Already tried it and even got 1 or 2 updates since the issue appeared. Issue still present.
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Okay, well if you are interested, I can provide instructions for reflashing the Librem 5 once you have externally backed up any important data.
It is also possible to:
- image the entire eMMC disk
- reflash in order to verify whether the problem happens on a clean system
- restore the image from the first bullet point
So the overall effect to the phone is “no change” but you know whether the problem happens on a clean system or not - hence you have more information about the likely cause and the likely solution.
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Do you have a document with instructions about this?
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Who and what do you want instructions from and for?
The image and the restore are done using Jumpdrive. I don’t think official documentation for using Jumpdrive exists but Updated today , now phone won't turn on/start up - #22 by joao.azevedo is a reasonable pointer.
The reflash is done as per: Reflashing the Phone
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Before moving on with what ever method I choose to backup the phone before reflashing, I have 2 points I would like to clarify.
-
When reflashing, is the SD card affected by the process? (I don’t think so, but, I want to be sure)
I regularly backup my$HOME, usingDéja Dup Backupsapp, to the SD Card. -
I use app from flatpak on the phone, and on a laptop too. I recall, when re-installing the laptop that I was unable to properly restore the data and especially the configuration of those apps. According to some posts found on the net’, I just need to ensure I have a backup of
$HOME/.var/app. However, I do recall i did that and yet after restoring the app data, The re-installed app was not seeing the configuration, it looks like at the time.
So, do you know if anything else is needed to backup properly flatpak data and configuration?
Thank you for your help.
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i am in the same situation, since i installed the last update, the camera symbol and the microphone do not appear, also the same thing happens to me, the microphone still works perfectly, but the camera has stopped working. the switch works fine but the camera does not react. i mean that now the switch only activates or deactivates the microphone because the system does not detect the camera, and obviously i have tried to reboot, i have tried with 3 different camera apps. and nothing, as if the camera does not exist.
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- No.
- Not sure, but I suspect the issue has to do with the different architectures.
No.
But see next.
Indeed. For a given application, that may or may not be reliable. However that isn’t what I was suggesting.
What I was suggesting was to image the entire disk in the first step and restore the entire disk in the third step. So that there is no need to worry about pieces of directory tree that may or may not have been validly backed up and may or may not restore properly.
The procedure I suggested was strictly diagnostic. It is guaranteed not to fix anything.
So if the only content on the SD card is a current backup, it won’t matter either way if it were wiped out - because this procedure involves making a new backup onto a host computer.
From there - if you found that temporarily running the reflashed phone, the problem goes away - you could even mount the reflash disk image (if you kept it) and the backup disk image on the host computer and try to work out what file changed - if it’s that kind of problem.
For the record, when I reflashed from amber to byzantium I just redid everything from scratch, with very limited restoring of any settings etc. by restoring files. Yes, that is more painful (more work) but it is more reliable and you probably get a cleaner result.
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Welcome on board, hope we will find a solution to this issue.
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I confirm that after reflashing, the phone behave as expected with regards to the camera and microphone.
So, now we know it is something in my original system, how to proceed to find the culprit?
Or, should I simply reinstall everything and copy back any data, from the backup image I have performed?
BTW, where is located the addressbook and where are located the phone call and text (SMS) logs?
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I think it depends on how much time you want to spend on it. In my opinion the easier and cleaner option is to accept the reflash as it is and then re-establish your environment.
Refer Tips & Tricks · Wiki · Librem5 / Librem 5 Community Wiki · GitLab
I’m not certain but I think: ~/.purple/chatty/db/chatty-history.db
I’m not certain but I think: ~/.local/share/calls/records.db
When I reflashed I didn’t bother to copy over texts or call history but I did copy over contacts.
As always when messing around with a .db file, make sure that the file is not in use when replacing it - and keep a copy of the original in case things go pear-shaped.
Edit: Confirmed those database locations and added that info to the Tips & Tricks page in the Wiki: Tips & Tricks · Wiki · Librem5 / Librem 5 Community Wiki · GitLab
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so if i want to recover the camera i have to format my librem5?
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Hello,
After reflashing the phone, and before restoring the configuration files, I configured the phone to access the wifi to ensure it is up to date.
After the update, I fall in the same problem again. So it is something in the last updated packages that seems to mess up with the camera. But, it is strange only a few of us suffer from this problem.
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Now, I need to restore my system as it was before all this investigation.
So, as my backup is a dd image, how should I restore it?
Do I, simply, need to execute something like: dd if=/path/to/dd.image of=/path/to/eMMC/unmounted/device?
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Yes, like that. Just reverse the roles of the input ‘file’ and the output ‘file’ to the dd command, although I would normally also add bs=1M status=progress for both backup and restore.
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I have restored the dd image to /dev/sdb2, but when I boot up the phone, after the librem 5 logo, I got a blank screen.
Could it be that grub, located on the /boot partition (/dev/sdb1) does not find the disk because it has a different UUID than the partition created when flashing the phone?
It must be noted too, that, I reflash an image with encryption enabled, while the partition I backed up was not encrypted.
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