Hi guys.
Just sharing my experience.
After reading @Johan S success story, I bought a Transpeed 8K 4GB 64GB.
(https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005534455685.html)
Apparently, mine is different, and nothing, I've tried, worked.
But sharing is caring, so here we go.
🧩 DEVICE SPECIFICATION & FULL FINDINGS SUMMARY
📦 Device Identity
Model: Transpeed 8K618‑T (or clone variant)
SoC: Allwinner H618 (sun50i‑h618 family)
CPU: Quad‑core ARM Cortex‑A53
DRAM: 4 GB DDR3
PMIC: AXP1530 (BOOT0), AXP313 (BL31)
Boot Chain: BOOT0 → BL31 → Vendor U‑Boot 2025 → Kernel
🧠 DRAM & Bootloader Behavior
DRAM training succeeds at 648 MHz
DRAM type: DDR3
DRAM size: 4096 MB
Bootloader reports chip ID 0x2100
BL31 applies CPU errata 855873 & 1530924
Vendor U‑Boot loads:
Kernel
DTB
Initrd (always) → cannot be disabled
Vendor U‑Boot ignores Armbian boot scripts and forces initramfs boot
💾 STORAGE
1. SD Card Slot — NON‑STANDARD HARDWARE
This is the root cause of all Linux failures.
BOOT0 reports:
card no is 2 → SD wired to MMC2, not MMC0
sdcard 2 line count 8 → 8‑bit bus width (SD normally max 4‑bit)
MMC 5.1 → SD treated as eMMC, not SD
Speed: 50 MHz (HSSDR52/SDR25)
Vendor U‑Boot handles it
Mainline Linux cannot
Linux symptoms:
sunxi-mmc ... data error
send stop command failed
lsblk hangs
ls /dev/mmcblk* hangs
Kernel freezes on MMC access
Armbian drops to initramfs
MiniArch boots but freezes shortly after
Conclusion:
The SD interface is electrically non‑standard and incompatible with mainline Linux.
2. eMMC
Detected as /dev/mmcblk2
Stable under vendor bootloader
Linux could use it — but SD instability prevents reaching userspace
🖥️ DISPLAY
HDMI DDC errors:
pinctrl_get for HDMI2.0 DDC fail
tv_power failed
Likely missing regulators in DTB
HDMI output unreliable
🌐 NETWORKING
Ethernet PHY: AC300
Should work under Linux if system boots
Wi‑Fi: AIC8800 (doable. Android is rooted, so just copy '/aicsdio', 'aic8800_fdrv.ko' and 'aic8800_bsp.ko')
🧪 IMAGES TESTED
Armbian
Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Transpeed-8k618-t_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server
Armbian-20240726-unofficial_24.8.0-trunk_Transpeed-8k618-t_bookworm_edge_6.7.12_server
Results:
Always dropped to initramfs
Could not mount /dev/mmcblk0p2
init=/bin/sh ignored (because vendor U‑Boot forces initrd)
SD access hangs kernel
No path to userspace
MiniArch
MiniArch-20240715-6.18.3-board-h618.transpeed-8k618-t-SD-Image
MiniArch-20240715-6.18.3-board-h618.vontar_h618-SD-Image
Results:
Kernel boots
Reaches userspace
Shows login banner
Then freezes due to SD/MMC errors
lsblk and ls /dev/mmcblk* hang
MiniArch boots further than Armbian, but still fails due to the same SD hardware issue.
🖧 UART TESTING
Tried multiple UART speeds:
115200 (default)
921600 (Android kernel switches to this mid‑boot)
Other speeds (varied)
Findings:
Vendor U‑Boot uses 115200
Android kernel switches to 921600, causing “garbage” output
MiniArch & Armbian stay at 115200
UART is stable — not the issue
🧪 BOOT PARAMETER TESTING
Tried:
init=/bin/sh
root=/dev/ram
Removing root=
Editing armbianEnv.txt
Editing extlinux.conf
Disabling overlays
Changing DTBs
Adding earlycon
Adding rootwait
Adding rootdelay=10
Findings:
Vendor U‑Boot ignores Armbian boot parameters
Always loads initrd → always enters initramfs
init=/bin/sh never executed under Armbian
MiniArch does honor init=/bin/sh, but MMC hangs prevent installation
🧨 ROOT CAUSE SUMMARY
The device has non‑standard SD/MMC wiring:
SD slot wired to MMC2 (normally eMMC controller)
SD slot uses 8‑bit MMC mode
SD slot uses MMC 5.1 protocol
SD slot uses 50 MHz high‑speed timing
Vendor kernel supports this
Mainline Linux does not
This causes:
Armbian initramfs failures
MiniArch kernel freezes
MMC access hangs
eMMC inaccessible
No way to install Linux
No way to reach userspace reliably
This is a hardware design incompatibility, not a software bug.
🟩 FINAL ASSESSMENT
The device is not compatible with mainline Linux, because:
SD interface is wired incorrectly
Vendor U‑Boot forces initramfs
MMC controller hangs under mainline drivers
eMMC cannot be accessed due to SD instability
DTB regulators missing
HDMI DDC errors
(Wi‑Fi requires proprietary driver
Android works because it uses the proprietary Allwinner MMC driver. Mainline Linux does not.)
🟦 Images
