[SOLVED] Odroid HC4 does not boot, petitboot update does not work

[norrin]

Hi.
My 4th odroid arrived last week and for the first time i have a little bit trouble to get it running.

What i tried/did:
1. Tried to boot armbian from SD-card but nothing happened
2. Plugged a HDMI monitor on and saw that petitboot is lookung for a netboot-image all the time
3. So i deleted petitboot (flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0 to /mtd3)
4. Still it does not boot from SD-card, so i tried the ubuntu-minimal-image from hardkernel page
5. Now it seems to boot (the blue led is flashing) but there is no hdmi-signal and it is not detected in the LAN.
6. So i tried to reinstall petitboot (flashed the spiupdate_odroidhc4_20201222.img.xz to a sd-card) but there is no blue led no matter how long i press the boot-switch)

Can you help me?

[tobetter]

Hi.
My 4th odroid arrived last week and for the first time i have a little bit trouble to get it running.

What i tried/did:
1. Tried to boot armbian from SD-card but nothing happened
2. Plugged a HDMI monitor on and saw that petitboot is lookung for a netboot-image all the time

Fetching PXE boot configuration from the Petitboot is normal, so no worry about this.

3. So i deleted petitboot (flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0 to /mtd3)
4. Still it does not boot from SD-card, so i tried the ubuntu-minimal-image from hardkernel page
5. Now it seems to boot (the blue led is flashing) but there is no hdmi-signal and it is not detected in the LAN.
6. So i tried to reinstall petitboot (flashed the spiupdate_odroidhc4_20201222.img.xz to a sd-card) but there is no blue led no matter how long i press the boot-switch)

Can you help me?

Did you flash spiupdate_odroidhc4_20201222.img.xz with balenaEtcher?
What's the brand and model of your SD card?
Are you going to use Armbian eventually?

[norrin]

Hi tobetter!

Fetching PXE boot configuration from the Petitboot is normal, so no worry about this.

petitboot looked nice and i really thought about using netboot but i never deal with it before so i quit for now.

Did you flash spiupdate_odroidhc4_20201222.img.xz with balenaEtcher?

Yes.

What's the brand and model of your SD card?

It's an old 256MB sdcard from a nokia-phone.
I see. That could be the problem.

Are you going to use Armbian eventually?

That was my first try. Before and after deleting petitboot, but it did not boot at all.
So i tried two ubuntu-minimal-images but there is only a cursor in the left upper corner flashing on the monitor (hdmi).

Should i try to reinstall petitboot or do i go better to leave it deleted?
I had in mind to boot a debian-like-OS from sdcard but maybe a netboot would be better esspecially when i think of the corrupt sdcard from my last odroid-server.

[tobetter]

Hi tobetter!

Fetching PXE boot configuration from the Petitboot is normal, so no worry about this.

petitboot looked nice and i really thought about using netboot but i never deal with it before so i quit for now.

If you are not intended to use Armbian for specific reason, you could use Netboot Installer to install Debian. Advantage of using the Petitboot is your HC4 can boot from SSD or HDD without SD card.

Did you flash spiupdate_odroidhc4_20201222.img.xz with balenaEtcher?

Yes.

What's the brand and model of your SD card?

It's an old 256MB sdcard from a nokia-phone.
I see. That could be the problem.

I don't know how old it is but looks like it's very old if it's from "Nokia" phone. Some old SD card is not fully compatible to boot from HC4, UHS-I grade SD card is strongly recommended and 256MB is a bit small to manage recent Debian/Ubuntu OS.

Are you going to use Armbian eventually?

That was my first try. Before and after deleting petitboot, but it did not boot at all.
So i tried two ubuntu-minimal-images but there is only a cursor in the left upper corner flashing on the monitor (hdmi).

Showing the mouse cursor mean that Ubuntu on your SD card booted but not complete the boot for some reason. That's why I expect to use new SD card (UHS-I grade, Sandisk brand is good) and try again with Hardkernel's stock OS or Armbian which you prefer.

Should i try to reinstall petitboot or do i go better to leave it deleted?
I had in mind to boot a debian-like-OS from sdcard but maybe a netboot would be better esspecially when i think of the corrupt sdcard from my last odroid-server.

If you will go through the Armbian, unfortunately you cannot use with the Petitboot so install the Petitboot if you like to use another OS. If you are going to use your HC4 for a server and not intended "only Armbian", it would be good idea to restore the Petitboot and try Debian Buster using the Netboot Installer, it will allow you to install to SSD or HDD directly as well. Obviously OS can be installed to SD card.

