Pi 4B+ wont boot after connect Penta SATA hat

#1

Hello everyone,

I have Rock Pi 4 B+ and Penta SATA Hat. I completed the setup of Armbian, OMV, the software of the hat on eMMC.
There is a problem that after connecting Penta SATA Hat to the M2 port on Pi 4B+, the system won’t boot to eMMC. If disconnect the M2 cable but still connect GPIO 40 pins, Pi 4B+ boot the system normally on both eMMC and MicroSD card.

I read several threads but my mind is not clear yet. All help is sincerely appreciated. Thank you.

Update: I installed Armbian on an HDD and plug it into the SATA slot of the hat. The blue LED of the hat turns on with no flashing, seems like the Hat does recognize the existence of the HDD. The blue LED of the Pi 4 is off, with no flashing. No signal of booting from either HDD or eMMC or MicroSD card. Seems like the Penta hat somehow prevents booting the system.

Update 2: Debian does work !!! I use the same power source but I boot from Debian instead of Armbian and the system does boot up with M2 cable + 40 pins of hat connected to Pi 4B+. Seems like Penta Sata hat does not support Armbian and my power source works fine.

Update 3: Armbian 20.05.3 Buster tty1 does work. My opinion was wrong, Penta Sata hat does work with Armbian but somehow the newest version - Armbian Buster xfce mainline based kernel 5.10.y - does not work.

#2

How do you power the ROCK Pi 4B and the SATA HAT? How many HDD do you connect? Or you only connect the SATA HAT?

“the system won’t boot to eMMC” -> It won’t boot from eMMC or it won’t boot at all.

#3

I use my Mopoint charger (66w) to power the whole system through usb C. I have not connected any HHD yet, I just plug the hat to the motherboard and connect M2 cable.

It wont boot at all. The system wont boot whether from MicroSD card or eMMC whenever connecting the M2 cable to the hat. If I disconnect the M2 cable, Pi 4B+ boot to the system normally on both MicroSD and eMMC.

#4

Update: I installed Armbian on an HDD and plug it into the SATA slot of the hat. The blue LED of the hat turns on with no flashing, seems like the Hat does recognize the existence of the HDD. The blue LED of the Pi 4 is off, with no flashing. No signal of booting from either HDD or eMMC or MicroSD card. Seems like the Penta hat somehow prevents the system from booting.

#5

Can you check the hardware version of your 4B+? Is is v1.6?

I believe with Penta SATA HAT, you’d better power from the 12V DC on the HAT. But powering with USB C should also work too. The guess is, maybe the power supply is output 5V, which is not enough for 4B and HAT. Please check using the USB C to C to power the 4B from Mopoint 65W.

#6

Yes. the hardware version of my Rock Pi 4B+ is v1.6. It does have 3 buttons in the back, soldered eMMC chip.

I tried powering 12v to the 4B+ board with attached Penta SATA Hat via USB C but the system didn’t boot. However, I do recognize that in both cases of with and without plugging the M2 cable of the hat to 4B+, the startup screen is the same as below, just the difference is when unplugging the M2 cable of the hat, Armbian loads up normally and when plug in, the system won’t boot at all.

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#7

Update: Debian does work !!!

I use the same power source but I boot from Debian instead of Armbian and the system does boot up with M2 cable + 40 pins of hat connected to Pi 4B+.

Seems like Penta Sata hat does not support Armbian and my power source works fine.

#8

Update 3: Armbian 20.05.3 Buster tty1 does work.