SoPine64 - Armbian 5.51 (works) vs 5.57+ (doesnt work)

[Abbotware]

I usually build a new armbian full os image, apply some kernel options and have no problems booting a sopine64.

 

The last known good version for me was: 

Armbian 5.51 / Kernel 4.14.54

 

The latest (and starting with 5.57) with Kernel 4.17.16 only seem to 'half boot' - they start up uboot but fail to load the OS and instead attempt to do a network boot over TFTP.

 

The errors go by so fast that I can't really read it and have to resort to trying to video capture it and the monitor seems to be slow to initialize and i only see the tail end of the errors scroll by.

 

I am sure a lot changed between 5.51 and 5.57 - I noticed a new version of uboot.   

 

Somewhat at a loss as to how to resolve this.. I tried rebuilding an image every few days in hoping a fix was merged back into the code base.

 

 

 

 

 

[Abbotware]

Here is one screen capture -

there are a bunch of usb-errors...  then fs_devread and it can't find the .dtb file

 

I read this errors on other posts saying its a bad sdcard - but I can flash the working 5.51 to the same card and it boots.  I also tried swapping out different hardware and cards and it in all cases the 5.51 work and 5.57+ don't work

 

[Abbotware]

FYI - the usb errors seem to go away if I unplug the keyboard, but then it seems to be in a different error state -  screen flashes by and the last line is 'starting kernel....' before video is off.

 

 

 

 

[Igor]

4.17.y is in works and is broken for most A64 boards. As you can see from the error, kernel files are missing which means it was not built at all. But 4.17.y is not broken to that degree. You should be able to boot but without HDMI or network ...

[Abbotware]

OK - if its just a bad/new kernel I can live with that :-)  Is it possible to build Armbian with a specific version of the kernel? 

 

In my case a known good version is  4.14.54 

 

I read the advanced options: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/blob/master/docs/Developer-Guide_Build-Options.md and it seems like its only possible to prevent updates.

 

Btw if the kernel didnt build - i'd expect the OS image not to be built... is there a way to error out?  (thinking back - i did see some warnings fly by!)

 

 

[Igor]

2 hours ago, Abbotware said:

Is it possible to build Armbian with a specific version of the kernel? 

 

Yes and no. You can build latest 4.14.y by use LIB_TAG="sunxi-4.14"

 

2 hours ago, Abbotware said:

is there a way to error out?

 

There is a folder output/debug ... explore it.

[Abbotware]

12 minutes ago, Igor said:

Yes and no. You can build latest 4.14.y by use LIB_TAG="sunxi-4.14"

 

thanks - that is probably 'good enough' 

 

 

11 minutes ago, Igor said:

There is a folder output/debug ... explore it.

 

:-)  

 

from the log files: 

Displaying message: ERROR in function compile_kernel compilation.sh:365 err
Displaying message: Kernel was not built @host err
Displaying message: Process terminated  info

 

I guess i just would have though no image would be created at all if there kernel didnt build!  I'll be sure to parse the output logs for 'error' and 'warn' from now on though - thanks again!

 

[Igor]

23 minutes ago, Abbotware said:

:-)  

 

from the log files: 

I assumed you read documentation  https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Options/

./compile.sh PROGRESS_LOG_TO_FILE="yes"

 

24 minutes ago, Abbotware said:

I guess i just would have though no image would be created at all if there kernel didnt build!

Many small tweaks and features are still waiting for someone to make them.

[Abbotware]

11 hours ago, Igor said:

I assumed you read documentation  https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Options/

I did... but reading and 'understanding' are not the same 

 

FYI - LIB_TAG="sunxi-4.14"  worked! (as expected!)