Let me share a video clip that installs Debian using the Netboot Installer from the Petitboot.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugDcoqfb4Xw&t=313s[/youtube]

[norrin]

256MB is a bit small to manage recent Debian/Ubuntu OS.

Ha ha, for sure. I just wanted to use it to reinstall/update the petitboot because the image is only 7MB but you were right. Took another modern sdcard and now there is petitboot again.

Showing the mouse cursor mean that Ubuntu on your SD card booted but not complete the boot for some reason. That's why I expect to use new SD card (UHS-I grade, Sandisk brand is good) and try again with Hardkernel's stock OS or Armbian which you prefer.

You got me wrong. I only took the 256MB-sdcard for the petitboot-image.
armbian- and ubuntu-images were on a nodern 16GB-sdcard.

Let me share a video clip that installs Debian using the Netboot Installer from the Petitboot.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugDcoqfb4Xw&t=313s[/youtube]

Ha ha, after i successfully reinstalled petitboot, i exactly found that clip and now i have a few questions.

I have a 3TB- and a 4TB-HDD in my "hc4-toaster".
Unfortunately i have no larger hdd and no ssd left for the hc.
I had in mind to go with an OS on a 16GB- or 32GB-sdcard, so that the hdds are without any OS-data.
a) Does this - the OS on the sdcard - make sense?
b) What would you recommend for a NAS-like usage? Debian or Ubuntu and 10/11 or 20/21?

EDIT:
I was too curious and installed debian buster to the 32GB sdcard.
Unfortunately the reboot did not work.
There is only the red light on.

After petitboot booted i took the 16GB-sdcard with the petitboot-image out and replaced it by the 32GB-sdcard where i installed debian.
Did i have to do anything to write petitboot to the hc4 before?

[tobetter]

256MB is a bit small to manage recent Debian/Ubuntu OS.

Ha ha, for sure. I just wanted to use it to reinstall/update the petitboot because the image is only 7MB but you were right. Tool another modern sdcard and now there is petitboot again.

Good to know you have restored the Petitboot.

Showing the mouse cursor mean that Ubuntu on your SD card booted but not complete the boot for some reason. That's why I expect to use new SD card (UHS-I grade, Sandisk brand is good) and try again with Hardkernel's stock OS or Armbian which you prefer.

You got me wrong. I only took the 256MB-sdcard for the petitboot-image.
armbian- and ubuntu-images were on a nodern 16GB-sdcard.

Let me share a video clip that installs Debian using the Netboot Installer from the Petitboot.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugDcoqfb4Xw&t=313s[/youtube]

Ha ha, after i reinstalled petitboot, i exactly found that clip and now i have a few questions.

I have a 3TB- and a 4TB-HDD in my "hc4-toaster".
Unfortunately i have no larger hdd and no ssd left for the hc.
I had in mind to go with an OS on a 16GB- or 32GB-sdcard, so that the hdds are without any OS-data.
a) Does this - the OS on the sdcard - make sense?
b) What would you recommend for a NAS-like usage? Debian or Ubuntu and 10/11 or 20/21?

I know some users installed OS to SD card and mount the storage on the toaster, I believe running OS on SD card is still good and this way will make you reinstall OS when it's corrupted. Also I know many users use OMV5 on HC4. If OMV5 is your preferred OS, Debian Buster is the option to go and DietPi is also good candidate. Otherwise, if you are familiar to Linux system and not intended specific NAS OS, Debian and Ubuntu version would not give you much difference.

For your reference:
viewtopic.php?f=203&t=40390
viewtopic.php?f=206&t=41836

[norrin]

Good to know you have restored the Petitboot.

Not really.


I was too curious - could not wait - and installed debian buster to the 32GB sdcard.
Unfortunately the reboot did not work.
There is only the red light on now.
So i think i missed something with petitboot.

After petitboot booted from the 16GB-sdcard with the petitboot-image, i took the card out and replaced it by the 32GB-sdcard where i installed debian.
Did i have to do anything to write petitboot to the hc4 before?

[tobetter]

Good to know you have restored the Petitboot.

Not really.


I was too curious - could not wait - and installed debian buster to the 32GB sdcard.
Unfortunately the reboot did not work.
There is only the red light on now.
So i think i missed something with petitboot.

