E52C Unresponsive After Flashing Debian Image

#1

Hi,

This is my first post and unfortunately I start with an issue!

I successfully flashed E52C’s Flippy OpenWRT and was using it for a few days and it was okay. Wanted to install Debian Linux on the E52C and hence downloaded from E52C image from Radxa website. As I was successfully connected to E52C running OpenWRT, I did SSH into the unit and flashed the debian image using below command …

root> dd if=radxa-e52c_bookworm_cli_b4.img of=/dev/mmcblk1 bs=1M

The System LED remains Green even after 1 hour. After power off and on still the same status.

Then I tried Maskrom process as given in Radxa docs. Although Windows 11 recognized the device on COM3 port, the RKDevTool 2.96 did not recognize the device.

Hope my E52C (4GB / 32GB) is not totally bricked. Please help.

#2

You used dd to overwrite the currently running root filesystem, right?

#3

Looks like this unfortunately. It’s likely that the program didn’t even complete. Such devices can boot from a micro-SD, so it’s better to first make sure the image boots off a micro-SD, before flashing it to the eMMC after booting from the micro-SD.

In any case, it’s not totally bricked. Thanks to maskrom, rockchip devices are particularly robust against such abuses. The rkdevtool and friends are quite crappy and unreliable. I’ve once had to ask a friend who had Windows on a machine to run the official rockchip crap tool to reflash another rockchip device. At least it saw it, even if it did mess up (sent an eMMC image to the SPI NOR), but after multiple repeated attempts we finally managed to get our hands on it and fix it.

Also, make sure you’re using two USB cables, one for the console (“COM3”) and another one for the flashing (not sure if it’s on USB-C or USB-A, as often rockchip uses a male-male USB-A cable for flashing).

#4

Yes, the same way I successfully installed Flippy OpenWRT while iStoreOS was running.

#5

I have used the recommended USB-A to USB-C cable to connect to the Debug/Serial Port on E52C. Windows 11 does recognize a new device on COM3. But RKDevTool does not recognize it. I have the loader “BIN” file and Flippy OpenWRT image file ready for flashing but unfortunately the RKDevTool v2.96 doesn’t recognize connected E52C. Any help will be appreciated … thanks :pray:t2:

#6

That’s precisely what I tried to explain. The Debug/Serial port exposes a console, nothing else. You cannot flash via this port, Rkdevtool requires an access to the flash. It must be done via one of the other ports (I don’t know which one on this device), either the other USB-C that also serves for the power, or the USB-A (via a USB-A to USB-A cable).

When connected to a linux machine, it’s easy to spot the correct port: when plugged and started in maskrom mode, a USB device appears with a vendor ID that matches rockchip, like here: http://rockchip.wikidot.com/how-to-enter-rockusb-maskrom-mode

OK I just found it, it’s indeed the USB-A port: https://docs.radxa.com/en/e/e52c/getting-started/install-os/maskrom/linux_macos

You’ll need a male-male cable for this, and it will power the board. If you don’t have such a cable but have some old unused USB devices (old mouses etc), you can just cut the cables and connect together the wires of same color (red to red, black to black, white to white and green to green). Just make sure the cables don’t touch each other. If you see any other color combination, don’t connect them, as you could fry either side. Only red,black,white,green are standard colors (red/black being power and white/green being USB2 data).

#7

Thank you … let me try it tonight and I will update here.

#8

Hello Willy:

Thank you so much for your precise guidance :ok_hand::+1: … I followed below steps …

  1. Made a USB-A to USB-A Male to Male cable and then connected it to USB-A Port in E52C and the other end to USB-A port on my Windows 11 desktop.
  2. While pressing the Maskrom button, powered on the device via power USB-C socket. USB-A port didn’t have enough power to start the E52C. However, device was not recognized by RKDevTool but there was a new device in Device Manager under “Rockusb” word. Right clicked on it and updated driver with the “rockusb.inf” file under the folder extracted from “DriverAssistant_v5.0” downloaded from Radxa website. Immediately both Windows and RKDevTool recognized E52C.
  3. Chose eMMC storage and flashed the Loader “rk3588_spl_loader_v1.15.113.bin” successfully.
  4. Next, unchecked loader and checked only Image and installed “openwrt_rk3588s_e52c_R24.09.11_k5.10.160-rk3588-flippy-2408a.img”.
  5. E52C rebooted by itself and back to operational status :slightly_smiling_face:

Maybe I will try installing Debian Linux another day using the same process. I guess flashing loader is not required when I install Debian image.

Much relieved that I didn’t brick my new E52C :face_with_hand_over_mouth::sweat_smile:

Thanks again Willy. We can close this issue as solved now :wink:

1 Like
#9

Very glad I could help. This nice little device deserved to live anyway :slight_smile:

1 Like
#10

Used the same USB-A to USB-A cable and while in Maskrom mode, installed Debian Bookwork Linux OS successfully. Planning to compile OpenWRT from latest source code :slightly_smiling_face: