Maxxim

Hi @Pita Bread, thanks for your input!
I've been struggling with this for two straigt days now.
I was *finally* able to downgrade my Vontar x3 (identical with the X96 Max) - it wasn't possible through TWRP or USB burner, but it did eventually work with the Burn Card Maker.

Anyway, so now I have the identical software version on it as you (AML_user_H96MaxX3_9_20220516.1821.img) and I created an SD card with a new armbian build with BalenaEtcher.
I selected the same dtb file as you and took care of the u-boot.ext.

But still, I just can't make the thing boot into Armbian and it's so frustrating.

As long as I keep the reset button pressed, the screen will just stay black - Armbian never shows up. When I release the button, after a while the H96max splash screen shows up, then it turns black and then the screen signal is lost. There is no boot loop or anything. It just get's stuck.

The same thing happens, no matter if I push the reset button or not, as long as the SD card is inserted.
What am I doing wrong? 
The only difference I see to you is that I'm using a more recent Armbian version (can't download the one you used, because the internet archive doesn't actually transfer any data).

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!


EDIT:
I just randomly tried inserting the SD Card in an USB adapter and plugged that into the USB2 port of the device. And it worked! Totally random, but it seems like that did the trick. Didn't see this documented anywhere so maybe the information is helpful to anyone!

A backup of all of the files mention in my previous post (above) is now on The Internet Archive. Either browse the web page and choose what you want to download https://archive.org/details/H96Max-X3-s905x3-tvbox-android-firmware-backup ,
 
Or just download the one 7z file and decompress it by using the latest version of 7zip or Winrar https://archive.org/download/H96Max-X3-s905x3-tvbox-android-firmware-backup/h96maxX3tvBox-files.7z
 
*edit: If you are unable to download files from the archive.org website, or that website is blocked, then first connect to a VPN (virtual private network) service such as Surfshark or TotalVPN and choose a server in USA.
 
Cheers ☺

Howdy y'all. (It's something people in southern USA say). hehe. I want to eventually setup a mini NAS server via Gigabit ethernet using this device. So, I recently purchased this same tv box as @Yvan P. described and I successfully installed Armbian_community_24.11.0-trunk.273_Aml-s9xx-box_oracular_edge_6.11.3 (2.64 GB img file). It was more time consuming and challenging than I originally thought. I'll explain.
 
My box included Android firmware version PPR1.180610.11.20230208 and Kernel 4.9.113 built on 08FEB2023. Trying to boot any custom OS like Armbian via SD card in TF slot or USB flash drive in either 2.0 port or 3.0 just boot looped the H96 logo again 'n again. I had to downgrade the  firmware. I followed instructions that I found on github here and on xda-developers here, but I used an alternative method in TWRP. *The following is a LONG explanation. Get ready! ☺
 
Download the 2022 firmware file as a zip or img, (another copy here) the Amlogic Bootcard maker and TWRP.  Prepare a micro SD card with one partition, formatted as FAT32. Also prepare a USB flash drive (or USB card reader) with one partition, formatted as FAT32. Copy the 20220516 firmware file to the USB flash drive. Make the SD card bootable with Amlogic Bootcard maker or Burn card maker software. Copy recovery-twrp_x96max-20220601-1253.img to the root of the SD card and rename the file to recovery.img on the SD card. With power cord disconnected, tv box off, Insert SD card in TF slot of tv box, and insert USB flash into the USB 2.0 port. Connect a USB mouse to the blue USB 3.0 port so you can click on buttons. Use a toothpick to press and hold the reset button inside the 3.5mm AV port. Keep holding the AV button and connect the power cord. Keep holding button until TWRP appears on screen, and swipe right to allow modifications.
 
