OS fails to install properly with OOWOW

VIM4
1

Which system do you use? Android, Ubuntu, OOWOW or others?

Using OOWOW to install Ubuntu, Armbian or Android fails to properly reboot into the new OS. I am connected via HDMI using a directly attached keyboard and mouse.

I just got my VIM4 a few days ago. It had some version of Android installed which booted fine. Since then, I have attempted to install a different OS (Ubuntu, Armbian and Android) but without success. The screen remains blank when I reboot. When trying to boot into the newly installed OS, the device successfully requests an IP via DHCP and can be pinged, nmap takes a very long time to complete and shows no open ports.

Have I forgotten to flip a switch somewhere? I am following OOWOW getting started [Khadas Docs] (OOWOW Wizard) The LED is solid white.

2

I discovered the rescue shell in oowow, very nice! It seems I am booted in some variant of OpenWRT.

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3

Hello @laibsch

Does it report any errors when you install the OS ?

4

Thank you for the fast response, numbqq.

The flashing completes successfully and without any error message. I also verified the download by clicking on the appropriate button although that came back a bit suspiciously fast.

5

Hello @laibsch

Could you try to press FUNC + RESET to boot to oowow and reinstall again ?

6

sure, but that’s what I did three times in a row now and without success so far.

7

Hello @laibsch

You can also try to use usb flash tool to install the OS.

8

Thank you for your continued support.

If possible, I would like to try and install via µSD card. The documentation speaks about that I absolutely need to install a generic image and other images might fail to boot. But it fails to define what “generic” means in this context. I believe now after some browsing around that the only generic images are Ubuntu-based and if that is true, may I suggest to linkify the word “generic” for increased clarity? dl.khadas.com - Index of /products/vim4/firmware/ubuntu/generic/

9

OK, so I was finally able to install an image (sha256sum aff69cbcec8bbf63f1ede4b657be22372a549c9a97da9d0db4cd35bd27367fdd) via the µSD card method. The same image failed to install to eMMC with OOWOW. But the good fortune didn’t last long, all that was needed to “brick” the device again was an “apt update;apt upgrade;aptitude install fenix-ubuntu-noble-gnome-desktop” and reboot. FWIW, I chose to have lightdm manage X login. Maybe gdm3 would have done better.

Overall, this feels very unpolished. There are some really cool ideas like OOWOW and the different ways to flash an image. But what good are they if you end up in yet another dead end more often than they actually solve your issue, if I may I ask.

I love the form factor and the power this device packs. I am sure the VIM4 and I will eventually turn out to be really good friends, but it’s not entirely smooth sailing so far.

10

I encountered same issue. Image flashed with OOWOW will not boot. I tried Android 11 and 14 multiple versions, Ubuntu and CoreELEC. Installation completed successfully.

After flashing no OS booted properly, all ended in black screen with no error message. On CoreELEC there was error message once, that it failed to mount flash disk. Most of the time not even Khadas boot logo was shown. That error message failed to show on subsequent reboots, just black screen.

This was new Vim4 with OOWOW beta 250528.000 installed.

I also have older Vim4 with OOWOW beta 241112.000 installed, and that one works correctly.

11

Thank you, @peter for sharing your experiences that confirm mine. Especially what is and is not working. I’ve been tracking the problem now more seriously via serial console.