Orange Pi Plus 2e not booting after reverting kernel upgrade

[JMCC]

Hello. I just wanted to let you know about a possible bug I have found in the kernel installation script. I was using my OPi+2e with the default kernel, and today I installed next to test it, using armbian-config. Everything went fine, and seemed very stable overall (I didn'd use it for more than two or three hours, though).

 

But then I wanted to revert to default, so I used armbian-config again. When I rebooted, the board started the u-boot sequence, but it got stuck on "Starting kernel". No other messages after that. I tried several times, with the same results.

 

Since I have no logs, the only info I can give you is that I have an external USB HDD connected all the time, and right after appearing that last message "Starting kernel", the disk led always blinked shortly. Maybe it is related with u-boot trying to find the kernel in that drive. The strange thing is that there was no kernel panic message, nothing happened.

 

(P.S.: I had made a nand backup before upgrading, so I just reflashed it and everythig went back to normal. So I can't give any further info in the bug).

[Igor]

Did you use a fresh image with a default kernel or you were using some old and you made an upgrade and then switch to NEXT kernel?

Can you provide a

armbianmonitor -u

from the image you did this test upgrade?

[JMCC]

I got the board a few days ago, and installed "Armbian_5.38_Orangepiplus2e_Ubuntu_xenial_default_3.4.113_desktop.img". I've been using it quita a bit since then, and configured lots of stuff, but never did a kernel upgrade as far as I remember (well, you'll know better than me if there has been any kernel upgrade since the 5.38 image was uploaded).

 

Here are the "armbianmonitor -u" logs: http://ix.io/FEj

[Igor]

Are your external disk drives self-powered or via USB? Insufficient powering can manifest in such strange ways. In any case I'll try to recreate to see where is the problem.

[JMCC]

Yes, the drive is USB powered, but it doesn't take more than 900 mA (Toshiba Canvio Basics). Never had any problem in the multiple reboots I've done, neither before the failed kernel downgrade nor after restoring my backup.

Edited February 11, 2018 by JMCC
(some typos)