Recommended to backup all the partitions here to the SD card or USB flash drive, and keep a the second copy somewhere safe, especially Recovery.  Under "select partitions for backup" make sure they don't say "0MB". If they do, then there is a problem and you shouldn't continue - stop. Troubleshoot and fix the problem - ask questions online. Otherwise, continue... ☺

For backup of the existing firmware, click Backup, Select Storage and choose the Micro SD card or USB OTG (##MB). Select all partitions and swipe right to do the backup. No need for compression. Wait. Go back to the main menu with back (bottom left corner), and select Install. Click Select Storage then select USB OTG (##MB), and OK button. Depending on which firmware file you want to use, the "franklin-ota-eng.qmx_srv.zip" file should appear. Or click Install Image and the ""AML_user_H96MaxX3_9_20220516.1821.img" file should appear. Click on the file, and swipe right to do the install.   Wait, and do not do anything until you see IMAGE FLASH COMPLETED. After you see the COMPLETED message, remove the SD card and USB flash drive and go to the main menu and click Reboot, System. Let Android boot, and check the version of Android in the settings. It should be PPR1.180610.011.20220516 and kernel 4.9.113, May 16 2022.
 
Now we can boot Armbian from the SD card and make sure it works, updates and reboots properly. I used the standard instructions for writing an Armbian image to a SD card. I selected the server image "Armbian_community_24.11.0-trunk.273_Aml-s9xx-box_oracular_edge_6.11.3.img". Copied u-boot-s905x3 to u-boot.ext, and set /dtb/amlogic/meson-sm1-h96-max.dtb in extlinux.conf . I disconnected power cord, inserted SD card into TF, held reset button in the audio jack, and connected power cord still holding the button for 15 seconds. Armbian logo came up and I released the button. All 4GB RAM (3.69GB usable) is good, ethernet is good at 1 Gigabit, but there is no sound, no bluetooth and no wifi. That's alright because I will use this as a mini NAS server and maybe an ad blocking DNS server via Gigabit ethernet. I froze the kernel in armbian-config, ran "apt update" and rebooted. There were some error messages about initramfs but nothing bad. It rebooted and started alright. For smoother 'n faster data transfer, I should replace my cheap old cat5e cables and probably get a better and brand-name gigabit switch. I hope this helps future aml tv box enthusiasts 🐧.
 

A guide to installing Armbian on the H96 Max V11 (RK3318_V1.4 blue PCB)
 

 
What you will need
Your H96 Max V11 TV box with the power supply and the HDMI cable that came with it; A TV or a monitor with an HDMI port; A wired USB keyboard (or a wireless one with a USB dongle); An Ethernet cable to connect to a router on your home network that has Internet access; A Micro SD card (minimum 1GB, more if you're going to back up Android on your box before overwriting it with Armbian); A USB card reader for Micro SD cards; A Windows PC connected to your home network;  
Installation steps
Download the experimental Armbian image (kernel 5.19.15 and libreelec patches — alas, that's the latest version that works correctly with our box) and a copy of the Multitool; Burn the Multitool on the SD card using Rufus (no need to change any settings, just click "SELECT" and locate multitool.img.xz or drag and drop the file on Rufus and then click "START"); Connect your TV box to the TV or monitor, connect the keyboard, plug in the Multitool SD card and then plug in the power cord; Wait a minute (while SD card partitions are being resized) for the Multitool main menu to appear, then select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then plug the SD card into your PC. Two new drives should appear, labeled BOOTSTRAP and MULTITOOL. If you see both, skip the next step. If you only see the BOOTSTRAP, proceed to the next step; Start Disk Management (press Win+X, K). Scroll down the list of disks (use the scrollbar, because mouse wheel doesn't work there) to locate your SD card, and on the MULTITOOL partition right-click, then press C, and click "Add", "OK"; Open the MULTITOOL drive in Windows Explorer (or your favorite file manager) and copy the downloaded Armbian image to the images folder; Safely remove (eject) the SD card, plug it into the TV box and plug in the power cord. The Multitool main menu will appear in a few seconds; If you don't care about stock Android firmware on your TV box, skip the next step. If you want to back up the Android firmware, proceed to the next step; In the Multitool main menu select "Backup flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Name your backup file. Wait for the backup to finish. The backup file will be saved to the backups folder on the SD card's MULTITOOL partition; Now it's time to replace Android with Armbian. In the Multitool main menu select "Burn image to flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Wait for the process to complete, then in the main menu select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord. Wait a few minutes for Armbian to get everything ready for its first launch, and then follow the initial setup prompts; You will be taken to the login prompt. Log in with the name/password for the regular user you've created; Connect your TV box to your home network router with an Ethernet cable; In Armbian, enter the command sudo cat /run/motd.dynamic and note the IP address assigned by the router to the TV box; Now you will need to connect to your TV box on the home network via the SSH protocol. If you're running Windows 10 or later, press Win+X, I, Enter. A PowerShell/Terminal window will open. Enter the following command, substituting the words in angle brackets with actual values: ssh <IP address from the previous step> -l <name for the regular user>. Type yes at the prompt asking if you really want to connect to this unknown host. At the next prompt that appears, enter the password for the regular user you've created. Skip the next step; If you're running an older version of Windows, you will need to download PuTTY, an SSH and Telnet client, set up an SSH connection to your TV box with the IP address above and log in with the name/password for the regular user; Now it's time to fix the settings for the Wi-Fi chip that doesn't work out of the box on the H96 Max V11. To delete the old settings, copy the command sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt and paste it by right-clicking in the SSH window, then press Enter; To create the new settings file, enter (copy-paste) the command sudo nano /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt The nano text editor will open with a new empty file; Now open this small text file (a copy of nvram_2734c.txt from this forum topic), press Ctrl-A to select all text in it, then Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard; Switch to the SSH window, right-click to paste the copied text to nano then press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-X to exit; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo reboot -f to reboot Armbian. After that you can either close the SSH window and proceed with the physical console or start a new SSH session once Armbian has restarted; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo apt update && sudo apt install armbian-config After the update and installation is completed, run armbian-config to configure various software and hardware settings (including Wi-Fi). It is recommended to select "Freeze" in System settings to disable Armbian kernel upgrades because our kernel is compiled with custom patches enabling HDMI output on H96 Max V11 to work properly that are unavailable in other kernel versions.

