fabiobassa

@fabiobassa @jock
For further infos and helping more people would you be so kind to post some screenshots and a more detailled procedure !?
 
Hi again. so i got the box for about $13.00 online. it was marketed as an MXQ Pro 5G 4G/32G which was totally fake so i opened it and found out that is was just 1G/8G and that it was an RK3228. I tried backing up the firmware with rkdevtool in loader mode and only got about 0x0h to 0x10000h. i tried to write it back and it wouldn't boot anymore. I tried flashing it with armbian and rkdevtool and still no luck then i saw @qiheng's post (thank god he posted pictures) and copied his rkdevtool config and placed the box in maskrom using the pin short method. pinout is here. i just shorted clk to vss/gnd pin. and the flashing worked! Here are the pics of the board, it's marked R28-MXQ-00813, has DDR3 and 8GB flash. I also found the UART pins at the back of the board the 2 pads close to a bunch of capacitors under the cpu, the closest pad to the capacitors is the TX pin and the pad next to it is the RX pin, i just connected the gnd pin to power gnd. Here's the pic, green is tx and white is rx. uboot boots fine but it can't continue booting. i used legacy buster with 4.4 kernel. Orange led is blinking and i got the log below from putty.  Apparently, it can't find boot.env.
 
Serial baud rate is 115200
DDR Version V1.10 20190926 In ID:0xFFF 600MHz DDR3 Bus Width=32 Col=11 Bank=8 Row=14 CS=1 Die Bus-Width=16 Size=1024MB mach:4 OUT U-Boot SPL 2020.10-armbian (Dec 12 2020 - 01:47:28 +0100) Trying to boot from MMC2 I/TC: I/TC: Non-secure external DT found I/TC: Switching console to device: /serial@11030000 I/TC: OP-TEE version: 3.10.0-40-ga1d5c81f (gcc version 9.2.1 20191025 (GNU Toolc hain for the A-profile Architecture 9.2-2019.12 (arm-9.10))) #6 Wed Sep 16 21:36 :15 UTC 2020 arm I/TC: Primary CPU initializing M/TC: Not protecting region 1: 0x68400000-0x68600000 I/TC: Primary CPU switching to normal world boot U-Boot 2020.10-armbian (Dec 12 2020 - 01:47:28 +0100) Model: Generic Rockchip rk322x TV Box board DRAM: 992 MiB MMC: dwmmc@30000000: 1, dwmmc@30020000: 0 Loading Environment from EXT4... ** File not found /boot/boot.env ** ** Unable to read "/boot/boot.env" from mmc0:1 ** In: serial@11030000 Out: serial@11030000 Err: serial@11030000 Model: Generic Rockchip rk322x TV Box board Net: eth0: ethernet@30200000 starting USB... Bus usb@30040000: USB DWC2 scanning bus usb@30040000 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found stopping USB.. starting USB... Bus usb@30040000: USB DWC2 scanning bus usb@30040000 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0 Card did not respond to voltage select! Device 0: unknown device switch to partitions #0, OK mmc0(part 0) is current device Scanning mmc 0:1... Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr 2909 bytes read in 3 ms (946.3 KiB/s) ## Executing script at 60000000 Boot script loaded from mmc 0 214 bytes read in 3 ms (69.3 KiB/s) 5694356 bytes read in 140 ms (38.8 MiB/s) 8771432 bytes read in 206 ms (40.6 MiB/s) 49812 bytes read in 7 ms (6.8 MiB/s) Failed to load '/boot/dtb/overlay/-fixup.scr' ## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 64000000 ... Image Name: uInitrd Image Type: ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed) Data Size: 5694292 Bytes = 5.4 MiB Load Address: 00000000 Entry Point: 00000000 Verifying Checksum ... OK ## Flattened Device Tree blob at 61f00000 Booting using the fdt blob at 0x61f00000 Loading Ramdisk to 67e91000, end 683ff354 ... OK Loading Device Tree to 67e1c000, end 67e90fff ... OK Starting kernel ... I/TC: Secondary CPU 1 initializing I/TC: Secondary CPU 1 switching to normal world boot I/TC: Secondary CPU 2 initializing I/TC: Secondary CPU 2 switching to normal world boot I/TC: Secondary CPU 3 initializing I/TC: Secondary CPU 3 switching to normal world boot  
