Problem with the LCD screen when rebooting Pinebook Pro

I’ve finally flashed the u-boot from the last update (2020.07-3), but it didn’t fix my LCD problem. I’ve wondered if the two 4MB devices named mmcblk2boot0 and mmcblk2boot1 are the areas where the U-Boot is stored on the eMMC module. but their existence is just a movement made to confuse the opponent (me).

In this package are files from 1.5 branch of mrfixit2001 github, there is a newer version of uboot.img in 2.0 branch (which was flashed on my old module). According to this: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7830 the newer version from 07/02/2020 added USB 3.0 booting (changed USB 3.0 priority over eMMC). If it’s the only change and I’ve never used USB booting option with my Pinebook Pro, I don’t know if there is any sense in flashing 2.0 version instead of 1.5. But assuming that I’ll flash the 2.0 version, do I need to copy uboot.img file from 2.0 branch to /boot folder or flashing it will do just fine (after installing uboot-pinebookpro-bsp package)?

According to GParted there is 30.52 MiB of unused space before the boot partition. How the dd command should look a like to clear what it’s needed and not overwrite anything important?
My plan is to check out BSP U-Boot, if it won’t fix the LCD problem, I’ll go back to the mainline U-Boot.

The BSP U-Boot fixed my LCD reboot problem. I wonder, what is the difference between these two U-Boots and the Pinebook Pro models with weirdly acting LCDs (the ones with preinstalled Debian? I don’t know if changing the keyboard have some influence on recognizing them) and the models without LCD reboot problem (the ones with preinstalled Manjaro?).

Yeah, it fixed the issue for me too, still not sure why. I did notice 04-2020 uboot is working too (from Manjaro 20.06), not sure what changed between uboot versions to have this problem(or maybe keyboard change like you said). For now I will be using BSP with Manjaro.

I’ve also noticed the lack of weird sounds, but maybe it’s just a placebo effect. I don’t know, if 1.5 version uboot was an “old” version of uboot, mentioned in Pinebook Pro Wiki, that didn’t used UART for console output.
EDIT: Nope, it was a placebo effect. The whining sounds and plops are still here.

Could I have please the download link for the BSP-Uboot and its documentation please?

The BSP-Uboot comes from uboot-pinebookpro-bsp package from official Manjaro ARM repository. It was packed by @spikerguy but the files are prebuilt binaries from mrfixit2001 github https://github.com/mrfixit2001/updates_repo/tree/v1.5/pinebook/filesystem (there is a newer version of uboot.img in 2.0 branch from February 2nd, the files from manjaro-arm gitlab are from February 27th and contains files from October and November). I didn’t find any documentation or source files (but it doesn’t mean there isn’t any).
To install it on your Pinebook Pro you will need to first install uboot-pinebookpro-bsp, e.g.:

sudo pacman -Sy uboot-pinebookpro-bsp

During the installation there will be a message:

A new U-Boot version needs to be flashed our install drive. Please use lsblk to determine your drive, before proceeding.
You can do this by running:
# dd if=/boot/idbloader.img of=/dev/mmcblkX seek=64 conv=notrunc
# dd if=/boot/uboot.img of=/dev/mmcblkX seek=16384 conv=notrunc
# dd if=/boot/trust.img of=/dev/mmcblkX seek=24576 conv=notrunc

The X should be a number, you can use lsblk to list all block devices or just run:

ls /dev/mmcblk?

You need root privileges to run above dd commands.
To finish installation, you will have to power off using e.g. sudo poweroff. During start with BSP U-Boot the LED is green from the beginning.
The uninstallation process is tricky because the mainline U-boot has 2 files (instead of 3) and the sizes are different. It will not install it self, it’ll just print similar message (but with two dd commands) but I don’t know if they are sufficient after BSP installation, the BSP U-Boot will have to be removed by zeroing out what was previously flashed. The safest way to do it is to first create files with zeros with the same sizes like the files idbloader.img, uboot.img and trust.img, then dd these files with zeros instead of the BSP U-boot ones. This way one will not accidentally overwrite the whole eMMC module with zeros.

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Big sh…t

Done all like written in previous post and now the system does not book anymore :frowning:
LED goes green and remains green, screen is black

I have to overwrite it - better install from scratch on the EMMC and then link the SSD later on

Could not boot from SD card with any available Manjaro-KDE image:

System claims that the autologin password were not correct or that the SD card is write only because of an defective journal on the EXT-4 partition on the SD card

Any chance to overwrite the EMMC completely with any other OS oder tool?

A bit confusing, not clear
Maybe your emmc is not booting?? Maybe because you messed up uboot?
And you want to reinstall?
If you have a linux box, fsck.ext4 that partition (on SD card)

Can you boot from the SD card by turning off eMMC module (24)?
https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebook_Pro#Mainboard_Switches_and_Buttons
The easiest (and safest) way would be to use the eMMC to USB adapter (it is the same adapter and modules used in other Pine64 devices, so it should be available not only in the Pine64 Store). You can try to switch off eMMC for a few seconds, just to boot from SD card and turn it on fast enough to detect eMMC module.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8959

Only a image with Debian could be started on SD. With debian zeroed out with dd the first GB of the EMMC.
After this a boot with Manjaro on SD worked and the system could be reinstalled. Backup was from yesterday, so no problem further.

Next buy would be an eMMC to USB adapter…

Which version of U-Boot did you flashed?

BSP-uboot

Now back on standard and all runs as desired. But only after zeroeing out first part of the EMMC

I’m experiencing this issue too. I got my Pinebook Pro ANSI unit in yesterday and flashed the latest Manjaro KDE using manjaro-arm-installer. Starting from a cold boot works just as it should, but rebooting causes this graphics artifacting without fail. It does so regardless of if it was booted from microSD or eMMC. I haven’t made any hardware modifications, or even opened the device up.

I actually took a video of the behavior:

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Yes, I know. But which version exactly? 1.5 or 2.0?
Now I see that I’ve forgot to remove " at the end of every dd command.

It looks exactly like what I’ve described.

Just received my pinebook pro ANSI. And having the same problem…

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I have an ANSI pinebook pro and I also see this issue.
Also:
If you boot from an SD card and then reboot, you end up in the eMMC
I think that uboot is still running and it believes that the OS you are rebooting from failed to boot, so it launches the next priority boot.

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So the only drawback of reverting to bsd uboot is that the suspend won’t work anymore right?

My system is running on an NVMe, starts from EMMC. I think there is no suspend possible ATM. Regardless off the U-Boot. PBP goes to sleep and wakes up after 6 seconds. Or is this solved by any U-Boot version?