A guide to installing Armbian on the H96 Max V11 (RK3318_V1.4 blue PCB)
 

 
What you will need
Your H96 Max V11 TV box with the power supply and the HDMI cable that came with it; A TV or a monitor with an HDMI port; A wired USB keyboard (or a wireless one with a USB dongle); An Ethernet cable to connect to a router on your home network that has Internet access; A Micro SD card (minimum 1GB, more if you're going to back up Android on your box before overwriting it with Armbian); A USB card reader for Micro SD cards; A Windows PC connected to your home network;  
Installation steps
Download the experimental Armbian image (kernel 5.19.15 and libreelec patches — alas, that's the latest version that works correctly with our box) and a copy of the Multitool; Burn the Multitool on the SD card using Rufus (no need to change any settings, just click "SELECT" and locate multitool.img.xz or drag and drop the file on Rufus and then click "START"); Connect your TV box to the TV or monitor, connect the keyboard, plug in the Multitool SD card and then plug in the power cord; Wait a minute (while SD card partitions are being resized) for the Multitool main menu to appear, then select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then plug the SD card into your PC. Two new drives should appear, labeled BOOTSTRAP and MULTITOOL. If you see both, skip the next step. If you only see the BOOTSTRAP, proceed to the next step; Start Disk Management (press Win+X, K). Scroll down the list of disks (use the scrollbar, because mouse wheel doesn't work there) to locate your SD card, and on the MULTITOOL partition right-click, then press C, and click "Add", "OK"; Open the MULTITOOL drive in Windows Explorer (or your favorite file manager) and copy the downloaded Armbian image to the images folder; Safely remove (eject) the SD card, plug it into the TV box and plug in the power cord. The Multitool main menu will appear in a few seconds; If you don't care about stock Android firmware on your TV box, skip the next step. If you want to back up the Android firmware, proceed to the next step; In the Multitool main menu select "Backup flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Name your backup file. Wait for the backup to finish. The backup file will be saved to the backups folder on the SD card's MULTITOOL partition; Now it's time to replace Android with Armbian. In the Multitool main menu select "Burn image to flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Wait for the process to complete, then in the main menu select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord. Wait a few minutes for Armbian to get everything ready for its first launch, and then follow the initial setup prompts; You will be taken to the login prompt. Log in with the name/password for the regular user you've created; Connect your TV box to your home network router with an Ethernet cable; In Armbian, enter the command sudo cat /run/motd.dynamic and note the IP address assigned by the router to the TV box; Now you will need to connect to your TV box on the home network via the SSH protocol. If you're running Windows 10 or later, press Win+X, I, Enter. A PowerShell/Terminal window will open. Enter the following command, substituting the words in angle brackets with actual values: ssh <IP address from the previous step> -l <name for the regular user>. Type yes at the prompt asking if you really want to connect to this unknown host. At the next prompt that appears, enter the password for the regular user you've created. Skip the next step; If you're running an older version of Windows, you will need to download PuTTY, an SSH and Telnet client, set up an SSH connection to your TV box with the IP address above and log in with the name/password for the regular user; Now it's time to fix the settings for the Wi-Fi chip that doesn't work out of the box on the H96 Max V11. To delete the old settings, copy the command sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt and paste it by right-clicking in the SSH window, then press Enter; To create the new settings file, enter (copy-paste) the command sudo nano /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt The nano text editor will open with a new empty file; Now open this small text file (a copy of nvram_2734c.txt from this forum topic), press Ctrl-A to select all text in it, then Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard; Switch to the SSH window, right-click to paste the copied text to nano then press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-X to exit; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo reboot -f to reboot Armbian. After that you can either close the SSH window and proceed with the physical console or start a new SSH session once Armbian has restarted; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo apt update && sudo apt install armbian-config After the update and installation is completed, run armbian-config to configure various software and hardware settings (including Wi-Fi). It is recommended to select "Freeze" in System settings to disable Armbian kernel upgrades because our kernel is compiled with custom patches enabling HDMI output on H96 Max V11 to work properly that are unavailable in other kernel versions.

