MattWestB

The deep rabbit hole of (DAS) UBOOT !! This is not for you if you is running on: Internal eMMC with factory Android boot loader. eMMC with updated boot loader but no other boot media. eMMC with updated boot loader and second boot loader and system on SC-Card and no other boot media (Jump booting eMMC > SD-Card). eMMC erased / not working and loading boot loader and system and boot loader from SD-Card and no other boot media, But if you is running on: eMMC with updated boot loader and jump booting to SD-Card with boot loader and booting from there other media. eMMC erased / not working and loading boot loader (and perhaps system) from SD-Card and jump booting other media. Then jump booting on one SD-Card the UBOOT is loading the init system with first stage of the kernel from the SD-Card. If have one compatible second stage boot on the SD-Card and UBOOT is loading it it shall being OK. But as all armbian media have the the same "rootdev=UUID=c6b30a59-8162-46cb-b449-e9615c4a9889" or lable in the armbianEnv.txt on the uboots boot partition its "roll the dice" witch partition the kernel is using then its have loading. If using the SD-Card and its current with the uboot kernel all is OK. But around 50% is using one of the USB media and if its boot partition is not in sync with the kernel its being very strange. If having one SD-Card with latest noble with updated system and kernel 6.16X and putting in one USB-SSD with one old Jammy and uboot on the SD-Card is booting it is the first kernel loading first stage from the SD-Card (sd /boot) and then mapping the system with /boot from the USB-SSD. The result is very interesting then the old Jammy is coming up with 6.16X kernel but cant loading modules that it need after the first stage of booting then the /boot/ is the Jemmy with original system and modules that the 6.16X kernel cant using (but its BOOTING !!!). For booting the system in the right way its possible caging the "rootdev=" UUID or lable in the armbianEnv.txt on the SD-Cards /boot. Its working but you is missing the auto select of boot media = if labling the USB-SSD "SSD" and putting in the lable "SSD" it cant boot the system on the SD-Card or other USB devices (and i think its still getting mixing files from the SD-Card and SSD). Also formatting the XF4 partition on the SD-Card (not touching the partition table) its booting all USB media OK then uboot is using the system and boot form the USB media and only mini loader from the SD-Card. Or if having the same system type / version it shall working updating both the system to the same level and have the same hard and software configured on the SD-Card and the USB system media. Normal symptoms is problem with network manager starting all services, Docker service not starting and other services can having problems. Also if installed kernel and the real booted one is not the same its not good then its being miss match of many files its depends on. I have using the erase and sync method and its looks working OK but the sync is more work but can have more systems working OK as backup if somthing is going wrong. As long our UBOOT cant select / and /boot partitions like in X86 systems wi must living with that but if knowing how its working we can living better with it. PS: some version of armbian-config can force witch media to boot from but i have not testing it and its not in the latest version also i have not testing eMMC with updated boot loader and jump booting then the box i testing it on have failed eMMC so only SD-Card boot = no risk for bricking the system hard and must force mask-rom. So now running Noble with 6.16.1-edge-rockchip64 kernel !!!

I was thinking the same. Must soldering the TTY cosolle so can getting the Uboot messages. The eMMC is the flash dead and have one Armbian on the SD-Card for jump starting the USB-SSD but the device used is only the USB-SDD i the demesg and it shall writing other devices if not booting one the USB-SSD and its the right one then HA is current and on the SD-Card is not updated. Shall i rewriting the bootloader on the USB-SSD but it shall being updated for some mouths ago ?

