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@jock Please help. Worst TV-box PCB I've ever seen in my life. Hardware: H96 Max "8K Ultra HD" (round case) PCB: RK3528_DDR3_8X4_V12 SoC: Rockchip RK3528 4GB DDR3 (8x Samsung K4B4G0446B) 64GB eMMC Samsung KLMCG2KETM WiFi: SKYWB8800 / SG-WB800E (AIC8800) Android 13, kernel 5.10.157, build RZX.V01.20240924.1740 I have TWO boards (same PCB revision, same markings). Both have DEBUG pads clearly labeled TX / GND / RX. UART completely silent in all combinations. Tried two different adapters: FTDI FT232 (ID 0403:6001) Silicon Labs CP2102 (ID 10c4:ea60) Both show up in dmesg fine, /dev/ttyUSB0 created, picocom opens. When powering device on — silence or garbage at all baud rates (115200, 230400, 460800, 921600, 1000000, 1152000, 1500000, 2000000, 3000000). Soldering done by a professional, crossover connection: adapter TX → board RX adapter RX → board TX GND ↔ GND VCC NOT connected (device powered separately) Loopback test on adapters works — adapters are OK. Devices are alive — Android boots normally, AIDA64 shows everything fine. Tested on both boards with both adapters — silence everywhere. Only garbage appears when physically jiggling wires (clearly body static, not device signal). My hypotheses: Vendor disabled UART output in stock loader/TPL for boot speed TX/RX pads repurposed as GPIO (LED / IR / etc.) DEBUG pads are actually NOT UART but JTAG/something else UART works but on some non-standard baud rate In fensoft U-Boot defconfig (https://github.com/fensoft/rk3528-tvbox) I see: CONFIG_BAUDRATE=1500000 CONFIG_DEBUG_UART_BASE=0xff9f0000 CONFIG_DEBUG_UART_CLOCK=24000000 Meaning fensoft uses this UART on similar boards. Why doesn't mine work? Background: spent 3 days trying to PXE boot Armbian. U-Boot (Ilya's + fensoft) works, TFTP/NFS works, kernel loads, initrd loads, DTB loads. But after booti the kernel dies instantly, so I need UART to see panic message. Tried many DTBs: evb1-ddr4, evb2-ddr3, android-native, nanopi-zero2, armsom-sige1, vontar-dq08, even stock Android DTB extracted from boot.img — all silent. Anyone experienced this on H96 Max RK3528 DDR3? Any way to force UART enable via some fastboot/adb command on Android before reboot? Attaching photos: PCB with RK3528_DDR3_8X4_V12 marking Close-up of DEBUG pads with soldered wires SG-WB800E WiFi module Thanks in advance for anyone who reads this!

