linsir Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Hi Folks, I have an MXQ-PRO-S905 box, branded as an "Antsir" 4k box, 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM using an RTL8189 chipset. I have built the SD card several times using different variations of the Armbian OS (details below). The box is currently running the "Coolio" build, but I want to be able to run armbian from the SD card, however, there is no update options available inside the OS to trigger it to boot, so I manually boot into recovery, the SD card can be seen, but because I dont have a valid file for the recovery bootloader, I cannot trigger it to boot into the environment. Is there anything special I need to be doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyMac32 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Hello @linsir, I've moved this over into the TV box discussion area, I think you'll find more info here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balbes150 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 On 4/21/2020 at 5:16 PM, linsir said: The box is currently running the "Coolio" build Write more about the system in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linsir Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 Hi @balbes150, sorry hopefully this helps a little more I provided the other details, but in terms of the box, I have an MXQ-PRO-S905 (or so is printed on the sticker on the motherboard) box, branded as an "Antsir" 4k box, 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM using an RTL8189 chipset. If I recall correctly, this link is the box I purchased originally: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EAJAM4A this is the link to the details surrounding the "coolio" android firmware it is now running : https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s905/others-ac/firmware-roms-tools-bj/637014-rom-image-firmware-mxq-pro-4k-p201-android-tv-atv-by-coolio In terms of the "issue", the instructions I follow suggest you need to insert the SD card, and then run the "update" application from within the operating system to invoke a reboot into linux, the build I have does not contain such an option. I can reboot the device into the recovery environment, install from SD card, but its of course looking for some form of an image file to extract, rather than to boot into the linux platform. Hopefully this provides more of the information you require? if I have missed something please do let me know as I would be more than happy to share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balbes150 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 40 minutes ago, linsir said: In terms of the "issue", the instructions I follow suggest you need to insert the SD card, and then run the "update" application from within the operating system to invoke a reboot into linux, the build I have does not contain such an option. I can reboot the device into the recovery environment, install from SD card, but its of course looking for some form of an image file to extract, rather than to boot into the linux platform. If you haven't previously run any pirated stuff on this device (which blocks the execution of scripts), try the "toothpick"method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linsir Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 (edited) Thanks for the pointers Balbes. So I downloaded what is the closest thing to the stock ROM and ran it on the box. This allowed me to run the update & backup after inserting the SD card, followed the armbian instructions, loaded the SD card, updated the config to be dtb.img, ran the reboot, booted with the toothpick method and as the V Box booted, it stopped at the MXQ Pro screen - where the bootloader would then receive files from the computer. I tried a few different configs but it still didnt work. Is this expected behaviour? Its not automatically booting into Linux showing the text based loading of the OS. also, I cannot reply to topics as I keep getting the message I have exceeded my maximum posts for the day? I presume its a forum rule, but when does it relax? Edited April 24, 2020 by linsir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balbes150 Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 42 minutes ago, linsir said: updated the config to be dtb.img ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linsir Posted April 25, 2020 Author Share Posted April 25, 2020 Hi Balbes, apologies, this one post a day thing is driving me nuts, so I better make the most of it, as Monday seems to be the next time I am permitted to reply. OK... so first of all, the reference I make to the dtb.img file. if you refer to your post below (albeit old, but it explains where I got the logic) if you look at the third video down, around 4 minutes in, he talks about getting the file from within the dtb folder, copying it to the root and renaming the file to dtb.img. Now, in order to explain what I am doing, I have taken the files from the directed folder (https://yadi.sk/d/pHxaRAs-tZiei) and I have extracted each of the images to a local directory. Is there anything else I can do? also if there is an admin around - can someone advise why I am only allowed to post once a day and if/when this restriction would be lifted? Directory: C:\users\james\downloads\tv linux\20.02\20200205 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 23/04/2020 14:57 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205.im g d----- 23/04/2020 14:57 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_desktop_202 00205.img d----- 23/04/2020 14:59 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205.im g d----- 23/04/2020 15:00 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_desktop_202 00205.img d----- 23/04/2020 15:01 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.038_Aml-s9xxx_bullseye_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205. img -a---- 20/04/2020 01:34 286251988 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205.im g.xz -a---- 20/04/2020 01:35 678020272 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_desktop_202 00205.img.xz -a---- 20/04/2020 01:38 396094340 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205.im g.xz -a---- 20/04/2020 01:42 909064340 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_desktop_202 00205.img.xz -a---- 20/04/2020 21:39 347340800 Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.038_Aml-s9xxx_bullseye_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200205. img.xz -a---- 25/04/2020 18:14 0 output.txt [/CODE] The images file I am using is Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_desktop_202.img. I then use RUFUS / Etcher / Win32DiskImager to burn the image to the SD card. I then load it into the SD card slot, and start the update process from within the android operating system. As you can see, it reboots and hangs at the MXQ Pro bootloader image. I then did the toothpick AV reset button, removed and reinserted the power. The following 2 reboots are whilst holding this button in (doing nothing further). the final reboot and hang at the same bootloader image, is with no reset button pressed. the video is hosted on my google drive: - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-e-RZWTWBv_uFMxfk_b9I59de3cWj4li/view?usp=sharing I will try the other image files, but so far they have not been successful, so I am going for another round. Otherwise, since the above, I have simply done an upload of the image file to my SD card and nothing amended - just burn, remove, reinsert to box and go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balbes150 Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 23 minutes ago, linsir said: OK... so first of all, the reference I make to the dtb.img file. if you refer to your post below (albeit old, but it explains where I got the logic) if you look at the third video down, around 4 minutes in, he talks about getting the file from within the dtb folder, copying it to the root and renaming the file to dtb.img. This information is very outdated and does not relate to modern images. You need to configure DTB only by editing the file (uEnv.txt). Change the name of the file used in it. For this reason, nothing works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteeMan Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 2 hours ago, linsir said: The images file I am using is Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.037_Aml-s9xxx_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_desktop_202.img. I then use RUFUS / Etcher / Win32DiskImager to burn the image to the SD card. In addition to what blabes150 just said, you can find the current instructions and latest builds in the first post of the below thread: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linsir Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 OK so, taking on board the correct use of the uENV file, and following the guidance, I was able to boot into the SD card once, this generated a boot screen for linux, but was stuck on "initstate" and would do nothing further. Now, the same SD card is not responding in the same way, and the box hangs again on the MXQ screen without progress. I am going to continue trying it again but still not having much luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balbes150 Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Depending on the speed of the carrier, the initial start may take up to 10 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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