[Recalbox 7.0.1] Nespi 4 - Recalbox freezes when using the SSD

[Adrian Nawrocki]

Hi to all,

I have a problem with Recalbox and Nespi 4. I have the system installed on the SD card. I keep games on SSD. When I use SSD the system behaves weird.

1. The startup time is very long
2. After booting into emulationstation, the system hangs for several tens of seconds. The music stops playing and the pad does not respond.

The problem only occurs if I use an SSD adapter from retroflag. Everything works fine on a different adapter. The problem is not just for me. My friend has identical symptoms. Do you have an idea how to solve it?

• System: Recalbox 7.0.1
• Case: Nespi 4
• SdCard (System): Sandisk Ultra 16GB A1
• SSD: Crucial MX500 1TB CT1000MX500SSD1

[acris]

Hello @Adrian-Nawrocki

open your nespicase and switch usb cable inside. Try again.

[Nerces44]

Nothing changes after I swapped those two USB. However, when using an SATA>USB converter on my own, it works like a charm whatever USB port I'm choosing. Seems to be an issue with my unit or with Retroflag

[Scavy]

@Nerces44 several users swap USB 3 and usb2 cables and freezes are gone. It seems nespi4 case have problems with USB alimentation

[Nerces44]

@Scavy Indeed. I worked after swapping USB2 and USB3: that's a bit weird. However, it seems just a little bit slower that when I use my own SATA>USB3. Thanks anyway, it will do the trick!

[Duske]

@Nerces44 I use a NESPiCase4 with a SSD Disk. All my stuff (recalbox & roms) are on the SSD and I have no problem. Perhaps, that's an issue from your power adapter (not enough ampere) or an issue from your sata bridge firmware. I had to change the firmware for booting from ssd. Since I've done that my sata bridge seems to be more efficient (see http://download.retroflag.com/Products/NESPi_4_CASE/How_to_boot_from_SSD.zip).

[Adrian Nawrocki]

Swap SSD USB port from 3.0 to 2.0 resolved problem

[Nerces44]

@Duske I can't be sure but I have two official Raspberry Pi 4 power supplies and experienced the problem on both. I also tried using my own SATA>USB adapter without any problem. Again, I can't be sure, but from what I tried, the most likely is that there is some 'kinky' stuff with this Retroflag adapter.

Isn't running everything from the SSD too much of a trouble if you have to start your Recalbox from scratch? How do you flash it from an img file?

@Adrian-Nawrocki Yes, like I said couple of hours ago, switching USB3 to USB2 solved the problem which is quite surprising though.

[Duske]

@Nerces44 Like you I use the official Raspberry Pi 4 power supply (3A) because the one from Retrolag is useless in my country (France).

For booting from SSD, you have to flash the Raspberry pi 4 firmware. You can find a lot of websites talking about it.

For flashing the img file on SSD, It's the same method than with a SDCard: I use the app "Imager" from Raspberry (but you can use another tool) and I select the SSD as target.
As Recalbox will boot from the SSD instead of SDCard, you have to change an option in a file named cmdline.txt in RECALBOX partition:

change:
dev=/dev/mmcblk0p1

by:
dev=/dev/sda1

That's all ! But... take care when you will upgrade Recalbox because it will replace cmdline.txt and you will have to change again the option dev=... . I've opened an issue in gitlab ( https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox/-/issues/1373).

[acris]

recalbox is not compatible with installation on SSD or with Upgrade
installation -> failed
upgrade -> failed
because not compatible without modify few files.

[Duske]

@acris You're right, it's not an official way of installing Recalbox. You must have some technical knowledges for understanding what you do and troubleshoot your system yourself... and a backup of your roms !

[Duske]

@Nerces44 I forget... because of an issue with the NESPiCase sata bridge, you have to follow the following link from Retroflag: http://download.retroflag.com/Products/NESPi_4_CASE/How_to_boot_from_SSD.zip . I chose to flash the firmware...

If you don't have enough technical knowledge, please use the official method for installing Recalbox.

[KoCinsKy]

@Adrian-Nawrocki said in [Recalbox 7.0.1] Nespi 4 - Recalbox freezes when using the SSD:

Swap SSD USB port from 3.0 to 2.0 resolved problem

Hi, here same problem and resolved swaping SSD USB port from 3.0 to 2.0. Is there any way to use usb 3.0?

Thanks!