[Odroid-C2] GXBB / S905 and LE 11.06 or 12 does not boot

    It doesn't make a lot of sense to me and it's hard to comment as I've never had boot issues with C2 boards using eMMC modules or any of the random SD cards in my collection; other than deliberate experiments with patches that were likely to break boot.

    special I did some device-tree archaeology on the Linux 3.14.y sources (used in LE 9.x images) and HardKernel 3.16.y sources.

    LE sources only describe the basic "highspeed" card mode and max-speed as 100MHz. HK sources support highspeed and UHS 50/104 card modes, but a lower max-speed of 85MHz. The upstream kernel describes highspeed and UHS 12/25/50 (and DDR50 for some reason) but not UHS104, with max-speed set to 100MHz.

    The current image here: https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreE…droid-c2.img.gz aligns the upstream kernel controller capabilities and speeds with the HK vendor kernel (remove UHS12/25 and DDR50, add SDR104, reduce the max-speed to 85MHz). Please write to a card (the problem card) and see if that makes any difference?

    i have the same problem, tried all kinds of old 2GB, 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB SDcards but it does not boot.


    chewitt also tried your newests build from your postr above but at least for me it does not help, just the red light and nothing more happens...

    ilovebytes someone replied to special post in the HK forums with a link to this:

    Odroid C2 | Does not boot on reboot without power cycling · Issue #5414 · MichaIng/DietPi
    DietPi version | G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE=8 G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=1 G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=2 G_GITBRANCH='master' G_GITOWNER='MichaIng'…
    github.com

    This image: https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreE…droid-c2.img.gz now contains that change. Please go test and report back.

    I've been able to replicate the issue with my C2 board. It boots KERNEL but then fails to load SYSTEM with the famous "Error in mount_flash: mount_common: Could not mount LABEL=LIBREELEC" and eventually the UART console fails to the initramfs shell where I've been able to get some logs which show an error with the ddr-50 mode:

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    Combining the tf_io GPIO_OPEN_DRAIN patch and removing sd-uhs-ddr50, the card I'm using now installs/boots/reboots fine.

    Please retest with: https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreE…droid-c2.img.gz

    chewitt

    thanks for you trying to help but unfortunatley it still does not work for me, i tried 4 different sc cards from sizes 2GB, 8GB, 16Gb and 32 GB. I also tried to write the image to sd card with different programms like balena etcher, rufus and libreelec writer.

    nothing works for me, when i use coreelec 9.2.8 or old libreelec version 9.x.x with any of this sd cards it boots without problems

    is there anything i could investigate on my side maybe to help you find a working solution ?

    Quote from ilovebytes

    is there anything i could investigate on my side maybe to help you find a working solution ?

    Connect a UART cable to the pins on the board and boot, and when it fails .. wait until it drops to the initramfs shell and copy/paste the log to pastebin, then share the URL so we can see what/how things went wrong.

    hi chewitt i am sorry, it took me some time to get the adapter an to find time to try it out, but this is what i get on first boot after writing your file from post #25 onto sd :


    i hope this is of any help to you for sorting the problems out..

    hi chewitt, no i cannot run any commands at the prompt, so i assume it is indeed locked up.

    btw. if i boot up this sd then a second time i just get this gibberish (what i assume is normal as the first boot up is stuck :( )


    Code
    ▒cs▒▒▒▒▒CH▒ԆP▒▒▒vB
▒D▒bS▒˄▒
        ն▒RSR▒▒rRSR▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒w▒▒b
c"Kj▒r▒BB
"▒K▒32▒▒C▒▒+▒A▒▒▒▒▒▒
                    ▒BB
▒C▒▒f▒▒_RL▒b▒▒G▒k▒Z▒▒S▒▒
▒▒
▒Fŕ▒▒N9Ð▒▒H▒▒9▒!!
                 ▒▒!▒J!▒1▒

    Edited 3 times, last by ilovebytes (July 5, 2024 at 6:48 AM).

    Second boot from a hung board requires power cycling so it's technically no different from the first boot. The gibberish looks like a buffering issue to me, i.e. rubbish drivers for whatever USB UART cable. Using Windows? .. If using macOS the "Serial" app is the one to use (non-free, but worth it).

    The only time I've seen boards boot and get stuck here is on some (but not all) WeTek Hub boards. The current suspicion with them is that noise on the UART connection (perhaps related to dry solder joints) is interpreted by u-boot as keyboard input and thus it drops to the console (although then the console must have some other issue to not be accessible).

    I'm going to create a one-off image with the u-boot console compiled out or compile differently to see if that allows the device to boot. That might take a day or two to get around to, but I'll post a link when done.

    ok take your time no need to hurry, i am glad you try to help me :thumbup::)

    i am on windows 11 using putty for uart the c2, but if its any better i could also try it with linux and minicom...

    i tried it but still the same i am not able to enter the console an run any command...


    i also tried two other sd cards (one of them runs librelec 9.x and latest coreelec for c2 without any problems) but still the same it does not boot up and console is locked up