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Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.

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bootboot issueboot issuesfile editgui on startup
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  • J
    jtkblue
    last edited by jtkblue 1 Apr 2021, 05:02 4 Jan 2021, 04:59

    Hi. Earlier today I edited some files that I cannot access on windows, and basically screwed my SD card. RIP. anyways, I tried to copy and paste the files which I luckily had a backup of the SD card before I messed everything up, and it will not boot into the emulationstation thing or really work.

    I haven't formatted my card yet, but I edited a file in the path. dunno how to access it because I can't boot to desktop. /etc/rc.local

    Is this normal? Can I just copy the files from one folder which i use as a backup into the sd card after formatting it?
    (Same sd card being used for backup and restore.)

    (yadadadada below, if needed.)
    Pi Model or other hardware: 4
    Power Supply used: portable battery, 3V. no power issues.
    RetroPie Version Used : not really needed, lul.
    Built From: (Installed from official retropie setup guide online. edited files and won't boot.
    USB Devices connected: KB+M.
    Controller used: n/a
    Error messages received: n/a
    Verbose log : n/a
    Guide used: ) n/a
    File: I have no clue honestly. I haven't formatted my card yet, but I edited a file in the path sudo nano /etc/rc.local
    Emulator: n/a
    Attachment of config files: https://pastebin.com/8ycDE99z
    How to replicate the problem: edit the file path /etc/rc.local and then configure startx to boot automatically.

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
    • M
      mitu Global Moderator
      last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 07:00

      @jtkblue said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

      RetroPie Version Used : not really needed, lul.

      Then why post here ?

      How to replicate the problem: edit the file path /etc/rc.local and then configure startx to boot automatically.

      That's not how you enable X to start automatically.

      J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 14:08 Reply Quote 1
      • J
        jtkblue @mitu
        last edited by jtkblue 1 Apr 2021, 15:04 4 Jan 2021, 14:08

        @mitu sorry about being vauge. maybe (i totally did) did not enable it correctly and messed everything up.

        i would really like to know how to edit the path /etc/rc.local on a linux virtual machine, windows, whatever.

        thanks

        (FOR CONTEXT, THIS IS WHAT I EDITED. https://www.circuitbasics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/lcd-.etc_.rc_.local-after-edit.png)

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          mitu Global Moderator
          last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 16:02

          You can use any Linux system (on another PC or even a live USB distro like Ubuntu) and mount the SDcard. You can thhen - as root - edit the etc/rc.local file from under the mount folder and remove the offending line.

          You can also try to boot the Pi into 'safe mode' by modifying the /boot/cmdline.txt as explained in https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/a/70527. You'll boot to a command prompt, from where you can re-mount read-write the / partition and be able to edit /etc/rc.local.

          If you wish to start the desktop environment at boot, use raspi-config choose the Auto Login to Desktop in the Boot / Auto login menu.

          J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 16:15 Reply Quote 1
          • J
            jtkblue @mitu
            last edited by jtkblue 1 Apr 2021, 16:31 4 Jan 2021, 16:15

            @mitu said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

            You can use any Linux system (on another PC or even a live USB distro like Ubuntu) and mount the SDcard. You can thhen - as root - edit the etc/rc.local file from under the mount folder and remove the offending line.

            I'm In the ETC folder, but I can't find rc.local. There's things like rc0.d but i can't find rc.local.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • M
              mitu Global Moderator
              last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 16:31

              @jtkblue said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

              How would I achieve this? I can't even find the file that I want to edit in the folder of the card. Here's what I see.
              ...

              What you're seeing is the boot partition, you'll need to mount the 2nd partition on the sdcard.

              J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 16:32 Reply Quote 1
              • J
                jtkblue @mitu
                last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 16:32

                @mitu sorry about that, after realizing what i did wrong i already found the retropie partition. check the edited message above for what's wrong now lol

                M 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 16:43 Reply Quote 0
                • M
                  mitu Global Moderator @jtkblue
                  last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 16:43

                  @jtkblue If you can't find rc.local, then it's not there or the partition is not properly mounted/read.

