IPFIRE on raspberry RPI4 B - mmc1: error -5 whilst initializing SD card error

[jon]

What you are using sounds fine and you shouldn’t have to use etcher. But I’d suggest giving it a try since something isn’t working right.

There is an Etcher for Windows version available. It will format and burn the image to the SD card. Make sure you have the current (CU159 - aarch64) version and the Flash Version.

[rodneyp (Rodney Peters)]

According to documentation by Armbian project, it is advisable to use Etcher, because it checks the write. This is particularly important for older cards, economy cards or those that have had much use.

SD prep

You should also be able to fsck the partitions on the written card, from an operating Linux

[epenees (Andre Betting)]

Hi,
I have the exact same problem.
Just bought a new PI4 3 weeks ago, incl. SD-card “Scandisk 16GB SDHC U10”.
I used etcher to install the flash firmware and upon booting I got the same message in a loop.
Also tried another 16GB D card and even a 4GB SD card, but with the same result.

[vincenzo (VincenzoB)]

exact andree, same error like the one I’m facing.
And I gave a try also to etcher and with a different card reader and new SD… no way at all…

Anyhow… as I bought my RPI4 from Amazon warehouse (it is a refurbished article), I suspect that this copy has some issue inside.
Therefore, I will give it back to amazon and reorder a new one.

Just to be sure.

[epenees (Andre Betting)]

My RPI4 came from raspberrystore.nl and was a new one.
I hope there are more issues so the problem can be fixed.

[vincenzo (VincenzoB)]

according to Jon… and to the wiki, aarch64 cu159 works …
which version of RPI4 do you own? mine is RPI4 8GB RAM.
I don’t think that 8GB ram is too much, I guess -

[epenees (Andre Betting)]

I have a RPI4 4GB. I tried the aarch64 cu159 flash version.
Also tried it on a RPI3+ which works fine.

[vincenzo (VincenzoB)]

Hi all

I got a new RPI 4 from amazon… and still getting the same issue.
I’ve opened bug 12684

let’s see if someone can find a fix…
thanks
vincenzo

[epenees (Andre Betting)]

Let’s hope there will be a solution soon. Thanks for the input Vincenzo!

[epenees (Andre Betting)]

Tried the version “ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core160.img.xz” but also the same issue.

[lincoln (Lincoln Rickwood)]

Same issue found with ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core162.img and ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core163.img.

[madbrain (Julien Pierre)]

Same problem with

https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ipfire/releases/ipfire-2.x/2.27-core162/ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core162.img.xz

and

https://mirrors.rit.edu/ipfire/releases/ipfire-2.x/2.27-core166/ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img.xz .

I flashed the img files using Etcher. I tried with multiple SD card and card readers. No dice. The mmc1 error happens right away.

I have a Pi 4B with 8GB. Is the 8GB version not supported ? I see that the file has “2gb” in the name.

[bbitsch (Bernhard Bitsch)]

Are these official mirrors?

[madbrain (Julien Pierre)]

Short answer, yes.

Long answer - Those download links were obtaining when clicking on “Flash image” under aarch64 at
https://www.ipfire.org/download/ipfire-2.27-core166
and
https://www.ipfire.org/download/ipfire-2.27-core162

The download links on those pages end up doing redirects to the mirror, and I get a different mirror every time I try to download. The files compare the same, though.

D:\Downloads>dir core166
Volume in drive D is Big Disk
Volume Serial Number is 74BA-191B

Directory of D:\Downloads

04/06/2022 02:07 ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img
04/07/2022 02:28 366,753,852 ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img-1.xz
04/06/2022 02:03 366,753,852 ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img.xz
2 File(s) 733,507,704 bytes
1 Dir(s) 2,289,867,685,888 bytes free

D:\Downloads>comp ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img-1.xz ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img.xz
Comparing ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img-1.xz and ipfire-2.27.2gb-ext4.aarch64-full-core166.img.xz…
Files compare OK

Compare more files (Y/N) ? n

D:\Downloads>

[wiesel]

Maybe it leads back to the same error i got with the Rev 1.5 of the Raspberry.

Here you can find my topic:

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.5 - error -5 whilst initialising SD card

Hello Everyone, first of all, thanks for IPFire - i think i use it for 10+ years now and were always happy with it. But today i ran into a new issue - The new Rev 1.5 of the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B i received last week. (In Raspberry OS Raspbian you can see it via “cat /proc/cpuinfo | egrep -A3 Hardware”) The issue is somehow similar as it has been with Rev 1.4 booting from the internal ySD card. You always get the: “error -5 whilst initialising SD card” boot loop. The Version i tried is IPFi…

And, i also mentioned the other topic, where the updating of the eeprom is mentioned, which should help with the < 1.5 versions of the Raspberry 4:

RPi 4 boot failure with 162 and 163

Yep, worked like a charm! Many thanks. For others who may be interested, I… Updated the RPi4 eeprom as per this James Chambers page (The flashing of an update of the eeprom firmware requires a recent RaspberryOS image.) Depending on your RPi4 version, you may find that this step is unnecessary in your case. dd’d the 163 image to a µSD as before. Installed the µSD in a USB adapter, and slotted the adapter into one of the RPi4 USB sockets. (And made sure there was no µSD card in…

[madbrain (Julien Pierre)]

Thanks. Mine is a rev 1.4

pi@pi64:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo | egrep -A3 Hardware
Hardware : BCM2835
Revision : d03114
Serial :
Model : Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4

I checked your topic, and the post marked “Solved” mentions boot.cmd edits, but appears to be truncated. I’m not sure what edits you made to that file that helped. I already made the change to uEnv.txt .

My Pi EEPROM is already up to date - I ran the tool.

I just booted in a USB reader, and it works fine. Not sure why the internal SD slot does not work. But it’s still an issue even in the latest 166 flash build.

Once I used the USB microSD reader, I was then able to set it up with dual Realtek 2.5Gbps wired NICs, wireless disabled.

Unfortunately, my client, which is directly connected to the “Green” NIC and using a 10gig Aquantia NIC, is getting a max of 115 Mbps download speed in a speedtest . Is this the max I can expect on a Raspberry Pi 4B ? It seems low.
Same client gets 1400 Mbps download speed in speedtest when connected to the Comcast XB7 router, not going through IPfire.

[loup001 (Loup)]

Hi all.

@vincenzo

mmc1: error -5 whilst initializing SD card

I do not own an rpi, so i cannot test myself

If i had an rpi, i would try an alternate way like the following.

Installation :

Using aarch iso : burn to usb key
Prepare second usb key formatted as a drive ( 4 G. minimum)
Start rpi with those 2 usb keys in.
Install ipfire to formatted usb key as drive.
Once installation is completed. start ipfire on usb key.
Plug-in usb card reader with sd card once ipfire is up.
At the consol, identify device name & uuid number.
Poweroff ipfire.
Using linux live installer, open terminal as root, mount ipfire usb key + usb card reader.
Mv /all directory except /boot to card reader.
Chroot to ipfire
Modify fstab and grub.cfg with the device name and uuid acquired from ipfire.
Generate grub with new info.
Exit chroot
Unmount. reboot with usb key containing /boot and usb reader/sd card with / pluged in.

Verify if system boot.

Once again i cannot test.

If you need more info, here is a reference : https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/553298/grub-boot-with-usb-key-then-continue-booting-from-sd-card

Happiness is not at the top of the mountain , but in how to climb. ‒ Confucius .