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Thanks @Sanjay, are you running Trixie? I was trying new driver (r8152) the other days as well, I tried your approach on a fresh install and still having the same issue (I can write to an OMV share with around 220MB, but reading back crashes the 2.5 interface); as far as I read some additional network & power management settings are needed, just didn’t find the right combination so far. Out of curiosity I dusted off the old SD card that still had my initial setup on buster, booted from it and on the same tests I get around 180MB write and 220MB read without any crash. Will spend some more time on it and if not I’ll just leave it as is, I can use the 1g network with no issue, the nas will not be running 24x7 anyway, it’s just for some backups every now and then. Just that my OCD wants the 2.5 interface to be there as well.

So, a little update from my side for whoever is interested in this (and again, thanks for reading). Been playing with the box 2-3 evenings every week since my last post and still impressed by it (considering what I plan to use it for), yet not there where it should be yet. Bookworm (some various archive images I found online) works fine, and I can install OMV via armbian config, although performance is bad and I’m talking here about applying changes using the UI - like it takes whole minutes, plus some expected issues for the 2.5g interface. Trixie, all good installing, OMV fails from armbian config but works fine via the OMV installation guide from their site, it’s snappy in applying changes, like not instant but just a few seconds. The 2.5g interface is still an issue and while I can get good results on writing to the box after trying various fixes found online (like a 4gb file write is just fine, the interface crashes and I lose connection while copying from it back to my pc). This doesn’t crash the device completely, still works fine on the 1g interface, and accessible, so from my point of view is more of a perf issue than a stability one. Overall, still happy having this box, but man you do spend a lot of time getting things right, an obviously I’m a newbie. Thanks for watching! (Just for clarity, my 1g interface is connected to my 1g router, and the 2.5 one directly to my desktop to a 2.5 usb network card, and this set up was working fine on buster)

Thank you to everyone who spent time reading my post, and contributing to it. Having had some free days I decided to give it another try and experimented my helios64 with some of the newer images, none of which worked perfectly (my main requirement is OMV plus its miniDLNA, and couldn't get this installed on noble or trixie, although they were booting and working just fine), eventually running now some bookworm from eMMC and while it seems stable there are some performance issues* (need to re-read that bookworm issues thread again as I did not try all the fixes yet, including the dtb one). *By performance issues I mean some apparently slow reading/writing to eMMC, and network performance on 2.5gb, which I know were thoroughly discusses on that thread, just need to spend more time on trying them out I guess. I'm still a newbie into all this stuff and I was reading a lot again before the new tests. Would anyone be able to recommend some version of an archived bookworm image that I should start from? My device is connected to the router via the 1gb interface, and I have a second cable going directly to my desktop via the 2.5gb interface that lands into a 2.5gb USB-c network card. I don’t have the 2.5gb hardware fix done as when I installed it years ago it was working fine on buster with this layout and my router is 1gb only anyway. In any case, I still have the SD card with the prior setup untouched, so can revert back to it, was just thinking it makes more sense to try something new. Happy new year all of you!

Hi @djurny, Yes it’s nice to tinker just so busy/tired that I’m not even doing that on the Windows side anymore. Still like the helios64 and would love to bring it up and running stable when needed, was just curious if worth the effort so looking for some success stories. I only plan to use it as a handy backup device which does sound strange for something unsupported. I think I’m still on buster as well on the sd card and never had the instability issues discussed around here (I think I mostly let it run 3 or 4 days at once in the first couple of years just to see if anything happens and did not). But I do read around here every couple of weeks. Thank you for your time!

Hi @BipBip1981, thank you for sharing your thoughts. It is positive to hear from people still running these, much appreciated!

Hi folks, long time lurker here. My helios64 is pretty much brand new, didn’t really needed it at that time, only bought it as I found it really cool. I may power it a couple of times per year for some backups (got 3x 6tb in it, no raid so I can take them out when needed, also back up stuff to external drives), it still starts-up from the initial sd card as I never finished setting it up. I also have a 1 bay separate NAS for downloading movies that if fails, I will just replace; and a drive attached directly to my router for easy file swaps; so don’t need much running 24x7. While I work in IT (on the Windows side, so the Armbian stuff is still a learning path for me), the last years have been so busy that I can’t find myself tinkering anymore at the end of the day. To the ones of you that are running one, does it still make sense, or should I maybe switch to something more mainstream? Thank you!