Have don apt-get update and grade. Armbian-config disabling firmware update = freeze kernel. apt-mark showhold linux-dtb-current-rockchip64 linux-image-current-rockchip64 dpkg -i on dtb and image. sync and reboot and the box rebooting OK with old kernel (3 times) !! CLI printout from kernel install: root@RK3318-Box-Orange:~# dpkg -i linux-image-edge-rockchip64_25.11.0-trunk_arm64__6.16.0-S038d-D0b5d-Pa674-Cb487H3d80-HK01ba-Vc222-Bd200-R448a.deb (Reading database ... 74668 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack linux-image-edge-rockchip64_25.11.0-trunk_arm64__6.16.0-S038d-D0b5d-Pa674-Cb487H3d80-HK01ba-Vc222-Bd200-R448a.deb ... Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'prerm' starting. Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'prerm' finishing. Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'preinst' starting. Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'preinst' finishing. Unpacking linux-image-edge-rockchip64 (25.11.0-trunk) over (25.11.0-trunk) ... Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'postrm' starting. Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'postrm' finishing. Setting up linux-image-edge-rockchip64 (25.11.0-trunk) ... Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'postinst' starting. * dkms: autoinstall for kernel 6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 was skipped since the kernel headers for this kernel do not seem to be installed update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 update-initramfs: Armbian: Converting to u-boot format: /boot/uInitrd-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 Image Name: uInitrd Created: Thu Aug 14 15:40:18 2025 Image Type: AArch64 Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed) Data Size: 25341844 Bytes = 24747.89 KiB = 24.17 MiB Load Address: 00000000 Entry Point: 00000000 update-initramfs: Armbian: Symlinking /boot/uInitrd-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 to /boot/uInitrd '/boot/uInitrd' -> 'uInitrd-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64' update-initramfs: Armbian: done. Armbian: update last-installed kernel symlink to 'Image'... '/boot/Image' -> 'vmlinuz-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64' Armbian: Debian compat: linux-update-symlinks install 6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 boot/vmlinuz-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 Armbian 'linux-image-edge-rockchip64' for '6.16.0-edge-rockchip64': 'postinst' finishing. root@RK3318-Box-Orange:~# sync root@RK3318-Box-Orange:~# reboot Is i doing something wrong then it was i remember how to do offline kernel up and down grade ?? Have double checking its the right USB-SSD and not the SD-Card for all try. fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 447.13 GiB, 480103981056 bytes, 937703088 sectors Disk model: SSD PLUS 480GB df -h /dev/sda1 436G 19G 414G 5% / List of /boot/ root@RK3318-Box-Orange:~# ls -la /boot/ total 186536 drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Aug 14 15:40 . drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 Aug 1 16:59 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 1004 1004 365 Aug 14 15:40 armbianEnv.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1536 Nov 30 2023 armbian_first_run.txt.template -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38518 Nov 30 2023 boot.bmp -rw-r--r-- 1 1004 1004 3180 Nov 30 2023 boot.cmd -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 3252 Nov 30 2023 boot.scr -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 258998 Jul 14 17:06 config-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 263963 Aug 13 17:16 config-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Aug 14 15:38 dtb -> dtb-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 16 14:39 dtb-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Aug 14 15:38 dtb-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 Aug 14 15:40 Image -> vmlinuz-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 Aug 14 15:20 initrd.img -> initrd.img-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25352236 Jul 16 14:44 initrd.img-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25341844 Aug 14 15:40 initrd.img-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 Jul 16 14:40 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 14 15:40 .next -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5618205 Jul 14 17:06 System.map-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5756639 Aug 13 17:16 System.map-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 Aug 14 15:40 uInitrd -> uInitrd-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25352300 Jul 16 14:44 uInitrd-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25341908 Aug 14 15:40 uInitrd-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 Aug 14 15:20 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38277632 Jul 14 17:06 vmlinuz-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39352832 Aug 13 17:16 vmlinuz-6.16.0-edge-rockchip64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 Jul 16 14:40 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-6.12.38-current-rockchip64 First line in dmesg -T: [Thu Aug 14 15:33:40 2025] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x410fd034] [Thu Aug 14 15:33:40 2025] Linux version 6.12.38-current-rockchip64 (build@armbian) (aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.42) #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jul 14 14:02:59 UTC 2025 The install is noble: /_\ _ _ _ __ | |__(_)__ _ _ _ / _ \| '_| ' \| '_ \ / _` | ' \ /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_|_.__/_\__,_|_||_| v25.5.1 for RK3318 Box running Armbian Linux 6.12.38-current-rockchip64 Packages: Ubuntu stable (noble) Support: DIY (community maintained) Any creative / constructive thinking ??

Thanks @jock i shall trying it later then i have moving some test HA from that box (one of the 2 with faulty eMMC). Is the libc-dev also needed or optional then installing the kernel files ?

