sr4armbian

@sailorbg I am repeating the statement that other expert on this forum already mentioned, Rockchip boards are hard to be bricked unless you have done some short-circuit in this board. Try to re-flash the Android image from here. Some images will not be allowing you to download but you can save the page as "h96max.img" which will work. The .one given in the screenshot is matching with your model number. You have to find out the maskrom points of your board before re-flashing the factory image using FactoryTool (ver 1.72.9). I tried to locate the points from your screenshot but I am not sure. Check it from the top side of the board. In some boards it may be around the emmc. This board is not showing any life as per your statement, what we are trying is a CPR for this board. Good luck.

@sailorbg, Have you tried to burn your SD card using the Armbian Imager? if that doesn't work you may try with bookworm using the Armbian build steps. Regarding your serial connector, you should have USB to Serial Adapter connected to your PC and the drivers should be available for your respective adapter. The connection will be as given below. TV Box - USB to Serial Adapter GND - GND RX - TX TX - RX Note: Do not connect the VCC/3V/5V from your TV box to Serial Adapter. Power your TV box using the Power Adapter provided by the manufacturer. Use Putty (if you are using Windows) or Terminal (Linux) to connect to your TV box to view the Serial Console)

I have completely rewritten the existing Armbian OS image that I have used earlier, got the HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, WiFi, LAN working properly. Also got the Front panel Display showing the current time and other icons. Using AI, even got the corner RGB LEDs as well working when the system is booting. root@t95plus-rk3566:~# uname -a Linux t95plus-rk3566 6.1.172-vendor-rk35xx #1 SMP Sat Oct 10 10:23:22 IST 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux

@Opcode_0xFF You can restore your box compatible firmware from here. You have to download the file X88_PRO_20_RK3566_11.0_20211122_img.zip and flash your box directly USB to USB cable. Once you have recovered the box which you may continue with the steps given by @Ovaday to make it work with Armbian. Note: The firmware image you are downloading will have have malwares in them. so if possible block the outside access to the box untill you are flashing with your own image.

@Opcode_0xFF What is your box model and chipset? Since these boxes have similar outlook with different components, we need the details that I have asked in the first sentence will be useful to help you.

@Hqnicolas Thanks for your inputs and guidance. Ethernet port issue got sorted out and it is working fine with 1Gbps connectivity. Also there was some issue with USB 2.0 port that got sorted now as well. I am enclosing the .dts and .dtb files for anyone having similar board. Note: I haven't tested the desktop version, Analog Audio port, SPIDF, WiFi Connection etc. As of now the display is working fine, Ethernet is 1 Gbps, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 is working fine. I will try to get the Front Side VFD working but as other experts have already mentioned it may or may not work. t95plus-rk3566-working.dtb t95plus-rk3566-working.dts

I have checked the MAC address detected by the system and it is correct and appearing as it was shown under Android. I have physically verified on the board. The chip is RTL8211F. Now fighting with manual edits since my token is exhausted and will be after 7 days 🤨. If you have any known issues for this chip that would help, please share.

Thanks for your inputs and keeping me motivated. Finally I got the box booting with updated image. I did a comparison of the dtbs rk3566-box-demo.dtb, rk3566-h96-tvbox.dtbs using AI. Found rk3566-box-demo.dtb is closer match. Analyzed the error screenshots using the AI and got it fixed. The system booted successfully now. There are 2 issues to be sorted out though. 1. Ethernet is showing as 1Gbps, got physical connectivity since the lights are blinking at the switch end but not getting any IP address. May be driver related issues. 2. USB 3.0 near the Reset button is detected and working however the USB 2.0 Port near the SPDIF is not working. Need to be fixed.

I am attaching the latest .dts file that is used in the Armbian while building the image. rk3566-t95plus.dts

@Hqnicolas. Using the Antigravity I have converted the Android dtb into Armbian compatible dts. Used your repo(https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp) as reference and created the Armbian minimal image. With reference to your post used the wipe_part and cleared the boot and recovery partitions on the TV box. Prepared the SD card using Balena Etcher and booted. One good news is the system is booting into CLI. However it is stuck on rcu/scheduled cpu tasks. I have waited for a while and the system refresh the commands and showing the same message. I am sharing the screenshots for reference. I have connected Ethernet cable on the board, which lights up at my network switch end but its not taking any IP address so unable to connect via putty as well. Any thoughts how to get pass this stage and boot into Armbian CLI?

