Help needed with Nucleus recovery:

killdozer · February 14, 2023, 2:27am

Taking a look at the docs only this looks possibly relevant, use with care and make sure you select the right disk number. The instructions are from the bottom of this doc:

github.com

balena-io/etcher/blob/master/docs/USER-DOCUMENTATION.md

Etcher User Documentation
=========================

This document contains how-tos and FAQs oriented to Etcher users.

Why is my drive not bootable?
-----------------------------

Etcher copies images to drives byte by byte, without doing any transformation
to the final device, which means images that require special treatment to be
made bootable, like Windows images, will not work out of the box. In these
cases, the general advice is to use software specific to those kind of
images, usually available from the image publishers themselves.

Images known to require special treatment:

- Microsoft Windows (use [Windows USB/DVD Download Tool][windows-usb-tool], 
  [Rufus][rufus], or [WoeUSB][woeusb]).

- Windows 10 IoT (use the [Windows 10 IoT Core Dashboard][windows-iot-dashboard])

This file has been truncated. show original

Run the following command in Terminal.app, replacing N by the corresponding disk number, which you can find by running diskutil list:

diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 UNTITLED MBRFormat /dev/diskN

According to all of your screen shots the flash stick is disk2 butl do double check, those ids for removable drives can change. After that repeat the etcher burn.

brad_thompson · February 14, 2023, 8:48pm

Great idea, Killdozer…but unfortunately produced the same result.

brad_thompson · February 14, 2023, 8:54pm

I’m now exploring the ROCK/NUC build posts and there are reported instances where the UEFI boot priority must be changed to Legacy Boot (for a ROCK install). I’m quite out of my element with PC hardware/software configuring so I plan to read more before changing any BIOS settings…but maybe this is the way forward? I seem to have lost my support guy’s attention. Would love to hear from anyone who understands this environment…

Wes · February 14, 2023, 11:00pm

Hi @brad_thompson,

You didn’t lose my attention, I’m just catching up after being out of the office yesterday.

In reading through things I can only see one thing to look into. For your screenshot showing the erase of Generic Flash Disk Dedia, change that format to exFAT. It’s perfect for the Linux box. If APFS is selected I’m betting that’s the issue.

After that, I may need to seek help from others. I have a Roon Core on Mac, Roon Server running on Mac, a Nucleus, Roon Server running on Windows 11, and an all-in-one core on Windows 11. But no ROCK so no hands-on experience with the process.

Regards,
Wes

brad_thompson · February 14, 2023, 11:48pm

Thanks, Wes. That was just a screenshot I grabbed before selecting ExFAT (as APFS is only for Apple). Unfortunately, the USB flash formatting doesn’t seem to be the issue. I’d like to try changing the BIOS settings, to see if the boot priority (UEFI vs. Legacy) is the issue (as has been reported with some of the ROCK builds), but I hate to start pushing buttons in an unfamiliar environment. Is there someone in support I could follow up with that is experienced with BIOS settings for a Nucleus M.2 flash?

brad_thompson · February 17, 2023, 1:43am

“If you get stuck @brad_thompson, I’ve assigned your case to me so I can monitor it. Please do let me know!”

Wes

Wes,

Can you please assign my case to someone else?

Brad

Axel_Lesch · February 17, 2023, 8:11am

I recall various reports on this, better try Rufus:

Geoff_Coupe · February 17, 2023, 2:30pm

I have to say that that “Select target” screenshot of Balena Etcher looks very odd indeed.

I’m not seeing the USB stick that you presumably plugged in listed, I’m only seeing the Mac’s system drives.

By way of comparison, here’s the equivalent screenshot of Balena Etcher running on my Windows PC. Note that the USB stick is explicitly listed. I actually had to click on the “Show hidden drives” option to show the system drives in my PC. By default these would be hidden.

Andreas_Philipp1 · February 17, 2023, 5:13pm

It is listed as ‘Generic Flash Disk Media’ (/dev/disk2)… this is Mac speak for ‘USB Flash Stick’…

Geoff_Coupe · February 17, 2023, 5:15pm

And it’s only 1GB - not enough for a ROCK flashing…

Andreas_Philipp1 · February 17, 2023, 5:15pm

Yes, and this may be the problem’s cause…

killdozer · February 17, 2023, 6:38pm

I’d wondered but this is from Roon’s official help page:

Plug in your USB flash drive (it must be larger than the factory reset image size – 1GB is more than enough)

Edit This isn’t meant to suggest trying a bigger stick is a bad idea.

Geoff_Coupe · February 17, 2023, 6:50pm

Ah - missed that… I’ve always used USB Sticks of 8/16/32 GB - and they have always worked with Etcher for me…

killdozer · February 17, 2023, 7:36pm

Finding 1GB sticks isn’t the easiest task these days …

brad_thompson · February 17, 2023, 9:58pm

Thank you, everyone. I did buy a new 128GB USB stick, which produced the same failed reboot result. I then tried one of the BIOS protocols from a ROCK build post (selected UEFI and booted from the USB) and was almost successful (see photo). I finally produced a ROCK install screen!..but unfortunately in the process I seem to have disconnected the keyboard. And the on/off switch. I’m unable to do anything now. Currently dead in the water. Any ideas?

killdozer · February 17, 2023, 10:03pm

How is the keyboard connected @brad_thompson? If it’s wired then that’s rarely good. CTRL-ALT-DEL should get a reboot if it’s working.

Regarding the power button, holding it for a few seconds should force a power down from a stuck state.

Good luck and congratulations on the progress, you’ll get there but it might not quite be plain sailing yet.

brad_thompson · February 18, 2023, 12:48am

Wired. USB port. I was locked out, so I disconnected the power supply and now have this screen. Current status: afraid to type anything. Hoping/waiting for someone that knows a bit about what I should do next. Fingers crossed.

killdozer · February 18, 2023, 1:23am

You’ve simply booted into the EFI shell, that’s possibly inadvertently selected. Typing reset -c should get you a reboot. You can’t go too far wrong powering down from these early boot states if you’re really stuck. A long (5 secs) press of the power button usually does the trick. If it doesn’t pulling the plug never fails AFAIK.

brad_thompson · February 20, 2023, 6:48am

Update: I can now successfully boot from the USB and produce the ROCK install menu!

Unfortunately, when I do (boot from USB), the keyboard is disabled. If I could just press"1" and “enter” I think I’d be in the home stretch. Alas…

Oddly, in this state the Nucleus on/off button is also disabled.

I’ve started a 2nd support post to see if I can get lucky and find someone who’s dealt with this situation. I’ve learned quite a lot this weekend about PC’s, NUC’s, the BIOS interface, USB’s, SSD’s, etc… but I currently have no idea how to reconcile this.

killdozer · February 20, 2023, 10:21am

So presumably the keyboard works properly up to this point and then nothing works? Try simply unplugging the keyboard and plugging it in again, that may allow it to be recognised. Just to be sure, what model of keyboard are you using? I doubt it’s an issue but I’d like to rule out anything “exotic” as it were. BTW is the cursor flashing at all?