I've been working on getting Armbian running on an H96 Max RK3528 TV-box (board marking RK3528_DDR3_8X4_V12) with 4GB DDR3 and 64GB eMMC running stock Android 13. I'm building on Ilya Kurdyukov's work (github.com/ilyakurdyukov/rk3528-tvbox) and have made significant progress, but I've hit a wall and need guidance. WHAT WORKS 1. Flashed custom U-Boot (2017.09 Rockchip with Ilya's patches + my custom patches for USB host activation and USB-first boot) via rkdeveloptool. 2. Added patches to enable USB host in U-Boot DTS: &u2phy_host, &usb_host0_ehci, &usb_host0_ohci all set to status = "okay"; &usbdrd_dwc3 set to dr_mode = "host", status = "okay". 3. Modified distro_bootcmd so boot_targets = "usb0 mmc1 mtd2 mtd1 mtd0 pxe dhcp" — network boot is attempted before Android fallback. 4. Built Armbian image with BOARD=rk3528-tvbox, BRANCH=legacy, RELEASE=jammy, xfce desktop. 5. TF-slot does not work (box hangs when microSD inserted in TF slot, likely BootROM SD-boot disabled via OTP as @jock mentioned in other RK3528 threads). 6. USB card reader with microSD works in U-Boot — I see "U-Boot.armv8" DHCP client on my Mikrotik router at IP 192.168.55.114. 7. Set up PXE boot infrastructure: dnsmasq TFTP server on 192.168.55.228, NFS rootfs export on same server (/srv/nfs/armbian-rootfs), Mikrotik DHCP configured with next-server and boot-filename options. 8. U-Boot successfully downloads via TFTP: pxelinux.cfg/01-c6-33-00-3f-cb-3c (PXE config by MAC), Image (kernel, 34 MB), and dtb/rockchip/rk3528-android.dtb (extracted from stock Android boot.img, compatible: "rockchip,rk3528-evb2-ddr3-v10", "rockchip,rk3528"). WHAT DOES NOT WORK After TFTP downloads complete, the kernel appears to never start: — HDMI shows only grey screen (U-Boot logo from Ilya's gray_square_logo patch). — No kernel DHCP request on network (would indicate IP_PNP starting). — No NFS activity (nfsstat -s shows calls = 0). — No ARP responses from the box — only Mikrotik ARP requests to .114 appear in tcpdump. — Eventually Android fallback loads (boot_android runs after distro_bootcmd fails). EVIDENCE — NETWORK TRACES dnsmasq log confirms successful TFTP downloads: Apr 24 01:33:38 dnsmasq-tftp: sent /srv/tftp/pxelinux.cfg/01-c6-33-00-3f-cb-3c to 192.168.55.114 Apr 24 01:33:45 dnsmasq-tftp: sent /srv/tftp/Image to 192.168.55.114 Apr 24 01:33:45 dnsmasq-tftp: sent /srv/tftp/dtb/rockchip/rk3528-android.dtb to 192.168.55.114 Then complete silence from the box. tcpdump — U-Boot DHCP + TFTP sequence (this part works): 00:45:24.375253 IP 0.0.0.0.68 > 255.255.255.255.67: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from c6:33:00:3f:cb:3c, length 300 DHCP-Message: Discover, ARCH=22, Vendor-Class: "U-Boot.armv8" 00:45:24.878890 IP 0.0.0.0.68 > 255.255.255.255.67: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from c6:33:00:3f:cb:3c DHCP-Message: Request, Server-ID: 192.168.55.1, Requested-IP: 192.168.55.114, Vendor-Class: "U-Boot.armv8" 00:45:24.942243 IP 192.168.55.114.1583 > 192.168.55.228.69: TFTP, RRQ "pxelinux.cfg/01-c6-33-00-3f-cb-3c" octet timeout 5 blksize 1468 00:45:25.005127 IP 192.168.55.114.1646 > 192.168.55.228.69: TFTP, RRQ "uInitrd" octet timeout 5 blksize 1468 00:45:28.349357 IP 192.168.55.114.1918 > 192.168.55.228.69: TFTP, RRQ "Image" octet timeout 5 blksize 1468 00:45:35.412847 IP 192.168.55.114.2837 > 192.168.55.228.69: TFTP, RRQ "dtb/rockchip/rk3528-evb2-ddr3-v10.dtb" octet timeout 5 blksize 1468 All files transfer successfully (observed via TFTP ACK packets). tcpdump — after booti, everything goes silent. The only traffic about the box is Mikrotik's ARP probes: 00:55:19.283404 ARP, Request who-has 192.168.55.114 tell 192.168.55.1 00:55:20.296683 ARP, Request who-has 192.168.55.114 tell 192.168.55.1 00:55:21.346711 ARP, Request who-has 192.168.55.114 tell 192.168.55.1 00:55:23.441524 ARP, Request who-has 192.168.55.114 tell 192.168.55.1 ... continues for minutes with no response from the box ... The box does not respond to any ARP, does not send new DHCP, does not contact NFS (port 2049 or 111). It is as if the kernel never actually starts — or it starts but hangs so early that no network driver comes up. NFS server stats — zero kernel activity: $ sudo nfsstat -s Server rpc stats: calls badcalls badfmt badauth badclnt 0 0 0 0 0 Confirms the kernel never reached NFS root mounting. WHAT I HAVE TRIED Tested multiple combinations, all fail the same way: — 3 different DTBs: rk3528-evb1-ddr4-v10.dtb, rk3528-evb2-ddr3-v10.dtb, and the extracted Android DTB (which matches exactly: "Rockchip RK3528 EVB2 DDR3 V10 Board"). — 4 console configs: console=tty0, console=tty1, console=ttyFIQ0,1500000, and combinations. — With and without initrd (both uInitrd and no initrd). — USB card reader with microSD for rootfs (UUID-based mount). — NFS rootfs (CONFIG_ROOT_NFS=y confirmed in kernel config). — Various bootargs: earlycon=uart8250,mmio32,0xff9f0000, ignore_loglevel, panic=10, rootdelay=5. Current PXE config (last attempt): default linux timeout 10 label linux kernel Image fdt dtb/rockchip/rk3528-android.dtb append root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.55.228:/srv/nfs/armbian-rootfs,vers=3,tcp,nolock,rsize=32768,wsize=32768 rw ip=dhcp console=ttyFIQ0,1500000 console=tty1 earlycon=uart8250,mmio32,0xff9f0000 loglevel=8 ignore_loglevel panic=10 rootdelay=5 FILE VALIDATION All files check out: Image: Linux kernel ARM64 boot executable Image, little-endian, 4K pages ARM64 magic "ARMd" at offset 0x38 confirmed. DTB: Device Tree Blob version 17, correct compatible string. Kernel: CONFIG_NFS_FS=y, CONFIG_NFS_V3=y, CONFIG_ROOT_NFS=y, CONFIG_IP_PNP=y, CONFIG_IP_PNP_DHCP=y — all built-in. THE DIAGNOSTIC ROADBLOCK — UART I cannot use UART for debugging. My board has DEBUG pins marked (TX/RX/GND/VCC near the WiFi module) but UART output is pure garbage at every standard rate (115200, 460800, 921600, 1500000). I suspect either: the DEBUG pins are poorly soldered on this unit, the UART configuration is different from what Ilya documented, or the pins are actually for a different UART or purpose entirely. Without readable UART, I am completely blind to what happens after U-Boot's booti command — whether the kernel panics, hangs on early init, or starts silently. MY QUESTIONS 1. Is PXE/TFTP network boot actually expected to work on this U-Boot 2017.09 from Rockchip? The bootcmd_pxe in this U-Boot is: run boot_net_usb_start; dhcp; if pxe get; then pxe boot; fi Has anyone successfully booted Armbian this way on RK3528? 2. Is there a known issue where Ilya's U-Boot + Armbian kernel don't hand off properly? Is there a specific bootm/booti command format required that PXE might not follow? 3. Could the issue be that the Armbian kernel expects specific arguments (like androidboot.* or bootloader-specific init params) that my PXE append line does not provide? 4. Are there any known-working examples of Armbian RK3528 TV-box boot that do NOT rely on on-device storage (microSD/USB flash)? 5. Given that U-Boot runs and gets DHCP fine, all files transfer via TFTP fine, file formats are correct, but the kernel is silent after booti — is this a known class of problem with a known solution besides UART? BOARD DETAILS Model: H96 Max RK3528 (board RK3528_DDR3_8X4_V12) SoC: Rockchip RK3528 RAM: 4GB DDR3 (8x Samsung K4B4G0446B) eMMC: Samsung KLMCG2KETM-B041 64GB WiFi: SKYWB8800 (AIC8800) Stock: Android 13 (RZX.V01.20240924) MAC: C6:33:00:3F:CB:3C I'm happy to run any diagnostic commands or provide additional info. Thank you for any guidance.

I published my Vontar H618 bring-up patch set here: https://github.com/aco-art/vontar-h618-armbian-patche It includes the Armbian userpatches, U-Boot/kernel changes, and diagnostics tools I used for this box. Tested on my 4 GiB DDR3 Vontar H618 unit and shared in case it helps with similar H618/H616-class TV boxes. On my tested unit, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LAN, HDMI output, and the basic GPU/display path are working with this baseline.