@Thiên Thư Lục USB3 is little half working and i have USB-3 HD/SSD and its freezing some times but normally Armbian is running stable on it. Also general devices in the USB3 jack is freezing like SDR dongle stop being recognized then being pullrd out and in agenand need one repower of the box for getting the USB3 jack working agen. The factory Android bootloader is not supporting USB boot only SD-Card or eMMC . Write one updated / new on the eMMC (can soft bricking the box) or erase the eMMC shall doing it then the chip is loading it from the SD-Card if not found eMMC. Also putting in one SD-Card with updated boootoader and it shall being possible "jump starting" to USB devices like sticks and HDs from the SD-Card.

If you have one backup of the original firmware or log from it then booting perhaps @jock can helping digging what is needed for getting the WiFi card being powered on but this boxes is little trashy how they have implementing the hardware.

The Linux kernel is not detecting the WiFi card then its need the power being enabled by one GPIO from the system. Try other LED / board config in rk3318-config and also look in the head of it if its showing if the system have detecting some card (your screenshot its written: Wifi device: Not available) after doing the change and rebooting the device (some config can making the device not booting at all !!).

If you have selecting one working (LED)configure in rk3318-config you shall have somthing like "brcmfmac" then the chip is initiating and then more then the system is loading the firmware in it in the log and i have not seen it then looking. In your log i see: [ 2.987024] mmc3: Failed to initialize a non-removable card [ 3.032919] mmc1: Failed to initialize a non-removable card and mmc0 is not conected and mmc1 is the eMMC

With RKs tools its possible erasing the eMMC and the chip shall trying boot from SD-card (then eMMC is empty / no bootloader on it) with boot loader on it like Multitool (not USB devices). If you is good on counting you can flashing all with the tools but must putting all in the right place for getting it working at all so not recommended.

WAN (Wide Aria Network) = your external internet connection routed to your ISP (so the ISPs IP adrress) from your home network and not WiFi interface of the box.

Some board have no standard HDMI config and is not being activated on standard boot with Multitool and other Armbian images. Best is trying one current multitool on SD-card and booting and look on the LED if its continuous lighting or start flashing slowly after some minutes (first boot takes longtime then resizing the SD-card). If getting blink = system have booting OK. Then connect with SSH to the device (thru Ethernet or the comport on the PCB) and making the mulltitool things. After installed do the same on the installed Armbian.

RK322Xs is 32 bit ARM CPUs and can only running 32 bit OS so not possible installing aarch64 OS on the hardware. Also it have not enough RAM (normally 1 or 2 G) for running very large docker containers.

@ToShuk Look in the log if the eMMC is in read only mode or if other error code. I was having one RK2328 in read only mode but was unbricking it with RK factory tool but it was not easy. And i have 2 RK3318 boxes with bad eMMC so using SC-Card then cant recover the chip (looks like ODRID have getting there external eMMC unbricked with the same chip but was doing it in very early kernel boot with script).

@Asriel Nguyen The board looks very not RK3228 like but your lsusb is saying it one in maskrom mode so shall being one but no initial booltloader in the eMMC = shall booting Multitool / Armbian OK from SD-Card (but not direct from USB sticks). Only PM is if the card reader is on the standard address or being on other then its not working. Do you have some high res picture of top and bottom of the PCB then cant see the small components and printing ?

Armbian Noble V24.11.X base-files broken _ _ _ /_\ _ _ _ __ | |__(_)__ _ _ _ / _ \| '_| ' \| '_ \ / _` | ' \ /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_|_.__/_\__,_|_||_| v24.8.4 for rk322x-box running Armbian Linux 6.6.63-current-rockchip Packages: Ubuntu stable (noble) Support: DIY (community maintained) Its up to date and the kernel and system is the 24.11.1 armbian-bsp-cli-rk322x-box-current is hold back then its depending on armbian-bsp-cli-rk322x-box-current : Depends: base-files (>= 24.11.1) but 24.8.4-13ubuntu10-noble is to be installed That is not existing for all 32 bits arm. apt list -a base-files Listing... Done base-files/noble,now 24.8.4-13ubuntu10-noble armhf [installed] base-files/noble 24.5.5-13ubuntu10-noble armhf base-files/noble 24.5.1-13ubuntu10-noble armhf base-files/noble 24.2.1-13ubuntu7-noble armhf base-files/noble-updates 13ubuntu10.1 armhf base-files/noble 13ubuntu10 armhf Technical its Ubuntu Noble V24.11.1 only the base-files is failing so the the welcome screen is writing wrong information and other programs that is reading it from the system