Running Linux From SD Card or USB Flash Drive - Using Balbes150 Method And Files.

[meteorza]

I need to get internal dvb (AVL6862) working for Ubuntu on a MeCool KIII Pro S912.

Thus far I load Android, do a local update using a SD Card with the Armbian_5.44_S9xxx_Ubuntu_bionic_3.14.29_server_20 180601.img written to it.

After the reboot, Ubuntu starts fine and I can login into Ubuntu server without any problems, but it seems none of the dvb modules even tried loading according in dmesg output.

If I look at the source gxm_q200_k3_pro.dts file, it seems obvious I need the gxm_q200_k3_pro.dtb to get it to work.

So, I copy gxm_q200_k3_pro.dtb as dtb.img to the root of the fat partition on the SD card and try to boot again. Now Ubuntu no longer starts. I just see the Mecool logo for a couple of seconds and the black screen. Waited 15 minutes and nothing starts.

Does anyone have an idea why I can not get gxm_q200_k3_pro.dtb to work with Armbian_5.44_S9xxx_Ubuntu_bionic_3.14.29_server_20 180601.img? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I also tried Armbian_5.44_S9xxx_Ubuntu_xenial_3.14.29_server_20 180515.img and gxm_q200_k3_pro.dtb with the same result.

[ajiratech]

I've been using Balbes created Arch linux image with Kodi and it seems to work quite well (Amlogic S905 with 2G RAM and Gigabit ethernet). It also does hardware acceleration of Movies. I am wondering if anyone has tried this with a 4K Tv ? A friend of mine has a 4k TV and wanted to see if these boxes were upto the task. I have tested playing a 4k sample on this box and it plays quite well with minimal load on CPU. But I don't know if it were playing in 4k resolution or did it downscale it to 1080p as that is mode I'm using upon boot.

Has anyone used these boxes running linux/kodi on a 4k display ? do I simply tweak hdmi.sh and set the mode to 2160p60hz ? I will be trying that anyways once I've setup a backup method of getting in the box in case I lose display. Thanks in advance.

[MasterCATZ]

I am trying to get my p201 amlogic s905.5 to boot from USB Flash Drive any idea's , not having much luck finding a u-boot that works
for multi booting ( the flash drive should be burnt correctly and I can not get any OS toggle options holding power buttons etc )

device does not have any sdcard reader and I can not get fastboot USB to work for slide loading
( I don't even think it has fastboot it did not even come with a recovery mode )
all I have is rooted OS LAN/wifi adb no USB adb so no slide loading ( waiting on a new Male A - Male A cable as it might be this cable )


Android 5.1
Currently TWRP3_T8x.img is installed as recovery

5. open the app "Update&Backup"
6. Select local update and an archive on removable media (aml_update.zip)
7. Run update
8. System twice to reboot and start running the system from external media.
fails with
"could not find meta-inf/com/google/android/update-binary in the zip file"

I have also tried other files that are meant to have modified u-boot with same error

if their are any commands I can run for logs please let me know

root@p201:/ # printenv
_=/system/bin/printenv
ANDROID_DATA=/data
MKSH=/system/bin/sh
LOGNAME=root
LOOP_MOUNTPOINT=/mnt/obb
HOME=/
ASEC_MOUNTPOINT=/mnt/asec
TERM=vt100
SHELL=/tmp-mksh/tmp-mksh
ANDROID_BOOTLOGO=1
ANDROID_ASSETS=/system/app
BOOTCLASSPATH=/system/framework/core-libart.jar:/system/framework/conscrypt.jar:/system/framework/okhttp.jar:/system/framework/core-junit.jar:/system/framework/bouncycastle.jar:/system/framework/ext.jar:/system/framework/framework.jar:/system/framework/telephony-common.jar:/system/framework/voip-common.jar:/system/framework/ims-common.jar:/system/framework/mms-common.jar:/system/framework/android.policy.jar:/system/framework/apache-xml.jar:/system/framework/droidlogic.jar:/system/framework/droidlogic.frameworks.pppoe.jar
EMULATED_STORAGE_TARGET=/storage/emulated
ANDROID_SOCKET_adbd=10
HOSTNAME=p201
EXTERNAL_STORAGE=/storage/emulated/legacy
SECONDARY_STORAGE=/storage/sdcard1
ANDROID_STORAGE=/storage
USER=root
PATH=/sbin:/vendor/bin:/system/sbin:/system/bin:/system/xbin
SYSTEMSERVERCLASSPATH=/system/framework/services.jar:/system/framework/ethernet-service.jar:/system/framework/wifi-service.jar
ANDROID_PROPERTY_WORKSPACE=8,0
ANDROID_ROOT=/system
EMULATED_STORAGE_SOURCE=/mnt/shell/emulated

[balbes150]

It is not clear what image you are trying. Describe in detail what you are doing.

