[H3 1GB RAM 8GB NAND, Armbian working, but cannot install to Nand]

Please read: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16976-status-of-armbian-on-tv-boxes-please-read-first/

 

 

Note that TV Boxes are not supported by Armbian

Note that there is no one in the forums who works with allwinner based TV boxes

Note that you have used a build designed for different hardware and have it mostly working, that itself is amazing.

 

You should think of this forum as a place to post your experiences on what you can get working, not a place to expect support.

[Can't install desktop on x96 mini]

You have provided no information for anyone to help you.

 

Please read: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16976-status-of-armbian-on-tv-boxes-please-read-first/

and: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17106-installation-instructions-for-tv-boxes-with-amlogic-cpus/

 

If you are still having problems, then reply with what your problem is and the steps you have taken to reproduce/diagnose the problem.

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

I must say you are persistent in trying.  I hope you view this as a learning opportunity and not a source of frustration.

 

Since you have now acquired the skills necessary to properly debug, I think it is time to start over from the beginning and take this step by step slowly.

 

So I am going to ask that you reflash the original android firmware to get back to a known state for the box.

 

Then with an sd card prepared with the armbian build from the instructions on this site enable multiboot.

 

Then reboot to attempt to run armbian.

 

At that point don't do anything more, but reply back with the console output you are getting from the serial connection, report what you see on the screen for output, and also attach the extlinux.conf file you used and which uboot file.

 

I want to see the state of your box at this point before recommending what to do next.

[Help installing on H.265 mxq pro 4k 5g]

I don't know what you are looking for.  First off are you more comfortable with debian or ubuntu? Then are you looking for a desktop (gui) or are you command line focused?  Based on your needs the appropriate build should be obvious.

[Can't boot after changing swappiness to 512]

Moved post to Allwinner unmaintained forum as this board is not supported.

[S905 failed to boot from emmc]

6 hours ago, d51x said:

Recently I find out there is armbian ophub with new kernels - Armbian 22.08.0-trunk Bullseye with Linux 5.15.55

 

@d51x Note that these ophub builds have nothing to do with armbian.  The authors do not participate in these forums or in armbian development.  They are using the armbian name under false pretenses.  There are some developers in the armbian community who feel their work is being used without proper credit and strongly discourages anyone from using the ophub builds.

I'm just providing information to allow individuals the ability to make an informed choice before they dive into the ophub builds.

[Help installing on H.265 mxq pro 4k 5g]

Have you tried following the instructions in the FAQ for installation?

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17106-installation-instructions-for-tv-boxes-with-amlogic-cpus

and have you read this FAQ entry:

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16976-status-of-armbian-on-tv-boxes-please-read-first

 

[BLACKPCS TV Box install problems]

Please provide the details on what steps you have done in your attempted install.  Without any details we can't help you figure out what you are doing wrong.

 

[what is this device???]

I still don't know if you are trying to fix your box to run the original android or are you trying to install armbian to run from the sd card in addition to android on the internal storage.  Also, what are you trying to use to box for? Will wired ethernet be sufficient for your needs?

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

The only other suggestion I have at this point is to open the box, identify the serial pins, solder a connector to them and monitor the console output of the boot process.  That will at least give you information as to where it is failing.  But identifing the serial connection on boards like this can be difficult as they are rarely marked on the board.

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

I just looked up the specs on the N5 Plus.  On the page I was on it said it had an s905x3 cpu.  If that is true, you should be using meson-sm1-* dtb files.  sm1 is the code name for the *x3 cpus.  g12a is the code name for *x2 cpus.

[what is this device???]

What are you trying to accomplish?  Saying you tried flashing different firmwares, doesn't tell us much about what you are trying to do.  What is your goal for this box?

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

2 hours ago, xNiux said:

5s/10s or more (with armbian boot sdcard inserted) : The LED of box is blinking Red 1s, Blue 3s (No screen, I think it reset 1s every 3s).

This looks like you have successfully enabled multiboot.  It is trying to now boot from the SD card.  Apparently unsuccessfully.  By enabling multiboot it will try to boot from the sd card if one is present.

Now that you can get it to try to boot from the SD card, you need to look at your setup on the sd card to get a successfull boot.  From what you have stated above, it seems that you are doing the setup steps correctly according to the instructions in the FAQ (https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17106-installation-instructions-for-tv-boxes-with-amlogic-cpus).  Now you just need to find a compatible dtb file for your box (if one exists).  The general recommended approach is to try all the dtbs one by one for the same cpu as your box has (if you don't already know of one being compatible). 

You mentioned that you tried meson-g12a-x96-max.  Was this based on a successful report by some other user of your box?

 

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

Does the box correctly boot to android currently?

If so, when using the toothpick method, how long are you holding the reset button?  You might try different lengths of time, from a few seconds up to 10 seconds.  I find it takes about 5 seconds for the boxes I have.  Don't hold it too long though or you end up in android recovery.

