1# ____ ___ ____ ____ __ __ __ __ _____ _______ ____
2# | _ \|_ _/ ___| / ___| \ \ / / | \/ |_ _\ \/ / ____| _ \
3# | |_) || |\___ \| | ____\ \ / / | |\/| || | \ /| _| | |_) |
4# | _ < | | ___) | |__|_____\ V / | | | || | / \| |___| _ <
5# |_| \_\___|____/ \____| \_/ |_| |_|___/_/\_\_____|_| \_\
1 ___ _ ___ _ __ ___ ___ _____ _ _ _ ___ _ ___
2| \ /_\ | _ \ |/ / | \ /_\ \ / / __| /_\ | || | __| /_\ | \
3| |) / _ \| / ' < | |) / _ \ V /\__ \ / _ \| __ | _| / _ \| |) | _ _
4|___/_/ \_\_|_\_|\_\ |___/_/ \_\_| |___/ /_/ \_\_||_|___/_/ \_\___(_|_|_)
5
The pressure is on, and at a time where one should be doing anything but troubleshooting a broken system, the Alpha-One was purchased from Pine64. The disclaimer on Pine64’s site clearly indicates the product is nonreturnable, which in the past has never created problems. Unfortunately this time was different, and since it’s arrival the Alpha-One appears to have been either broken in shipping, or left the manufacturer faulty. Something pinnacle, whatever that is, is critically flawed with the system, and the fruitless effort to identify the cause has lasted an exhausting two weeks.
Below is a summary of the encountered issues so far, and logs will be included. There has yet to be a system which I have failed in my attempt to bring up and get it running. It just is a matter of cost at this point. Is the investment needed to fix the board worth the cost of the board? This, we will have to find out.
Network Connectivity #
Only twice since it’s arrival, has the Alpha-One successfully made a viewable presence on the network. This was the first time it was plugged in, and a few days afterwards. Both instances were fleeting moments of existence, and never were reachable remotely. This restricted interaction with the Alpha-One to only being available over a serial interface.
Once connected through a stm32 bluepill, automatic network configuration and DHCP autoconfiguration continued to timeout and fail. Manually configuring the interface generated no error, but provided no connectivity either. Reflashing the entire system also provided no resolution to this issue. Currently without change in progress, the system is as useful as a paperweight.
Refusal to boot over SDCard #
When booted from SD Card both the Pine64 Image for the Alpha-One and the RockOS Image reference a drive that is not available, this drive would be the SDCard itself (/dev/blkdevmmc2) if it were to be burned onto the EMMC. Unfortunately, burning it onto an sdcard and booting from the sdcard rotates the drive numbering around, making the drive unavailable. If the user was a little more proficient with whatever shell the system drops down to during the initramfs process, this might not be a problem.