Hi all,

I am currently building a smart mirror project based on the Orange Pi 3B and I have encountered persistent booting (via sd card) issues - despite trying multiple recommended OS imgaed. I 'd like to document what I've tested so far and would appreciate any guidance.

Tested OS imaged (downloaded form offical Orange Pi forum):
1. Orangepi3b_1.0.8_ubuntu_jammy_desktop_linux6.6.0-rc5
2. Orangepi3b_1.0.8_ubuntu_focal_desktop_xfce_linux6.6.0-rc5
3. Orangepi3b_1.0.8_debian_bookworm_desktop_xfce_linuc6.6.0-rc5

Flashed using Balena Etcher and also verified by Etcher after write.

Common bahavior (on all tested images):

-Board power up
-HDMI output shows boot logs, but stops on:
"Begin: Running /scripts/init-premount ..."
(power led stays solid, )

My sd card details:
-Sandisk
-SDSDQAB-xxxG (Speed Class 4)
-8GB

After typing blkid I get:
/dev/mmcblk1p2: UUID="04A9-000A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL "rootfs" ....

I tried manually edit this orangepiEnv.txt to explicity set root device but still no change.

I also mounted rootfs to mnt to have a look if OS is really there so after typing:
ls /mnt/rootfs 
I have all folders like bin, boot, dev ect.

I read on other forums that speed class 10 of sd card can be a difference - is this really a thing?
Does this kind of init-premount hang suggest filesystem issue, bootloader issued or somethig hardware-related? 

Any advice or pointers to stable working images for this board would be greatly appreciated. I can provide photos, logs or serial debug if needed.

Thanks in advance,
Piotr
 

Edited August 6, 20251 yr by Piotr Kędzia

This isn't the right place to be posting your question.  All the images you are testing are OrangePi images not Armbian images.  For issues with Orange Pi images you should report in their forums.

@Piotr Kędzia Please try one of the Armbian images from https://www.armbian.com/orangepi3b/

Of course you are free to try Armbian images, but you should know that the Orange PI 3b is not an Armbian supported board.  It is community support status and there is no maintainer who has volunteered to maintain it.  I just want you to understand and set your expectations appropriately for what an Armbian build will provide you.

@laibsch It actually worked, ty for help :))

@Piotr Kędzia Have we found ourselves a future Orange Pi 3b Armbian Maintainer? ;-)