RPi4 will only run Umbrel 1.3 , no updates possible, not even back to 1.5.0

1

My Rpi4 (8GB RAM, 2TB USB SSD) had been running 1.5.0 with just a Bitcoin node and ElectRS for months. During a vacation, it stopped working and would not reboot.

I checked the hardware by installing the latest Raspi-OS, and found no issues on the Raspi hardware, the SSD and the (new, fast u3) SD-Card. The following steps have all been repeated and verified with different SSDs and SDcards as well.

I tried many a times, starting with freshly cleared SSD and fresh written SDcard images, to get the Umbrel up from scratch again. Using 1.5.0 and any 1.7.x images repeatably failed when Umbrel booted up to the initial screen (where you set your password), and then never reacted to any http requests any more (LAN+WiFi), even after letting it settle for over a day. What could be happening there???

Out of sheer desparation, I finally tried an Umbrel 1.3.0 image on the SDcard - and this boots, configures, lets me install apps and then syncs my node - it’s been running for a good week now.

It shows 1.7.3 as available as an upgrade in the control panel, but when I try that it finishes the update, shows the welcome screen, and after password entry the http interface never reacts any more - just like the unsuccessful fresh installs did.

Does anybody have an idea what could be happening here? Or any hints on troubleshooting to get closer to the root cause?

2

no ideas? Am I the only one with this problem?

I tried updating my running 1.3.0-umbrel to 1.7.4 today, but ran into the same issue.

By the way, I can login by SSH while 1.7.4 (after the initial password dialog) is stuck showing “loading” in the browser. And umbreld shows 1.7.4 as it’s version. So if there is anything I could try on the command line, please le me know.

Side question: is there a documentation of terminal commands for 1.7.x anywhere? All I was able to find on the net are <=1.5.0 commands ( like /umbrel/scripts/xxx) which no longer work in 1.7

3

Hey, I think there’s a pretty good clue in the version difference here.

The update itself seems to be completing, since SSH works and umbreld reports 1.7.4. So it doesnt look like the Pi is falling back to 1.3.

Umbrel 1.3 used regular HTTP for the dashboard API, while 1.5 and newer switched most logged-in traffic to WebSockets. That would explain why the setup/login page loads fine, but everything gets stuck on “Loading” right after entering the password.

Before reflashing again, could you try opening http://<your-Pi-IP> in a private/incognito window, ideally from another phone or computer? Also turn off any VPN, proxy, ad blocker or browser “web shield” just for the test. Since you’ve reused umbrel.local across several installs, theres a chance the browser still has an old login token saved. If incognito works, clearing the site data for umbrel.local should sort it.

If it still hangs, SSH in and paste this whole block, then share the output here:

sudo bash <<'EOF'
systemctl is-active umbrel
systemctl --no-pager --full status umbrel | tail -n 30

curl -sS --max-time 10 -o /dev/null \
  -w 'http://127.0.0.1/ -> HTTP %{http_code} in %{time_total}s\n' \
  http://127.0.0.1/

timeout 15s umbreld client apps.list.query 2>&1 || true

df -h / /home
df -i / /home
findmnt -T /home -o SOURCE,FSTYPE,OPTIONS

journalctl -u umbrel -b --no-pager 2>&1 \
  | grep -Ei 'websocket|jwt|watcher|inotify|error|failed|listening on port' \
  | tail -n 200

journalctl -k -b --no-pager 2>&1 \
  | grep -Ei 'under.?voltage|I/O error|usb.*reset|uas|ext4.*error|read-only|oom|out of memory' \
  | tail -n 100
EOF

The WebSocket command should help narrow down whether the issue is actually on the Pi, or somewhere between the browser and the Pi.

Also yeah, the old /umbrel/scripts/... commands are from the pre-1.0 setup and dont apply to 1.7. These days most troubleshooting is done with systemctl, journalctl, Docker commands and umbreld client ....

4

spot on! Clearing site data for umbrel.local (and the fixed IPs I was also using) and setting one more “trusted” flag in NoScript made all my browsers connect to what had presented itself as just a spinnign “loading”-icon. Now happily running 1.7.4 , and no need to run your proposed debug script.