A guide to installing Armbian on the H96 Max V11 (RK3318_V1.4 blue PCB)
 

 
What you will need
Your H96 Max V11 TV box with the power supply and the HDMI cable that came with it; A TV or a monitor with an HDMI port; A wired USB keyboard (or a wireless one with a USB dongle); An Ethernet cable to connect to a router on your home network that has Internet access; A Micro SD card (minimum 1GB, more if you're going to back up Android on your box before overwriting it with Armbian); A USB card reader for Micro SD cards; A Windows PC connected to your home network;  
Installation steps
Download the experimental Armbian image (kernel 5.19.15 and libreelec patches — alas, that's the latest version that works correctly with our box) and a copy of the Multitool; Burn the Multitool on the SD card using Rufus (no need to change any settings, just click "SELECT" and locate multitool.img.xz or drag and drop the file on Rufus and then click "START"); Connect your TV box to the TV or monitor, connect the keyboard, plug in the Multitool SD card and then plug in the power cord; Wait a minute (while SD card partitions are being resized) for the Multitool main menu to appear, then select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then plug the SD card into your PC. Two new drives should appear, labeled BOOTSTRAP and MULTITOOL. If you see both, skip the next step. If you only see the BOOTSTRAP, proceed to the next step; Start Disk Management (press Win+X, K). Scroll down the list of disks (use the scrollbar, because mouse wheel doesn't work there) to locate your SD card, and on the MULTITOOL partition right-click, then press C, and click "Add", "OK"; Open the MULTITOOL drive in Windows Explorer (or your favorite file manager) and copy the downloaded Armbian image to the images folder; Safely remove (eject) the SD card, plug it into the TV box and plug in the power cord. The Multitool main menu will appear in a few seconds; If you don't care about stock Android firmware on your TV box, skip the next step. If you want to back up the Android firmware, proceed to the next step; In the Multitool main menu select "Backup flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Name your backup file. Wait for the backup to finish. The backup file will be saved to the backups folder on the SD card's MULTITOOL partition; Now it's time to replace Android with Armbian. In the Multitool main menu select "Burn image to flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Wait for the process to complete, then in the main menu select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord. Wait a few minutes for Armbian to get everything ready for its first launch, and then follow the initial setup prompts; You will be taken to the login prompt. Log in with the name/password for the regular user you've created; Connect your TV box to your home network router with an Ethernet cable; In Armbian, enter the command sudo cat /run/motd.dynamic and note the IP address assigned by the router to the TV box; Now you will need to connect to your TV box on the home network via the SSH protocol. If you're running Windows 10 or later, press Win+X, I, Enter. A PowerShell/Terminal window will open. Enter the following command, substituting the words in angle brackets with actual values: ssh <IP address from the previous step> -l <name for the regular user>. Type yes at the prompt asking if you really want to connect to this unknown host. At the next prompt that appears, enter the password for the regular user you've created. Skip the next step; If you're running an older version of Windows, you will need to download PuTTY, an SSH and Telnet client, set up an SSH connection to your TV box with the IP address above and log in with the name/password for the regular user; Now it's time to fix the settings for the Wi-Fi chip that doesn't work out of the box on the H96 Max V11. To delete the old settings, copy the command sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt and paste it by right-clicking in the SSH window, then press Enter; To create the new settings file, enter (copy-paste) the command sudo nano /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt The nano text editor will open with a new empty file; Now open this small text file (a copy of nvram_2734c.txt from this forum topic), press Ctrl-A to select all text in it, then Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard; Switch to the SSH window, right-click to paste the copied text to nano then press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-X to exit; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo reboot -f to reboot Armbian. After that you can either close the SSH window and proceed with the physical console or start a new SSH session once Armbian has restarted; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo apt update && sudo apt install armbian-config After the update and installation is completed, run armbian-config to configure various software and hardware settings (including Wi-Fi). It is recommended to select "Freeze" in System settings to disable Armbian kernel upgrades because our kernel is compiled with custom patches enabling HDMI output on H96 Max V11 to work properly that are unavailable in other kernel versions.

