Connect S with Buster not starting up after image written

[daisuketme]

Hello all,

I recently purchased RevPi Connect S, while I used RevPi Connect+ so far.
I would like to make a same environment of RevPi Connect+ for my S, with Debian Buster.

I confirmed Buster is still available for S, but my Connect S has pre-installed OS of "2023-09-26-bullseye". Should be downgraded.
Used Raspberry Pi 4B, Debian 11, RPIBoot and Raspberry Pi Imager, "latest-revpi-buster-202107.img" was written looked successfully.
However, my Connect S only showed a "rainbow screen" and was not starting up after power on.

What might be problems? I need your support.

Thanks in advance. Daisuke

[dirk]

Hi daisuketme, the Raspberry Pi images are incompatible with the Revolution Pi. Please use a Revolution Pi image. The easiest way to restore your system to factory settings is to use this checklist:
Revolution Pi Checklist

But if you want to clone your system then you can consult this article:
RevPi Cloning Tutorial

[daisuketme]

Hi daisuketme, the Raspberry Pi images are incompatible with the Revolution Pi. Please use a Revolution Pi image. The easiest way to restore your system to factory settings is to use this checklist:
Revolution Pi Checklist

But if you want to clone your system then you can consult this article:
RevPi Cloning Tutorial

Thanks Dirk.

But I believe you might confuse. I wrote RevPi image "latest-revpi-buster-202107.img" to Connect S.

I have been a user of RevPi for over 3 years and I have written this RevPi image many times for Connect+. So I did not use Raspberry Pi images so far.
This is the first time I use Connect S, and I face this issue now.

I used Rasbperry Pi HW as writer because my Windows laptop cannot enable rpiboot for S (OK for Connect+). I found a problem here before posting this forum.
viewtopic.php?p=15206#p15206

May I kindly ask if Buster is really compatible to Connect S?
Thanks again for your follow-up.

Daisuke

[dirk]

Hi Daisuke, take a look at the list of compatible images - the RevPi Connect S is compatible with the Buster and Bullseye images.
https://revolutionpi.com/en/tutorials/i ... rect=en_US
I like to use Balena Etcher to flash the devices as there is also a verification after writing so that I can be sure that the image has been successfully written to the eMMC.

[daisuketme]

Hi Daisuke, take a look at the list of compatible images - the RevPi Connect S is compatible with the Buster and Bullseye images.
https://revolutionpi.com/en/tutorials/i ... rect=en_US
I like to use Balena Etcher to flash the devices as there is also a verification after writing so that I can be sure that the image has been successfully written to the eMMC.

Hi Dirk,

I saw that table.

After more struggling, I found some img is OK but some img is NG. Raspberry Pi imager worked.
OK: 2023-01-12-revpi-buster.img
NG: 2021-07-01-revpi-buster.img

I prefer the 2021-07-01 version but I would use the 2023-01-12 version this time.

Please specify what are the technical differences between these two versions?
I have to say the support has been getting worse than in 2020.

Thanks in advance. Daisuke

[dirk]

Hi Daisuke, thank you for your ideas.
I have also tested the 2023-01-12-revpi-buster.img with the Raspberry Pi imager successfully with a RevPi Connect S Module - it was really the first time that I have used this tool together with a Revolution Pi Module. Also, the SSH Key feature is nice. After first login I have performed the revpi-factory-reset and after a reboot it was ready.

So back to your questions about what is the difference - I unfortunately have no idea why you need a working Buster image from 2021 if the one from 2023 is working perfect.
Unfortunately, this image is not in the download section, so I cannot test that. There is also no, But do you know this:
https://github.com/RevolutionPi/imagebakery

And there is the Collect sources tool - this can provide you with answers of the contents of the image and thus answer the question of what is the difference.

[nicolaiB]

Answer is simple: the 2021image was released even before the cm4s (which is the compute module in connect S) was invented. Thus the software cannot support this module. Support was added later. See the release notes, which state what devices are supported for a particular image.

Nevertheless I really can't recommend to use such old software for a productive system. Is there a special reason why you can't use bullseye?

Nicolai