bpi m64 not booting after kernel update

[macearl]

So i just tried to update the kernel on my bpi m64.
commands:

wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/blob/master/linux-image-4.4.89-m64_1.0-2.deb
sudo dpkg -i linux-image-4.4.89-m64_1.0-2.deb
sync && sync && reboot

now my bpi is not booting anymore it only shows the Allwinner H5 splashscreen. Any hints what i could attempt to recover it?

I also changed the fstab to boot from emmc even if a sd card is present so im not sure if just creating a new sd card would result in a bootable system.

Edit:
So i was able to boot off of a newly created SD card.

here is how i fixed my problem with downgrading the kernel to 3.10 again:

sudo su
cd /
mount -B /dev/mmcblk0p2 /mnt
mount -B /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/boot
mount -B /proc /mnt/proc
mount -B /dev /mnt/dev
mount -B /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts
mount -B /sys /mnt/sys
mount -B /run /mnt/run
chroot /mnt
cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/avafinger/bpi-m64-firmware/raw/master/linux-image-3.10.105-a64_1.0-2.deb
dpkg -i linux-image-3.10.105-a64_1.0-2.deb
exit
shutdown

Now I'm able to boot into my system again and everything seems to work fine.

Out of curiosity, did i do something dumb while updating the kernel? Or is an update not possible without also reinstalling the complete system?

[avafinger]

If i recall correctly you need to have the previous (first one: https://mega.nz/#F!wXwlRRZR!0BCmUo2F2hg7rG4Ax69bkw) 4.4 sd card OS image and then upgrade to 4.4 ZRAM+LZ4. U-boot environment is different. i think i should have named it update instead of upgrade. Sorry.

[macearl]

no problem, seeing as the update to 4.4 was not mentioned anywhere and i just adapted the steps for the previous kernel update for PPP / PPPoE it's probably my fault anyway.

but again nothing was lost and i got it working again so no worries.
too bad that i would need to reinstall the system first to get a newer kernel as i do not have too much time on my hands at the moment. I'll probably give it a try when i find the time.

Also is this image still preferred over the experimental armbian builds? (regarding stability and day to day useability)

[avafinger]

There has been a lot of improvement on mainline kernel on m64 and pine64 lately but i am not sure all that work are already in the Armbian. BPI has also improved the 4.4 kernel. I have plans to get back and test the latest mainline. For a Desktop experience, i prefer 4.4. I have seen LibreElec running on A64 (mainline), very impressive.

[avafinger]

@macearl
I have pushed a mainline img for testing, the flashing process is a bit odd but can be done from a host PC or from the board itself if you boot from SD CARD.

https://github.com/avafinger/bananapi-m64-kodi