Rebuilding all the image doesn't represent much more time than the time to recompile the kernel. I can't advise to download the linux source to the armbian SBC, because you would also need the armbian patches. One thing I use for debugging of DTS (and maybe linux kernel modules) taking control of GPIO is: sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio

Yes. Try the latest kernel. The latest is always the one with the most corrections (unless someone discovers an error). How do you select a H616 vs H618 kernel? I always select Unsupported Board > Orange Pi Zero 3

Urgently go back to the previous selection of dtbos in armbian-config. Just having 1 undesired dtbo may interfere with everything else. Then try adding: overlays=analog-codec in armbianEnv.txt And check the lsmod again

I am lost, confused by your explanation. Are you trying to use the Orange Pi zero 3 and RED LCD ili9488? The solution is: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/47971-driving-the-ili9488-lcd-40-inch-cheap-chinese-clone/#findComment-208446 What did you mean by "booting to 16 bit"?

That photo tells me that you have the SPI and GPIO configuration right. Keep that. The completed solution for orange pi zero 3 and ili9341 is: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/44191-orangepi-zero-lts-ili9341-tft-lcd-and-later-orangepi-zero-3/#comment-204672 Copy the parts within the ili9341:ili9341@0 {} section, while keeping your gpio