System Update | Radxa Docs

[giscus[bot]]

System Update | Radxa Docs

https://docs.radxa.com/en/dragon/q6a/system-config/system-update

[dmitry-a-l]

Yesterday I updated my Dragon Q6A box with Radxa OS via RSetup System Update and it doesn't boot after reboot

[dmitry-a-l]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install Radxa OS to MicroSD card
2. Run rsetup, select System / System Update, run update
3. reboot
   You will see board couln't load, and enters to reboot cycle.

Also I noticed that /boot partition is cleared after rebooting.
I checked /boot before reboot and after update:

root@radxa-dragon-q6a:~# ls /boot/
config-6.18.2-3-qcom  dtbo_old  extlinux       initrd.img-6.18.2-3-qcom  uEnv.txt
dtbo                  efi       hw_intfc.conf  System.map-6.18.2-3-qcom  vmlinuz-6.18.2-3-qcom

Ran reboot

root@radxa-dragon-q6a:~# reboot

Then ejected Micro SD card and mounted first partition on other box to check it. And it has only two files

# mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt
# ls /mnt
config.txt  logo.bmp

config.txt head

# rsetup config file
# Configurations here will be applied on every boot.
#

all other lines are commented too

[dmitry-a-l]

What happened guys? Software for this board looks totally incomplete. I'm unable to install radxa repos to armbian - guides on this site are not working (I found way how to install radxa repo, but it doesn't contain all hw drivers, also trixie provides gpioset v2, but rsetup tryes to use gpio 1 CLI API), I'm unable to install Deepin linux - links you provided are not working, I'm sure Fedora disto won't have full hw suppot too...

I'm really sad that I bought this board.

[tangzz-radxa]

Hi @dmitry-a-l, glad to hear you found the issue was related to /boot not mounting properly and missing files in /boot — that's a known edge case that can happen if the system update process is interrupted mid-write.\n\nFor anyone else hitting a similar issue after an RSetup System Update:\n\n- Before updating, ensure the board has stable power (a UPS or reliable power supply is recommended)\n- After an interrupted update, the /boot partition may be incomplete. You can verify by checking or running \n- A fresh re-flash of the system image is the most reliable recovery path if /boot is corrupted\n\nI'll flag this to the team to see if we can add a note about /boot integrity checks to the System Update documentation.\n\nFeel free to open a new discussion if you run into anything else!

[dmitry-a-l]

not mounting properly and missing files in /boot

I wrote I was wrong about /boot and I found all missing in /boot folder of root partition, so it is not corner case

efore updating, ensure the board has stable power (a UPS or reliable power supply is recommended)

hey, I tested this issue several times - it does not relate to power

did you run "steps to reproduce" I described above?

[dmitry-a-l]

ouh, I was wrong about /boot, it is not mounting, so it looks ok.. found everything missed in /boot

[tangzz-radxa]

Glad you found the files in /boot. To clarify: /boot is not auto-mounted in the running system by default, so content viewed from a live/mounted system will appear different from what you see after inserting the SD card into another host.

If you are still experiencing the reboot cycle issue after the system update, could you share the serial console output or error messages you see during boot? That would help identify whether the issue is related to the bootloader, kernel, or the update process itself.

Glad you found the files in /boot. To clarify: /boot is not auto-mounted in the running system by default, so the content viewed from a live/mounted system will appear different from what you see when checking the partition directly from another host.

If you are still experiencing the reboot cycle issue after the system update, could you share the serial console output or error messages during boot? That would help identify whether the issue is related to the bootloader, kernel, or the update process itself.

[dmitry-a-l]

At the moment I don't have possibility to attach monitor to board, so have no boot logs.

The problem arose after an update added the line devicetree /RadxaOS/6.18.2-3-qcom/qcs6490-radxa-dragon-q6a.dtb to the /boot/efi/loader/entries/RadxaOS-6.18.2-3-qcom.conf file.

If I comment out the line, the board will boot.

I checked dtb file - it successfully decompiles to dts, so it is not broken.

[dmitry-a-l]

To clear up any misunderstandings and misconceptions - I do nothing except usual update. I always can reproduce the issue doing following steps:

1. Download the base R2 image, write image to SD card
2. Boot board using SD card
3. Run the update (via rsetup or apt, it doesn't matter)
4. Reboot the system running reboot command, and it won't boot

I don't configure any overlays, don't remove/add packages, just doing update.
I don't have any devices connected to the board, only ethernet & power cable