SPDIF not working due to a bug in kernel 4.16.8, after Cubox-i4Pro Armbian Ubuntu upgraded from 5.38 to 5.44

[chun.de.lac]

Hello everyone,

 

just wanted to let you know, upgrade from Armbian Ubuntu 5.38 to 5.44 caused problems on my Cubox-i4Pro.

- Armbian Ubuntu 5.38 headless (no display connected to Cubox-i) worked perfectly, there were no issues with anything.

- Upgraded Armbian Ubuntu 5.38 to 5.44 (apt-get) and rebooted

- After reboot, no audio was sent to my audio amplifier (through Toslink optical cable) by Shairport-Sync 3.1.7 (AirPlay emulator). Airplay was visible on my iOS devices (iPad, iPhone) and audio was streamed from iOS to AirPlay, but no audio was sent by Cubox-i to the optical connection to my audio amplifier.

- Removed the Shairport package using dpkg -r

- Rebooted Cubox-i using command reboot, but Cubox-i not booting anymore, SSH connection not possible anymore, red LED on Cubox-i is off (I think the LED was off also on Armbian ver. 5.38)

- Unplugged the power cable, waited a minute, restored power, Cubox-i not booting, no SSH

 

I'll restore the system ver. 5.38 from my backup image.

Please let me know if I can be of any help.

Thanks!

[Igor]

On which kernel? If I understand correctly ... Cubox booted to new system fine, only audio was missing?

[chun.de.lac]

12 minutes ago, Igor said:

On which kernel? If I understand correctly ... Cubox booted to new system fine, only audio was missing?

First reboot after packages were upgraded to 5.44, Cubox-i booted, but no audio. After second reboot, Cubox-i did not boot anymore (no SSH).

I've just restored Armbian Ubuntu 5.38 from my backup image.

Upgraded only the package "linux-image-next-cubox 5.44", (armhf Linux kernel, version 4.16.8-cubox),  no other packages upgraded.

Cubox-i booted, but no audio on optical.

Just let me know if you need me to test anything else.

[Igor]

Understand. But what did you run before, exactly which kernel? I know that we have 4.16.8 now. Can you run armbianmonitor -u to see logs of the working system.

[chun.de.lac]

Armbian 5.38 was running kernel version 4.14.14

http://ix.io/1a45

[chun.de.lac]

I can see in the log:

Kernel 4.14.14:

[ 1.775033] imx-spdif sound-spdif: snd-soc-dummy-dai <-> 2004000.spdif mapping ok

 

Kernel 4.16.8:

[ 1.764797] imx-spdif sound-spdif: ASoC: CPU DAI (null) not registered

[ 1.764810] imx-spdif sound-spdif: snd_soc_register_card failed: -517

[Igor]

O.K. I can only put this to the known bug list for now. Most likely settings got messed up. Better just use 4.14.y until this is fixed - you can run the latest image but only downgrade kernel. If you have time and knowhow to investigate, here are working sources for reference http://apt.armbian.com/pool/main/l/linux-source-4.14.14-next-cubox/ 

[chun.de.lac]

OK, thank you Igor!

[chun.de.lac]

Hello Igor,

after my Cubox-i was upgraded from Armbian 5.60 to 5.70 today, SPDIF audio output stopped working.

Report:

http://ix.io/1yjz

 

Armbian 5.70:

Operating system     Ubuntu Linux 18.04.1

Kernel and CPU     Linux 4.19.14-cubox on armv7l

 

SPDIF audio output used to work properly with Armbian 5.60 (kernel 4.14.70)

 

Please, let me know if I can be of any further help.

Thank you!

[Igor]

2 hours ago, chun.de.lac said:

Please, let me know if I can be of any further help.

armbian-config -> alternative kernels -> switch to latest 4.14.y kernel

[chun.de.lac]

I've restored Armbian 5.60 from SD backup image, upgraded to Armbian 5.70 (Kernel 4.19.14), rebooted. The same way as before. Now it works. Can't explain why it works now, but thank you anyway!

[chun.de.lac]

FYI, upgrade to Armbian 5.73 (kernel 4.19.18) performed OK, SPDIF audio output works.