Boot the board with the eMMC attached. It's a 5.x module right? The beta image doesn't have the proper device tree to make the `lc_redetect_emmc` tool work.
Index of /board/libre-computer-project/libre-computer-board/image/debian/libre-computer-aml-s805x-ac-debian-stretch-headless-mali-4.19.56+-2019-06-26.img.xz
so this image is wrong???? it cannot be emmc detected ?
when i boot this img from sd-card and update or install something and reboot after boot again the image is always broken. Cannot boot again. Output.: root file system is blocked and stops boot
This is apparently due to an error in the fstab file in the beta image. See dexdi's comment in the thread at https://www.reddit.com/r/LaFrite/comments/c89wym/frustrating_so_far/ and make the suggested change to a fresh copy of the flashed image and you should be able to install new software without wedging the boot. Or, just wait a day off so... Libre had said that they will be releasing "real" images today, to replace the early test image that we have all been using this week.
Make sure that you insert your USB stick in the port farthest from the GPIO. I am not sure why it requires it, but it worked for me: YMMV. I also had to do the following for successful boot/transfer: 1. Unplug everything from the board before inserting the USB. This includes HDMI and power. Non powered devices (hub, keyboard, etc.) are ok. 2. WAIT 30 seconds before following the previous step. 3. A reboot might be required again if the board does not see the USB stick as a valid boot volume. 4. I followed these instructions: ( I forgot to include the link to post ... mea culpa) ====== EMMC Card configuration
Unfortunately the just works kit doesn’t just work! You will need a USB stick to get it going.
I downloaded the July 6 image with ubuntu bionic xfce, and booted with the bootable USB drive in the furthest USB port from GPIO pins (and my keyboard dongle in the USB port nearest the GPIO pins). Once I booted into XFCE from USB, I opened a terminal and used this command once the system booted up:
I thought I was on the right path, because if I run the command sudo lc_distro_transfer libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac /dev/mmcblk0 it displays "Transferable Distro List", and I chose "lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfce". The process completes with a statement "DEVICE /dev/mmcblk0 READY!", but when I reboot without the USB stick the device just reboots to the point of scanning for USB devices, and then reboots again and again.
So I tried to figure out what could be wrong? At first I thought there was a jumper or something that needed to be shorted to switch boot mode from USB to eMMC. I found that my problem was by USB keyboard dongle. As long as that is plugged into the USB port CLOSEST TO THE GPIO PINS, the device is actively looking for a BOOTABLE USB drive in the other USB port. As soon as I moved the keyboard dongle to the USB PORT FARTHEST FROM THE GPIO PINS (with nothing in the nearest USB port), everything booted from eMMC normally.
I'm very happy that I figured this out, but it's odd how the USB ports work. It's also odd that I can't find any documentation on this SBC that explains how to do this. I hope this helps others.
I can boot the emmc if I have the usb drive plugged in when I boot and then select advanced , then select Ubuntu. If I boot without the usb plugged in it keeps looking for a drive
For me the lc_distro_transfer worked (debian headless image). I then could reboot from eMMC (I typed sudo halt after the transfer, then removed the USB drive, then power cycled. This all completely headless so no idea what the logging said
I'm at the same point, it's true that the system does not start if you do not leave the USB.
Then try to transfer the new image with "sudo lc_distro_transfer libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac/dev/mmcblk0" but it gives me the error "Missing Vendor / Model Device Map!"
TRuHa: Do you have a space between "libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac" and "/dev/mmcblk0"? It sort of looks like it's all together as one parameter. The command is "lc_distro_transfer"; the first parameter "libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac" provides which source to copy; the next parameter "/dev/mmcblk0" is the eMMC device name for the copy destination.
You still need another parameter which describes if you want headless or with a graphical display. If you run the command you listed (with the correct spacing), it will give you a "Transferable Distro List". Run the same command with the desired Distro and it should work. If it helps, this is the command I used in my post above, with explicit <SPACE> identifiers. The first line should be able to be copied/pasted into a terminal window. The second command is the same command with <SPACE> identifiers. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE <SPACE> IN THE COMMAND: sudo lc_distro_transfer libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac /dev/mmcblk0 lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfce sudo <SPACE> lc_distro_transfer <SPACE> libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac <SPACE> /dev/mmcblk0 <SPACE> lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfce
The "lc_distro_transfer" command includes specific FDISK and MKFS. It will wipe out whatever you had on that eMMC. I was pretty impressed how well it worked. And if I messed up, I could always continue to boot from USB and try again.