@Kauã Fonseca There are SSH commands in my GitHub repository. Just SSH into your TV box and execute them one by one. sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) git git clone https://github.com/cdhigh/armbian_sv6256p.git cd armbian_sv6256p chmod +x ./parser-conf.sh make ARCH=arm64 KSRC=/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build ls -lh ssv6x5x.ko sudo cp ./ssv6x5x-wifi.cfg /lib/firmware/ sudo cp ./ssv6x5x-sw.bin /lib/firmware/ sudo cp ./ssv6x5x.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ sudo depmod -a sudo modprobe ssv6x5x ip link show nmtui

Hi Ive just installed the latest version of Armbian (Ubuntu Noble+KDE) and everything works fine except it looks like it is not detecting my TV resolution correctly. I can choose 1920x1080@120hz but if I try yo go to 4K I can only select 24Hz I attach armbian monitor logs url, modetest and kscreendoctor My cable is HDMI 2.1 Any help would be appreciated modetest -c trying to open device '/dev/dri/card1'... is not a KMS device trying to open device '/dev/dri/card0'... done opened device `RockChip Soc DRM` on driver `rockchip` (version 1.0.0 at 0) Connectors: id encoder status name size (mm) modes encoders 83 82 connected HDMI-A-1 1880x1060 35 82 modes: index name refresh (Hz) hdisp hss hse htot vdisp vss vse vtot #0 4096x2160 24.00 4096 5116 5204 5500 2160 2168 2178 2250 297000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #1 4096x2160 23.98 4096 5116 5204 5500 2160 2168 2178 2250 296703 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #2 3840x2160 30.00 3840 4016 4104 4400 2160 2168 2178 2250 297000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #3 3840x2160 29.97 3840 4016 4104 4400 2160 2168 2178 2250 296703 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #4 3840x2160 25.00 3840 4896 4984 5280 2160 2168 2178 2250 297000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #5 3840x2160 24.00 3840 5116 5204 5500 2160 2168 2178 2250 297000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #6 3840x2160 23.98 3840 5116 5204 5500 2160 2168 2178 2250 296703 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #7 1920x1080 120.00 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 297000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #8 1920x1080 119.88 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 296703 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #9 1920x1080 100.00 1920 2448 2492 2640 1080 1084 1089 1125 297000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #10 1920x1080 60.00 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 148500 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #11 1920x1080 59.94 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 148352 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #12 1920x1080 50.00 1920 2448 2492 2640 1080 1084 1089 1125 148500 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #13 1920x1080 30.00 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 74250 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #14 1920x1080 29.97 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 74176 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #15 1920x1080 24.00 1920 2558 2602 2750 1080 1084 1089 1125 74250 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #16 1920x1080 23.98 1920 2558 2602 2750 1080 1084 1089 1125 74176 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #17 1680x1050 59.88 1680 1728 1760 1840 1050 1053 1059 1080 119000 flags: phsync, nvsync; type: driver #18 1600x900 60.00 1600 1624 1704 1800 900 901 904 1000 108000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #19 1280x1024 60.02 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 108000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #20 1152x864 75.00 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 108000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #21 1280x720 60.00 1280 1390 1430 1650 720 725 730 750 74250 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #22 1280x720 59.94 1280 1390 1430 1650 720 725 730 750 74176 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #23 1280x720 50.00 1280 1720 1760 1980 720 725 730 750 74250 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #24 1280x720 30.00 1280 3040 3080 3300 720 725 730 750 74250 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #25 1280x720 29.97 1280 3040 3080 3300 720 725 730 750 74176 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #26 1280x720 24.00 1280 3040 3080 3300 720 725 730 750 59400 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #27 1280x720 23.98 1280 3040 3080 3300 720 725 730 750 59341 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #28 1024x768 60.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 65000 flags: nhsync, nvsync; type: driver #29 800x600 60.32 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 40000 flags: phsync, pvsync; type: driver #30 720x576 50.00 720 732 796 864 576 581 586 625 27000 flags: nhsync, nvsync; type: driver #31 720x480 60.00 720 736 798 858 480 489 495 525 27027 flags: nhsync, nvsync; type: driver #32 720x480 59.94 720 736 798 858 480 489 495 525 27000 flags: nhsync, nvsync; type: driver #33 640x480 60.00 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 25200 flags: nhsync, nvsync; type: driver #34 640x480 59.94 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 25175 flags: nhsync, nvsync; type: driver props: 1 EDID: flags: immutable blob blobs: value: 00ffffffffffff004dd9057901010101 011e010380bc6a780a0dc9a057479827 12484c2108008180a9c0714fb3000101 01010101010108e80030f2705a80b058 8a005a227400001e023a801871382d40 582c45005a227400001e000000fc0053 4f4e5920545620202a33300a000000fd 0017790e883c000a20202020202001bf 020367f05861605d5e5f621f10140513 0420223c3e1203110265663f402f0d7f 071507503d07bc570601670403830f00 006e030c004000b8442b008001020304 67d85dc401788003eb0146d000480382 88627697e200cbe305df01e40f030030 e6060d018aac10011d007251d01e206e 2855005a227400001e000000000000a3 2 DPMS: flags: enum enums: On=0 Standby=1 Suspend=2 Off=3 value: 0 5 link-status: flags: enum enums: Good=0 Bad=1 value: 0 6 non-desktop: flags: immutable range values: 0 1 value: 0 4 TILE: flags: immutable blob blobs: value: 84 max bpc: flags: range values: 8 8 value: 8 kscreen-doctor -o Output: 1 HDMI-A-1 ea40cb77-73bf-4175-8970-22f84927f147 enabled connected priority 1 HDMI replication source:0 Modes: 1:4096x2160@24.00*! 2:4096x2160@23.98 3:3840x2160@30.00 4:3840x2160@29.97 5:3840x2160@25.00 6:3840x2160@24.00 7:3840x2160@23.98 8:1920x1080@120.00 9:1920x1080@119.88 10:1920x1080@100.00 11:1920x1080@60.00 12:1920x1080@60.00 13:1920x1080@59.94 14:1920x1080@50.00 15:1920x1080@30.00 16:1920x1080@29.97 17:1920x1080@24.00 18:1920x1080@23.98 19:1680x1050@59.88 20:1600x900@60.00 21:1280x1024@60.02 22:1152x864@75.00 23:1280x720@60.00 24:1280x720@60.00 25:1280x720@59.94 26:1280x720@50.00 27:1280x720@30.00 28:1280x720@29.97 29:1280x720@24.00 30:1280x720@23.98 31:1024x768@60.00 32:800x600@60.32 33:720x576@50.00 34:720x576@50.00 35:720x480@60.00 36:720x480@60.00 37:720x480@59.94 38:720x480@59.94 39:640x480@60.00 40:640x480@59.94 Custom modes: None Geometry: 0,0 1821x960 Scale: 2.25 Rotation: 1 Overscan: 0 Vrr: incapable RgbRange: unknown HDR: incapable Wide Color Gamut: incapable ICC profile: none Color profile source: sRGB Color power preference: prefer efficiency and performance Brightness control: supported, set to 100% and dimming to 100% Color resolution: automatic (10), range: [8; 8] bits per color Allow EDR: unsupported Sharpness control: unsupported Automatic brightness: unsupported Thank you

