Thanks @DarkevilPT
I flashed the SPI successfully with the rock-5b-spi-image-g49da44e116d.img
Unfortunately, the OS images such as Armbian-Jammy-AfterburnerMOD-Waydroid_Rock5b.img.xz or the current Android then flashed onto SD card via BalenaEtcher still do not work and I am seeing the same boot cycle.
Any other tips for troubleshooting?
Rock 5B Boot Loop
Try rpi imager… if nothing then idk… maybe try the samsung 45w brick
I have this exact issue, here are a couple things I have tried to no avail:
Several power supplies, from an official Raspberry Pi 4 supply, Macbook charger, PinePower supply
Several MicroSD cards
All images from Raxda, Armbian (Latest stable, and images that worked for me earlier), RebornOS
Maskrom mode works, I have flashed every SPI image (Recommended, zero’d, nvme boot w/ armbian) possible from both an osx and windows machines with different cables each time.
The board continues to boot loop no matter what image I use, it had minimal use before these symptoms showed up and no changes were made outside of writing to the SD/EMMC/NVME. The only interface I had been using before these symptoms showed up was Ethernet
I’m waiting for a serial cable to come in the mail that supports the baud rate for additional debugging, but here is my only breadcrumb, if I attempt to boot Armbian, I get the following output: https://streamable.com/zvohge
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do you have any emmc you can try?
Yes, and I tried that and got the same symptoms
Try OpenFyde. See if you can do that one.
It needs to be flashed into the emmc via rkdevtools.
This is a common enough problem where Radxa should root cause it and provide either a means for customers to return/replace their board, or a fix which is repeatable and reliable. Instead, the company is largely quiet with no real solution other than “try everything”. I’m patiently waiting for a root cause explanation as to what is causing this issue, and until then I’ve shelved this board and will never buy Radxa products again.
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I’ve tried in a thousand ways but there’s no way, the only version that works is the “official” ubuntu by radxa, which is also supplied without a Mali driver… if you try to update the os and/or configure mali drivers nothing works anymore.
I’ve lost count of the hours dedicated to testing, unfortunately I’m quite disappointed with this card, in the current state of things a lot of money wasted.
I have to agree with the previous posters. Spent a significant amount of time trying to get the board to boot but was ultimately unsuccessful. Very disappointing, will return the board.
If you’re unsure of the correct power supply, then I think you could start with using a fixed voltage power supply (higher than 5V). Then get the board booting and then try any PD charger to see if it still boots.
For any other boot trouble, if you’re not using a serial adapter, you are debugging in the blind. So, when it does not boot, first thing to do is attaching a serial adapter and check the output. The default u-boot has console output disabled, so get a version where debug output is enabled.
I have the same issue. I spent an enormous amount of time trying different SPI images and distro images. I connected a TTL interface and found that some distros actually do boot to a root login prompt, but there is no display. I tried different displays and different hdmi cables, although my display setup works with everything else I throw at it.
I found one debian image that boots from NVME, this one https://dl.radxa.com/rock5/sw/images/debian/rock-5b-debian11-gnome-wayland-arm64-20220624-1200-gpt.img.gz. But after a sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade it reboots to a blank screen. Sigh.
The hardware has so much potential, but the lack of software support will eventually sink this ship.
Another problem: after resolve NO_PUBKEY error i do apt update, surprise: when rebooted the system will loop and nothing appens. I tried several times, also with different PD, same result.
The same with official and unofficial distros.
I think it is unacceptable.
After switching power support from a 45W USB-C to a “plain” 5V USB power supply, I got the system booting.
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No hate. As long as it works fine.
For me it doesnt and to be specific if u add quality externals it wont. But 45W out of randomness wont work for its pd qc and other stuff that makes it shut power or select different lower voltages… at least with the samsung 45w I dont get those issues and I am happy with all the peripherals I want to add and thats it.
It might be that we’re missing a kernel driver for the FUSB302B that should negotiate the USB-PD.
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no you just got a crappy usb-c adapter , the 5b is just a little bit picky wich pd it supports .
same as the rest who is complaining about their adapter
the fusb302 is used on a lot of boards even odroid etc use them .
there are seperate pd controllers ask amazingfate where to get them and put that between your crappy adapter and a good board
No, this is an adapter I’ve used with great success on many devices, including the RockPi 4b. This is the first device I’ve seen issues with. The problem is absolutely on the Rock5Bside here.
It’s a fairly standard Chicory 45W adapter, the same as you get with most Chromebooks.
no problem on the 5b side . it just has some issue with crappy power adapters
and chicony is just a 3rd party for parts