I just flashed a USB with the newer version of the Debian headless w/mali and it seems to boot from it at first but then goes straight to the emmc. I originally flashed the emmc with the beta version a few days ago. I know it's loading from the emmc because it's using the password that I changed it to on the emmc. I just reflashed the USB again and it's doing the same thing. I tried to boot without the emmc in and the USB boots fine. Is there a way to reformat the emmc? (erase the emmc completely like I got it new)
If you hold in `ESC` while booting, it loads into `u-boot`. I was digging around in there and couldn't quite figure out how to boot directly to usb from there. Tried a few different things like `usbboot usb 0:1` loading from device USB0, part 1 but that didn't work. I ended up kind of cheating the system by opening up the grub cli and doing `set root=hd0,gpt2` like it says in the correct grub command to load the newer image and then exiting out of the CLI. I knew that worked because I went into the `advanced boot...` portion of the grub menu after that and it had the newer 4.57+ at the top portion. That successfully booted from the USB.
If you hold in `ESC` while booting, it loads into `u-boot`. I was digging around in there and couldn't quite figure out how to boot directly to usb from there. Tried a few different things like `usbboot usb 0:1` loading from device USB0, part 1 but that didn't work. I ended up kind of cheating the system by opening up the grub cli and doing `set root=hd0,gpt2` like it says in the correct grub command to load the newer image and then exiting out of the CLI. I knew that worked because I went into the `advanced boot...` portion of the grub menu after that and it had the newer 4.57+ at the top portion. That successfully booted from the USB.
you can use this command to boot from USB when on u-boot, after halting the boot process with Escape key >> run bootcmd_usb0 basically runs a script from a variable named bootcmd_usb0 you can see more variables and their values with this command on u-boot >> printenv
I just flashed a USB with the newer version of the Debian headless w/mali and it seems to boot from it at first but then goes straight to the emmc. I originally flashed the emmc with the beta version a few days ago. I know it's loading from the emmc because it's using the password that I changed it to on the emmc. I just reflashed the USB again and it's doing the same thing. I tried to boot without the emmc in and the USB boots fine. Is there a way to reformat the emmc? (erase the emmc completely like I got it new)
you can also use this command to know all block devices (storage devices) connected and clearly see which is mounted and where "/" will be the root and wil be mounted to an "sdx" device if booted on USB and to an "mmcblkx" if booted on the eMMC $ lsblk
Can someone please explain to me why one USB stick will try to show up and another won't? I can't get either of the USB sticks I have to work. I've burned the Ubuntu Mali headless .img to both, using two different downloaded images, one to a Ubuntu 14.04 box (dd) and the other a Windows 10 pc (Win32 Disk Imager). One USB stick just doesn't show up at all, and the other causes the Frite to go into grub rescue mode. Super frustrated!! Any help would be appreciated, so at least I might know which USB stick I can buy and will work. Thanks!!
Guess there are some timing related issues. Are your usb sticks the same brand? If so try another one, I used a Lexar micro SD card in an USB card reader; that worked for me. The card was pretty fast (x633 I think)
Thanks for the comments. Both sticks are different brands. I tried an SD card with a USB reader and that didn't work either. For giggles, I tried using an old 20gb HDD with an IDE to USB adapter, and it worked! I had to laugh when my son came into the room mid-process and commented, "that doesn't sound good." I followed the highly disjointed instructions here in the forum to transfer the distro to a 32gb EMMC card, which is working great now.
Can someone please explain to me why one USB stick will try to show up and another won't? I can't get either of the USB sticks I have to work. I've burned the Ubuntu Mali headless .img to both, using two different downloaded images, one to a Ubuntu 14.04 box (dd) and the other a Windows 10 pc (Win32 Disk Imager). One USB stick just doesn't show up at all, and the other causes the Frite to go into grub rescue mode. Super frustrated!! Any help would be appreciated, so at least I might know which USB stick I can buy and will work. Thanks!!