[Nebojsa]

I have Sunvell T95v Pro (S912, 2/16) and emmc is broken, not wiped or corrupted but dead, no writing method that working, usb burning tool, sd card...
Tried lots of roms, methods, nothing worked, no sinal on tv, just power led lightning.
When make sd card with burn card maker box won't boot, not even with toothpick method, just booting when short two pins on emmc.
Then I got Android robot and "Upgrading" message but it stuck at the beginning forever (let it for one hour just to be sure).
With Usb Burning tool got error at 7% on "Formatting" every time (different pc's, roms, cables...). Also have to shorting pins to PC recognize the box.
Then I tried LibreElec (CoreElec) and the box won't boot like always, but when shorting pins it boot's in CoreElec and everything working flawlessly.
So, what I'm asking, is there any way to force my box to boot from sd card when my emmc is broken?
If can that is all I need, because the box working very well from sd card and booting is only downside, must shorting pins on every boot.
I read here there is a step when must install something with UPDATE&BACKUP app on the box to get booting from sd card, but as my box is with broken emmc and without any firmware/software, I can not do that. Is there any other way to force booting from sd card in my case? Thanks.

[balbes150]

I have Sunvell T95v Pro (S912, 2/16) and emmc is broken, not wiped or corrupted but dead, no writing method that working, usb burning tool, sd card...
Tried lots of roms, methods, nothing worked, no sinal on tv, just power led lightning.
When make sd card with burn card maker box won't boot, not even with toothpick method, just booting when short two pins on emmc.
Then I got Android robot and "Upgrading" message but it stuck at the beginning forever (let it for one hour just to be sure).
With Usb Burning tool got error at 7% on "Formatting" every time (different pc's, roms, cables...). Also have to shorting pins to PC recognize the box.
Then I tried LibreElec (CoreElec) and the box won't boot like always, but when shorting pins it boot's in CoreElec and everything working flawlessly.
So, what I'm asking, is there any way to force my box to boot from sd card when my emmc is broken?
If can that is all I need, because the box working very well from sd card and booting is only downside, must shorting pins on every boot.
I read here there is a step when must install something with UPDATE&BACKUP app on the box to get booting from sd card, but as my box is with broken emmc and without any firmware/software, I can not do that. Is there any other way to force booting from sd card in my case? Thanks.

Erase the eMMC and the system will always run u-boot from SD card.

[Nebojsa]

Ok, how to do that?
Where is u-boot located, if not on emmc?

[balbes150]

Ok, how to do that?
Where is u-boot located, if not on emmc?

Run any system from external media and execute

dd if=/dev/zero of=<name of your eMMC> bs=1M count=4

You can erase the whole eMMC


dd if=/dev/zero of=<name of your eMMC> bs=64M

[Nebojsa]

login as: root
[email protected]'s password:
##############################################
# CoreELEC #
# https://coreelec.org #
##############################################

CoreELEC (official): 8.95.1 (S912.arm)
CoreELEC:~ # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M count=4


Nothing happened, cursor goes to next line and that's it.
Tried the second command, also nothing.


login as: root
[email protected]'s password:
##############################################
# CoreELEC #
# https://coreelec.org #
##############################################

CoreELEC (official): 8.95.1 (S912.arm)
CoreELEC:~ # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=64M

[balbes150]

I don't know what and how is implemented in Corelec, use Armbian and show the output of the command "fdisk -l" from the running Armbian.

Or just remove the eMMC chip from the Board.

[Nebojsa]

I like this, just remove chip from the board. Maybe it's easiest solution, just I'm afraid what if can't boot anymore even with shorting pins, I surely can't put it back...
Will try with Armbian first and report back.

[balbes150]

Contact closure = disconnecting the eMMC chip from the boot process.
I have a TV box with eMMC disabled (it is damaged as a result of my experiments) and everything works fine from the SD card. By the way, many boards for developers do not have soldered eMMC and everything works with Sd card.
The main thing is not to damage the other components when removing the eMMC.

[Nebojsa]

Ok, thanks for clarifying.
Emmc is already broken so I don't mind if I remove it.
Have hot air gun so will try to remove the chip.

[Nebojsa]

My friend who have mobile phone repair shop just remove the chip (he know what he doing), but now just have endless bootloop...

LOOP:4;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;L OOP:5;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;LO OP:6;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;LOO P:7;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;LOOP :8;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;LOOP: 9;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;LOOP:A ;EMMC:800;NAND:81;SD:0;READ:0;CHK:AA;USB:8;

What is wrong, what else to try now?

[balbes150]

Connect the SD card with the loader.