A guide to installing Armbian on the H96 Max V11 (RK3318_V1.4 blue PCB)
 

 
What you will need
Your H96 Max V11 TV box with the power supply and the HDMI cable that came with it; A TV or a monitor with an HDMI port; A wired USB keyboard (or a wireless one with a USB dongle); An Ethernet cable to connect to a router on your home network that has Internet access; A Micro SD card (minimum 1GB, more if you're going to back up Android on your box before overwriting it with Armbian); A USB card reader for Micro SD cards; A Windows PC connected to your home network;  
Installation steps
Download the experimental Armbian image (kernel 5.19.15 and libreelec patches — alas, that's the latest version that works correctly with our box) and a copy of the Multitool; Burn the Multitool on the SD card using Rufus (no need to change any settings, just click "SELECT" and locate multitool.img.xz or drag and drop the file on Rufus and then click "START"); Connect your TV box to the TV or monitor, connect the keyboard, plug in the Multitool SD card and then plug in the power cord; Wait a minute (while SD card partitions are being resized) for the Multitool main menu to appear, then select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then plug the SD card into your PC. Two new drives should appear, labeled BOOTSTRAP and MULTITOOL. If you see both, skip the next step. If you only see the BOOTSTRAP, proceed to the next step; Start Disk Management (press Win+X, K). Scroll down the list of disks (use the scrollbar, because mouse wheel doesn't work there) to locate your SD card, and on the MULTITOOL partition right-click, then press C, and click "Add", "OK"; Open the MULTITOOL drive in Windows Explorer (or your favorite file manager) and copy the downloaded Armbian image to the images folder; Safely remove (eject) the SD card, plug it into the TV box and plug in the power cord. The Multitool main menu will appear in a few seconds; If you don't care about stock Android firmware on your TV box, skip the next step. If you want to back up the Android firmware, proceed to the next step; In the Multitool main menu select "Backup flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Name your backup file. Wait for the backup to finish. The backup file will be saved to the backups folder on the SD card's MULTITOOL partition; Now it's time to replace Android with Armbian. In the Multitool main menu select "Burn image to flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Wait for the process to complete, then in the main menu select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord. Wait a few minutes for Armbian to get everything ready for its first launch, and then follow the initial setup prompts; You will be taken to the login prompt. Log in with the name/password for the regular user you've created; Connect your TV box to your home network router with an Ethernet cable; In Armbian, enter the command sudo cat /run/motd.dynamic and note the IP address assigned by the router to the TV box; Now you will need to connect to your TV box on the home network via the SSH protocol. If you're running Windows 10 or later, press Win+X, I, Enter. A PowerShell/Terminal window will open. Enter the following command, substituting the words in angle brackets with actual values: ssh <IP address from the previous step> -l <name for the regular user>. Type yes at the prompt asking if you really want to connect to this unknown host. At the next prompt that appears, enter the password for the regular user you've created. Skip the next step; If you're running an older version of Windows, you will need to download PuTTY, an SSH and Telnet client, set up an SSH connection to your TV box with the IP address above and log in with the name/password for the regular user; Now it's time to fix the settings for the Wi-Fi chip that doesn't work out of the box on the H96 Max V11. To delete the old settings, copy the command sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt and paste it by right-clicking in the SSH window, then press Enter; To create the new settings file, enter (copy-paste) the command sudo nano /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt The nano text editor will open with a new empty file; Now open this small text file (a copy of nvram_2734c.txt from this forum topic), press Ctrl-A to select all text in it, then Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard; Switch to the SSH window, right-click to paste the copied text to nano then press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-X to exit; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo reboot -f to reboot Armbian. After that you can either close the SSH window and proceed with the physical console or start a new SSH session once Armbian has restarted; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo apt update && sudo apt install armbian-config After the update and installation is completed, run armbian-config to configure various software and hardware settings (including Wi-Fi). It is recommended to select "Freeze" in System settings to disable Armbian kernel upgrades because our kernel is compiled with custom patches enabling HDMI output on H96 Max V11 to work properly that are unavailable in other kernel versions.

