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LicheePi 4A Image Flashing Guide

The LicheePi 4A board supports booting from both SD card and eMMC. Below are instructions for flashing RevyOS images for each method.

Environment: Ubuntu 22.04

Booting from SD Card

Note: Ensure the dip switch is set for eMMC boot, even when booting from an SD card.

Preparation

Hardware

  • A MicroSD card reader
  • A MicroSD card

Required Tools

Install zstd for decompressing the image:

apt install zstd

Downloading the Image

Download the system image starting with sdcard- for LicheePi4A from the RevyOS mirror site.

Decompress the downloaded image file:

unzstd sdcard-lpi4a-20240720_171951.img.zst

Writing the Image to the MicroSD Card with BalenaEtcher

Install BalenaEtcher from official website https://etcher.balena.io/.

  1. Insert the SD card into the reader and connect it to the computer.
  2. Open BalenaEtcher, click "Flash from file," and select the .img file. Select image file
  3. In the second field, select the target SD card. Select target device
  4. Click "Flash" to begin the write process. Flash process
  5. Wait for the flashing to complete. A success message will appear. Flash complete

Writing the Image with dd

You must the device after of= is correct.

# sudo dd if=./sdcard-lpi4a-20240720_171951.img of=<Target Device> status=progress
# sync

After completed, you can boot from that SD card.

System Boot

After flashing, insert the SD card into the slot on the board, as shown below. SD card slot

Connect the HDMI and power cables to start the system.

Booting from eMMC

When booting from eMMC, RevyOS images are flashed to the eMMC storage using fastboot. There are two options: connecting with or without a serial interface. This guide provides instructions for both methods.

You must eject SD card when booting from eMMC.

Preparation

Flashing the image to eMMC requires U-Boot, boot, and root files to be flashed via fastboot. Ensure fastboot is installed:

apt install fastboot

If using a serial connection, install minicom to monitor the console:

apt install minicom

Downloading the Image

Download the necessary image files for LicheePi4A from the RevyOS mirror site.

Make sure to choose the U-Boot file that matches your board model.

After downloading, decompress root and boot image with unzstd.

unzstd boot-lpi4a-20240720_171951.ext4.zst
unzstd root-lpi4a-20240720_171951.ext4.zst

Flashing the Image to eMMC (Without Serial Connection)

Hold down the BOOT button on the board and connect it to the computer via USB. The board will enter flashing mode.

Flashing the Image to eMMC (With Serial Connection)

Open minicom in a terminal to access the serial console:

bash sudo minicom

Connect the USB end to the computer, and connect the Type-C interface on the board to the computer with a USB-Type-C cable.

Connect the serial port like following image. In the red circle(count from left to right, the second pin on the first row) is GND, in the yellow circle(fifth pin on the first row) is TX and in the green circle(fifth pin on the second row) is RX. You have to connect TX to RX, RX to TX and GND to GND when connecting to your host device.

In the serial console, press any key to interrupt the boot process. Then, enter the following command:

bash fastboot usb 0

In a new terminal window, navigate to the folder where the image files are stored, and execute the following flash commands:

Enter u-boot fastboot

If running lsusb doesn't give a ID 1234:8888 Brain Actuated Technologies USB download gadget output, excecute following commant to enter u-boot fastboot

   fastboot flash ram u-boot-with-spl-lpi4a-16g.bin # Replace with your device's uboot image
   fastboot reboot
   sleep 1

flash images

bash fastboot flash ram u-boot-with-spl-lpi4a-16g.bin # Replace with your device's uboot image fastboot reboot sleep 1 fastboot flash uboot u-boot-with-spl-lpi4a-16g.bin fastboot flash boot boot-lpi4a-20240720_171951.ext4 fastboot flash root root-lpi4a-20240720_171951.ext4

Monitor the flashing progress in the serial console.

In serial you can see the image size and the being flashing partition in cmd_parameter: boot, imagesize: 92886476 (In this guide we are flashing the boot image which has a size of 92886476 Bytes)

After flashing is complete, disconnect the USB-Type-C cable, connect the power cable, and boot into the system.

Some possible problems

If you can see download device in lsusb, butfastboot stuck at < waiting for any device >you can try run fastboot with root privilege.

User Login

Default credentials for RevyOS:

  • Username: debian
  • Password: debian