How to install armbian in h618?

[Nick A]

@Rodrigo Campos The 20251226 build uses a newer kernel, but audio through the A/V out port is currently broken. I haven't had time to fix it yet, so if you don't need that port, feel free to use this version.

[Brow Mosh]

 

On 2/5/2026 at 7:31 PM, Nick A said:

Have you tried extracting your arndroid dts to find the gpio settings for emmc

 

Yes @Nick A. Tried that also. 

 

 

On 2/5/2026 at 7:31 PM, Nick A said:

(FEL)

 

Copilot mentioned this to me:

 

🟦 If you want to keep fighting this board…

I can help you explore:

 

- FEL mode flashing  

- Using the vendor Android recovery to write eMMC  

- Dumping the vendor kernel and trying to boot it  

- Porting the vendor MMC driver (very advanced)  

 

But I want to be honest with you:  

none of these paths are easy, and none guarantee success.

 

 

Now, I asked it to elaborate on the idea:

 

Let’s unpack this in a way that actually makes sense, Brow — because FEL sounds simple (“just plug in USB and flash it”), but on H618 TV boxes it becomes a whole different beast.

 

I’ll keep it clean, structured, and honest.

 

---

 

🟦 Why FEL mode sounds easy

On paper, FEL is Allwinner’s built‑in USB recovery mode:

 

- You connect the box to a PC  

- Press a button or short two pads  

- The SoC enters FEL  

- You use sunxi-fel to upload U‑Boot or write eMMC  

 

In theory, it’s the “ultimate backdoor” for fixing a broken board.

 

---

 

🟥 Why FEL is complicated on your specific device

Your Transpeed 8K618‑T is not a dev board.  

It’s a mass‑produced TV box with:

 

- No FEL button  

- No exposed pads  

- No documentation  

- No schematic  

- No guarantee the USB port even supports FEL  

- Vendor boot ROM sometimes disables FEL  

- USB port may be wired through a hub or switch  

- Some boxes require opening the case and shorting tiny test pads  

- Some require holding reset while powering  

- Some require UART strap pins  

- Some require a special cable  

- Some simply do not support FEL at all

 

So the first complication is:  

You don’t know how to enter FEL on this board.

 

---

 

🟥 Second complication: FEL only gives you RAM access

FEL lets you:

 

- Upload a U‑Boot binary into RAM  

- Execute it  

- Use that U‑Boot to access eMMC  

 

But here’s the catch:

 

You must provide a U‑Boot binary that supports your hardware.

 

Mainline U‑Boot does not support:

 

- Your weird SD wiring  

- Your PMIC  

- Your DRAM timing  

- Your eMMC layout  

- Your HDMI  

- Your regulators  

 

Vendor U‑Boot does, but:

 

- You don’t have the vendor U‑Boot binary  

- You don’t have the vendor DRAM init code  

- You don’t have the vendor MMC driver  

- You don’t have the vendor DTB  

 

So even if FEL works, you still need a working U‑Boot image to upload — and we don’t have one.

 

---

 

🟥 Third complication: writing eMMC through FEL is slow and fragile

Even if you get FEL working and even if you get a working U‑Boot:

 

- Writing eMMC over FEL is extremely slow  

- If the connection drops, you brick the device  

- You must manually partition eMMC  

- You must manually install boot0, boot1, U‑Boot, DTB, rootfs  

- You must manually fix extlinux.conf  

- You must manually fix environment variables  

 

This is not like flashing a Raspberry Pi.

 

It’s more like doing open‑heart surgery with a butter knife.

 

---

 

🟥 Fourth complication: your board’s MMC subsystem is already unstable

We’ve already seen:

 

- SD card hangs  

- MMC controller wedges  

- Linux freezes on /dev/mmcblk*  

- Armbian initramfs fails  

- MiniArch freezes  

- Vendor kernel is the only thing that works  

 

If the MMC hardware is unstable under Linux,  

it may also be unstable under FEL‑booted U‑Boot.

 

Meaning:  

Even if FEL works, you might not be able to write eMMC reliably.

 

---

 

🟦 So why did I say FEL is complicated?

Because on a proper Allwinner dev board, FEL is easy.

 

But on a cheap TV box with undocumented wiring, FEL becomes a puzzle with these problems:

 

| Problem | Why it matters |

|--------|----------------|

| No FEL button | You don’t know how to enter FEL |

| Unknown test pads | You may need to open the board |

| Vendor may disable FEL | Some boxes block FEL in BOOT0 |

| USB wiring unknown | FEL may not work on the exposed port |

| Need vendor U‑Boot | Mainline U‑Boot won’t boot your hardware |

| Need vendor DRAM init | Otherwise RAM won’t initialize |

| Need vendor MMC driver | Otherwise eMMC won’t be writable |

| MMC hardware unstable | Even FEL‑booted U‑Boot may hang |

 

This is why FEL is not a magic fix here.

 

---

 

🟩 Could we try FEL anyway?

Yes — if you want, I can guide you through:

 

- Checking if FEL is available  

- Finding the FEL pads  

- Using sunxi-fel  

- Dumping BOOT0  

- Dumping vendor U‑Boot  

- Rebuilding a hybrid U‑Boot  

- Flashing eMMC manually  

 

But I want you to understand the reality:

 

It’s a research project, not a guaranteed solution.

 

---

 

🟦 If you want to try FEL, I can walk you through step 1 right now

Step 1 is simple:

 

Connect the box to your PC via USB‑A to USB‑A cable, then power it on.

 

On your PC, run:

 

`

sunxi-fel version

`

 

If it prints something → FEL works.  

If it says “no device found” → we need to try hardware tricks.

 

Just tell me if you want to go down this path.