First of all, a huge thank you for your work on bringing Armbian to RK3128 TV boxes. Your guide is incredibly detailed and practical — not just theoretically correct, but actually usable in real-world scenarios where hardware varies wildly. That’s something many tutorials lack. It’s clear you spent a lot of time testing across different boards, and it really helps people like me who are dealing with these unpredictable cheap TV boxes. I also want to say I truly appreciate how you approached the NAND installation process using rkdeveloptool. The way you structured the workflow, especially handling boot components and low-level flashing, made it much easier to understand what’s actually happening under the hood instead of just blindly following commands. I happen to have a bunch of RK3128 devices myself, and thanks to your work, I’ve successfully brought several of them back to life. Even with different variants of RK3128, I was able to get them running properly on NAND with kernel 4.x, which is honestly impressive given how inconsistent these boards can be. That said, I’d like to ask if you might consider extending your approach to RK3228/RK3229 devices using rkdeveloptool on Windows, similar to what you’ve done for RK3128. I’ve been trying to replicate a similar workflow based on your guide and also by studying the multitool source, especially the step-nand function. So far, I’ve attempted: Reusing trust.img and legacy U-Boot from the multitool BSP folder Manually creating a GPT at 0x8000 Writing the image with dd while skipping the first 4MB (similar to step-nand logic) Unfortunately, none of these attempts have worked so far. The main challenge is that many RK3229 boards don’t have an accessible SD card slot (or even pads for one), which makes recovery and testing much harder. If SD boot were available, this would be much easier to debug and iterate. Since you’ve already done the hard work of figuring things out for RK3128 using rkdeveloptool, I was wondering if you might be willing to give RK3229 a try using a similar method. Even a partial guide or some hints about differences in bootloader layout, trust image, or NAND handling would be extremely helpful. Thanks again for your contribution — it’s genuinely valuable for the community. Hopefully RK3229 can be the next one to crack Cheers!

Excuse me for asking, I'm a total noob when it comes to TV boxes. But how do I install this on a ROM? I have an Android TV ROM that works fine but without Wi-Fi.

Hello. I'm running Armbian on a Ugoos AM3 TV box. I downloaded the Armbian_26.05.0_amlogic_s912_bookworm_6.18.20_server_2026.04.01.img.gz image from https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian/releases/download/Armbian_bookworm_arm64_server_2026.04/ Armbian_26.05.0_amlogic_s912_bookworm_6.18.20_server_2026.04.01.img.gz I'm using an 8GB USB flash drive. I formatted the flash drive to FAT32. I burned the image to the flash drive using Win32 Disk Imager. After burning the image, I found the u-boot-s905x-s912.bin file in the root directory of the flash drive and renamed it to u-boot.ext. In the /dtb/amlogic/ directory, I found the meson-gxm-ugoos-am3.dtb file and edited the path in the extlinux/extlinux.conf file in the FDT line. The resulting line was: FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxm-ugoos-am3.dtb I connected a monitor via HDMI to the TV box, a network via Ethernet, a USB keyboard, and inserted a USB flash drive into the TV box. Armbian loaded normally. I followed the steps to create a user and install locales. No network setup messages appeared during setup. After setup and booting, I ran the command as the user ip a I saw that the TV Box hadn't received an IP address. I tried running the command sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager , but the IP address didn't appear. I turned off the TV Box using the command sudo poweroff. I disconnected the USB flash drive and booted into the TV Box in Android (I'm using a slimBox). I checked the network in Android—both Ethernet and WiFi were working. I switched the WiFi status in Android to off, and then re-enabled the WiFi. I inserted the USB flash drive with Armbian into the TV Box and booted into Armbian—the Ethernet network was working. I tried shutting down the system using the command sudo poweroff. I disconnected the TV Box from the power supply. After that, I booted the TV Box into Armbian again—both Ethernet and WiFi were still not working. If I re-enable the network in Android, the Ethernet will work again until the power is cut off. I tried using the dtb files meson-gxm-q201.dtb and meson-gxm-q200.dtb, but the Ethernet also doesn't work after a power outage. My TV box uses an LTM8830 WiFi module and an Amlogic S912 ARM Cortex-A53 processor. RAM is 2 GB.