A guide to installing Armbian on the H96 Max V11 (RK3318_V1.4 blue PCB)
 

 
What you will need
Your H96 Max V11 TV box with the power supply and the HDMI cable that came with it; A TV or a monitor with an HDMI port; A wired USB keyboard (or a wireless one with a USB dongle); An Ethernet cable to connect to a router on your home network that has Internet access; A Micro SD card (minimum 1GB, more if you're going to back up Android on your box before overwriting it with Armbian); A USB card reader for Micro SD cards; A Windows PC connected to your home network;  
Installation steps
Download the experimental Armbian image (kernel 5.19.15 and libreelec patches — alas, that's the latest version that works correctly with our box) and a copy of the Multitool; Burn the Multitool on the SD card using Rufus (no need to change any settings, just click "SELECT" and locate multitool.img.xz or drag and drop the file on Rufus and then click "START"); Connect your TV box to the TV or monitor, connect the keyboard, plug in the Multitool SD card and then plug in the power cord; Wait a minute (while SD card partitions are being resized) for the Multitool main menu to appear, then select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then plug the SD card into your PC. Two new drives should appear, labeled BOOTSTRAP and MULTITOOL. If you see both, skip the next step. If you only see the BOOTSTRAP, proceed to the next step; Start Disk Management (press Win+X, K). Scroll down the list of disks (use the scrollbar, because mouse wheel doesn't work there) to locate your SD card, and on the MULTITOOL partition right-click, then press C, and click "Add", "OK"; Open the MULTITOOL drive in Windows Explorer (or your favorite file manager) and copy the downloaded Armbian image to the images folder; Safely remove (eject) the SD card, plug it into the TV box and plug in the power cord. The Multitool main menu will appear in a few seconds; If you don't care about stock Android firmware on your TV box, skip the next step. If you want to back up the Android firmware, proceed to the next step; In the Multitool main menu select "Backup flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Name your backup file. Wait for the backup to finish. The backup file will be saved to the backups folder on the SD card's MULTITOOL partition; Now it's time to replace Android with Armbian. In the Multitool main menu select "Burn image to flash" and click through (there will be only one option). Wait for the process to complete, then in the main menu select "Shutdown"; Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord. Wait a few minutes for Armbian to get everything ready for its first launch, and then follow the initial setup prompts; You will be taken to the login prompt. Log in with the name/password for the regular user you've created; Connect your TV box to your home network router with an Ethernet cable; In Armbian, enter the command sudo cat /run/motd.dynamic and note the IP address assigned by the router to the TV box; Now you will need to connect to your TV box on the home network via the SSH protocol. If you're running Windows 10 or later, press Win+X, I, Enter. A PowerShell/Terminal window will open. Enter the following command, substituting the words in angle brackets with actual values: ssh <IP address from the previous step> -l <name for the regular user>. Type yes at the prompt asking if you really want to connect to this unknown host. At the next prompt that appears, enter the password for the regular user you've created. Skip the next step; If you're running an older version of Windows, you will need to download PuTTY, an SSH and Telnet client, set up an SSH connection to your TV box with the IP address above and log in with the name/password for the regular user; Now it's time to fix the settings for the Wi-Fi chip that doesn't work out of the box on the H96 Max V11. To delete the old settings, copy the command sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt and paste it by right-clicking in the SSH window, then press Enter; To create the new settings file, enter (copy-paste) the command sudo nano /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt The nano text editor will open with a new empty file; Now open this small text file (a copy of nvram_2734c.txt from this forum topic), press Ctrl-A to select all text in it, then Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard; Switch to the SSH window, right-click to paste the copied text to nano then press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-X to exit; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo reboot -f to reboot Armbian. After that you can either close the SSH window and proceed with the physical console or start a new SSH session once Armbian has restarted; Enter (or copy-paste) the command sudo apt update && sudo apt install armbian-config After the update and installation is completed, run armbian-config to configure various software and hardware settings (including Wi-Fi). It is recommended to select "Freeze" in System settings to disable Armbian kernel upgrades because our kernel is compiled with custom patches enabling HDMI output on H96 Max V11 to work properly that are unavailable in other kernel versions.

