[SOLVED] Pinephone will no longer boot from SD card

binkyd · 09-09-2020, 05:13 PM

I tried to boot into some of the other possible OSes for this thing; all of a sudden it will not boot from an SD card - not Jumpdrive, not another OS - it simply loads Mobian, which no longer works as well as at first.

Any thoughts on what happened, or what I might have done?

Mill J · 09-09-2020, 05:32 PM

I see this problem on the chat every now and then. Usually it ends up being a sd card with bad sectors or how the image was flashed.

I guess the obvious question would be: Have you tried a different sd? Sd cards aren't exactly known for lasting long, especially not big ones.

binkyd · 09-09-2020, 05:44 PM

I only have 2 SD cards on hand right now, and can't get either of them to work for this, but they're both fine otherwise.

Tried Gnome-Disks, Manjaro's USB flasher, Mint's USB flasher - tried Jumpdrive, UBTouch, Manjaro, and Mobian again.

What the heck.

Mill J · 09-09-2020, 05:50 PM

So does the sd card show and mount in Mobian after it boots?

You might want to ask on the chat as well.
https://t.me/pinephone

binkyd · 09-09-2020, 05:58 PM

Thanks, Mill J, but I don't have telegram - tried it and dumped it as too restrictive.

And no, I can't find the SD card in Mobian - guess it's not being seen by hardware?

Mill J · 09-09-2020, 06:02 PM

That same chat is bridged between several different message systems

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinephone channel

PinePhone
This group is bridged to #pinephone on irc.pine64.org, #pinephone:matrix.org, and #pinephone on Pine64 Discord.

binkyd · 09-09-2020, 06:12 PM

Now I have to learn how to use Ch-ch-ch-chat?

Nope. The how-to's for chat are impenetrable. All missing essential steps, the usual writers' assumptions that people already know what you're talking about.

Every time I run into this, I get closer to pulling the plug and going all-analog again.

Thanks for trying.

Mill J · 09-09-2020, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binkyd

Now I have to learn how to use Ch-ch-ch-chat?

Nope. The how-to's for chat are impenetrable. All missing essential steps, the usual writers' assumptions that people already know what you're talking about.

Yup I know what you mean on the chat stuff. This is actually the first public chat I've ever messed with.

On to the problem. What does

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

return after you boot to emmc with sd inserted?

binkyd · 09-11-2020, 02:10 PM

Running that command only returns info on the internal disk - the SD card is not found.

If I go into the "Files" app, I can go up the tree to media and list

Quote:

mmcblk0p1
mmcblk2p1
mmcblk2p2

but the window closes immediately and I can't see what's in them.

I suspect I've managed a major borking here. I've tested that the USB writers are working, so the issue is in the phone being able to see the cards. (And I bought a bunch more to test)

Mill J · 09-11-2020, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binkyd

Running that command only returns info on the internal disk - the SD card is not found.

If I go into the "Files" app, I can go up the tree to media and list

but the window closes immediately and I can't see what's in them.

I suspect I've managed a major borking here. I've tested that the USB writers are working, so the issue is in the phone being able to see the cards. (And I bought a bunch more to test)

Ok, what I would do now is boot with sdcard in but not all the way, to where you can slide it in all the way after it's booted. Then check

Code:

dmesg

to see if the sdcard even registers.

binkyd · 09-11-2020, 03:57 PM

Doesn't appear to detect the card at all - a bunch of stuff about a GSM modem,

Mill J · 09-11-2020, 05:29 PM

On my phone I'm running PMOS on emmc and mobian via sdcard. Here's my fdisk -l

Code:

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.81 GiB, 32010928128 bytes, 62521344 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xd3e4f1a0

Device         Boot  Start      End  Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1 *      1953   250000   248048 121.1M 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p2      250001 62521310 62271310  29.7G 83 Linux


Disk /dev/mmcblk2: 14.45 GiB, 15518924800 bytes, 30310400 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x5e1fa700

Device         Boot  Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk2p1 *      2048   249855   247808  121M 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p2      249856 30310399 30060544 14.3G 83 Linux

And dmesg | grep mmcblk

Code:

[    0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 no_console_suspend panic=10 consoleblank=0 loglevel=7 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles vt.global_cursor_default=0
[    3.394201] mmcblk0: mmc0:0001 GB1QT 29.8 GiB 
[    3.401065]  mmcblk0: p1 p2
[    3.546089] mmcblk2: mmc2:0001 ISOCOM 14.5 GiB 
[    3.546482] mmcblk2boot0: mmc2:0001 ISOCOM partition 1 4.00 MiB
[    3.546865] mmcblk2boot1: mmc2:0001 ISOCOM partition 2 4.00 MiB
[    3.576269]  mmcblk2: p1 p2
[    4.845710] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[    7.050431] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[    9.632893] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[   39.548841]  mmcblk2: p1 p2

So obviously mmcblk2 is the emmc and 0 is the 32gb sd. So booting with the sd inserted and comparing these comands might be useful. If it doesn't show up, there's a chance it's hardware. Of course a reliable brand new sd would tell you for sure.

binkyd · 09-11-2020, 07:35 PM

Using brand new supposedly reliable SD cards, which work fine elsewise - tested today - so I wonder if it's the OS, an issue with the mobian install.

I was having awful update issues with it that resolved just before this problem started.

Is there some place in the mobian files I might find a clue?

Or even some way to make the current install self-destruct....heh heh

Mill J · 09-11-2020, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binkyd

Using brand new supposedly reliable SD cards, which work fine elsewise - tested today - so I wonder if it's the OS, an issue with the mobian install.

I was having awful update issues with it that resolved just before this problem started.

I hope it is. However I'm guessing either hardware or uboot. Uboot has seen some activity recently since they had to get it going on the 3gb pinephone, they could have easily messed somthing else up.

From what I understand, the sd is "hardwired" as the first bootable device, if this is not bootable then it tries emmc. Could be wrong on this.

What would worry me is if I couldn't find any trace of an inserted sdcard on a linux system. I've seen this on laptops already but never in a phone.

I wonder if it would be possible to boot via usb like a raspberry pi.

Quote:

Is there some place in the mobian files I might find a clue?

Or even some way to make the current install self-destruct....heh heh

Thats easy but won't solve anything

Some ideas to try based on chat problems would be trying bmaptool to flash the image. I also seen where somebody said his phone doesn't boot to sd if power cable is connected. He hasn't provided more details for me yet. I really doubt these ideas work but...

binkyd · 09-12-2020, 09:49 AM

Seems pretty clear I'm looking at hardware failure - it can't see the SIM card either.

Emailed Pinephone support this AM, but I doubt they'll come through for me.

Thanks for trying, all. Gonna have to wait till this project gets more legs.