Booting custom build on Raspberry Pi 1 B fails

  • Hello,

    I have built my own image of libreelec, copied it on a sd card and tried to boot. Unfortunately the boot process gets stuck at the splash screen every time. Only the point where It happens might vary (the last boot debug message). The ACT LED still blinks in a regular pattern - so it looks as if the device is looping or polling somewhere.


    This problem only happens when I custom build libreelec 9.2.3 as described in the wiki. I have even tried the master branch but there different boot issues occur like a timeout of /dev/serial0 and a failed firmware upgrade systemd target https://forum.libreelec.tv.


    If, however, I use the official image the RPi boots perfectly... quite odd since it should be on the same git tag.

    (I have also checked whether the sd card might be at failure, but the behaviour is the same for different ones)

    Do you have any ideawhat I could do to diagnose the problem?

    (I might even have accessto a jtag debugger)

    I guess boot problems are pretty hard to diagnose.

    Best regards and many thanks in advance,

    nickynamy


    EDIT:

    I have activated the uart console and recorded what was coming over the line. Please have a look:

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    Unfortunately I only have a logic analyzer and no real uart connection cable.

    As the log file points out, several systemd targets are failing and trying to restart. Can you make any sense of this log?

    Edited once, last by nickynamy (August 11, 2020 at 12:41 PM).

  • The log file I posted earlier was not very conclusive.

    So here is a proper systemd journalctrl log obtained during boot via the serial interface:

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    And here is the dmesg output:

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    Here are the states of the systemd targets/services:

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    EDIT:

    I have tested the newly released build 9.2.4 but the same problems do occur. The device is stuck on boot during the libreelec splash screen.

    Edited 3 times, last by nickynamy (August 13, 2020 at 3:50 PM).

  • Ok, I found out how I could circumvent the problem.

    I am on Debian Buster with Backports activated. Somehow the system configuration (and the old packages) must have led to the strange behaviour.

    I have put libreelec into a Docker build environment with ubuntu 20.04 and installed all dependencies.

    Everything turned out fine and the image runs...

    What are the odds?