After petitboot booted from the 16GB-sdcard with the petitboot-image, i took the card out and replaced it by the 32GB-sdcard where i installed debian.
Did i have to do anything to write petitboot to the hc4 before?

Ok, I think you have booted the Petitboot from SD card (16GB) and this means you have not restore the Petitboot to the SPI flash memory on ODROID-HC4. Let's try this.

1. Flash this image to another SD card (16GB), not the one you have installed Debian.
http://ppa.linuxfactory.or.kr/images/pe ... 222.img.xz
2. Remove HDD from the HC4 in order to press the black button easily.
3. Insert the SD card flashed at step 1 to HC4, press the black button on the bottom of HC4 and attach the DC adapter cable.
4. Keep pressing the button until the blue LED turns on, then release it.
5. Then the Petitboot will be installed to SPI flash memory, you can see the progress if you attach HDMI cable to your display.
6. Once the flashing is done, remove SD card and see if HC4 can boot without SD card or HDD.

If you meet any issue on this, please let me know.

[norrin]

You are right.
Tried it again and the update-process said "did not find an update partition."

[tobetter]

This is exactly what i have done.
Wasn't sure if i maybe missed a step but so it seems that I made everything right.

But why does debian not boot?
Why the blue led does nothing?
I made everything like in your video clip.

Do you have the Petitboot screen when SD card is removed from HC4?
So the blue LED does not turn on at all?

[norrin]

You are right.
Tried it again and the update-process said "did not find an update partition."
Then petitboot starts but only from the sdcard.
Strange that it can start from the sdcard but not update.

EDIT:
There are read errors from the sdcard mentioned.
I wrote the image with etcher and it was validated and petitboot launches after the errors.
This is strange.

[tobetter]

You are right.
Tried it again and the update-process said "did not find an update partition."
Then petitboot starts but only from the sdcard.
Strange that it can start from the sdcard but not update.

EDIT:
There are read errors from the sdcard mentioned.
I wrote the image with etcher and it was validated and petitboot launches after the errors.
This is strange.

When you boot the Petitboot SD card, are you able to see anything with ls /dev/mtd*?
You can run this command after selecting Exit to shell in the Petitboot.
Also can you try run the two commands and see if any error you have?

Code: Select all

flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0
flash_eraseall /dev/mtd1

[norrin]

Got it now!
The hc4 seems VERY picky with sdcards.
I found another 64GB sdcard and tried the same steps to reinstall petitboot and this time it worked.
petitboot boots, debian is shown as boot-"device" and tries to boot after 10s.
Monitor is black and nothing happens, but let's wait.

[norrin]

Oh man, the 4th OS on the hc4 i tried and 4th time nothing happens.
Blue LED is flashing but that's it.
petitboot works and is shown on the screen but when it boots debian buster the monitor went black. Not even a flashing cursor in the upper left corner).

[tobetter]

Oh man, the 4th OS on the hc4 i tried and 4th time nothing happens.
Blue LED is flashing but that's it.
petitboot works and is shown on the screen but when it boots debian buster the monitor went black. Not even a flashing cursor in the upper left corner).

Ok, one problem is solved and next problem - black screen.

Can you share the brand and model of your display?
Also are you able to access your HC4 through ssh?

[norrin]

Ok, one problem is solved and next problem - black screen.

Can you share the brand and model of your display?
Also are you able to access your HC4 through ssh?

I gave the answer in my post above yours:

Got it now!
The hc4 seems VERY picky with sdcards.
I found another 64GB sdcard and tried the same steps to reinstall petitboot and this time it worked.

It was all about the sdcards.
The 64GB seems to be the only one that works with the hc4.
So i installed debian buster on it and now everything works.
I have HDMI-signal and can ssh to the machine.

Thank you tobetter, now i can und will install omv and a few dockers.

[tobetter]

Ok, one problem is solved and next problem - black screen.

Can you share the brand and model of your display?
Also are you able to access your HC4 through ssh?

I gave the answer in my post above yours:

Got it now!
The hc4 seems VERY picky with sdcards.
I found another 64GB sdcard and tried the same steps to reinstall petitboot and this time it worked.

It was all about the sdcards.
The 64GB seems to be the only one that works with the hc4.
So i installed debian buster on it and now everything works.
I have HDMI-signal and can ssh to the machine.

Thank you tobetter, now i can und will install omv and a few dockers.

Ok, thanks...very glad to kow it works finally.