Configuration lost, no startup

Configuration
1

Ho folks,

I am running HA on an RasPi 3B+ for a while.
Of course Pi3 is not a performance machine.
I have attached a small cooler fan to GPIO.

For some reason I've chosen a 16GB SD-Card for the OS.
It was not possible to update OS or Core or add-on anymore.
So I decided to plug on a flash drive.

An automatic backup was done every week.

Next, I decided to go with a larger 64GB SDcard.

I am pretty sure, I took the noop-way.
I've installed a HA repository from Raspberry-Pi flasher tool.

After that I just copied the "old" SD content to the new one.
The system started and of course everything was new and all the old stuff was gone.

So I've choosed my backup in order to restore my old system ... BUT .. I was asked to enter a passwort or hash-key or so.

I did not know, that the auto.-backup sets a password automatically.

Next Idea was to run the old SDcard for ONE last time and copy the backup-password.

For some reason it dooes not come back.
I have no idea why, but the boot output is "low voltage"
The power supply is 5V and 3A which must begood for raspi, right?

Does anybody have an idea, what to do now?

Is it possible just to "copy" the old config to the new SC-card?

I don't want to setup everything again from scratch.
HA is running standalone with out any dispkay.
I have 2 more raspi running in my house, going as a display in kiosk mode.

A completely new setzup will be a lot to do :frowning:

I apriciate ALL helpfull comments.

Thanks a lot guys.

2

Probably too low power to run the SSD. Try setting up a shared folder on another device, do your backup to that shared folder and restore the data that way.

3

This is somehow an "unspecified" "Question or Message" , are you sure it wasn't asking you for the Key to your encrypted Backup-file ?

4

I have a few Raspberry Pi's around the house for various uses, and EVERY LAST ONE of them show "Low Voltage" on the console regardless of the source power supply. In one case a 5V, 10A bench supply.

Yes. Plug the SD card into a Linux computer. When you mount it you should be able to see the whole config folder. Unencrypted. If you copy the config folder to your new system device it might work. At the least you will have all of your yaml files to start over with.

5

Start it without anything plugged into the USB ports, you might just get it started. Low voltage or power problems with pi's are often due to the USB ports not being able to supply enough power.
As for the original problem your pi has more than likely finnaly run out of memory, stopping it being able to cope with the latest version of HA.

6

What everyone else said ^^^ above.

I had to finally retire my old, trusty RPi 3B+ late last year. The OS by itself now seems to need more than 1G, at least for my relatively thin implementation.

Still, your configuration should still be on the old SD card. Specifically, it's the "config" directory you want to copy to somewhere safe. Then you can build a new HAOS on the new SD card and give it a shot. If the current version doesn't work, try an older one. If and when you get HA to come up on the new SD card, install the SAMBA app and copy the old config files to it. You can even run the config checker before rebooting, and maybe find anything which might prevent it from booting with the old config.

Meanwhile, you probably should be thinking about hardware with enough headroom to run the current version of HA. HA's footprint grows with almost every new version, and even if you can get away with a lean system now, the 3B+ is a dead end. I'd say the whole RPi line is priced out of the market for things like this.

7

Hey guys,

thanks a lot for all your comments. It's amazing.

@fleskefjes Sorry for misunderstanding, I have connected a USB flash drive, no SSD.
The backup has been stored to a NAS network drive and is available.

@boheme61 Yes, you are right. It is no password in original meaning. The system is request ing the encryption key.

at stevemann i am pretty sure, it is not a question of available power. Neither voltage nor current.
The linux-idea is great. I tried it just using a windows machine.
Do you say, the way to go is to create a new HA-sdcard and after the to copy the config folder from the old sd to the new, using a linux environment !?

at Arh I've tried without USB drive as well. I even supplied by my lab-supply at 5.2V and 2.5 Amps ... nothing

at CaptTom Thanks for you comments ...

at all I will follow your recommendations. Let's see how far we can get.

Thanks again

note: i am allowed to mention two users only ... :frowning:

8

If your "old" install still works, i recommend you "remove" encryption on your backups that way, an make a new full backup.
As for the "copy /config" yes, make sure you get the( .hidden-folders ) with you thou, it's possible it wont work thou, as you are copying/pasting. to another drive "specs" , so therefore id go for removing the encryption first

9

Oh no ... as I explained above ... for some reason, the old sd-card does not start and is stuck to the bloody "low voltage" message.

I have tried to "clone" the old sd to a new 64GB sd-card by using "disk imager"
It seemed to work out, but the system did not come up as well.

This was my last try last night before finding some sleep.

10

Have you disconnected the fan yet? If so do it that could be causing the voltage issue.

11

As for "recovery" / troubleshooting purpose you don't need to have any "additional" i.e usb devices connected to you pi, try to fire it up without anything plugged in to usb, maybe that will get you passed "low Voltage"

Upps, forget about above ( no way to "strike it out" anymore, apparently )
I Just noticed Arh, had suggested the same :slight_smile:

12

Windows can't read the contents of a Linux volume. You need a Linux environment to do that.

Yes, just replace the /config folder on the new SD and restart the Raspberry. It can't hurt and just might work. As I said, you still have all of your YAML files that would make starting all over a bit easier.

I don't use the cloud backups, but I think there is a way to turn off encryption. I have an Intel NUC in my basement running Ubuntu that is our home-based NAS. The Samba Backup app to backs up my system to the NAS every night.

13

Hi again,

I did power it up without any power consumer
... as I said before, no USB device, no fan, lab-powersupply at 5.2V and 2.5A
I'll try again later.

I will try the LINUX way as well

14

You can get an ext4 plugin for windows explorer just ask google. You will then be able to read the contents without issue

15

with , Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) in reason windows10 and windows11 one can

ohh , and here we go again, Arh beat me to it :joy:

16

If you manage to explore the contents of the SDCard via Linux, the Backup key will be there in the hidden .storage folder. There's a file called backup which you can open with any notepad.

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Open that file & find the "password" line. That's your encryption key
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17

There's always the Diskinternals Linux Reader for Windows. That's quick to install and you can use all the Windows tools you're used to.

18

@ShadowFist That's great ... I've found something.
Not sure, if this is the one and only code, but I am about to try.
I used a chrome os flex device

@CaptTom good hint, thanks.

19

How do you mount a USB volume on WSL?

20

aint the easiest p choice, in specific not if one already have the DiskInternals suite installed ... As Tom above suggested :wink:
Thou if you need specific details , use Google ( I was only pointing out, Windows have a "native" way since ages )
EDIT: I Know.... old version, i also use Total Commander, Notepad++ etc, etc.
Windows have it's "Pros" but lots of "Junk" , Which is why i always spends hours on a new windows install to delete and clean it from redundant APPs , Processes and Services

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