Orange Pi One not booting

walthays · Published in 2017-1-4 11:21:30

I received an Orange Pi One board for Christmas. I have connected it appropriately (5V 2A power supply, HDMI video, keyboard, no network), I have flashed an SD card with this image (Armbian_5.14_Orangepione_Debian_jessie_3.4.112_desktop.raw), and it fails to boot (or at least fails to send anything to video).

When I power it on here is what happens:

First, the Ethernet lights both light up.
Then, the small green light (D7) on the board turns on solid.
Then the Ethernet lights blink a bit and turn off.
Then the small green light blinks. It does a pattern with two short blinks, then a pause, then two short blinks and a pause. After a minute or two, the light goes solid again.
Through this whole time nothing appears on the screen.

I have checked the cable and monitor using a Raspberry Pi unit and they are functioning fine.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting?

igorpec · Published in 2017-1-4 13:38:04

What kind of monitor do you use and can you attach a serial console?

Tina · Published in 2017-1-4 18:42:16

Edited by Tina at 2017-1-4 18:43

Have in mind that there many power supplies (PSU) out there which are rated 5V2A, but cannot hold the voltage stable.
I have here 5 PSUs rated above 5V2A and only one does work with the OPI (5V8A 6USB sockets); other report that PSP PSUs do work.
To test if your PSU holds the voltage stable:
connect the OPI with the PSU and measure at the 5V rail -> GPIO pin 2 or 4 = 5V and pin 6 is ground. If it drops below 5V you have a bad PSU.

Another common issue is that the sdcard is flashed incorrectly.
Best is to format it first (I use SDFormatter) and then to follow the exact instructions of the creator of the image to burn it. Some images cannot be burned with pheonix and others not with Etcher.

Let me know how you get along ;)

walthays · Published in 2017-1-5 00:08:46

igorpec replied at 2017-1-4 13:38
What kind of monitor do you use and can you attach a serial console?

It's a Samsung monitor with VGA and DVI inputs. I am using a cable that has HDMI on one end and DVI on the other. The monitor seems to know it is plugged in to something, but receives no signal. I say this because when I unplug the monitor it reports that it is not connected to anything. But when I power on the Orange Pi One device, the monitor shows nothing. I can unplug the monitor from my OrangePi and plug it in to a Raspberry Pi board, and it immediately and instantly shows full video. This makes me think the problem is not with the video cable or monitor, but I obviously don't know.

I don't know how to attach a serial console, or even what that is, sorry. But thanks for your help.

walthays · Published in 2017-1-5 00:10:27

Tina replied at 2017-1-4 18:42
Have in mind that there many power supplies (PSU) out there which are rated 5V2A, but cannot hold th ...

Thanks for your help. I will measure the voltage. I will try re-flashing the image in a different way. I was using Etcher. I can use dd under Mac OS X as an alternative.

How important is the Class 10 rating on the SD card? I don't think my cards are Class 10. I would think it would still work, but just be slower. Do you know?

Thanks for your help, Walt

igorpec · Published in 2017-1-5 00:17:12

How important is the Class 10 rating on the SD card? I don't think my cards are Class 10. I would think it would still work, but just be slower. Do you know?

https://forum.armbian.com/index. ... d-card-performance/