I tried flashing kernel 5.9 minimal buster and i get this:
DDR Version V1.10 20190926 In ID:0xFFF 600MHz DDR3 Bus Width=32 Col=11 Bank=8 Row=14 CS=1 Die Bus-Width=16 Size=1024MB mach:4 OUT U-Boot SPL 2020.10-armbian (Dec 12 2020 - 01:48:33 +0100) Trying to boot from MMC2 I/TC: I/TC: Non-secure external DT found I/TC: Switching console to device: /serial@11030000 I/TC: OP-TEE version: 3.10.0-40-ga1d5c81f (gcc version 9.2.1 20191025 (GNU Toolchain for the A-profile Architecture 9.2-2019.12 (arm-9.10))) #6 Wed Sep 16 21:36:15 UTC 2020 arm I/TC: Primary CPU initializing M/TC: Not protecting region 1: 0x68400000-0x68600000 I/TC: Primary CPU switching to normal world boot U-Boot 2020.10-armbian (Dec 12 2020 - 01:48:33 +0100) Model: Generic Rockchip rk322x TV Box board DRAM: 992 MiB MMC: dwmmc@30000000: 1, dwmmc@30020000: 0 Loading Environment from EXT4... ** File not found /boot/boot.env ** ** Unable to read "/boot/boot.env" from mmc0:1 ** In: serial@11030000 Out: serial@11030000 Err: serial@11030000 Model: Generic Rockchip rk322x TV Box board Net: eth0: ethernet@30200000 starting USB... Bus usb@30040000: USB DWC2 scanning bus usb@30040000 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found stopping USB.. starting USB... Bus usb@30040000: USB DWC2 scanning bus usb@30040000 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0 Card did not respond to voltage select! Device 0: unknown device switch to partitions #0, OK mmc0(part 0) is current device Scanning mmc 0:1... Found U-Boot script /boot/boot.scr 2909 bytes read in 3 ms (946.3 KiB/s) ## Executing script at 60000000 Boot script loaded from mmc 0 243 bytes read in 3 ms (79.1 KiB/s) 6017211 bytes read in 148 ms (38.8 MiB/s) 9681360 bytes read in 226 ms (40.9 MiB/s) 40937 bytes read in 6 ms (6.5 MiB/s) 410 bytes read in 5 ms (80.1 KiB/s) Applying kernel provided DT overlay rk322x-emmc-nand.dtbo 1286 bytes read in 6 ms (209 KiB/s) Applying kernel provided DT overlay rk322x-led-conf1.dtbo 232 bytes read in 6 ms (37.1 KiB/s) Applying kernel provided DT fixup script (rk322x-fixup.scr) ## Executing script at 600f0000 ## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 64000000 ... Image Name: uInitrd Image Type: ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed) Data Size: 6017147 Bytes = 5.7 MiB Load Address: 00000000 Entry Point: 00000000 Verifying Checksum ... OK ## Flattened Device Tree blob at 61f00000 Booting using the fdt blob at 0x61f00000 Loading Ramdisk to 67e42000, end 683ff07b ... OK Loading Device Tree to 67dcf000, end 67e41fff ... OK Starting kernel ... I/TC: Secondary CPU 1 initializing I/TC: Secondary CPU 1 switching to normal world boot I/TC: Secondary CPU 2 initializing I/TC: Secondary CPU 2 switching to normal world boot I/TC: Secondary CPU 3 initializing I/TC: Secondary CPU 3 switching to normal world boot Armbian 20.11.3 Buster ttyS2 rk322x-box login: iamgroot Password: Last login: Sat Dec 12 10:39:28 UTC 2020 on ttyS2 _ _________ ____ _ _ __| | _|___ /___ \|___ \__ __ | |__ _____ __ | '__| |/ / |_ \ __) | __) \ \/ /____| '_ \ / _ \ \/ / | | | < ___) / __/ / __/ > <_____| |_) | (_) > < |_| |_|\_\____/_____|_____/_/\_\ |_.__/ \___/_/\_\ Welcome to Armbian 20.11.3 Buster with Linux 5.9.14-rk322x No end-user support: community creations System load: 27% Up time: 0 min Memory usage: 5% of 960M IP: CPU temp: 63°C Usage of /: 8% of 7.0G [ 0 security updates available, 17 updates total: apt upgrade ] Last check: 2020-12-12 10:40 iamgroot@rk322x-box:~$ No wifi or x yet but it's a start. serial seems to freeze sometimes, maybe because of my cloned pl2303 usb ttl. maybe i should get a better usb to uart. after repeated reboots, i managed to run rk322x-config successfully. i don't know what the wifi chip, it's marked S9012 and when i searched for it only transistors came up. lol.

