Jaisere

@Jaisere Hello, I wonder why you are using an image with the legacy 4.4 kernel, which I don't maintain anymore. That is an ancient kernel supplied by the vendor and it is several years old; the vendor (rockchip) maintained up to a couple of years ago, but now it is totally deprecated and unmantained. The only usefulness for that kernel is that it works with the internal NAND flash.
 
Use images with current kernel (at the moment, current version is 6.1), which is mainline kernel. It does not support NAND, but it is maintained and supports practically everything.
 
 

I bet: your internal flash is NAND and you are installing the image in the internal flash. Read the first page for more info.
Use sdcard and mainline kernel if you don't want up to date kernel and opensource drivers.

Yes
Yes, but you won't get any lima or panfrost anyway, 4.4 is way too old kernel. Also Panfrost is of no use, since it does not support Utgard (Mali-400) but only Midgard and above

@Jaisere
the problem ISN' T the lima or xorg issue, but "VERY SIMPLE" :  it doesn't find the rootfs.

it is clearly explained in your log : WAITING FOR ROOT FILE SYSTEM

This indeed happen because when you update and upgrade maybe it takes a NEW KERNEl and new kernels DON'T support nand .

That's all!!

No lima issues , no mesa issues, no other than newer  kernels not recognize NAND

if you want desktop environment and at same time install in internal flash try to find a 4.4.xxx kernel with xfce or lxde already installed

Or you can try this rootfs but you still have to use a 4.4.xxx kernel
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jmtwGs88iXfCs7UtaEv1d5h7C9-9KGFg/view?usp=drive_link
 

@Jaisere
the rootfs i gave to you clear says " utgard armsoc"

DON'T UPGRADE DON'T DO NOTHING or you will loose the optimization made by linaro team

the chromium browser itself uses a sort of hardware acceleration, the video uses a sort of gpu.. but DON'T EXPECT too much

For nice graphical environmetn follow @jock 's suggestion, but will loose NAND
 

@Jaisere
this COULD be a challenge , but really isn't.

The images provided by @jock are complete, have the BOOT folder filled with all necessary : kernel, init, dtb , environment

This rootfs has BOOT folder empty. So you still need kernel and other stuffs from a working 4.4.194 image

You should mount the image from jock under linux, grab the BOOT folder complete....... then  mount this rootfs linaro, again under linux, paste the BOOT folder, and burn regularly by multitool
It will conseguentially boot

@Jaisere

correct

@Jaisere

you welcome.  Just grab the boot folder from a working image and put into the linaro one. then burn this " frankenstein"  image with multitool.
But I repeat, if you want latest patches use the @jock 's very last images on a sd or usb and you will be surprised how amazing are those boxes

Don't forget to add a like to the posts, it help good consideration and reputation of the authors of this thread on the forum. Ty

cool, thank you so much for the help
 

if im understanding this correctly, if I burn the images too a usb / sd card, load into linux I should be able to move the 4.4 kernel into the rootfs, then turn that into its own image that I can burn to the on board nand with multitool?

please correct me if im not quite understanding

awesome, its alright if I cant use Lima specifically (and I did suspect panfrost wouldnt be of use to me, I was just grasping at straws for a while) but if I can the graphics chip work at all would be a huge step forward, thanks 

@fabiobassa and @RaptorSDS the issue isnt due to the desktop environment or it not booting, My system works with the 4.4 legacy, it just doesn't use the Mali400 chip for graphics. I provided the image of what happens when I use anything other than the legacy kernal as extra context, that doesnt happen when I update or upgrade, when I set up a desktop environment myself it works fine. I will try @fabiobassa's rootfs just to see what its about, and if it some how allows me to used the Lima, panfrost, or built in Mali drivers I will stick with it, thanks!