someone who also got the video.
This happened a lot to me when testing tons of images for these boards. But haven't been doing that lately, time to start again.

[NicoD]

6 minutes ago, Werner said:

Perhaps this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhZahmbb03Q

No. That's how to do it when the bootloader works.
My memory is slowly coming back, there's 2 pins on the back you need to short. But what pins I don't know. Let me open one and see if I remember more...

[NicoD]

More info, but not yet the video that shows what pins.

 

Quote

 

Mekotronics Maskrom mode is a low-level, last-resort recovery state for Rockchip-based boards (like the R58X) used to unbrick devices or force firmware flashing when normal boot fails, activated by physically shorting specific pins (like EMMC_CLKOUT to GND) or holding a special button while powering on, allowing tools like RKDevTool (linked in search results) to flash firmware directly to the eMMC or SPI flash. 

Why Use It?

Unbricking: When your device won't boot due to a corrupted bootloader or bad flash.

Forced Firmware Update: To install operating systems (like Armbian) or custom images when standard methods fail. 

How to Enter (General Steps for Rockchip Devices like Mekotronics):

Disconnect: Unplug all cables (power, data, peripherals) from the Mekotronics board.

Identify Pins/Button: Look for a small "Maskrom" button or pins (often near USB ports).

Short Pins/Hold Button:

Hardware Method: Use tweezers to carefully short the designated pins (e.g., EMMC_CLKOUT and GND).

Button Method: Press and hold the Maskrom button.

Connect & Power: While holding the button/shorting pins, connect a USB data cable to your PC and power the board.

Detect Device: Your PC should detect a "LOADER" or "MaskRom" device in a tool like RKDevTool.

Flash: Use RKDevTool (or similar Rockchip utility) to load the loader and image files and start the flashing process.

Reboot: Once complete, the device should reboot automatically, exiting Maskrom mode. 

Important: This is a high-risk operation; consult specific documentation for your Mekotronics model (e.g., R58X) to avoid damage. 

 

 

[rpardini]

From https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/5056#issuecomment-1529793978