@Seth

very very glad to see your board is working, so happy !!!!!

For further infos and helping more people would you be so kind to post some screenshots and a more detailled procedure !?

And don't forget a " like" ( the heart symbol)  for  authors to help them in good forum reputation !!!



 

weeee! i got it booting. orange light blinks. flashed it in maskrom mode. flashed the loader from first post at 0xcccccccc and armbian image at 0x0. it worked. now i need to hunt for uart rx and tx pins. thanks @jock and @fabiobassa. i just hope i don't break the board while searching for uart pins.

@zero48
 
......... night is made for sleeping  for mostly people on the earth, but not for tecnicians ajajajajaj

@zero48
 
......... night is made for sleeping  for mostly people on the earth, but not for tecnicians ajajajajaj

But with the sd-multitool have you at least a try-to-boot ?
Those boards are UNBRICKABLE because the real bootstrap is in the soc itself. I have many with broken nand or emmc that I desoldered and they boot flawlessly from SD of course with right ddrbin U-Boot and the hellish trust-os.
Later if is phisically broken the sdcard reader, well YES it died with honor LOL 
( And.... ... There still is last thing to try but the process is long)

@Maker39
not more than yesterday, in private chat @jock and me we were saying that this 3ad is SUPER because many others users, such as you actively help people.
This is right spirit of a forum

@Maker39
not more than yesterday, in private chat @jock and me we were saying that this 3ad is SUPER because many others users, such as you actively help people.
This is right spirit of a forum

@zero48, With people like @jock and @fabiobassa , this board couldn't win this fight
Congratulations on your success
 
I was rooting for you, but nothing could help

@Flávio Lima
hello Flavio it depends what scope you have for this box, I can say even 1gb of ram is okay
Wait if @jock has some mirror for older versions
 

@zero48
I said it:
this box WILL WORK !!!

Congrats
 

Gents, 
 
Finally got it Installed , I'm so happy !! 
 
Now I'll check whats working or not (not interested in WIFI in case of failure) .
 
I used Armbian_20.11_Rk322x-box_buster_current_5.9.10_minimal.img  ( I dont need Desktop for my purpose)
 
Thanks Very much @jock and @fabiobassa for your patience and guide .
 
Sincerely
 
 
 
 

@zero48
Apparently you have emmc and not NAND flash, so use the other instructions

The wireless is fully working with overlays=wlan-alt-wiring wlan8189-etv-al.Thanks again!!!!!!!!!
 

That solved the problem !!
Now the SDcard it is accepting the image (testing with Focal which is bigger) flawlessly
 
  
 
Thanks very much to you and @fabiobassa for the support and patience 
 
Kudos !! 
 

@Flávio Lima
 Bom Dia Flavio,
yes the forum is in english please be so kind to use that language.

Despite of this I understand a bit portoguese so for your question and as far as I know rk322x board DO NOT HAVE 4 gb ram, almost at actual time
the maximum I have seen is 2 giga
Usually shishion 5G have 2 giga of ram
 

@zero48
Your board is one on which we worked a lot, is well known and totally and well supported in armbian.
It has NAND so pay attention : you have to use stePnand for internal installation ;
it has DDR3 upvto 768 MHz so is one of my favourites for his speed
You will be very satisfied of it !!!
 
Thank you for photos, cheers
 
EDIT:
Those lovely China producers..
It should be a 3228 with one or two giga of ram. Look at what they say .. 4 GB ram......
 
