Astro update to V07

[Daniel W]

In another thread I found this

Never use the `b` partition on the Astro. It's a bit odd in partition structure, but you should be using the 'a' slot - I believe 'b' acts as temporary storage for OTA updates, where the new files are written there, then copied over to the 'a' slot.

Good to know. It also means there never was a "good" partition to try to revert to anyway. The next thing then, was to try the 07B update, which, as I expected by now, changed nothing, so the screen in my Astro still will not turn on.

I have noticed that if I have the HDMI adapter plugged in to the left hand port and a USB cable to a PC in the right hand port, the Astro typically does not show up in Windows, not even in the device manager. If I reboot with both cables still plugged in, the Astro does show up in Windows afterwards. I can also get it to show up by booting and logging in blindly, without the HDMI, and then plugging in just the USB cable to the PC in the right hand port. Thus, I'm able to transfer files that way now, should I want to, but I had already copied whatever I might care about to a micro SD card.

ADB still doesn't find the Astro in either cable configuration, which makes me wonder if whatever generic driver makes the Astro show up as a portable device in Windows isn't enough for ADB to work, but as my reason for wanting to use ADB in the first place, was to try the other boot slot, before trying the 07B update, I don't think I have any use for ADB at the moment anyway, so it may not matter much right now.

I suppose I'll have to make another attempt e-mailing Planet next week. That Jeff guy I was in contact with, stopped responding after a few e-mails. Perhaps he went on vacation or something. Other than that, I'm out of ideas for now.

[ZimbiX]

In another thread I found this

Never use the `b` partition on the Astro. It's a bit odd in partition structure, but you should be using the 'a' slot - I believe 'b' acts as temporary storage for OTA updates, where the new files are written there, then copied over to the 'a' slot.

Good to know. It also means there never was a "good" partition to try to revert to anyway.

I don't think that is correct. See my writing on how the slots work within the rooting guide. We've proven that when rooting the boot image, the Astro only works properly if you'd read from the active slot.

[Daniel W]

Thank you for sharing. If this is correct, perhaps I lost a possible solution to my screen issue by installing 07B yesterday. As it installed fine, yet left the screen disabled, I have begun suspecting that the botched update did something it shouldn't have, perhaps to the display controller, and that whatever it did won't unhappen just by using another image, unless it is specifically crafted for the purpose.

If reverting to the factory boot slot could have helped, Planet should reasonably have mentioned it, weeks ago, while they still answered my e-mails, instead of just talking about the complexities of flashing. I may have to start over with a new support case and see if they begin answering again, though, in my experience, they tend to go quiet when don't have anything to say, so I'm not that hopeful.

Either way, if meaningful, I suppose flashing a copy, from somewhere, of the original image, would still, in theory, be possible. In reality, while I am a Windows software developer, with a few hours of Linux experience, I have no grasp on firmware flashing, and there seems to be plenty of pitfalls. As of now, though my Astro does show up for file transfer in Windows, when I plug in a USB cable to the right hand port, ADB can only see it via WiFi, which I suspect isn't low level enough, should it be needed for anything serious.

I did peek at your guide on rooting, which seems geared towards more knowledgeable tinkerers. From what I could grasp there, flashing seems to involve a command line Git client (which I have at work, but never use, as Visual Studio has an integrated frontend), some version of Python, Mtkclient and some serial port drivers... In other places I've read about things like scatter files, which, whatever they are, seems to ensure tragedy, unless treated exactly right...

Oh, well, I'm not even sure what I'm going on about here. It just seems getting this fixed at home, keeps getting ever more elusive...

[polarwinkel]

I made a factory-reset on my device and the screen-issue seems to be gone.

[Daniel W]

Thank you for sharing. I'm glad your screen reliability issue seemingly went away with a factory reset.
For Oliver Riesen, who seems to have a problem more similar to mine (his screen is on, but with trippy colours), a factory reset did not help. Since my screen remains off all the time, I'm reluctant to try a factory reset myself. Should, during any phase of the reset, external HDMI not work, I could get stuck, with no way out.

I finally got myself to contact Planet today again. Last time they stopped responding after two days, and the sad news of Update #84 might suggest they're currently busy with bigger problems than my screen, but, well... nothing is likely going to happen, unless I keep asking.