Hello guys i want to use linux on mx pro tv box from pendrive when i flash armbian image to pendrive and click the secret button on box nothing boots up can any one guide me on this thankyou:)

DISCLAIMERS (PLEASE READ): - Everything in this post is provided AS-IS. This is not an official Armbian-supported target, and neither the Armbian project nor I am responsible for any damage, data loss, or broken devices caused by flashing or testing these images. - As with other TV boxes, please assume there may be board variants, undocumented hardware changes, weak power supplies, and marginal NAND/eMMC chips. Test carefully before writing anything to internal storage. - Please keep discussion and support in the forum thread, not in the official Armbian issue tracker. Hi all, I would like to share my work on bringing Armbian to Rockchip RK3128 TV boxes. These boxes are quite old now, and I do not think they are especially common anymore. Still, I suspect a lot of people may have one lying around somewhere in a drawer, unused after Android updates stopped or the original firmware became too slow to care about. I also had several of them lying around at home, which is what pushed me to start this project in the first place. Since I could not find an RK3128 Armbian effort comparable to the RK322x one, I decided to try doing the port myself. Another important motivation was simply to reduce e-waste: if even some of these old boxes can be turned into usable Linux machines again instead of being thrown away, that already feels worthwhile to me. First and foremost, I want to send special thanks to @jock and @fabiobassa for their RK322x TV box work on this forum. Their work was the foundation that made this RK3128 effort much easier to start from. 1. Main references and source code: Blog post with the full write-up: https://chieunhatnang.de/p/building-armbian-for-rockchip-rk3128/ Follow-up post for kernel 6.6.89 work: https://chieunhatnang.de/p/building-armbian-for-rockchip-rk3128-part-2/ Build scripts and releases: https://github.com/chieunhatnang-personal/RK3128-Linux-SupportingScripts RK3128 kernel 4.4 tree: https://github.com/chieunhatnang-personal/linux-kernel-4.4-rk3128-tvbox RK3128 kernel 6.6 tree: https://github.com/chieunhatnang-personal/linux-kernel-6.6-rk3128-tvbox 2. Current status At the moment I have two kernel lines: `4.4.194`, the older vendor-based line, which is already usable in practice `6.6.89`, the newer line, which allows these boxes to run a more up-to-date Armbian userspace What works in the current build: Custom U-Boot based on Rockchip U-Boot 2017.09 All four CPU cores, up to 1.2 GHz CPU frequency scaling and governors DRAM frequency control, both dynamic and fixed NAND, eMMC, SD card, and USB booting. The booting order is: USB >> SD Card >> NAND/eMMC (NAND and eMMC cannot be enabled at the same time because they share pins) OTG and EHCI/OHCI USB support Ethernet Wi-Fi support for SSV6051P, ESP8089, and several Realtek chips GPU acceleration UART1 and UART2, configurable Kernel `6.6.89` status in a bit more detail: CPU DVFS is stable after replacing the inherited/leakage-based OPP assumptions with a board-specific RK3128-safe table. The stable points I ended up using are `216 / 408 / 600 / 816 / 1008 / 1200 MHz` DMC / RAM devfreq works. In practice, simply enabling `dmc` works much better than I first expected, and boards can settle at different normal rates such as `396 MHz` or `456 MHz` GPU on `6.6.89` uses `Lima`, not the old Mali blob stack. That gives a maintainable Mesa/DRM path and hardware-accelerated OpenGL ES instead of depending on a legacy userspace blob VPU/video decode is still the weak point. I tried both `RKMPP` and `Hantro/V4L2` directions, but video processing is still limited, so I do not consider this a polished media-playback setup yet What does not work yet / known limitations: Bluetooth: not implemented or at least not validated, because I do not have a board with Bluetooth to test VPU / hardware video decoding is not in good shape yet SD card and SDIO Wi-Fi are currently using PIO mode on both kernel lines. This is slower than DMA, but stable enough for normal use 3. Image implementation I also made two RK3128 Armbian images based on existing RK322x Armbian images rather than building everything from scratch: Armbian 22.02: Based on the build provided by @jock, running kernel 4.4.189 Armbian 26.02: Based on the official Armbian build for rk322x, running kernel 6.6.89 In both cases, the idea was the same: keep the working RK322x Armbian userspace as a base, then replace the RK322x-specific parts with RK3128 ones, while the kernels themselves are based on Rockchip kernel sources. Compared with the original RK322x images, the RK3128 work mainly replaces or adds: boot.cmd / boot.scr changes so the boot flow can handle NAND and USB properly RK3128-specific Wi-Fi drivers and boot-time module loading logic rk3128-config a delayed Wi-Fi loader service RK3128-specific motd information the RK3128 kernel, DTB, and overlays For the `6.6.89` image specifically, there is some extra image-level cleanup and repackaging: remove the RK322x kernel / dtb / u-boot / BSP packages from the donor image pin those RK322x packages so they do not come back on upgrade install the RK3128 `6.6.89` Debian kernel packages rebuild the BSP package under the RK3128 name 4. Quick installation notes All required files are available from the releases page: The releaes page: https://github.com/chieunhatnang-personal/RK3128-Linux-SupportingScripts/releases Armbian 26.02 image: https://github.com/chieunhatnang-personal/RK3128-Linux-SupportingScripts/releases/download/kernel-6.6-armbian-26-v1.0/A26-release-20260415.zip Armbian 22.02 image: https://github.com/chieunhatnang-personal/RK3128-Linux-SupportingScripts/releases/download/kernel-4.4-armbian-22-v1.1/release-20260412.zip There are three installation layouts that are currently supported: 1. SD card only Pros: safest option, does not touch internal storage, easy to test and easy to remove, and if a board has an SD slot it can still be useful even when NAND/eMMC is completely dead Cons: slower than internal storage, and not every board has an SD slot Best for: first boot, testing, and boards where you want to keep the original Android install untouched 2. Full install to NAND / eMMC Pros: fastest and cleanest setup, uses the internal storage already present on the board Cons: overwrites the original Android install, and old NAND/eMMC may already be unreliable Best for: boards with healthy internal storage when you want a fully self-contained install 3. Hybrid install: bootloader on NAND / eMMC, rootfs on USB or SD card Pros: usually the most practical option for old TV boxes, works well when internal storage is only reliable enough for bootloader pieces, and can also help on boxes with problematic Android boot behavior Cons: more manual than the other methods, still depends on internal storage for the bootloader, and performance depends on the USB drive or SD card used Best for: boxes with weak or aging internal NAND/eMMC, or boxes where you want to avoid a full install to internal storage I describe each method in more detail below. 4.1. Install and boot from SD card Prepare: idbloader.img uboot.img trust.img rootfs.img Create an MBR partition table on the SD card, leave the first 16 MB empty, create one Linux partition, then write: idbloader.img to the raw device at seek=64 uboot.img to the raw device at seek=16384 trust.img to the raw device at seek=24576 rootfs.img to the first partition, not to the whole disk Example: DEV=/dev/sdX sudo parted -s "$DEV" mklabel msdos sudo parted -s "$DEV" mkpart primary ext4 16MB 100% sudo partprobe "$DEV" sudo dd if=idbloader.img of="$DEV" seek=64 conv=fsync sudo dd if=uboot.img of="$DEV" seek=16384 conv=fsync sudo dd if=trust.img of="$DEV" seek=24576 conv=fsync sudo dd if=rootfs.img of="${DEV}1" bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync sync I also provide a bootcardmaker.sh helper script in the same release directory to simplify this process. 4. 2. Full install to NAND / eMMC Prepare: rkxx_loader_vx.xx.xxx.bin parameter.txt uboot.img trust.img rootfs.img Then: Boot the board normally Connect a USB cable to the OTG port Open RKDevTool v2.69 In Advanced Function, erase the first 0x10000 sectors with Start LBA = 0x0 and Count = 0x10000 Press ResetDevice Wait for the board to return in MaskROM mode Go to Download Image Flash Loader, parameter, U-Boot, Trust, and rootfs 4. 3. Hybrid install: bootloader on NAND / eMMC, rootfs on USB or SD card This is the layout I use most often, and in practice it is probably the most useful one for old TV boxes. It is especially useful when internal NAND/eMMC is still good enough for Loader / parameter / U-Boot / Trust, but not reliable enough for a full root filesystem. A common symptom on these old boxes is that Android starts to boot and then hangs, or that the internal storage is simply too unreliable to trust with a full install. In this hybrid layout: Internal NAND/eMMC stores Loader, parameter, U-Boot, and Trust The root filesystem lives on USB or SD card Important: rootfs.img is a filesystem image, not a full disk image Write rootfs.img to a partition such as /dev/sdX1, not to the whole device Tools like BalenaEtcher are the wrong fit for this particular image layout Example: sudo dd if=rootfs.img of=/dev/sdX1 bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync sync 4.4. Post-install configuration After the board boots successfully, you can configure it either from the local console over HDMI or remotely over SSH if Ethernet is connected. Default login: user: root password: 1234 The first login will ask you to change the password. After that, run: rk3128-config This is the board-specific configuration tool for enabling and adjusting hardware features that may differ between RK3128 boxes. The most important options are: Wi-Fi chip selection RAM dynamic frequency: disabled by default. Enabling it can improve performance, but on some boards it may cause kernel hangs. If that happens, switch it back to disabled SD card storage enablement when booting from another device Display resolution OTG mode selection 5. Testing feedback is welcome If anyone here has RK3128 boards and wants to test, feedback would be very useful, especially for: Board photos and PCB markings Whether the board uses NAND or eMMC Boot method that works: SD, USB, NAND, eMMC Which Wi-Fi chip is present Serial logs, dmesg, and failure reports If there is enough interest and enough board coverage, I would be happy to keep improving this, cleaning it up further, and making it easier for other people to test. 6. Credits - @jock and @fabiobassa for the RK322x TV box work on the Armbian forum, which provided the main starting point, the images and practical reference for this RK3128 effort - Rockchip for the original kernel code base used as the foundation for both kernel lines

