Pita Bread

I'm not sure... but check these things to get more information and do more troubleshooting: Check your power supply for frayed wires and try a different power supply that puts out the same volts but more amperes. If you booted from a SD card or a USB flash drive, check it for data corruption and physical damage. Also try another card or USB drive. Check the motherboard and CPU for excessive heat above 60 Celsius. If it's too hot, it can do strange things. Create a cron job as a regular user to get kernel messages and write them to a text file (every 1 minute). Run "crontab -e" and add the text I wrote below to the crontab and save the file. Later open and read the kernel-dmesg.txt file. I hope that helps some. */1 * * * * /usr/bin/dmesg > $HOME/kernel-dmesg.txt

Hello. You're welcome. My instructions were not for an 'update' but were for recovering a bricked tv box. I am not familiar with the details of Slimbox but hmm yes I suppose you can try to flash Slimbox (img?). Also, a few stock android files and Slimbox files for this tv box are on The Internet Archive at this link. If that website is blocked or downloading from that site is very slow, then use to a VPN service such as Nord or Surfshark and connect to a USA server.

what is multiboot?

Can Emuelec, Coreelec or Libreelec boot from flash drive in a USB port or from a SD card in the TF slot? If so, then what version and edition of a given software boots? (example: Emuelec 4.7ng, or Emuelec 4.3 not ng). If one of those can boot, then I am confident that you can get Armbian or an unofficial knockoff build here or here of it to also boot.

Great! I am glad it worked. Yeah, that Burn (not Boot) Card maker v2.0.3 is wonderful for easily flashing an img file of any Android firmware directly to the tv box without using TWRP or recovery. My T95 Max+Plus (S905x3) also requires booting 3rd party OS's like Armbian and Emuelec from one of the USB ports (I forgot if it was usb2.0 or usb3.0). Try using a VPN like Surfshark or Nord and connect to a USA server. Also use a download manager (accelerator) such as FDM or JDownloader2. Cheers ☺

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 ☺

Github https://github.com/armbian/community/releases

TV Box Name (example: TX3 mini): H96 Max X3 CPU (example: amlogic s905w): Amlogic S905x3 Armbian build file name: Armbian_community_24.11.0-trunk.273_Aml-s9xx-box_oracular_edge_6.11.3.img (xz compressed) DTB file used: /dtb/amlogic/meson-sm1-h96-max.dtb Kernel Version: 6.11.3 Distribution Installed (focal, buster, etc): Oracular Working Ethernet (Yes/No): yes Max Ethernet Speed that works (100/1000): 1000 Gigabit Does wifi work (Yes/No): Yes Does bluetooth work (Yes/No): Do not know / Did not check it Does HDMI audio work (Yes/No): No Additional Comments (provide any additional information you feel is important): Android firmware version PPR1.180610.11.20230208 and Kernel 4.9.113 built on 08FEB2023 must be downgraded to PPR1.180610.011.20220516 and kernel 4.9.113, May 16 2022 before booting or installing Armbian.

what is full model name and number of the device? what is the processor? what is the full version and date of the original firmware? the answers to the questions can help yourself and readers who visit this thread to find better results in search engines (google, duckduckgo, etc)

After initially and successfully booting Armbian 23 jammy from an SD memory card in the TF slot or from a USB flash device in the blue 3.0 port, I had installed Armbian using the /root/install-aml.sh, removed the SD card/USB flash and rebooted Armbian easy peasy. It worked fine for a while. My thread about it is here at this link. But it got bricked, seemingly by itself after a power failure in the home. I managed to recover it with an image of Android, however, all of Armbian was deleted (and no backup either haha 😉). Here is a tutorial to recover this box and the steps may also work for other tv boxes that have the S905x / S905x2 / S905x3 chip. Download Amlogic Burn Card Maker v2.0.3 (not other versions) from Here or Here. Download stock android firmware T95MAXplus-X3-9.0-2GB4GB-6330-0720-20200616-Android.rar from Here or the same firmware but as img a file from MEGA Unpack the archive file in 7zip, if you have the rar file. But there is no unpacking to do if you have the img file. Insert a new good micro-SD memory card into the SD card adapter, and plug it into your PC - be sure there is only one single partition on the SD memory card formatted as FAT32 Run the 'Burn_Card_Maker.exe' executable file. Make sure it is version 2.0.3 Change language to English if it is not already in that: - Click on the Chinese menu (or garbled text menu) in the upper-left corner, and choose the second option. - Dialog screen appears and now simply select 'English Version' and click OK button. Select your SD memory card drive letter under 'Choose Disk:' - you may need to use Disk Management in Windows and apply a drive a letter to the SD memory card. Check mark the Yes box on under 'To Partition and Format' or tick the box 'Formatting SD card' - a new menu pane will popup. follow through and format the SD memory card. Check mark the Yes box on under the Normal SD bootloader for Erase Bootlooader Check mark the Yes box on under the Erase Flash for Normal Flashing Do NOT check mark the Yes on (click to Uncheck it) under 'reboot'. Click 'Open' button under 'Select Burn Package f:' and select the factory stock Android file T95MAXplus-X3-9.0-2GB4GB-6330-0720-20200616.img - make sure there are no spaces in the file name of the img Last step in Burn_Card_Maker: Press 'Make' button and wait to finish. Go to the TV box. Disconnect the power cable from the tv box device. Then insert the micro SD memory card in your tv box device and power on the device. If it didn't boot at all, the you may need to use the toothpick method. Disconnect power cable again. Put a toothpick into the audio jack, press and hold the reset button while you insert the power cable. The tv box will enter into recovery and the firmware will be flashed automatically. Be patient and wait up to 10 minutes. After the TV BOX fully starts, remove the micro SD Card. and the update will completed. The T95 Max (whatever it is) graphic logo will appear and stock Android 9 will start.

Update: sadness 😢.... and then happiness. Yesterday, there were several severe thunderstorms and the electrical power in the home fluctuated a few times and afterwards completely got knocked out. (now fast-forward to the future, hours later). After power was restored by the utility company, this tv box powered on and gave a 1080p signal, would not boot but just had a black blank screen. I tried to boot Armbian from a fresh SD memory card in the TF slot and a from fresh USB flash drive in the USB 3.0 port but that didn't work either. I researched a lot, and managed to recover the TV box by using an img file of the factory stock Android. I will soon write a tutorial about what I've done and you can find it under another section of forum. https://forum.armbian.com/forum/191-reviews-tutorials/

Very interesting. I am reading some other posts about this topic such as thie posts here and here. But can you explain how to install it and use please? Thanks.

it is possible. maybe it depends on which tv box that you have and what chip is inside the box. Have a look at these posts and the official FAQ. use "/root/install-aml.sh" or was it "/root/aml-install.sh" script. but do not use the armbian-config tool to install onto internal emmc.

You could make it a low power desktop device for doing lightweight tasks like writing documents, checking email, or browsing lightweight internet sites (shopping, news or books); could make it a server to share files from on a USB hard drive to other devices/computers on a network - this can include a basic media server like Jellyfin or Emby; could make a ad blocking server like with Pi-Hole. Or maybe something else...

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 🐧.