I'm trying to do that, but your forum software is giving me problems (Invision, you were at the forefront 20 years ago, but now you're way behind the curve). It can't copy its own formatting between Edit screens in different posts ("Press Ctrl+V to paste. Your browser doesn‘t support pasting with the toolbar button or context menu option.") I tried both Edge and Firefox, so two different engines. What does it want, Chrome? (Insert Cyberpunk reference here) I'll have to recreate the formatting from scratch. Anyway, I'm on it. ... Aaand done!

🏆 help to add other boards in armbian standart, you don't need to be a programmer to help the community,
just need a copy of the ARM BOARD and a x86 computer to compile new versions.
 
If you like what you see here and want to help: Donate Armbian, the like button only costs a few dollars.
Armbian Needs you help!
 
####################### Just a Few clicks to help ##################

This is an internal mmc trick 2-step image!
You no longer need to solder an SD-card Reader like the creepy Release Version v0.5 BETA that i made.

check before if your device has the regulator: fan53555
check before if your device has: tcs4525
check before if your device has: RK809-5
 
works with 4gb and 8gb devices

How to use it:
- install RKDevTool Drivers Rockchip
- Use RkDevTool v2.86
 
- Drop Config.cfg  the RkDevTool config file on folder
Righ click on white background from RKDevTool
click on Load Config
Select the Config.cfg
 

 
 
Step 1
Extract this file.xz with 7zip
Extract this file.tar with 7zip
Connect Your device:
How? press the back button with a toothpick and connect male to male USB to you computer.
Flash the Update Image on entire device as an Upgrade Firmware
After Complete ! ! Disconect your device ! !
 


 
Step 2:
Reconnect Your device:
How? press the back button with a toothpick and connect male to male USB to you computer.

Flash the GPT image inside the MMC GPT partition
how: 
on RkDevTool v2.86
double click the number on table
set Address on 0x00000000
set Name on gpt
select the root file to flash on the "..." the dot right side of the table........
mark, Write by address
after flash, it's done, use HDMI and USB to create user and password, regular armbian install...
 

 
 
The Gpt file
The Server 4gb Update image
The Server 8gb Update image
Yes, you can Skip Root flash.
But you can drop the v0.7 Root.img file.
Please Reflash GPT.img after new Root.img
 