It may be a timing issue. Some USB sticks seem to take a moment to become ready, and be able to communicate on the bus (e.g. respond correctly to USB enumeration) after power goes on or is reset. I expect that their internal controllers are booting and running some sort of self-test. If u-boot and/or the kernel expects a device to be ready instantly it may "miss" a slow decided of this sort. I have successfully used a Samsung Fit 32GB, a SanDisk Cruzer Fit 32GB (both of these latter purchased from NewEgg so they are probably genuine), and a 2GB Patriot SD card in a no-name blue plastic USB adapter. Increasing the u-boot boot delay time via "setenv" may or may not help... worth experimenting with. It might also be possible to insert a sleep into the u-boot USB scan process.
Comments
Index of /board/libre-computer-project/libre-computer-board/image/debian/libre-computer-aml-s805x-ac-debian-stretch-headless-mali-4.19.56+-2019-06-26.img.xz
so this image is wrong???? it cannot be emmc detected ?
https://www.reddit.com/r/LaFrite/comments/c89wym/frustrating_so_far/
and make the suggested change to a fresh copy of the flashed image and you should be able to install new software without wedging the boot.
Or, just wait a day off so... Libre had said that they will be releasing "real" images today, to replace the early test image that we have all been using this week.
I also had to do the following for successful boot/transfer:
1. Unplug everything from the board before inserting the USB. This includes HDMI and power. Non powered devices (hub, keyboard, etc.) are ok.
2. WAIT 30 seconds before following the previous step.
3. A reboot might be required again if the board does not see the USB stick as a valid boot volume.
4. I followed these instructions: ( I forgot to include the link to post ... mea culpa)
======
EMMC Card configuration
/=====
Good luck
JM
sudo lc_distro_transfer libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac /dev/mmcblk0 lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfc
I thought I was on the right path, because if I run the command sudo lc_distro_transfer libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac /dev/mmcblk0 it displays "Transferable Distro List", and I chose "lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfce". The process completes with a statement "DEVICE /dev/mmcblk0 READY!", but when I reboot without the USB stick the device just reboots to the point of scanning for USB devices, and then reboots again and again.
So I tried to figure out what could be wrong? At first I thought there was a jumper or something that needed to be shorted to switch boot mode from USB to eMMC. I found that my problem was by USB keyboard dongle. As long as that is plugged into the USB port CLOSEST TO THE GPIO PINS, the device is actively looking for a BOOTABLE USB drive in the other USB port. As soon as I moved the keyboard dongle to the USB PORT FARTHEST FROM THE GPIO PINS (with nothing in the nearest USB port), everything booted from eMMC normally.
I'm very happy that I figured this out, but it's odd how the USB ports work. It's also odd that I can't find any documentation on this SBC that explains how to do this. I hope this helps others.
advanced , then select Ubuntu. If I boot without the usb plugged in it keeps looking for a drive
You still need another parameter which describes if you want headless or with a graphical display. If you run the command you listed (with the correct spacing), it will give you a "Transferable Distro List". Run the same command with the desired Distro and it should work. If it helps, this is the command I used in my post above, with explicit <SPACE> identifiers. The first line should be able to be copied/pasted into a terminal window. The second command is the same command with <SPACE> identifiers. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE <SPACE> IN THE COMMAND:
sudo lc_distro_transfer libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac /dev/mmcblk0 lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfce
sudo <SPACE> lc_distro_transfer <SPACE> libre-computer/aml-s805x-ac <SPACE> /dev/mmcblk0 <SPACE> lc-ubuntu-18.04-xfce
I hope this helps.
>> run bootcmd_usb0
basically runs a script from a variable named bootcmd_usb0
you can see more variables and their values with this command on u-boot
>> printenv
"/" will be the root and wil be mounted to an "sdx" device if booted on USB and to an "mmcblkx" if booted on the eMMC
$ lsblk
Hope it helps a little more users/backers coming in.
I have successfully used a Samsung Fit 32GB, a SanDisk Cruzer Fit 32GB (both of these latter purchased from NewEgg so they are probably genuine), and a 2GB Patriot SD card in a no-name blue plastic USB adapter.
Increasing the u-boot boot delay time via "setenv" may or may not help... worth experimenting with. It might also be possible to insert a sleep into the u-boot USB scan process.