Can't burn image eMMc

[raghyz]

Good afternoon,
i'm new with TB and SOCs in general.
I recently bought the board and installed TinkerOS_Debian V2.0.5 to see how it was, and it worked good.
Soon after i installed TinkerOS_Android V13.13.0.74 on the eMMC and it goes straight to the android recovery.

From that screen i can't even scroll the menu unless i insert an SD card and it says that, in essence, there is no OS from the SD to boot.
I thought that something wrong appened during the burn, so i the connected the TB to the computer to burn the image on the eMMC again.
But the computer does not recognize the board and sees no driver (the red led turns on and after 5 seconds it turns off); it does not even appear in the list of connected devices.

This is what i know so far.

Reading from the Setup Guide in the wiki section of this site, i think that the problem is that there is no eMMC's u-boot, am i right?
 
I know nothing about it and i'm really struggling finding something useful.
I hope someone can help me with my problem and share some documentations to understand what is going on.
I take the opportunity to ask if you can share documentations to understandhow TB works a.

Thank you so much!

[Robertspark]

UMS is not installed on the older / different OS's

Have a look here

https://tinkerboarding.co.uk/forum/thread-1659.html

[raghyz]

I already tried but the UMS mode don't work and i'm not understanding why.
I tried without UMS mode using this command:

Code:

sudo dd if=/path/to/tinkeros.img of=/mmcblk1 status=progress && sync

Is it right? Because it is copying but after restarting and booting from eMMC nothing changed.

[Robertspark]

what about the jumper position?
eMMC boot <> eMMC recovery + SD card boot.

[raghyz]

trying to boot from eMMC --> parking.

I can boot from the eMMC but it goes only to the android recovery and there is no way to burn the image again.
I think the PC don't recognize the board because the UMS don't start up anymore.
The board don't get even recognized from the PC (it sees something plugged in but it says there is no driver)
I don't know if is possible to "restore" the UMS, is it possible?

I was trying booting from the SD and dd into the eMMC the image directly from the board:

Without UMS mode
Recovery from SD’s image system & without the PC mode (ready on TinkerOS v2.0.4 or above)

1. Plug the Jumper on the Maskrom mode.
   (force to boot from SD, jump out the eMMC)
   
2. Flash the Image (any can bootable) to SD card.
   
3. Plug the SD card to Tinker Board S.
   
4. Booting the Tinker Board S.
   
5. It would booting to the RootFS.
   
6. Then dd or other ways to flash new image file to eMMC(mmcblk1).
   

(from the wiki)

In my previous post i was asking if the  address of the output file is correct (sorry about that it was not clear).
It gives no error but the problem is still there.

[Craz_tyle]

I already tried but the UMS mode don't work and i'm not understanding why.
I tried without UMS mode using this command:

Code:

sudo dd if=/path/to/tinkeros.img of=/mmcblk1 status=progress && sync

Is it right? Because it is copying but after restarting and booting from eMMC nothing changed.

When & where did you use this command? in PC? or SD's OS.
If SD's Debian? I think it would be okay. But I'm not sure about "status=progress && sync". I usually directly dd without another attrib.

I can boot from the eMMC but it goes only to the android recovery and there is no way to burn the image again.
I think the PC don't recognize the board because the UMS don't start up anymore.
The board don't get even recognized from the PC (it sees something plugged in but it says there is no driver)
I don't know if is possible to "restore" the UMS, is it possible?

If you don't have the UMS function in eMMC. You may need to use another SD card to boot up the board!!
And that SD card also can provide the UMS function to your TKS.

Then how to restore the UMS?
When you successfully burned the whole image in eMMC. Then UMS would also built-in in your OS' U-Boot. (restored)

And...have you try to burn Debian back into the eMMC again? If the process and steps are correct, the Debian should be boot up successfully too.

-- update --
Did you check the Image's md5 hash? make sure was downloading completely?

[jamess]

Hi, raghyz
    As you said, I suppose your u-boot in the eMMC is broken, you can reference the below link to recover the image.
    https://tinkerboarding.co.uk/wiki/index....om_SD_card  (check the UMS from SD card section )

    And please note that you can only use the android image version android_20180206_v13.13.0.74 or above and Debian image version V2.0.5 or above.

[franckm]

Hi
The UMS from SD card is not clear at all !!

UMS from SD card
eMMC’s U-Boot is broken to booting or not built-in the UMS function (e.g. 3rd party custom image).

