Got a faulty dead Rock 5b, sent it back for repair, and after i recieved it back it was still buggy and dead

#1

So i bought prebooked rock 5b when it got released, so got a coupon, and one of the few people to order it when it was released,
after i got the board, i tried multiple power supplies, wasted so much money for power supplies, and even bought the official radxa power supply and tried booting it,
and that too failed.

after reaching out to the allnetchina for this issues, they wanted me to ship the board back to china, which was quite impossible, and there is no way i can send it from my country.

i had travelled to china for some work visit, and i took the board with me to china and then shipped it locally to allnetchina office, and they took good amount of time and found that there was a faulty ic and they assured me that it is fixed and shipped me the board, after i received the board, i tried booting most of the images that were available and none of them booted, only radxa image that was then available booted. none of the other images boot on my rock 5b.

i tried reaching the allnetchina team for their support and they arent responding.

these boards are capable, but when the manufacturer makes a mistake by sending untested dead board to customers, why should i a customer face all the trouble to get it fixed, and when i took the long way to send it back for rma, they screw me again, they sent back a faulty board, they didnt even replace the whole board and give me a working one instead.i am totally vexed with this board.

this is the serial out that i am getting when trying to boot armbian, if any one can help please do.
Welcome to minicom 2.8

OPTIONS: I18n 
Port /dev/serial0, 22:36:39

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys

DDR 9fffbe1e78 cym 24/02/04-10:09:20,fwver: v1.16
LPDDR4X, 2112MHz
channel[0] BW=16 Col=10 Bk=8 CS0 Row=16 CS1 Row=16 CS=2 Die BW=16 Size=2048MB
channel[1] BW=16 Col=10 Bk=8 CS0 Row=16 CS1 Row=16 CS=2 Die BW=16 Size=2048MB
channel[2] BW=16 Col=10 Bk=8 CS0 Row=16 CS1 Row=16 CS=2 Die BW=16 Size=2048MB
channel[3] BW=16 Col=10 Bk=8 CS0 Row=16 CS1 Row=16 CS=2 Die BW=16 Size=2048MB
Manufacturer ID:0x6
CH0 RX Vref:29.3%, TX Vref:23.8%,23.8%
CH1 RX Vref:28.8%, TX Vref:23.8%,24.8%
CH2 RX Vref:27.9%, TX Vref:24.8%,23.8%
CH3 RX Vref:29.3%, TX Vref:21.8%,21.8%
change to F1: 528MHz
change to F2: 1068MHz
change to F3: 1560MHz
change to F0: 2112MHz
out                                                                             
INFO:    Preloader serial: 2                                                    
NOTICE:  BL31: v2.3():v2.3-682-g4ca8a8422:derrick.huang, fwver: v1.45           
NOTICE:  BL31: Built : 10:11:21, Dec 27 2023                                    
INFO:    spec: 0x1                                                              
INFO:    code: 0x88                                                             
INFO:    ext 32k is not valid                                                   
INFO:    ddr: stride-en 4CH                                                     
INFO:    GICv3 without legacy support detected.                                 
INFO:    ARM GICv3 driver initialized in EL3                                    
INFO:    valid_cpu_msk=0xff bcore0_rst = 0x0, bcore1_rst = 0x0                  
INFO:    l3 cache partition cfg-0                                               
INFO:    system boots from cpu-hwid-0                                           
INFO:    disable memory repair                                                  
INFO:    idle_st=0x21fff, pd_st=0x11fff9, repair_st=0xfff70001                  
INFO:    dfs DDR fsp_params[0].freq_mhz= 2112MHz                                
INFO:    dfs DDR fsp_params[1].freq_mhz= 528MHz                                 
INFO:    dfs DDR fsp_params[2].freq_mhz= 1068MHz                                
INFO:    dfs DDR fsp_params[3].freq_mhz= 1560MHz                                
INFO:    BL31: Initialising Exception Handling Framework                        
INFO:    BL31: Initializing runtime services                                    
WARNING: No OPTEE provided by BL2 boot loader, Booting device without OPTEE iniK
ERROR:   Error initializing runtime service opteed_fast                         
INFO:    BL31: Preparing for EL3 exit to normal world                           
INFO:    Entry point address = 0x200000                                         
INFO:    SPSR = 0x3c9

thanks

#2

So the board is working, right?