@Sergioclr Well that is the u-boot root directory. Where the main Makefile is located. I added my own root_key.pem in the patch. You don't have to generate one. The root_key.pem for Allwinner H616/618/313 devices is not a single, universal file, but rather an RSA private key file used for signing bootloader images (TOC0) in secure boot implementations. In many commercial H616-based TV boxes, Secure Boot is enabled by the manufacturer, but the efuses (which store the root key hash) are not permanently locked, allowing the use of custom keys openssl genrsa -out root_key.pem

This week, Collabora is at the YouTube Device Partner Summit in Tokyo showcasing our ongoing work with YouTube, notably on their TV app and the RDK platform, which has resulted in the RDK's integration as a core platform for Cobalt development. View the full article

Hello, I have H96 Max TV box with RK3528 chip (4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, Android 13, build RZX.V01.20240924). Board: RK3528_DDR3_8X4_V12. Problem: Box does not boot from TF card at all. No HDMI output, no DHCP lease, nothing. What I have: TF card slot on the box 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB 3.0 port No serial/UART adapter (DEBUG header visible on PCB but not connected) Android 13 still working on EMMC ADB access with root What I tried: Built Armbian with BOARD=rk3528-tvbox BRANCH=legacy BUILD_MINIMAL=yes RELEASE=trixie Extracted DTB from Android boot partition, added to image Wrote image to TF card with dd Verified RKNS header at sector 64 - correct Tried replacing idbloader with one from our custom U-Boot build Original U-Boot on EMMC appears to ignore TF card completely Question: How to make original U-Boot boot from TF card? Or is there a way to install Armbian to EMMC safely while keeping ability to recover? Device AIDA64 info: Model: H96_Max_RK3528 Device: rk3528_box Hardware: rk30board Thank you!

Debug (Phoenixsuit) original software loaded (emmc) Photo from TV Box recovery menu: Thanks in advance.

