Recover from load of incorrect Distsro

1st Official Post

    Some real carelessness resulted in upgrade using an incorrect distro.

    LibreELEC-RPi2.arm-8.2.5.tar instead of LibreELEC-Generic_x86_64-9.0.0 was placed in the update folder of an OPEN ELEC 8.04 Intel based x64 system (dual boot with w10). On reboot the TAR ball began unpacking however after restart, the following error information is returned :

    Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

    kernel / KERNEL boot=LABEL=System disk=LABEL=Storage quiet

    Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format

    Pres any key to continue.

    Is there a way to recover , whether through partition recovery tools, etc. ? Have Hiren's and other tools available. Would like to take shot at restoring to original state if possible.

    Any help is appreciated.

    JR

    • Official Post

    Create a USB using LibreELEC-Generic_x86_64-9.0.0.img.gz and then boot it with a USB keyboard connected. At the syslinux prompt hit any key and it stops boot. Instead of running the installer (the default option) use/type "run" mode and it should boot into LE from the USB. Enable SSH or use the local console on CTRL+ALT+F3 to mount the boot (first) partition on the internal drive and delete the boot files, then copy the contents of /flash over to replace and update the boot files. Reboot without the USB bits connected and it should now boot into LE. You be glad to know that LE added a check in the update process (about 2.5 years ago) that will abort the update when the image filename doesn't match LibreELEC-Generic_x86_64-<version> so it will take deliberate ignorance to repeat the mistake.

    NB: OE installs often have a lot of crap still installed due to some dubious packaging decisions in the 8.x image. You might want to consider backing up the essential files and then doing a clean install and manual restore to effect a spot of spring cleaning.