LIME2-4GB dead or not?

[philderv]

Hello everybody,

This is my first message on this forum, I'm a French user. So, English is not my first language, sorry if I don't express myself very well.

Ok, here is the issue.
11 years ago, I bought an A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-4GB (Hardware Rev. C) and until yesterday, I used it to host an Debian/Yunohost Mail Server. No problem with that.
Also, I used it with a battery, this model: BATTERY-LIPO6600mAh

Yesterday, I noticed that server crashed, it seems: no display in HDMI (LCD screen Asus VE228H).
I stopped everything.
Brutally. I mean, unplugged power cable.


But, when I tried to start again the Debian OS on my SDCard, nothing happened.
Power LED was fix red, with LED orange for battery, fix too.
No HDMI display, no activity on ETH LED, and, of course, nothing on USB Keyboard (standard).

What I tried
- boot the LIME2 with only: battery + HDMI cable to LCD Screen Assus VE228H (no SDCard, no USB, no ETH cable) = nothing - no display - fail

- boot the LIME2 with same config as previous, but:
=> push POWER button: battery LED blinking 1 time only after 5 seconds of pushing button;
=> push RESET button: battery LED go dark during 3 - 4 seconds, then become again orange fix, if I release button;
=> push RECOVERY button: nothing.

Yesterday, I tried with another power supply adapter, with Output 12V / 1A / 12 W, and only with HDMI plugged and with/without SDCard: LED power was red fix / battery LED was orange blinking.
But no avail, no display, no boot.

Tee board seems, visibly, no damaged.

What do you think?
So, what I can do now to test if my LIME2 is alive or dead?

I know it was old, and I can admit it was completely dead.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards.

[LubOlimex]

Try with freshly written SD card if you haven't already. I think that maybe the file system on the SD card got corrupted. Maybe just for the test (just to see if it boots) try with the latest image, refer to this document: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/master/DOCUMENTS/OLIMAGE/Olimage-guide.pdf

[philderv]

Hello LubOlimex,

Thanks for your answer!

I don't add a new post because my post wasn't validated at this time, but here is what I tried too:

- flash this image https://sd-card-images.johang.se/boards/olinuxino_lime2.html on a 32 GB SD Card,
- try to boot it on the Lime 2 (ETH card and USB Keyboard plugged in, HDMI to my screen)
- same thing: no signal with only power LED Red fix,
- try this:
1 - push power button: ETH Led light on one time briefly;
2 - push Reset button: ETH Led light on one time briefly when I released button;
3 - push Recovery button: nothing.

Today, I will reflash the 32 GB SD Card with this image:
https://images.olimex.com/release/a20/ # Debian Bookworm Base
and see what happen.

But I have a few little hope on this matter!

Tchuss! later for news!

[LubOlimex]

Maybe also test with another SD card or maybe validate the one you have with something like f3(fight flash fraud) or H2testW. SD card die often.

By the way also use Balena Etcher or USBImager to prepare the card, since I've had experiences in the past where something wrote some strange bits at the start of a card and preparing it manually without low-level formatting led to failure to boot.

[philderv]

Here is the result,

I used Gnome Disk to write the Olimex Image:
nothing happen - No HDMI Signal

So, I did a an advanced format (is it equal to LLF??) with Gnome Disk.
I'm testing right now the 32 GB SDCard with f3 tool.
It'll take a while I guess.

PS: another thing, I noticed: there was 2 partitions on my SDCard when I used https://sd-card-images.johang.se/boards/olinuxino_lime2.html, one named 'rootfs' and another one I didn't remember the name, but seems to be an EFI partition.
The LIME2 is EFI compatible/capable?

PS: when I flash the Olimex Image with Gnome Disk, there is only one partition (no name, size of image and 10 MB at the start), see screenshot:


So, is there a problem/issue here?

[LubOlimex]

No idea, I've only used Balena Etcher and USBImager to prepare the images and then "dd" in the command line. Try with either Balena Etcher or USBImager both have Linux releases.

[philderv]

OK

F3 tests are good
SD Card created with Olimex last image by Balena Etcher

Tried to boot the image on my LIME2: no luck


Can I affirm it is really dead?

[LubOlimex]

Yes, since SD card is good and you used Olimage base, and you prepared the SD card with Balena and there is still nothing on the HDMI monitor, it appears the board got damaged somehow. Now looking at your first post I see this part, which I missed initially somehow (silly me):

"Yesterday, I tried with another power supply adapter, with Output 12V / 1A / 12 W"

This damaged the board for sure since LIME2 is 5V only board. The board got damaged by overvoltage for sure, even if the initial problem was something else. Anything above 6V DC will burn the D3 diode at the power jack. My advice is:

Desolder D3 diode and test with 5V DC only supply to see if it works. Hopefully only the protection diode on the input got damage and the rest of the circuit is alright. If it works without D3 make sure to purchase such diode and replace the burned one (else the board will be without protection for future overvoltages). Again make sure NOT to use 12VDC power supply, 5V DC only!

About D3 - it is the big black component just under the powerjack and it is hard to desolder due to its size and placement. You need some basic soldering experience, since it is possible to desolder other components around it if you hold the solderin iron too long or if you don't insulate nearby soldering points with tin foil. It is usually sufficient to desolder one leg and carefully lift it. However, since the board doesn't work anyway trying this is better than just throwing it away!

It might be good idea to also check what happens over the terminal if you have USB-serial cable to attach to the three UART0 pins (near the Ethernet connector), this will help us see whether it boots at all and where the boot stops.

Another good idea for diagnostic is measuring with multimeter or voltage meter, for example at the GPIO headers if the is 5V DC when the board is powered, and track where the voltage disappears between the power jack and the main chip.