@savznkvo if you followed my compile.sh steps from above, you should have a file Armbian-unofficial_26.05.0-trunk_Orangepirv2_trixie_current_6.18.21_minimal.img in ./output/images ready to be flashed to your SD card. Insert and boot. At this point you need TV / Kbd or UART to finish the wizard (set root PW etc). Now start armbian-install (see screen shot). Transfer *.img to /dev/nvme0n1, use netcat or similar. Then power down, remove SD and eMMC (if plugged). Restart from NVME, now you have to complete first time wizard again. Tested with current main and it works flawlessly. Addon: if you apt-get dist-upgrade, a newer kernel package from Armbian nightly builds is installed and the bcmdhd wifi kernel driver module is recompiled - which needs some time. This will DOWNGRADE from 6.18.21 to 6.18.20 currently - this works as designed. HTH // Sven-Ola

@savznkvo Installing headless (blind / via network) on a board this new will fail probably. Get a TV and connect an HDMI display or get a serial adapter and connect that for debug. I'll check later with a spare NVME, but I am pretty sure it works (provided, that you compiled the correct firmware). HTH // Sven-Ola

First of all thanks to the people maintaining armbian for helios64. I recently upgraded (well I reinstalled) to trixie and everything mostly runs stable for me. However I have a problem with the 2.5GB adapter. It is connected to a 2.5GB switch and when for example running iperf3 I get proper results close to 2.5 GBit. So in general it seems to be running ok. I have a DLNA server (minidlna) running on that machine and when I stream from my TV (streaming via VLC from my laptop triggers the same problems) the network connection drops for a moment and works again after a few seconds (which you can guess is super annoying when watching something). I am not sure what exactly is triggering this. most of the time the network is super stable but during streaming I get hickups. This is what my kernel log spits out when this is happending: ``` Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event TRB for slot 4 ep 3 with no TDs queued Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event TRB for slot 4 ep 3 with no TDs queued Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event TRB for slot 4 ep 3 with no TDs queued Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event TRB for slot 4 ep 3 with no TDs queued Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f10 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f20 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f30 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f40 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f50 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f60 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f70 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f80 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8f90 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:54 hermann-walter kernel: xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Event dma 0x00000000053f8fa0 for ep 3 status 1 not part of TD at 00000000053f8ed0 - 00000000053f8ed0 Apr 09 17:45:59 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0 enx646266d00873: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 5152 ms Apr 09 17:45:59 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0 enx646266d00873: Tx timeout Apr 09 17:46:00 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0 enx646266d00873: Tx status -2 Apr 09 17:46:00 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0 enx646266d00873: Tx status -2 Apr 09 17:46:00 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0 enx646266d00873: Tx status -2 Apr 09 17:46:00 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0 enx646266d00873: Tx status -2 Apr 09 17:46:02 hermann-walter kernel: r8152-cfgselector 2-1.4: reset SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci-hcd ``` the usb related messages are not always there but the r8152 related messages are always there. I found a similar problem here: https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/issues/22130 I tried replacing the firmware but that didn't help and I later found out that the helios64 uses a different firmware so that explains why it didn't help: ``` Apr 10 05:48:30 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0: Loaded FW: rtl_nic/rtl8156a-2.fw, sha256: 7b50f4a307bde7b3f384935537c4d9705457fa42613eb0003ffbc4e19461a1e0 Apr 10 05:48:30 hermann-walter kernel: r8152 2-1.4:1.0: Loaded FW: rtl_nic/rtl8156a-2.fw, sha256: 7b50f4a307bde7b3f384935537c4d9705457fa42613eb0003ffbc4e19461a1e0 ``` does anybody know what is going on? I am quite sure that the problem wasn't there before the upgrade (but I might be mistaken because I only started observing the helios64 again after the upgrade. also it seems to be related to the amount of network traffic going on. i.e. lower bitrate streams seem to not trigger the problem). Streaming via the 1GBit NIC is working fine.

3D Graphics Acceleration on T95N (A98X Jackbox) - RK3229 with 2GB RAM / 16GB eMMC - Educational Project for Schools Hi, I’m working on a project using a specific TV Box model (A98X Jackbox) to repurpose these boxes as low-cost computers for schools. The goal is to provide students with a platform to use AI tools and basic productivity, but I need better browser rendering. Hardware Specs (Confirmed via board teardown and logs): Board ID: T95N-RK3229_512X4_V1.5 CPU: Rockchip RK3229 RAM: 2GB (Confirmed via free -m) Storage: 16GB eMMC (SanDisk SDIN9DS2-16G) OS: Armbian 21.08.8 Bullseye (Legacy Kernel 4.4.194-rk322x) What I have done so far: Installed the Minimal image and set up LXDE with LightDM. Optimized the system (Governor set to performance, swappiness set to 10). Ran glxinfo -B which confirms it's currently using llvmpipe (Accelerated: no). Tried searching for Mali drivers via apt, but armbian-config is not available in the repositories for this specific build/architecture. Verified Wi-Fi functionality (working fine with LED config 2 via rk322x-config). The system is stable and surprisingly fast thanks to the 2GB RAM, but the CPU is struggling with 100% spikes during browser rendering (Epiphany WebKit) because it lacks GPU acceleration. Question: Is there a way to enable Mali-400 MP2 drivers for X11 on this Legacy 4.4 kernel? Are there any specific packages, blobs, or workarounds to get hardware acceleration working and replace llvmpipe? I’m available to run any tests or provide further logs if needed. Thanks for this amazing project!

Hey everyone, I’ve cross-flashed a MXQ 4K 5G (Allwinner sun8iw7p1 / H3) firmware onto a different H3-based TV box. Everything works surprisingly well, except for the IR Power-On/Wakeup. Since the hardware is different, my box's IR receiver is sending a scancode that the MXQ firmware doesn't recognize as the "Wakeup" key. Because this is an Allwinner (sunxi) build and not Rockchip, I know I can't just edit a remote.conf file in the system partition to fix the cold-boot power button. My questions: Where exactly is the Hardcoded IR Wakeup/Power-on scancode stored in these Phoenix-style Allwinner images? Is it buried in the Device Tree Blob (DTB) under a specific IR controller node, or is it hardcoded in the U-Boot/SPL? If I unpack the boot.img or kernel, what hex patterns should I search for to find the Power-key scancode table? If anyone has experience patching the primary boot scancode for sun8i chips, I’d love some guidance on which partition/file to hex-edit. Thanks!

