Upgrade from Pi2 to 3, can I just swap the SD.

Jweaver · February 26, 2018 at 2:09 PM

I currently have LibreELEC on a Pi2 but need another Pi for a different project.

I am thinking about using this opportunity to upgrade to a Pi3, and re-use the Pi2 in the other project.

Can I just swap the SD card into the Pi3? Or do I need to do any kind of "upgrade"?

Jon

bromerzz · February 26, 2018 at 3:28 PM

Same image is used for pi2 as pi3.

**DaVu** · February 26, 2018 at 3:46 PM Official Post

yes, that´s possible.

The only thing which might not work is, if you have bought licenses for VC1 and mpeg2 as those are bound to the CPU which will be different then.

If you didn´t buy any license the switch can be done easily. Otherwise you have to buy new licenses.

Jweaver · March 7, 2018 at 10:11 AM

I finally got my Pi 3 and did a quick test and its not gone well.

I have a couple of SD cards built with Libreelec (one is a back from a while back) which both work work fine on the Pi2... .But when I insert them on the Pi3, I just get the "Rainbow" splash screen.

I know the Pi3 is good as I have used other OSs on it, so there is something about my LibreElec installation which it doesn't like

I could start from scratch, but I have added so many things, I am not sure I will remember how to rebuild it..

Anyone got any ideas on what could cause this.. Interestingly, I have read a ton of posts about adding a "delay" in the "config.txt" file, or changing the Kernel, but for me, the FAT partition of the SD card does not have these files.

Fingers crossed someone can help

Jon

Edit: I have just created a completely new SD card for LibreElec and the file system looks completely different... The SD card is labelled "LIBREELEC" and I have Kernel and Sytstem files in root.. My other SD cards are labelled "RECOVERY" and the file system looks different.

One thing I notice on my old card is that some of the folders I mention "OpenElec" which is the OS I used to use before "upgrading" to LibreElec.. So I fear the cards are build completely differently.

I am going to have a little play to see if I can copy the files from the 'new' card onto the old one, to try and create something that works.. Of course, i will be taking backups so I have a way back.. Wish me luck!

Jweaver · March 7, 2018 at 11:10 AM

So I made a copy of my SD from an Image.. And then copied all of the files in the Windows partition from a clean LibreElec and now it boots without the Rainbow screen.. But I soon get an error stating "Could not mount /dev/mmcblk0p2"

For what its worth, here are the contents of the 2 Windows partitions, incase anyone has any idea what I could do.

**chewitt** · March 7, 2018 at 2:19 PM Official Post

It's an old noobs install.

Jweaver · March 7, 2018 at 3:09 PM

Quote from chewitt

It's an old noobs install.

Ahhha.. Yes.. Thats makes sense as some of the readme files talk about "Noobs"...

I think its best that i stick with the plan and rebuild it fresh.. As long as I can get everything working again, I will be happy.. I run lights behind my TV using Hyperion and I remember in the OpenElec days that was a nightmare to get working...

As long as I can do that, I will be quite happy rebuilding Kodi.