[polarwinkel]

ok, I believe at least for the black screen I might have found a workaround:
After the factory-reste it was gone as I posted, shortly after I turned my beloved dark mode on it reoccured, so I tured it back off and it was gone again.
I gave the dark theme a try again like 2-3 days ago: no issues, great!
Now in the evening the issues are back.

I believe I can reproduce it: If the total display bightness (sum over all pixels) is too low the display turns completely black, but the touchscreen is still responding. When I change blindly the screen content to something brighter it turns on again.

So my suggestion for a workaround: Stick to bright themes!
(I hate it, I love OLEDs for the dark dark display - but hey, at least I have an Astro!)

But about the trippy colours you/others have trouble with: I doubt that will help you guys :-(

[Zarhan]

I would find it rather intriguing if Daniel and others could fix their black screen issue by using the HDMI adapter and setting the brightness to max and/or setting the background to just a white image...

I did a test just now. And indeed, if I drag the brightness setting to absolute minimum, what happens is that the display turns OFF - completely - and I have to increase the brightness blindly back up.

Could be it...

[Dom (shymega)]

In another thread I found this

Never use the `b` partition on the Astro. It's a bit odd in partition structure, but you should be using the 'a' slot - I believe 'b' acts as temporary storage for OTA updates, where the new files are written there, then copied over to the 'a' slot.

Good to know. It also means there never was a "good" partition to try to revert to anyway.

I don't think that is correct. See my writing on how the slots work within the rooting guide. We've proven that when rooting the boot image, the Astro only works properly if you'd read from the active slot.

At the time, it was correct - before the update was rolled-out, 'b', was never available, and should not have been used. But now after v07, I guess my comment is incorrect.

[Daniel W]

I would find it rather intriguing if Daniel and others could fix their black screen issue by using the HDMI adapter and setting the brightness to max and/or setting the background to just a white image...

Sorry for being slow to react... been sick a few days.
Ten days ago I tried to create a new support issue. Beyond the automated confirmation of them receiving my e-mail... nothing. Disappointing.

If I, pre-V07, set my display brightness below 17%, the entire screen would go black. Turning the brightness up a bit with the keyboard shortcuts would reliably activate it again. To prolong the life of the screen, I mostly used fairly low brightness settings, but rarely below 20% due to the blackout issue. Since I applied the V07 update in the evening, the brightness was likely around that value then.

When my Astro restarted with a black screen, trying to turn the brightness up, was probably the first thing I tried. Once I had connected the HDMI, restarted and got a picture that way, I could see in the settings that the brightness was all the way up, at 100%, confirming that the Astro had indeed registered my repeated attempts, just without actually turning the screen on again.

To leave no stone unturned, I made a while background today and set it as both the lock screen and home screen. With the brightness still at 100%, I rebooted, disconnected the HDMI adapter and... nothing, as kind of expected. I then repeated the experiment at 50%, just in case, to no avail. I also tried turning on adaptive brightness, which promptly lowered the brightness to 16%, which at least pre-V07 would have given me a black screen, without HDMI.

It might be worth repeating that I know that the screen, technically speaking, is on when HDMI isn't connected. After each of the reboots today, I put on headphones, to hear the clicks when typing my SIM PIN on the keyboard. Tapping the black screen at that point, also produces the same clicks in my headphones, proving that the screen indeed registers them.

As an extra confirmation, today I logged in blindly, double-tapped escape to start the camera app, and pecked at the black screen about where the shutter button would be. Sure enough, already on the first attempt (just luck), I heard the shutter sound in my headphones. When HDMI is connected though, it seems the internal screen is off completely or, at least, it or Android doesn't register taps.

[Daniel W]

Just as a follow-up... I'm not solving this myself. Yesterday, I made a third attempt at contacting Planet. This time, they answered promptly and told me to send the device in to them. I just dropped it off at my postal service center, so all I can do for a while now is to wait and hope for the best.

Edit 2023-Oct-09: Apparently, my Astro arrived Planet today, after a month of "being customs cleared", which is extra weird, given that it is being (and is labelled as) returned for repairs, so it's not like it's being "imported" or should be subject to any further fee, or anything...