Vero2 crashes when stopping or seeking h264

Help and Support Vero 4K / Vero 4K +
22

I’m trying to reinstall with the latest image now. However, it won’t boot from my SD card. I’m then trying to force an SD card boot, with the procedure from the wiki, but all I get then is a black screen and no boot at all. Renamed kernel.img to recovery.img, then powered on while pressing the reset button with a toothpick, holding down for 30 sec, then waited for several minutes, also tried holding down reset button for up to 90 sec without any luck. Any additional advice how I can get it to boot from the card?

Best regards,
Marcus

23

First would be to make sure the SD card is in the correct orientation and inserted all the way in. If that doesn’t help try a thumb drive. Sometimes people have better luck on one type of port vs. the other.

24

Didn’t know it would boot from usb, didn’t mention it in the wiki, but tried it now and still only a black screen.

What I’m using for the SD card method is a Sandisk SD card adapter with a Sandisk 32GB microSDHC I, and for the USB the same microSD card in a usb adapter. Does the Vero2 have any special requirements regarding these things?

25

Would it be worth trying an earlier image?

26

Some days ago I re-installed my Vero 2 with the latest greatest OSMC release for Vero2 and a 8GB sd card which works at once. The problem moves at your site with the sd card you prepared: Have you chosen the right image for a Vero2 when running the installer.exe? What is the content of the sd card when putting it back to the PC?

SD card content after installer.exe has written Vero2 2020.11-1 image:

G:\>dir
Volume in drive G has no label.
Volume Serial Number is AA49-4835

Directory of G:\

12/27/2020  01:22 PM        15,661,056 kernel.img
12/27/2020  04:55 AM       192,771,316 filesystem.tar.xz
           2 File(s)    208,432,372 bytes
           0 Dir(s)     122,236,928 bytes free

G:\>certutil -hashfile kernel.img md5
MD5 hash of kernel.img:
ee7c6ec3aec6a85c0675f0f259f96064
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

G:\>certutil -hashfile filesystem.tar.xz md5
MD5 hash of filesystem.tar.xz:
dd389895068d1be154ca7f2147f9adc9
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.
31

I may have been mistaken in the Vero 2’s ability to reinstall via USB. @sam_nazarko may be able to clarify.

35

F:>dir
Volume in drive F has no label.
Volume Serial Number is AA49-4835

Directory of F:\

2020-12-27 04:55 192 771 316 filesystem.tar.xz
2020-12-27 13:22 15 661 056 recovery.img
2 File(s) 208 432 372 bytes
0 Dir(s) 122 245 120 bytes free

I get an error message from certutil but using WinMD5Free v1.20 i get the following hashes:

recovery.img ee7c6ec3aec6a85c0675f0f259f96064
filesystem.tar.xz dd389895068d1be154ca7f2147f9adc9

So same hashes as on your card.

36

Good, but now only @sam_nazarko can provide further help. The only ideas atm I have are

  • the SD card adapter does not have proper contacts to the SD card or within the Vero2 (I used a standard size SD card 8GB SDHC)
  • your Vero2 has some HW issues
  • perhaps the power supply just died and you saw the first symptoms when you stopped a playback or tried seeking

I haven’t managed ever to boot and install a Vero2 from a USB stick, so perhaps this is not possible at all with this HW architecture. If possible, rename back recovery.imgto kernel.img … and perhaps you have a replacement power supply, specs are:

DC 5V, min. 2A, center positive, coaxial power connector male with OD 5.5mm and ID 2.1mm

38

Will try with another SD card adapter.

Meanwhile I made some more testing of different video files, and I have come across a pattern. Eventually I could pretty well predict which files were gonna cause a freeze and which files would work fine.

I should also say that .avi files never freezes. And if a file freezes, then it will always freeze, no matter how many times I try. Likewise, if a file doesn’t cause a freeze, it will never freeze, no matter how many times I try.

First a list of files that causes a freeze with info in the following format:
videocodec(resolution) audio(bitrate) subtitle(if any) container filesize year-month-day the file was made

h264(1280x544) dts(1536) srt mkv 6.8 2011

h264(1280x528) ac3(448) srt mkv 4.5 2011

h264(1280x536) dts(1536)+vorbis vobsub+utf-8 mkv 8.2 2013-04-21

h264(1280x544) dts(768) mkv 4.5 2012

h264(1280x536) dts(768)+aac(160)+dts(1536) utf-8 mkv 7.4 2018

h264(1280x534) ac3(448) utf-8 mkv 2.5 2012

h264(1008x544) ac3(x5)+aac utf-8+srt mkv 4.5 2012-04-10

h264(1280x534) dts(1536)+ac3(640) ass+utf-8 mkv 7.5 2009

h264(1280x536) dts(1536)+ac3(640) utf-8 mkv 7.5 2013-01-15

h264(1280x536) dts(1536) mkv 4.5 2014-10-08

h264(1280x534) dts(1536) utf-8 mkv 5.4 2015

h264(1920x1040) dts(1536) mkv 9.0 2012

Now a list of files that never causes a freeze:

h264(692x480) dts(768) mkv 2013-04-27 4.0

h264(1280x464) aac(332) srt mp4 2.8 2011

h264(1920x816) dts(1536)+ac3(192) mkv 14.6 2012-02-04

h264(1280x688) aac(48khz) utf-8 mkv 0.9 2014

h264(1920x800) ac3(448) utf-8+srt mkv 8.3 2009

h264(1920x1080) ac3(640+480) utf-8 mkv 12.4 2014

h264(1920x796) ac3(448x2) utf-8 mkv 12.0 2014

h264(1280x720) dts(768) utf-8 mkv 4.5 2014

h264(960x720) dts(1536)+ac3(160) utf-8 mkv 4.5 2012-05-16

h264(1280x718) aac(160) utf-8 mkv 2.8 2014

h264(1920x800) dts(1536) utf-8 mkv 10.6 2012-01-06

h264(1920x800) dts(1536) utf-8 mkv 13.0 2012-01-08

h264(1280x692) ac3(384x2) utf-8 mkv 2.2 2011-10-29

h264(1920x800) dts(1536) mkv 24.0 2012-02-04

h264(1920x796) dts(1536) mkv 30.9 2012-03-29

h264(1906x798) dts(1536) mkv 26.3 2012-03-21

xvid(640x352) ac3(448) utf-8 mkv 1.5 2003

As you can see, all files with a vertical resolution between 500-600 causes a freeze.

I’ll get back when I’ve managed to reinstall the latest image.

39

Another option could be to insert your SD card, and via SSH run reboot recovery (making sure the kernel.img has been renamed to recovery.img)

40

Does that have to be from the SD card? Or can it be done from USB?

41

osmc@osmc:~$ reboot recovery
Failed to write reboot parameter file: Permission denied

What do I need to do here? Sorry, I’m not too good at these things.

42

Ok, I did a “sudo reboot recovery” and it just rebooted normally as if the SD card wasn’t there, so it might still be that I need to replace the SD card, will do tomorrow.

43

Did you

1 Like
44

Yes

45

Can you clarify what you mean by this?
An adapter won’t work, to the best of my knowledge.

46

Oh, I thought that’s what people are using nowadays. This wont work?

photo_2021-01-11_18-22-36
photo_2021-01-11_18-22-36960×1280 35.9 KB

47

That should work – have you checked the adapter works in a PC.

Sam

48

Problem is my card reader on my pc isn’t working, so can’t check it, but I still suspect the adapter is faulty, so will get a new one asap.

49

Hello I have the same bug with some MKV files.
Did the re-install correct this crash ??