Unable to erase or format my 32GB eMMC

Hardware
1

Just got an aml-s905x and a 32GB eMMC board but I am unable to erase or flash the board. Below are the errors I got.

sudo pyamlboot/run.sh aml-s905x-cc erase-emmc
Using GX Family boot parameters
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 130, in
usb = BootUSB(args.board, fpath, args.upath)
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 41, in init
self.dev = pyamlboot.AmlogicSoC()
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/pyamlboot/pyamlboot.py”, line 69, in init
raise ValueError(‘Device not found’)
ValueError: Device not found
pi@Pi-Desk:~ $ sudo pyamlboot/run.sh aml-s905x-cc ums-emmc
Using GX Family boot parameters
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 130, in
usb = BootUSB(args.board, fpath, args.upath)
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 41, in init
self.dev = pyamlboot.AmlogicSoC()
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/pyamlboot/pyamlboot.py”, line 69, in init
raise ValueError(‘Device not found’)
ValueError: Device not found

Did I receive a bad eMMC by chance? Is there a way for me to “fix” this error. I can boot and run the 905 just fine if I remove the eMMC and run only from a micro SD card with either the Raspbian or Ubuntu image.

Thanks,

Gary Rantz

1 Like
2

You didn’t press the uboot button while attaching the USB cable to the top left port next to Ethernet.

3

Oh but I did. I’ve done the process at least a dozen times with the same results.

1 Like
4

Did you hold the button while attaching the cable to the computer? If you run lsusb, you should see a device. If not, the device will not show up.

5

Yes, I did that as well. I also plugged external power to the board. I followed the video you referenced here as well. If I try to boot with a micro SD card and have the eMMC plugged in, I get a GRUB message and the machine locks up.

1 Like
6

What message? What power supply are you using to power the board?

The button must be pressed and held while the board is not connected to anything else. While the button is held, connect the USB Type A port on the top left by the Ethernet. No other port will work.

9

The power supply is the one that came with the 905 board.

The GRUB message says:

Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible completions. Anwhere else TAB lists possible device of file completions.

Keep in mind, this is with the eMMC board attached AND I’m trying to boot from a micro SD card with Raspbian (the Libre version from your download site).

Now on to the next thing I just tried. Just for the sake of eliminating things, I connected the USB cable to my Pi 4 but this time, I used the USB3 port instead of the USB2. I then did the “lsusb” and the “erase” commands and here’s what it shows…

lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 174c:55aa ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1051E SATA 6Gb/s bridge, ASM1053E SATA 6Gb/s bridge, ASM1153 SATA 3Gb/s bridge, ASM1153E SATA 6Gb/s bridge
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 076: ID 1ea7:0064 SHARKOON Technologies GmbH 2.4GHz Wireless rechargeable vertical mouse [More&Better]
Bus 001 Device 075: ID 058f:6254 Alcor Micro Corp. USB Hub
Bus 001 Device 077: ID 1b8e:c003 Amlogic, Inc. GX-CHIP
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431 VIA Labs, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
pi@Pi-Desk:~ $ sudo pyamlboot/run.sh aml-s905x-cc erase-emmc
Using GX Family boot parameters
ROM: 2.4 Stage: 0.0
Writing /home/pi/pyamlboot/files/libretech-cc/u-boot.bin.usb.bl2 at 0xd9000000…
[DONE]
Writing /home/pi/pyamlboot/files/usbbl2runpara_ddrinit.bin at 0xd900c000…
[DONE]
Running at 0xd9000000…
[DONE]
Waiting…
[DONE]
ROM: 2.2 Stage: 0.8
Running at 0xd900c000…
[DONE]
Waiting…
[DONE]
Writing /home/pi/pyamlboot/files/libretech-cc/u-boot.bin.usb.bl2 at 0xd9000000…
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 132, in
usb.load_uboot()
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 87, in load_uboot
self.write_file(os.path.join(self.bpath, self.BL2_FILE), self.DDR_LOAD, large = 64)
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/./boot.py”, line 63, in write_file
self.dev.writeLargeMemory(addr, b, large, fill)
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/pyamlboot/pyamlboot.py”, line 241, in writeLargeMemory
self._writeLargeMemory(address+offset, data[offset:offset+writeLength],
File “/home/pi/pyamlboot/pyamlboot/pyamlboot.py”, line 215, in _writeLargeMemory
self.dev.ctrl_transfer(bmRequestType = 0x40,
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/usb/core.py”, line 1082, in ctrl_transfer
ret = self._ctx.backend.ctrl_transfer(
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/usb/backend/libusb1.py”, line 893, in ctrl_transfer
ret = _check(self.lib.libusb_control_transfer(
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/usb/backend/libusb1.py”, line 604, in _check
raise USBError(_strerror(ret), ret, _libusb_errno[ret])
usb.core.USBError: [Errno 19] No such device (it may have been disconnected)

1 Like
10

I have 3 of these boards. Same thing.

  • Official Libre EMMC modules
  • “Official” recommended power supplies
  • With or Without SDCards pre-formatted with any OS variant image

UBoot button makes no difference. lsusb shows no device attached. Once of these boards doesn’t even light up when USB is connected, but the other 2 do.

Following the instructions doesn’t allow me to connect to EMMC modules, and always times out. USBTimeoutError every time I run a pyamlboot/run.sh command.

sudo pyamlboot/run.sh aml-s905x-cc ums-emmc
= raise USBTimeoutError(_strerror(ret), ret, _libusb_errno[ret])

usb.core.USBTimeoutError: [Errno 110] Operation timed out

sudo pyamlboot/run.sh aml-s905x-cc ums-emmc
= raise USBTimeoutError(_strerror(ret), ret, _libusb_errno[ret])

usb.core.USBTimeoutError: [Errno 110] Operation timed out

I mean, I have been through all the docs, tried all the methods of adding an OS onto these things…

Somewhere it was even someone complaining about an Android OS being pre-loaded on EMMC, but if it is, I cant even boot to it, cannot see it, am unable to mount it to anything, and still cannot find an adapter anywhere for the weird-ass EMMC ports you guys used to mount to a standard USB drive.

At this point I am going on the better part of a calendar year messing with these things and have yet to get one to boot with a screen and keyboard attached.

This appears to be a defective product. I won’t be buying any more of them or supporting the project anymore because it looks like these are just a scam, and weren’t actually intended to do anything more than suck money out of pockets.

FWIW

11

Have you tried the recommended way of flashing eMMC? Libre Computer Recommended eMMC Image Flashing Instructions

USB timeouts for pyamlboot is a symptom of AMD machines. Are you using an AMD machine?