Bricked NanoPi R5C

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi friends,

is anyone have a solution for a bricked NanoPi R5C, won't boot from either SD nor eMMC. This happened after doing the unbricking method from http://wiki.friendlyelec.com/

I tried to flash the internal eMMC, but in any case I could not program the eMMC according to this instruction: https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_R5C#Flash_Official_OS_to_eMMC

After that I thought maybe my device was bricked so I used this instruction to unbricking R5C:
https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_R5C#Unbricking_Method

Unfortunately after that my R5C was bricked permanently and the red LED always stayed on. There is no report on UART and also it does not boot from SD card or eMMC

I put several images on the SD card and also programmed the eMMC via an A-to-A cable, but it didn't work at all.

Please help me to solve this problem

2

Im not saying that this will solve your problem, but I have saved some of my Nanopi:s using Armbian:

You could at least try to put a ubuntu image on a micro-sd card and see if it boots - in that case, you can access, erase and install another os on the eMMC.

(and yes, for me armbian booted when other os didn't from the micro-sd card)

3

@Pulver thank you for your reply,

I used several official and unofficial images on the micro-sd card, but it did not boot and did not log on the UART port (serial debugging).
According to friendlyelec wiki website I update "MiniLoaderAll.bin" via A-to-A cable through USB , this problem happened right after erasing eMMC.
I think bootloader of NanoPi R5C damaged and not repaired by procedure said in https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_R5C#Unbricking_Method in MASKROM mode.
Unfortunately, even my email to friendlyelec has not been answered yet.
With all this explanation now I am downloading ubuntu armbian for NanoPi and I will check that too.

4

Yes, it sounds like you have tried everything and maybe the only thing that would work is a EEPROM/NAND programmer. But give Armbian a try at least.

5

Do you see the device popup when connecting in Device Management(Win) or under /dev ?

6

I will definitely test it.

7

Under MASKROM mode, Yes. This detected by RKDevTool.exe.

maskrom
maskrom970×456 58.6 KB

8

Running under elevated privileges ? (run as admin)

9

Yeah, I'm running RKDevTool as admin. Erasing and programing will done without any error.
I even installed OS via USB like this:
https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_R5C#Option_3:_Install_OS_via_USB
but didn't boot.

10

Its strange that it reports no error, which indicates the flash is either good, or reports it as good while being bad.

After restoring you attempted to boot from sdcard, was this the first time?,eg: have you booted from said sdcard before and did it work then?

Things that come to mind, switch things where you can:

  • boot from sdcard, try another card, try another os.

  • use different usb-cable, use different port pc-side.

  • boot from ubuntu-live cd, try linux route

  • check mask button, it could be stuck. (maybe you have multimeter, test button press)

  • did you hold the mask-button while booting OS form sdcard ?

  • on my r6c, I erased the first 16Mb from EMMC to make it boot from sdcard

  • did you verify your downloads ?(it might flash ok, but if restore image is broken, good chance it wont boot)

11

Yes this used to work perfectly via sd card. I just wanted to to put OS on eMMC.

I downloaded and used all of this images:

images
images1425×649 158 KB

some of these programmed by USB some are written to SD card by Rufus or win32diskimager, I also changed PC, SD card, USB A-to-A cable.
I erased all eMMC via RKDevTool and tested it but not worked:

I flashed SD card and inserted into device and also held mask button while starting up OS from sdcard.

I am sure the mask button is working properly because the R5C goes into maskrom mode.
I programmed NanoPi in MASKROM mode via USB like this without error:

12

I would leave a message at FriendlyElec support forum. Maybe they can clear up the problem or give you alternatives.

So I think you really bricked it, but this wasn't all your fault afaict you did the recovery procedure just fine.

Good luck.

13

@Dantes, thank you for your efforts.

14

I tried Armbian but it didn't work. After a few seconds only the LED blinks with no output on UART or Ethernet. All Ethernet LEDs are off. No sign of life:

15

That's a shame seeing it like that... I really hope you get it working.

Oh almost forgot to say that the forum will answer questions after Chinese New Year (CNY).
(from their website: "We will be closed for from Jan 23 to Feb 4 and get back to work on Feb 5")

16

@Dantes thank you for your expressing hope and reminder about Chinese New Year.
So I will wait for the technical support's response.