Anyway you can check those infos with the efuse and with " free"  command.
 
Please read back the forum since there are many useful infos you can grab from the board with some command lines

@zero48
indeed the procedure that maker is suggesting you is correct and one of the best
And really the booting sequence of those boards allow the box to boot from internal, search if exist a trustos and uboot on the card and then boot from the card if valid things are found.
I guess android is working, or are you  trying to boot with shorten pins and/or android erased ? If yes please revert to ideal cndition of android in place and working
last question : have you sufficient skill to setup a uart converter to debug what is going on ? On that board solder a pl2303 is very easy

And please guys , when you receive support is a costless thing to just put a " like ( heart icon) " , not for vanity having as many likes is possible , but because this helps the reputations and reliability of users trying to help your efforts and also strengthens the sense of community and the purpose of a forum.
ty @Maker39
 

@zero48
I would do like this:
1. through Rufus completely format SD by disabling "Quick format"
2. Write Multitool.img.xz .
After that, in Win, the card should be seen as 2GB FAT32 with some files, such as:
/backups
/bsp
/extlinux
/images
kernel.img
LICENSE
rk322x-box.dtb
3. Insert "Multitool" SD on box and PowerON.
Should be boot and repartition FAT32 for whole space.
 
p.s. Is there Android 10 in your box? Maybe there the bootloader somehow works differently?

@zero48
 
as already @Maker39 said you don 't need nothing to start from sd but the sd itself
Mee too I always use win32disk imager so first extract the content of the xz file and burn it with win32imager

Try Rufus https://rufus.ie/
 I always keep "Rufus", "Win32 Disk Imager" and "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool" handy for recording images.
And you no need press "magic button" for boot with Multitool .

@nokirunner

this was exactly the same question when I approached to linux study on those devices:

well . thanks to study and many people that explained to me now I know that linux IS NOT android and the opposite is also true, and YES they violate the GPL but if you are able to go in China to yell on this, well buy a ticket for me too.
In case of wifi they don't violate any since is proprietary driver and nowhere is written that they must open the code to every one

the desktop subsystem is perfect on Android with all jingles and bells, now you take the SAME kernel they use, the same modules and libraries they have in rootfs  and NO!!!  it doesn't work at the same manner under linux,  and since we must adapt something to linux phylosophy and we HAVEN'T documentation sometimes at all, sometimes half-half , I truly believe that is quite  a  miracle we have a true linux platform on those devices

sadly to admit it but this is the truth

@nokirunner

this was exactly the same question when I approached to linux study on those devices:

well . thanks to study and many people that explained to me now I know that linux IS NOT android and the opposite is also true, and YES they violate the GPL but if you are able to go in China to yell on this, well buy a ticket for me too.
In case of wifi they don't violate any since is proprietary driver and nowhere is written that they must open the code to every one

the desktop subsystem is perfect on Android with all jingles and bells, now you take the SAME kernel they use, the same modules and libraries they have in rootfs  and NO!!!  it doesn't work at the same manner under linux,  and since we must adapt something to linux phylosophy and we HAVEN'T documentation sometimes at all, sometimes half-half , I truly believe that is quite  a  miracle we have a true linux platform on those devices

sadly to admit it but this is the truth

Hi. This is my experience with H96mini (CPU 3228A without sd slot).
 
Download and compile rkdeveloptool (https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool)
Download rk322x_loader.bin and your favorite OS image from forum (decompress image from .xz format to .img)
 
While continuing to press the button inside AV port(use toothstick), then connect power cable to device.  Release the button insiede AV port, then connect the TV box to the PC using USB port number 1, the closest one to the edge. 
Device will boot in mask rom mode.
Run following commands:
./rkdeveloptool db rk322x_loader.bin
./rkdeveloptool wl 0x0 your_image_os.img
./rkdeveloptool rd
 
Don't poweroff device.
Connect devide to monitor or TV using HDMI.
 
Wait while device booting.
 
Good luck!

LOL  I didn't associate, stupid me, I'm distracted.
 
 

i will try, but i don't know if i will succeed, the last time i compiled a kernel, those rare times i did it was over ten years ago