 

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

I don't think that is the update app that supports the multiboot method, given the error messages you are getting.  I think that is an android update tool.  You will need to use the "toothpick" method to enable multiboot.  Most boxes hide the reset button at the back of the hole for the av plug, but others have a specific hole labeled for the reset button.  (A few boxes don't have any reset button however)

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

What update menu?  Be specific, don't make me try to guess.

[CSC Armbian for RK322X TV Boxes]

3 hours ago, Voidbert said:

Getting the broken multitool link working again (https://users.armbian.com/jock/rk322x/multitool.img.xz -> https://users.armbian.com/jock/rk322x/multitool/multitool.img.xz) on the information page (https://www.armbian.com/rk322x-tv-box/).

I think this rk322x-tv-box page on the website is what should be removed.  I'm not actually sure why that page exists.  There generally aren't pages on the main website for specific tv boxs.  There must be some historic reason this one exists that I don't know about.  @jock would you be opposed to getting rid of that page, leaving the forums as the sole source of information?

[Magicsee N5 Plus : Block map file is too short]

On 6/5/2022 at 2:51 PM, xNiux said:

3- I start the stock system, update with the zip on the sd card. And after reboot, I have the error message ....

 

What do you mean by this step?

[S905 tv box armbian image]

The only pointer I have on that tool is to try different versions.  I have in the past found some firmwares that only load with specific versions of the amlogic tool

[S905 tv box armbian image]

When you say 'flashing' what do you mean?  What are you using/doing exactly.

[Help to review: porting Mainline U-boot and Linux to Tmall MagicBox M16S (Amlogic S912-H Tv Box)]

14 minutes ago, ning said:

so the only solution is multiboot. and I will keep vendor OS in emmc, thus I can develop mainline components reference to it.

multiboot doesn't mean you can't still have your os in emmc.  That is what the /root/install-aml.sh script does in the tv box builds from balbes150 (copies the install from sd to emmc while preserving the native vendor u-boot on emmc).  The concept is to reuse the vendor u-boots which are device specific (dealing with memory, storage, etc) (since there are tens if not hundreds of different amlogic tv boxes creating uboots for each is impossible) while having only a few generic chainloaded u-boots that are cpu specific bridge to loading the kernel.

It is a bit tricky to preserve the vendor u-boot while overlaying the rest of the os into emmc, but generally balbes150's scripts work on most environments.

[Help to review: porting Mainline U-boot and Linux to Tmall MagicBox M16S (Amlogic S912-H Tv Box)]

22 hours ago, ning said:

fatload mmc 0 0x01000000 u-boot.bin

go 0x01000000

# use: mkimage -A arm64 -T script -O linux -d s905_autoscript.txt s905_autoscript.scr

 

this is chainload?

 

and before that, need store bootcmd to env

 

setenv bootfromnand 0
setenv bootcmd "run start_autoscript; run storeboot;"
setenv start_autoscript "if mmcinfo; then run start_mmc_autoscript; fi; if usb start ; then run start_usb_autoscript; fi;"
setenv start_mmc_autoscript "if fatload mmc 0 1020000 s905_autoscript; then setenv autoscript_source mmc; autoscr 1020000; fi;"
setenv start_usb_autoscript "if fatload usb 0 1020000 s905_autoscript; then setenv autoscript_source usb; autoscr 1020000; fi; if fatload usb 1 1020000 s905_autoscript; then setenv autoscript_source usb; autoscr 1020000; fi; if fatload usb 2 1020000 s905_autoscript; then setenv autoscript_source usb; autoscr 1020000; fi; if fatload usb 3 1020000 s905_autoscript; then setenv autoscript_source usb; autoscr 1020000; fi;"
setenv upgrade_step "0"
saveenv
sleep 1
reboot

 

I don't know what code you are referencing here.  This is not the code that is part of the armbian TV box images that balbes150 produced and I try to support through these forums.  If you are looking for input from an armbian forum, please be using armbian code.  You can find the download links for the code that in the TV Box FAQ post: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17106-installation-instructions-for-tv-boxes-with-amlogic-cpus

 

[S905 tv box armbian image]

Nothing there actually says what CPU you have, "S905 series" doesn't mean anything specifically.  But from what I do see, I would guess you have an s905x or s905w.  The board type is p212 which is the reference board for the s905x.  So I would recommend you first try using the u-boot-s905x-s912 uboot and the meson-gxl-s905x-p212.dtb

The best way to know what cpu you have is to remove the heatsink and look at the markings on the chip

[S905 tv box armbian image]

Are you sure you know what CPU you have?  You keep mentioning s905 but the dtb you mentioned is for a s905x CPU (gxl*). 

[S905 tv box armbian image]

If you ran coreelec from an SD you will need to reinstall android firmware.  Resetting is not enough.  The process of running either Armbian or coreelec changes the uboot environment on emmc in incompatible ways, that you need to get back to a fresh environment by reinstalling the original firmware before attempting to run Armbian.