Krescue can flash *.img.xz eMMC images, iirc…, something hyphop told…
It is Zipped by default, because Github needs to shimmy down on storage usage…
I extracted the SD-USB image file from this archive : VIM1-Ubuntu-Server-Legacy-Kernel-Firmware-20200901
it flashed on an SD card, starts to boot, but instead of loading the kernel, the board just switches off, not allowing me to even read any eventual error message on my HDMI monitor 
Congratulations, you got a BSoD (Blue Black screen of death) 
It boots well on my side.
root@Khadas:~# uname -a
Linux Khadas 4.9.232 #2 SMP PREEMPT Tue Sep 1 14:28:45 UTC 2020 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@Khadas:~#
root@Khadas:~#
root@Khadas:~# cat /etc/fenix-release
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
BOARD=VIM1
VENDOR=Amlogic
VERSION=0.9.4
ARCH=arm64
INITRD_ARCH=arm64
INSTALL_TYPE=SD-USB
IMAGE_RELEASE_VERSION=V0.9.4-200901
root@Khadas:~#
root@Khadas:~# cat /etc/fenix-build-time
Tue Sep 1 16:16:29 UTC 2020
Have you checked your power supply?
Same vim1 pro board and same power supply can work OK with the manjaro xfce distro present on the embedded emmc, so I assume that this power supply is OK enough, but I will connect a console cable to see the boot log before trying a different power supply
hi, here is tyhe bootlog gotten from console, please tell what is wrong…
I can see that is just dies, abruptly after 4 seconds…
- U-Boot 2020.04 (Jun 22 2020 - 20:12:53 +0900) khadas-vim
You have mainline uboot in the eMMC? Please erase the eMMC.
We don’t support mainline uboot to boot legacy kernel.
ok, understood
yes i have mainline uboot and mainline kernel and uptodate vim1 manjaro in emmc !
I think it’s a high price for testing a poor legacy linux server firmware built by github actions to remove an existing innocent linux from the EMMC
maybe I should use a kresq distro booted from sd card to to a backup of my emmc content, but as my usb ports do not work i see no way other than the cloud to store the backup…
That is true…
If you boot into Krescue, and you are able to take a backup, you could use your PC to view the contents of the SD card and you can then save them locally maybe ?
Ok, I’ll skip on that legacy linux test, and will proceed with some other mainline uboot and mainline kernel based distro built by fenix and github actions
1 Like
Of course, yes! I used to build vim firmware on multiple linux platforms , with various results, and always with huge disk space taken on each build machine. Having an automated build environment exactly like the one used by khadas is the guarantee of 100% success.
1 Like
I am back in the business again, as I now have a second and brand new vim1p and I want to install on it some Debian buster server , built right from github and by the latest fenix.
Can someone help me quickly find where is the compressed image I need to decompress and flash (hopefully from krescue booted from an SD card) with whatever came from the factory in the emmc?
Tks
All I can find is this https://github.com/khadas/fenix/runs/1535365069?check_suite_focus=true but the resulting files are hidden somewhere else…
Edit: found images here finally … https://github.com/khadas/fenix/actions/runs/414714178#artifacts
And the latest image for buster server on mainline kernel seems to be VIM1_Debian-server-buster_Linux-5.10-rc6_arm64_SD-USB_V0.9.8-201211.img.xz
Will I be able to boot after having flashed over the khadas factory (android?) content on my emmc ?
Should boot up if you plug it in and enter upgrade mode via keys,
congratulations on your new VIM1 btw ( sad to see the old one die from faulty USB hub chip…) nevertheless, you are back in business
Remember if you ever need a fresh image you can use the actions script from my repo, and build it yourself,
Stay safe && Happy holidays!
Thanks! The old one if not fully dead despite its total lack of USB ports, it runs quite fine using BT keyboard and mouse and wired serial console. Its is now stuck into manjaro which keeps it up-to-date.
It s been a very long time since I used android on a vim, I am in a hurry to replace it by something more in line with my needs, can you please remind me how to use the buttons to boot a krescue distro on an SD (with the image file before on same card ready to be dd-ed) ?
According to https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/Krescue/dump/README-rescue-boot.txt
And as I have the vim1 v14, I should flash krescue on an SD card, boot the vim1 into android and just triple click on mid button ?
Yep, that should be the case, but for me, I just plug the sd card with krescue and it automatically boots up, didn’t even meddle with the buttons (although it was with the VIM3)
Its a significant function that really helps when "you get into trouble, and you want to quickly fix your device with “no fumble no fuss” 
U right!
i flashed kresq vim1 25dec2020 img onto an sd card (256MB!), inserted it;
connected a screen, a kbd and serial console cable (I know I am redundant, but wanted to understand what will happen). The vim booted right away and display its “gui” on the hdmi screen,
and at the same time; my serial terminal session offered my a root shell prompt (no kbd layout issue here, but layout issue on the real kbd because it is not a qwerty one, at least my wifi password was not too hard to type), now my latest img is located on an usb thumb drive, I need to remember how to type the magical DD command on my own…
1 Like