Boot problems trying to get old inphic i5 working (s805)

1st Official Post

    BACKGROUND:

    My neighbour gave me an old inphic spot i5 running an ancient custom build of android. This is a totally unsupported and pretty unknown device. I know it has an Amlogic s805 inside. All OEM images no longer exist on the internet (lord knows I've checked) so I figured that I might be able to boot it with another s805 image.

    I wanted to try getting it up to date, but it was totally locked down, but I was able to use a m201 OTA update, as well as side loading superSU, but I want to flash libreelec into it - something that is proving challenging.

    NOW:

    After much trial and error I have gotten libreelec copied onto a microSD and sitting inside the box

    the images I used were the s805 ones from this thread Linux for Amlogic S805 - FreakTab.com

    I boot into it, and I get the message

    Code
    *** Error in mount_flash: mount_common: Could not mount LABEL=LIBREELEC ***
### Starting debugging shell... type exit to quit ###
sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

    I've seen other threads where the name of the partition was wrong, but in this case it's called LIBREELEC.

    Please help

    Thanks for the reply

    Just tried all 3 images from your post, same issue, but now it says "could not mount /dev/mmcblk0p1" instead of "LABEL=LIBREELEC"

    Edit: when I do ls /dev there are devices called mmcblk0, mmcblk0boot0 and mmcblkboot1 but I'm not sure if those are relevant :/

    Edit 2: I'm using the .img and the libreelec copy tool for Mac to copy to a Lexar 32GB class 10 micro SDHC

    Edited 3 times, last by Plasma_000 (November 2, 2017 at 8:22 AM).

    Is it just not detecting the system partition? because the terminal shows various other files from within the boot partition.

    Also, is there a way to make it boot from a USB stick from the terminal? I don't have any smaller microSDs, but I do have a 4GB USB stick that I could try if I could figure out how to get it to boot from USB. (The onboard bootloader installed into the device already seems to be refusing to boot from USB)

    It looks like it's not detecting SD card at all, if it was, you would see /dev/mmcblk0p1 and /dev/mmcblk0p2. The 2 other partitions you mentioned /dev/mmcblk0boot0 are internal eMMC partitions.

    Quote from Plasma_000

    Also, is there a way to make it boot from a USB stick from the terminal?

    Look up USB drive partitions, e.g. /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2, then

    Code
    mount /dev/sda1 /flash
mount /dev/sda2 /storage

    and the last command is something I don't remember now... :angel:

    I am also trying to get this box to boot from an sdcard trying to use Libreelec/Alexelec

    I have the box opened and have found the uboot/reset button, and have the power out of the box, and the iso sdcard inserted.

    I push down the reset button, hold it, and then add power, releasing the reset button, simultaneously, but the box just boots up to its normal menu.

    Can someone explain what I may be doing wrong?

    Thank you

    • Official Post

    Count to somewhere between 3 and 8 seconds (depending on the box) before releasing the reset button. If you power on and release the button at the same time, u-boot hasn't reached the point in the boot process where the button release is seen; so it will just continue to boot normally.