5B will not boot with the NVMe SSD connected

ROCK 5 Series
1

I’ve been able to boot my 5B from the eMMC using the Ubuntu image. I then added an NVMe SSD and added it to /etc/fstab. I also did an sudo apt update around this time.

I now find that I can’t boot. With the SSD connected, I get nothing on the HDMI screen at all. If I then disconnect the SSD, it boots but only into safe mode. I then need to remove the SSD’s line from /etc/fstab before I can boot normally.

Why is the board not booting with the SSD connected? It was running fine at first.

Here’s my kernel version:

5.10.110-11-rockchip

2

Try a different power supply

3

But I’m using exactly the power supply that Radxa provides. This one: https://shop.allnetchina.cn/products/radxa-power-pd-30w?_pos=1&_sid=ec048e7e4&_ss=r

4

Tried another power supply anyway. No difference.

5

What do you mean ‘safe mode’?

What does uart output says?

Is it available over SSH?

What happens if you remove nvme from fstab, but leave it plugged?

What options you used for fstab?

Does it work if you change fstab options to noauto?

What kind of NVMe you are trying to use?

6

By ‘safe mode’ I mean the boot fails and I get a root prompt where I can run jounralctl and see what happened, but most of the systemd services did not start, including the network.

I don’t have a UART connected.

No, not available over SSH.

If I remove the nvme line from fstab but leave the nvme connected, it doesn’t boot.

My fstab line was: /dev/disk/by-uuid/DISK_UUID /data ext4 defaults 0 2 (not literally DISK_UUID, obvs).

If I change defaults to noauto and try to boot with the nvme connected, it doesn’t boot.

It’s a Samsung 980 PRO 2TB.

7

May you try to rewrite image to microSD/emmc?

8

Just did that. Used rock-5b_ubuntu_jammy_cli_b36.img from https://github.com/radxa-build/rock-5b/releases, as I did before.

Device still doesn’t boot with the nvme connected.

9

The fact that it’s official doesn’t mean it is the best. Try a dumb power supply (12V for example); also - the NVME might be just too power hungry - some were reported not to work (search the forum, I think it was Samsung 870?). What power levels does smartctl report for the drive?

10

I’ve tried every power supply in the house to no avail.

Searched the forum and can’t find anyone saying one way or the other whether they got the 980 PRO to work.

Obviously I can’t get smartctl to tell me anything about the drive if I can’t boot with it connected.

11

If I understand correctly, you never got this SSD to boot right?

12

Hi, do you have try the debian image https://github.com/radxa-build/rock-5b/releases/download/b36/rock-5b_debian_bullseye_kde_b36.img.xz, does it the same result ?

13

I did get the board to boot with this SSD connected for a day or so. Long enough to mount it, format it and so on.

The next day the board would not boot. So I disconnected the SSD and then it would boot.

14

Haven’t tried that one but I have tried another one based on Armbian. It did not boot with the SSD connected.

15

I think it’s a small possibility that nvme is broken, but can you help to check this. besides, do you have the ttl-serial cable and catch the serial logs.

16

How do I catch the serial logs? Can’t find any mention of the serial port here: https://docs.radxa.com/rock5/rock5b/getting-started/interface-setup.

17

refer to this https://docs.radxa.com/en/general-tutorial/serial

18

Are you serious? Where am I supposed to get one of those cables from!?

1 Like
19

Sorry, I thought you had a cable and just don’t know how to catch logs.

I think there may be a short circuit when connect the ssd, please help to check these below:

  1. Do the M.2 port pins and the ssd pins have short circuit obviously?
  2. Does the ssd work fine on pc or other devices ?

If there is no short circuit and the ssd works fine, I think you can require a RMA

20

Erm, if ot was working before you formatted it - check how does it behaves with pc. And reformat it on PC