You boot log showed only the rkbin output. Have you tried to clear the SPI flash? There might be something left there: https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/install/spi#Additional:_erase_the_SPI_NOR_flash

#3

Flashing Images:

  • Use rkdevtools on Windows.
  • If connecting the type-C cable shuts down your laptop, restart it while keeping the cable connected to enter maskrom mode without pressing the small button.

Image Preparation

  • :point_right: Decompress Images: Use WinRAR to decompress .img.xz files to .img, not the Windows ‘Extract All’ option.

Screenshot 2024-06-09 03.06.25
2f2bcfa0d4f408987b015e9f56d8a702a6f16b6d.jpeg2315×1083 218 KB

  • Tick ‘Write by Address’

Rockchip Boot Loader SPL File

:point_right:t3: For SPI / select SPINOR and use the SPI Image

#4

the problem is the board isnt booting and none of the images which are working for others are for this board, i tried flashing all available bootloader files, and then too it doesnt boot, and now i am unable to find the radxa image which worked

1 Like
#5

I’ve been there with the first ones. Sent my board back twice. Expensive ship. It appears to be fine now.

#6

@ChenJaly please review this issue when you have time.

#7

Hi, please try to use https://github.com/radxa-build/rock-5b/releases/download/rsdk-b5/rock-5b_bookworm_kde_b5.output.img.xz and after flashing change the value of “/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf” file’s property loglevel to 7, in order to provide more information for my analysis.

#8

I also have my pre-ordered Rock 5B dead now, which seems cannot get into masked ROM mode. it seems like the power supply chip is dead, so I want to know if it is possible to get it repaired? or I just assume it is total loss now? I wonder if the frequent PD negotiation issue really killed the power supply chip now: I heard noise when I attached the board to a PD power supply, and no noise if I connect to a 5V5A power supply that I happen to have around.

1 Like
#9

Can you boot your rock 5b with a sd card please?

#10

Tried removing all but a sdcard with the Radxa official image newly written to it, and no go. Then I removed sdcard as well to try masked ROM mode and it just have a solid green light now (I did masked ROM update before, maybe a year ago) From PD it says my Rock 5B uses 1W / 200mA only, and nothing on UART is shown: it used to show u-boot messages at least.

I did not power it up for a while since Apr 2024, and then when I try to use it again (it had openFyde flashed to sdcard AND nvme) it just get into that PD negotiation loop once again without showing anything on HDMI (just UART has boot messages), and eventually it died on me (nothing is shown on UART anymore) after I tried it a few more times with different images (Radxa official image, different openFyde version etc) I also tried using a 5V5A power and it does not change anything. Maybe I would try 12V2A later…

#11

Forget to mention: I used a USB 2.0 A to C cable, which I can see my spare phone with that cable on my machine using lsusb, but I cannot see my Rock 5B using lsusb now.

#12

Have you tried clearing the emmc and spi flash?

#13

It does not have eMMC installed, and given that it is not booting now with no u-boot message being displayed anymore and no masked ROM mode available, I cannot clear SPI anyway; Actually I was looking into flashing SPI with a newer u-boot binary as I saw there is a newer official one dated 20240523, but it can’t be done now.

At first I wanted to use official Raxda image to boot and flash a newer SPI binary to see if it would fix my u-boot NVMe SSD boot issue, but it does not work (endless loop in PD negotiation just like it did before SPI update I did using masked ROM mode months ago), so I want to try masked ROM mode instead (which I did before to try fixing that PD negotiation issue back then) and no device is detected this time as it did before.

I may try masked ROM mode once more with my other desktop that I used to flash ROck 5B’s SPI, but assuming it won’t work either, likely I would need to have it repaired by allnetchina out of warranty if it is not too expensive, sigh. Really a bad experience as it looks like a critical board design issue here, worse than my Pi 4 r1.1 which also has board powering issue, but at least it won’t die like that.

#14

You can try to change the usb port, as far as I know maskrom mode is not very compatible with some usb3 ports

#15

markrom can ignore any effect. If you still can’t recognize the rock 5b even if you change your computer or usb2 port, you can contact your dealer for after-sales service.