@Hqnicolas I have used Antigravity again and tried to convert the Android DTS into Linux DTS. As of now I am out token to create image using this, since you have mentioned about u-boot to correct as well which I am not sure to generate from. I will be resuming after this Saturday and try to create the minimal image. I am attaching the updated DTS here for reference. I am not sure whether these came up correctly and complete. 🤔 rk3566-t95plus.dts

@Hqnicolas Thanks for your continued replies and inputs. As suggested, I have taken help from antigravity and converted the android DTS into Linux DTS. I am not sure the tool got the DTS converted correctly. I am attaching the Linux DTS here. Can you have a check whether the converted dts is as per the requirements for Linux and will work with Armbian? I tried to convert this DTS as .dtb file and used with rk3566-box-demo Armbian minimal version in SD card, still its not booting. In the bottom of the Android Recovery menu I am seeing the following. rk3566-t95plus.txt

@Hqnicolas Thanks for sharing the firmware links. @mmie4jbcu has shared similar links and I got the stock Android firmware installed that is available from the boxput link. The box is back to life, I managed to extract the DTB from the box, derived the DTS from the DTB. Managed to setup the local build repo as well using the commands given below in my Ubuntu system. I have to googlefu to find the exact command options that can be used with ./compile.sh + "custom dts" to build the Armbian minimal. If you have any idiot-proof guide that explains the step by step instructions kindly share, meanwhile I will continue with my search and write those instructions. git clone https://github.com/armbian/build

@Hqnicolas Will the instructions given here work for this board as well or any other similar Armbian config available for this board? @mmie4jbcu I could see you have built and shared a v10 image in the post I have mentioned above. I am not sure that will work in my case. So I am clueless now, which Armbian image + dtb will make this box boot into Armbian. 🤔

@mmie4jbcu Definitely, I want to get rid of the Android loaded with malwares. I would like to load the compatible Armbian minimal version on this board and use this as a local server. After booting the box with above firmware and before connecting network cable, I have given IP address reserved for its MAC address, enforced network policies on my firewall to stop all out going traffic from this board, just to avoid the malwares reaching back to their creators. I have downloaded the dtb file, converted that into dts file to check the version of this board. This board should be compatible with demo board. Both rk3566-box-demo(Armbian_community_26.11.0-trunk.19_Rk3566-box-demo_trixie_current_6.18.45_minimal.img.xz) and Station M2 version(Armbian_community_26.8.0-trunk.7_Station-m2_trixie_current_6.18.40_minimal.img.xz) of the Armbian images are not working. I have used t95plus.dtb that is found in the 1st post of this topic as well as the dtb I have extracted. Is there anything else required to get the Armbian image working? compatible = "rockchip,rk3566-box-demo-v10\0rockchip,rk3566"; interrupt-parent = <0x01>; #address-cells = <0x02>; #size-cells = <0x02>; model = "Rockchip RK3566 BOX DEMO V10 ANDROID Board";

@mmie4jbcu Thanks for sharing the links. The chinagadgetsreviews firmware link taking us to t95plus.com which is not responding any more. In the boxput.notation site, The first firmware link looked promising, so I downloaded it. The site didn't allow a direct file download, clicking opened raw firmware code in a new window, which I saved as an .img file. I successfully flashed the image using Factory Tool v1.72.9. The box now boots with the T95Plus logo, erases old data, and loads default apps. You are a lifesaver, you saved my cash and kept this box out of the landfill. Thanks a ton 🙏

Thanks for sharing the links and images. It is unfortunate that the single source of information which was available for this model is not working any more. One good news is, I tried this box with another USB port on my PC. The box is getting detected in "FactoryTool" following the sequence along with data cable. Since the actual android TV image is not available to download, I have tried to load "X96_X6_20231211-1414.img", however it is getting stuck in the boot logo. I was just trying to confirm the box is booting. Still I am unable to boot into Armbian or Android.

@Hqnicolas Thanks for replying. It looks like I have bricked the device. I know you have mentioned, RKChip boards will not be bricked if we know the Mask Pin points. I am sharing the board's PCB. If you have any idea about the pin details could you please share? I was looking for Android firmware image since I am unable to boot this Android box any more. I was having similar RK3566(x88 Rupa) box which I could install Armbian successfully, however this board details are not available much, having difficulty running the armbian.

@DigitalDaz Thanks for sharing the way you are getting the T95 working. Have you got the emmc working with the recent Armbian builds? I know I am asking after 4+years, however do you have copy of the original android image of the T95 box? I have recently bought the same box, I have taken backup of the complete system using RKDumper utility however when I am trying to restore it back its throwing error message. I might have to push the stock Android image via RkDeveloper Tools it seems. The site link you have mentioned in your message is not working. If by any chance you have the original image and sharing will be helpful. Thanks in advance.

@Nick AIs it possible to configure the front display using the Linux header you provided and the pin details I shared above? I know this is a big request, but if it's possible, it would make this setup complete. Since I am not a programmer, I tried using Google's AI, but it just took me in circles and landed me nowhere. If you require any additional log or configuration details please let me know.