                  J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 16:45 Reply Quote 0
                  • J
                    jtkblue @mitu
                    last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 16:45

                    @mitu nope, found it. I tried to edit it using the mousepad thingy and it won't let me save because permission denied. I would use sudo nano but I have no clue how to edit files on external drives..

                    any clue?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M
                      mitu Global Moderator
                      last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 17:25

                      Editing files is the same, no matter the location. Use sudo nano _path_to_file_. You can also run mousepad via sudo and browse for the file location.

                      J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 18:02 Reply Quote 1
                      • J
                        jtkblue @mitu
                        last edited by jtkblue 1 Apr 2021, 18:24 4 Jan 2021, 18:02

                        @mitu in the file browser, it says /media/pi/retropie/etc

                        so i type

                        sudo nano /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local

                        and it says it doesn't exist. confused.

                        says it doesn't exist either for /pi/retropie/etc/rc.local/

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • M
                          mitu Global Moderator
                          last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 18:41

                          @jtkblue said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

                          /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local

                          If you run the following 2 commands, what's the output ?

                          ls -l /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local
                          sudo ls -l /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local
                          J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 18:45 Reply Quote 0
                          • J
                            jtkblue @mitu
                            last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 18:45

                            @mitu said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

                            @jtkblue said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

                            /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local

                            If you run the following 2 commands, what's the output ?

                            ls -l /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local
                            sudo ls -l /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local

                            the first one output

                            -rwxr -xr-x 1 root root 454 Jan 3 23:31 /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local

                            the second one output the exact same thing

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • M
                              mitu Global Moderator
                              last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 19:03

                              @jtkblue said in trying to boot from a copy of my sd card, will not boot.:

                              sudo ls -l /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local

                              OK, so if

                              sudo ls -l /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local
                              

                              shows the listing to a file, then I don't understand why

                              sudo nano /media/pi/retropie/etc/rc.local
                              

                              says the file does not exist. Are you sure there's not a typo involved somewhere ?

                              J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 19:17 Reply Quote 0
                              • J
                                jtkblue @mitu
                                last edited by jtkblue 1 Apr 2021, 19:22 4 Jan 2021, 19:17

                                @mitu BINGO!

                                apparently, I tried it again after typing it correctly the last 5-6 times in the past 2 hours.

                                Sorry for wasting your time. I appreciate your help, thank you so much!

                                boots into emulationstation completely fine now.

                                the thing is though, i've been trying to make my touchscreen work on the retropie pixel desktop thingy, it's always a tiny bit off from my finger so i can't use it. The website here: https://www.circuitbasics.com/setup-lcd-touchscreen-raspberry-pi/
                                told me to edit rc.local and put that thing in it, and then it wouldn't load emulationstation.

                                it's all a huge mess. I'm going to store the recently fixed sd card with retropie on it and i'm going to try to install emulationstation ON top of raspbian on a second sd card i have, if it works, cool i got a touch screen, if not, i got this nifty tiny keyboard i can use.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • M
                                  mitu Global Moderator
                                  last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 20:10

                                  Those instructions seem a bit old, you might want to search for recent (Raspbian Buster) instructions. Note that running EmulationStation from a desktop env is not a supported configuration (though some users seem to prefer running it like that).

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply 4 Jan 2021, 20:18 Reply Quote 0
                                  • J
                                    jtkblue @mitu
                                    last edited by 4 Jan 2021, 20:18

                                    @mitu oh ho, I know it's not supported. I tried it as my main configuration for a while and eventually it just would not start any games at all. I'm hoping that because it's on a secondary sd card it'll fix the issues i previously had.

                                    If i had a choice, I would totally prefer to have it on top of raspbian but, whatever.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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