Can trigger the UMS mode from SD card

Flash the Image (with UMS’s U-Boot) to SD card.
1 - Install the SD card to Tinker Board S. ==> OK
2 - Plug the Jumper on the Maskrom mode. ==> OK
(force to boot from SD, jump out the eMMC)
So now what should we do, wait ? how many time ? how are the leds ?
3 - Then you can flash the eMMC as usual, the old way. => So now should we keep the jumper on Maskrom mode or put it on Parking
4 - Plug the Tinker Board S with Micro-USB cable to PC. => OK
It would booting & create the partitions like a USB drive. => Really ?? How do we know ?
(please remove other extend device on board)

Please be more specific on this procedure

[jamess]

Hi
The UMS from SD card is not clear at all !!

UMS from SD card
eMMC’s U-Boot is broken to booting or not built-in the UMS function (e.g. 3rd party custom image).

Can trigger the UMS mode from SD card

Flash the Image (with UMS’s U-Boot) to SD card.
1 - Install the SD card to Tinker Board S. ==> OK
2 - Plug the Jumper on the Maskrom mode. ==> OK
(force to boot from SD, jump out the eMMC)
So now what should we do, wait ? how many time ? how are the leds ?
3 - Then you can flash the eMMC as usual, the old way. => So now should we keep the jumper on Maskrom mode or put it on Parking
4 - Plug the Tinker Board S with Micro-USB cable to PC. => OK
It would booting & create the partitions like a USB drive.  => Really ?? How do we know ?
(please remove other extend device on board)

Please be more specific on this procedure

Hi, I just modified the SOP, please take a loot at if there are something unclear

[Im4Tinker]

UMS from SD card
eMMC’s U-Boot is broken to booting or not built-in the UMS function (e.g. 3rd party custom image).

If your eMMC is not found while you plug to a PC. then you can recover it by preparing a OS into SD card. Which should contain also the image to write to the eMMC, or just copy the SD card to the eMMC directly. Better similar size to eMMC.
The former option will do to copy the file directly to the eMMC. Supposed that is a zip file

Code:

sudo zcat /path/to/TinkerOS.zip >/dev/mmcblkX    ## see explanation below for the partition naming

Assuming the latter option. You need to write the image to SD card, boot the SD card by setting the jumper to MASKROM.
Once you have the system running, then you need to go to a console like lxterminal and prepare to copy the system back to eMMC. Unless you've logged in by a SSH connection.
Operations

•  check the size of SD card against the eMMC
  Code:

  $ sudo fdisk -l
•  note the highest number of sectors used on the SD card, it must be less than eMMC. Otherwice chose the smallest.
  
• Found the smaller size e.g.
  Code:

  Disk /dev/sdc: 14,4 GiB, 15489564672 bytes, 30253056 sectors      ## use 30253056 / 2 = 15126528
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
  copy the system over the eMMC
  Code:

  $ sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblkX of=/dev/mmcblkY bs=1K count=(sizeof_SD/2) conv=notrunc,noerror,sync
  
  

Last command explanation :

• X = kernel device number referred to the SD card
  
• Y = kernel device number referred to the eMMC
  
• sizeof_SD = size of SD card in sectors or which is the smallest device. This avoid to overflow the eMMC. Once the system is recovered it should take a further partition adjustment.
  
• There could be some 10 minutes waiting to complete.
  

Once is done, you might put the jumper in PARK position and try to plug the TB S on a PC. If it'll appear as UMS, then you have recovered the function. Then you'll need linux OS to check the partitions for consistency, whether you want to keep that installation.

There's even a shortcut, but the eMMC won't have any reliable partition table. It'll take to copy the u-boot back to eMMC.

So these are the steps, preferred to use linux OS:

• unpack the OS in a image.
  
• check where the first partition starts
  Code:

  $ sudo fdisk -l unpacked.img
  That should be the limit to stop copying.
  
• If less than 4 Mb, then recalculate how many blocks to put on the count= statement
  
• take the first 4 Mbytes from the image
  Code:

  dd if=unpacked.img of=my_u-boot.img bs=512 seek=64 count=8128
• write the unpacked.img to SD card. Mount the SD card and write the my_u-boot.img to the /home/$user directory. (The $user may vary according which OS you want to use)
  
• boot the SD card with MASKROM enabled
  
• copy the my_u-boot.img to eMMC.
  
• similar to the previous method referred to the partition numbering.
  Code:

  $ sudo dd if=my_u-boot.img of=/dev/mmcblkY bs=512 seek=64

Done, you should have your installation came back as previously installed, according to the partition table that was set before the damage. It may take few seconds to complete. But is preferred to check for consistency. Anyway the UMS functionality is back to use and will allow to write to eMMC.