Debian 12 BookWorm Server Minimal ROOT
 

##################################### END ##############################################
############################### HOT TO CREATE IMAGES #####################################
if you wanna do all that creepy again with other devices and images, (please do it on other devices) and topic

this is all you need to create this image,
first step:
Compile armbian on linux desktop
dont forgot to do it with modified DTS file: 
in this case DTB + DTS Files for you to edit because you want to help the community
 
any resemblance to this topic is mere adaptation
 
Mount that image virtual device like /media/armbian_boot
fdisk -l your-armbian-image-for-sd-card.img mount -o loop your-armbian-image-for-sd-card.img /media/armbian_boot if you can't "like WSL2" sudo apt-get install kpartx sudo kpartx -av your-armbian-image-for-sd-card.img sudo mount -o loop /dev/mapper/loop0p1 /media/armbian_boot
Second Step:  prepare an sd card or usb flash dummy , can be anithing with 6gb
fdisk /dev/mmcblk1 N default default (lower this value to match the size of your root image) T 1 W
third step: format that flash drive for ext4
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk1p1  
fourth step: mount that clear partition and copy the entire virtual drive to the flash device
mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /mnt/ rsync -avx /media/armbian_boot/ /mnt/  
fifth Step: Edit your uuid From Armbian Boot config "uuid for /dev/mmcblk1p1"
blkid nano -w /mnt/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf sync umount /mnt
sixth step: make an hardware RAW.img from hardware flash drive with these parameters
sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk1p1 of=~/root.img bs=4096 status=progress PS: can be /dev/SDA" I do it on my h96max" so it's mmcblk1
 
If you want a GPT.img backup
dd if=/dev/mmcblk1 of=gpt.img bs=16896 count=1 dd if=/dev/mmcblk1p1 of=gpt1.img bs=16896 count=1 dd if=/dev/mmcblk1p2 of=gpt2.img bs=16896 count=1  
now you have an ROOT IMAGE MADE BY YOURSELF!
 
Update.img
CREATE the Update Image on linux with the rockchip software.
Linux Pack Rockchip Firmware
 
./mkupdate.sh
Uboot Legacy, Parameter.txt to create the Rockchip image
 
this process generate two files:
File1: Linux_Pack_Firmware/rockdev/Image/update.img
File2: Linux_Pack_Firmware/rockdev/update.img
I generally use the File2 to flash my device on upgrade Firmware RKDevTool

I found the correct method to fix the bug that the x96-max-plus(s905x3) gigabit ethernet  does not work:
Up to now, only HK1Box/vontar x3 is the only s905x3 TV box that can be used perfectly in armbian.  So I extracted the bootloader of hk1box and wrote it into x96-max-plus, and it worked.
This method is very simple, so it is recommended to everyone in need.
 
Step 1:  upload three dtbs into /boot/dtb/amlogic :
    meson-sm1-x96-max-plus-100m.dtb
    meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dtb
    meson-sm1-hk1box-vontar-x3.dtb  (Similar to meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dtb, only the modal name is changed)
 
Step 2:  modify /boot/uEnv.txt, replace dtb with meson-sm1-x96-max-plus-100m.dtb,  restart the Armbian system
 
Step 3:  upload hk1box-bootloader.img to /tmp
 
Step 4:  Run these commands under the shell:
dd if=/tmp/hk1box-bootloader.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=1 count=442
dd if=/tmp/hk1box-bootloader.img of=/dev/mmcblk2 bs=512 skip=1 seek=1
sync
reboot
 
Step 5:  modify /boot/uEnv.txt, replace dtb with meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dtb, and restart again.
 
 
meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dtb meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dts meson-sm1-hk1box-vontar-x3.dtb meson-sm1-hk1box-vontar-x3.dts hk1box-bootloader.img.xz meson-sm1-x96-max-plus-100m.dtb meson-sm1-x96-max-plus-100m.dts
x96maxplus-orig-bootloader.img.xz

@Maxxim Look in this page maybe there is solution. https://gearupwindows.com/fix-windows-11-10-doesnt-assign-drive-letter-to-external-and-usb-flash-drives/#how-to-disable-8216-hidden-and-8216-no-default-driver-letter-attributes

I'm trying to do that, but your forum software is giving me problems (Invision, you were at the forefront 20 years ago, but now you're way behind the curve). It can't copy its own formatting between Edit screens in different posts ("Press Ctrl+V to paste. Your browser doesn‘t support pasting with the toolbar button or context menu option.") I tried both Edge and Firefox, so two different engines. What does it want, Chrome? (Insert Cyberpunk reference here) I'll have to recreate the formatting from scratch. Anyway, I'm on it. ... Aaand done!