Maybe your box is just something special. Which one is it? Maye I missed this info.
I suspect that the Armbian system has overwritten the standard bootloader and this is what got copied over to the emmc when ceemmc was run. The reason that it won’t boot from the SD is because the Armbian bootloader which is now on emmc is telling the system to only boot from emmc.
Thats just a guess though, but if its correct then the only way back is to reburn an Android image.
Shoog
Shoog: but he can boot from SD card and USB stick. But only CE on it.
No, as I see it he can only boot CE from eMMC which has Armbian u-boot…
No, I can boot CE from anywhere. Literally anywhere.
The point is that CE is also literally the ONLY thing that I can boot at all.
@vpeter: So did I. This is not my first box.
At this point I don’t even care about Armbian anymore. And every time I type its name I feel like I’m calling Voldemort or something. All I want is to be able to restore the stock firmware. That’s all.
Would this box still have a Recovery menu/mode? If so, how can I access it? The box is an X96 Max Plus with S905X3.
@Shoog: So you’re saying that all those times I ran the shall-not-be-named OS off of an SD card it was affecting the bootloader? Even though I’d take it out, put the one with CoreELEC back in, or boot into the stock firmware just fine? How’s that possible?
Armbian may be part of things though because that is something that you reported as not working after using ceemmc.
Sometimes strange things can happen that may seem to or not to involve something that is part of the process being reported, so it’s always useful to use a belt and braces approach and ask everybody that might have some key input that could resolve the issue.
Normally boot CE and open ssh session. Type command
fw_printenv | paste
and post link you get. Then type this two commands
fw_setenv upgrade_step 3
reboot
Maybe then you will have more luck running other systems from external media.
After you had a working version of CE on eMMC, how did you start Armbian from an uSD card? If with toothpick method then it’s possible…
Once CoreELEC got onto eMMC, NOTHING has been able to boot except CoreELEC.
Did you tried commands I wrote above?
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I did, yes. Ever since you suggested it I’ve been trying with different combinations of media and pressed/not pressed reset button scenarios but so far it always ends on CE.
Another thing that I’ve been wondering is that in a previous box I also ended up stuck and I had opened it to short some pins to get it into a mode that a USB-A to USB-A cable would work and Windows would “see” the box. Does anyone know if the S905X3 chipset needs that as well? How can I access the Recovery mode or recovery menu?
Thanks everyone, especially @vpeter! Something worked. I don’t know if it was your fw_setenv command or the fact that I literally opened this thing and starting shorting pins at random. It finally booted from the restoration SD card and I have stock rom again. I think I’m going to stay away from Voldemort for a while… and Harry too. Time to find a different wizard.
Again, thanks for the suggestions and keep up the good work.
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Just for curiosity did you tried to run restore sd card before using ceemmc?
yeah, I did. I used this very same restore SD card a couple times before to get rid of the shall-not-be-named OS and back to stock ROM
Anyway, Good that you got resolved your issue but I don’t understand what was going on. Should replicate myself to understand more.
I moved all discussion to separate topic.
I have the same problem with X96 Max Plus (S905X3 4G 1 Gb).
Once I installed CoreELEC 19 in the emmc I can no longer boot from USB3 with Armbian (the port used to start CoreELEC the first time).
But i can always boot from that usb port with another CoreELC installed on a flashpen, for example.
Booting by pressing the reset button with Armbian on USB3 was possible when native Android was on the emmc.
No problem with CoreELEC on emmc, I’ve been using it that way for over a year, but I can’t boot with anything else on MicroSD.
The only way (and I have tried) is to go back to Android firmware by debricking (jumper on pcb) and flashing with USB Burning Tool.
Unfortunately CoreELEC installed on emmc goes to compromise the Android bootloader, it would be helpful if there was a shell command to be able to reflash it without using reflashing methods that contemplate the use of MicroSD or crossed USB cables, since precisely CoreELEC compromises this possibility.
It would be enough or an option in CoreELEC’s power menu that would allow rebooting not only in bootloader that with multiboot put the tvbox in the Android recovery rather useless, but that it could actually boot from USB or MicroSD slot.
The problem is that CoreELEC and Armbian (or other mainline distro) are using different booting approach which are not compatible.
But this doesn’t mean it is impossible to do it like I did for booting CoreELEC from eMMC and Batocera from USB/SD. I assume booting Armbian or something else would be similar.
But of course this is something CE can’t support beyond some help here.