A5x max - rk3328 help booting from emmc

[oneminute]

Hello.

I bought a A5x max with android 9.0 https://pt.geekbuying.com/item/A5X-MAX-RK3328-4GB-32GB-TV-Box-398231.html

I can only boot in the combined mode (i.e. with an SD card + USB).

I tried to boot to emmc doing the procedure described here 

 

However without luck so far. It didn't boot.

Do I need a diferent uboot.img to be able to boot from emmc ?

Is there any procedure so that I can boot from the SD card instead of the combined mode?

What is the best dtb for this A5x max tv box?

I was hoping this tv box would have a better performance than my rasberry pi 3b+ is that unrealistic?

 

Sorry for my begginer questions.

Thank you.

[oneminute]

I have finally succeeded on booting from emmc in A5x max tv box.

 

Lessons learnt:

• Use rk3328-evb.dtb instead of a5x dtb (I couldn't see the mmc partitions with a5x dtb) (edited use rk3328-t9.dtb from hexdump)
• Boot only working on the combined mode USB +SD, you may need to change the create-mbr.sh and install.sh scripts. I edited them to force the writing to mmblk1 instead of mmcblk0 (where my SD card was).
• You may need to unmount mmc partitions 

 

If you are thinking about using a5x max tv box as a desktop pc, I advise you not to buy this box GUI is very slow. However if you want a linux server it is a nice solution since it has a usb 3.0 port, 4gb of ram and a very affordable price.

Proper cooling is required for this tv box.

 

 

[serat]

On 8/18/2019 at 6:47 AM, oneminute said:

I have finally succeeded on booting from emmc in A5x max tv box.

 

Lessons learnt:

• Use rk3328-evb.dtb instead of a5x dtb (I couldn't see the mmc partitions with a5x dtb)
• Boot only working on the combined mode USB +SD, you may need to change the create-mbr.sh and install.sh scripts. I edited them to force the writing to mmblk1 instead of mmcblk0 (where my SD card was).
• You may need to unmount mmc partitions 

 

If you are thinking about using a5x max tv box as a desktop pc, I advise you not to buy this box GUI is very slow. However if you want a linux server it is a nice solution since it has a usb 3.0 port, 4gb of ram and a very affordable price.

Proper cooling is required for this tv box.

 

 

Hi,

This probably a stupid question. But for the newbies, including myself, what does the combined mode USB+SD mean?

Thanks

[oneminute]

It is not stupid.

The A5x max I bought , unlike most tv boxes didn't boot when I mounted armbian image on the SD card.

You need to mount armbian image on an SD card and also in a USB pen drive.

So I was only able to boot using the combined mode, i.e. plugging a USB + SD card at the same time using the same image

[hexdump]

@oneminute - maybe give this dtb a try for booting form sd card only:

 

[oneminute]

Thanks @hexdump, I will try it tomorrow and let you know.

For now I have system up and running on my EMMC, however the machine is very unstable, for example it can stream 4k whitout breaks for 10 minutes than stops (although doesn't lose power). It crashes almost instantaneously when downloading torrents although reaches max ethernet speed of 11mb/s.

I tried cooling the machine it didn't make a difference, I think it is probably the CPUs (maybe the conf is not right with the dtb I'm using), because ram has low usage.  My machine came with a 2.5A power supply also thinking about the possibility of testing with a 3A power supply, for example the machine doesn't have enough power for now to boot my external hard disk in the usb3.0 port.

[oneminute]

Thank you @hexdump, the machine is now stable

Now I can stream 4k and have my hard disk on the usb 3.0 without power issues.

 

I am using rk3328-t9.dtb the version from hexdump