Thanks for sharing the header file. I have downloaded that and deployed using dpkg -i <packge name> In order to deploy the VFD, the steps I have followed are given here. I have enclosed the attachment that contains commands and their outcome to keep this post shorter. Below given error message while trying to start the openvfd.service root@x98h:~/linux_openvfd#systemctl daemon-reload root@x98h:~/linux_openvfd# systemctl start openvfd.service Job for openvfd.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status openvfd.service" and "journalctl -xeu openvfd.service" for details. root@x98h:~/linux_openvfd# systemctl status openvfd.service × openvfd.service - openvfd Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/openvfd.service; disabled; preset: ena> Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2026-06-02 00:07:40 IST; 4min> Process: 2297 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sh -c . /etc/openvfd.conf; /usr/sbin/mo> Process: 2299 ExecStopPost=/usr/sbin/rmmod openvfd (code=exited, status=1/F> CPU: 47ms Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h systemd[1]: Starting openvfd.service - openvfd... Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h sh[2298]: modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'openvfd': Exe> Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h systemd[1]: openvfd.service: Control process exited, code=> Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h rmmod[2299]: rmmod: ERROR: Module openvfd is not currently> Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h systemd[1]: openvfd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code> Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h systemd[1]: Failed to start openvfd.service - openvfd. Jun 02 00:07:40 x98h systemd[1]: Failed to start openvfd.service - openvfd. ░░ Subject: A start job for unit openvfd.service has failed ░░ Defined-By: systemd ░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support ░░ ░░ A start job for unit openvfd.service has finished with a failure. ░░ ░░ The job identifier is 782 and the job result is failed. Jun 02 00:15:18 x98h systemd[1]: Starting openvfd.service - openvfd... ░░ Subject: A start job for unit openvfd.service has begun execution ░░ Defined-By: systemd ░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support ░░ ░░ A start job for unit openvfd.service has begun execution. ░░ ░░ The job identifier is 855. Jun 02 00:15:18 x98h sh[2317]: modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'openvfd': Exec format error Jun 02 00:15:18 x98h systemd[1]: openvfd.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE ░░ Subject: Unit process exited ░░ Defined-By: systemd ░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support ░░ ░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit openvfd.service has exited. ░░ ░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1. Jun 02 00:15:18 x98h rmmod[2318]: rmmod: ERROR: Module openvfd is not currently loaded Jun 02 00:15:18 x98h systemd[1]: openvfd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. ░░ Subject: Unit failed ░░ Defined-By: systemd ░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support ░░ ░░ The unit openvfd.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'. Jun 02 00:15:18 x98h systemd[1]: Failed to start openvfd.service - openvfd. ░░ Subject: A start job for unit openvfd.service has failed ░░ Defined-By: systemd ░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support ░░ ░░ A start job for unit openvfd.service has finished with a failure. ░░ ░░ The job identifier is 855 and the job result is failed. VFD_Service_Logs.txt

@Nick A Thanks for your reply. This box got FD6551 chip set that is handling the Front Side Display. I have opened the box and double checked this. I also checked the status of the VFD when the box booted from Android image it came with. The VFD looks similar to the one found in the picture given here. Below given is the section from stock android dts file. I can share the entire dts if you are looking for any other specific details. fd655_para { device_type = "fd655_para"; compatible = "Ik,fd655_dev"; fd655_clk_io = <0x23 0x07 0x06 0x01>; fd655_dat_io = <0x23 0x07 0x07 0x01>; status = "okay"; }; Since the alternate VFD configuration requires latest Linux headers, I am getting errors and I have posted about that in the respective thread in this forum. Trying to deploy the OpenVFD which could be possible. I will share the boot logs at the earliest.

@Nick A Apologies for overlooking the model number. As you suggested, I tried the x98h image from here, and the image worked fine. With this image, both USB ports, Ethernet, and WiFi work without any modification or tweak. Thanks a lot for directing me towards the right image. 🙏 Now, I am trying to get the VFD working. So far, I have tried OpenVFD and the alternative method mentioned here without success. Do you have any suggestions for getting it to work?

Sorry I forgot to mention, I have used dts from Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Transpeed-8k618-t_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img.xz version to make the 2nd USB working.

Thanks for replying. I have tried the images that you have suggested. Below given is the status. Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-lpddr3-v1-3_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img.xz - Not booting Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-ddr3_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img.xz - Not Booting Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-ddr3-v5-1_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img.xz - Boots but hangs at Btrfs step in the beginning itself Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Vontar-h618_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img.xz - Boots but hangs at Btrfs step in the beginning itself Meanwhile I have tried to edit the dts file and modified the usb related entries from "disabled" to "okay" which made the 2nd USB working. Since the Ethernet is working fine the WiFI is less priority as of now. However if I can make the VFD working will help me to understand whether the device is up and running or powered off. At present the VFD is black so unable to check the status. Also it will be good to display the current time if possible.