Newbie on Armbian. I have an Allwinner H313 (confirmed) box that I want to to use as a basic Samba server. CPU:Allwinner H313Quad Core ARM Cortex A53 GPU:Mali-G31 OPenGL ES3.2 Memory:2GB Flash:16GB OS:Android 10.0 The actual firmware is a secure image and, no matter what procedure I do, I can't load any other image but the secure one. Debugging shows that 'fastbootd' has the "secure" flag set. My intention is to create a basic secure arm64 Debian image but I am having a hard time in doing so. Any ideas (specific Wiki, procedures) on how to create the secure image or "reset" the "secure" flag will be very appreciated. Thanks in advance.

And the email system for is emailing with me erroneos info about bedno report 2x a day, so call off the quard dogs, it been solved without any help from this forum. you've been yelling about dhcp w/out once offering me a single clue as to how I should configure it even when I showed you the results. FYI I have been doing odd things with little machines for a lot longer that most of you have been breathing on your own starting with an rca 1802 in 1978. Do any of you have a track record that long? That bit of production tooling for a medium market tv station was still in use 20+ times a day when the station burned to the ground in the late 90's. I prefer to call it efficiency since most production equipment at a tv station is so heavily used & long since worn out before the IRS lets them amortize the cost. I am also a CET, a test 95% of the EE's out there cannot pass. I call a backup server that draws 19 watts at full song in the middle of backing up 8 machines here, efficient. Took me a while to figure it out the hardware and around $1500 in hardware. But it works as fast as my cat6 wired local net can run.

I have an H50-labeled tv box with a different board (T98-3318-V2.3) but with exactly the same problem - no HDMI even though all the software debug traces show that everything video-related gets called and works. I first tried to make it work 5 years ago and failed and a few months ago I revisited it just to see if I can make it work now in the age of AI. I made a really deep dive into reverse engineering it. I rooted the original Android firmware and dumped anything I could, extracted and analyzed with Ghidra the vendor u-boot and kernel (wasn't particularly helpful) and finally managed to execute the u-boot binary in Renode by emulating a lot of hardware stuff with code or by simply replacing functions with successful returns all the way to the point of u-boot displaying the splash screen and with various hooks and warnings about peripheral accesses I collected a comprehensive trace of everything that u-boot was doing, and in that trace, the AI noticed a certain GPIO access and suggested replacing this vcc-host-vbus { compatible = "regulator-fixed"; enable-active-high; gpio = <0x74 0x00 0x00>; pinctrl-names = "default"; pinctrl-0 = <0x76>; regulator-name = "vcc_host_vbus"; regulator-always-on; regulator-min-microvolt = <0x4c4b40>; regulator-max-microvolt = <0x4c4b40>; vin-supply = <0x77>; phandle = <0x100>; }; with this vcc-display-en { compatible = "regulator-fixed"; gpio = <0x74 0x00 0x01>; pinctrl-names = "default"; pinctrl-0 = <0x76>; regulator-name = "vcc_display_en"; regulator-always-on; regulator-boot-on; regulator-min-microvolt = <0x4c4b40>; regulator-max-microvolt = <0x4c4b40>; vin-supply = <0x77>; phandle = <0x100>; }; in the standard rk3318-box.dts which made HDMI work.

Hey everyone! I have a TV Box labeled “In Xplus”, running on an Allwinner H313 (most likely a generic/rebranded device). I was able to install Linux on it using Armbian 26.2.0-trunk (Trixie). The system boots normally, but I’m facing network issues: - Wi-Fi is not working (no interface detected) - Ethernet is also not working (only interface is lo) So basically, the system runs fine, but I have no network connectivity at all. My questions: - Is this a current limitation of Armbian support for the H313? - Is there any specific DTB or patch that could fix Wi-Fi/Ethernet? - Is there a more stable Armbian version or another distro with better support? - Has anyone managed to get networking working on this chip? Any help or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all, I have an RK3318 TV box (A95X R2_V20). The front panel controller is TM1628. I’m running Armbian 23.11.1 with kernel 6.19.0‑edge‑rockchip64. Problem: tm16xx is not enabled in this kernel (CONFIG_TM16XX_* not set), and there is no rk3318x-config in this image. I tried to locate tm16xx sources in current Armbian kernel trees and mainline, but the driver is missing, so I can’t build it from the local headers. I have active Docker projects (avito-bot) on this box and don’t want to reinstall the system, and previous two reinstalls ended with apt issues, so I’d prefer to avoid a fresh image. Question: Is there a known external tm16xx driver repo (or patch) that can be built as an out‑of‑tree module for RK3318? If yes, could you point me to the source and any required device‑tree overlay/pin mapping for TM1628? I already posted board photos and dtb above (my post is still unanswered), so please refer to that if needed. Thanks!

Hello. I have a problem that's been driving me crazy, and I think I'm not the only one. I'm using Armbian version v25.05.0 for Aml.S905x running Armbian Linux 6.12.19-ophub Debian stable (bookworm), and I managed to install RealVNC Connect, for which I have a license. The problem I'm having, and I can't find a solution, is that by default the GDM3 desktop launcher uses Wayland, and when I connect externally to the server, I only get a black screen with a message saying "the desktop cannot be displayed at this time." I'm using GNOME, and I've tried different desktop environments, but they never work, even after selecting them from the gear icon. It just acts like it's going to launch and then returns to the user's home page. It doesn't matter if I use Xorg; no desktop environment ever loads. Only GNOME and GNOME Classic work. If I modify the /etc/gdm3/custom.conf file by deselecting Waylan, I get a black screen and can't even log in. It's a vicious cycle that prevents me from using this server that I like. I've also tried installing other screen launchers like LightDM, but they don't work on my system; the startup process either freezes or I get a black screen. I'm quite desperate. The device where Armbian is installed is an Amlogic TV Box, which is otherwise working perfectly, but this server issue is really frustrating me. Could anyone offer a solution so I can use this server that was working before? Thank you very much.