CSC Armbian for RK322x TV box boards

[jock]

6 hours ago, k405 said:

Now I intend to run Armbian on the SDCARD and use the eMMC as a swapfile and storage for cache and temporary files, is that possible?

Yes, but use a flash device as swap is the worst idea you can have

[Benedito Portela]

Hi, i have a R29_5G_LP3_V1.2 that i brick it, tried reduce the partition from internal emmc, i used rkdeveloptool to fix it, and dont worked! Can i remove the emmc chip and this can work just sdcard boot? 

Thanks

[k405]

@atleta I've been seeing that it's a bad idea, it has 8g and I didn't want to completely waste its use, I wanted to help the system's processing or speed in some way but I think it's difficult lol

[RaptorSDS]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb Benedito Portela:

sdcard boot

yes put armbian image like multiboot on a sdcard and than boot maybe you have to put another boot partionion on emmc but not more ,

you dont need to remove emmc for this

[RaptorSDS]

vor 15 Stunden schrieb k405:

How do I get the serial log?

you have to log at the bord direct for the pins or soldering point , than solder wire and connect to uart usb adapter , than you can get a log,

you say yyou can boot from emmc but its not stable ? or complete dead emmc

 

this are  cheap box , there is not many to speed up 

maybe use one box for one task is the goal than

[k405]

updating so far, i installed arch linux on tv box

@RaptorSDS I really want to learn how to do this, where are these pins? What adapter is this? Is this adapter the common one for reading electronic chips?

I will love to help you with the information, in return I receive the knowledge

Also, eMMC is unstable, I install and configure armbian normally, but when trying to update armbian, every now and then it freezes during the update and after restarting it no longer enters the system.

 

After reporting the system crash here on the forum recently, I found myself on a mission to install a system that I feel comfortable with, Archlinux.

 

With the idea of using the sdcard, with the command dd if=armbian-blabla.img of=device bs=1M oflag=direct status=progress I installed Armbian on the sdcard. With that, I already installed U-Boot and the Armbian boot, I just had to download the armv7 rootfs from archlinuxarm.org

 

 

I had problems with the root password and file permissions. After copying the arch rootfs to the card, I discovered after trial and error that the files were corrupted. The solution was to redo the entire process.

 

Now the system starts correctly, however, ssh would not start with the boot, and my board is an R29, I do not have HDMI access (and I suspect that not even the USB gadgets work, but I have not tested it yet). The solution was simple.

With Armbian on the internal eMMC, I mounted the sdcard along with the dev, proc, sys and run partitions, and in chroot with the sdcard I configured ssh, pacman with pacman-key --init and pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm, and installed sudo to be able to do the basics.

 

In addition, it was necessary to manually configure fstab and copy network settings (to make things easier) from armbian to arch.

[k405]

With this, I will use the box to run a simple file synchronization service.

I want to use the internal eMMc, what is the best way to use it?

[Benedito Portela]

@RaptorSDS, it do not boot from sdcard or flash usb, i think this box is die, only enter in Mask mode, but do not working any rkdeveloptool commands to rescue it!  I rememeber now, to be a emcp so the ram memory is the same chip, i do not remove it, this go to junk! 

Thank you by help-me!

 

[k405]

I went back to the default Armbian rootfs.

 

The Arch rootfs broke the boot, probably due to the use of the latest systemd.

It is possible to mitigate this but it is not worth it.

 

Now I am running normally from the sdcard, I just wanted help with the armbian-config options.

 

I know that led-conf7 and uart2 are correct for my board, right? I'm still looking for the others in the thread

 

And what do I have to do to make the wifi work?

[Vinicius Guastala]

Hello Guys,

This will be a long post, so I already apologize for that!

 

I am trying to install armbian in the most generic MXQ PRO 5G 4K ever. No joking when I say it’s generic, because I have some proof that this Frankenstein monster is actually a MX9 and a MXQ 4K PRO merged together.

 

Here are some board Details:
MoBo: MXQ-EP-2-V1.0

CPU: Rockchip RK3228A

Wifi: SV6256P

Storage: Samsung KMQ7X000SA – B315 (Is this a ECMP 8GB+8GB or a emmc?)

 

I call it a MXQ Frankenstein, for the following reasons:

• According to the info and the picture from this source, the “MX9 4K 5G” has the exactly same MoBo “MXQ-EP-2-V1.0”, but with the SV6152P wifi instead.
• According to this other forum post, the OP has posted pics from his "TXC2-MXQ-EP-V10” MoBo, which looks basically identical to my “MXQ-EP-2-V1.0”, but it has the SV6152p wifi like the MX9 4K 5G, but with a RK3229 CPU instead. This post was very useful for me because of the Short Pad for Mask Mode for this version is the same as mine.
• In this other post, we see the same “MXQ-EP-2-V1.0” Mobo, but with with a SanDisk storage chip instead. And in the same post, in the last comment we see another user with a 8GB/128GB variant with the same SV6152p wifi from the above “TXC2-MXQ-EP-V10”

So including my version, it seems we have at least 5 different versions of this horrendous Frankenstein device, for the “lowering cost reasons” we already know….

 

Despite many tentatives, I am not able to make the “multitool” (or amrbian directly) to boot, from any method. Tried many times from SD, from USB and even after it is copied directly to the eMMC, all following the guides from the 1st page from this post, but also from other internet sources. Simply I’ve got a black screen output whenever the SD Card with multitool or armbian in inserted, with no leds turned at all.

 

Unfortunately I have not done the backup from my original ROM before I have tried to write armbian directly to the emmc, because I did not know that was possible back then, and now I’m also not able to find my original ROM.

 

I have tried many (10+) different ROMs, flashing from Linux and Windows, but I ending up having the same behavior as booting armbian, with no Video and no LEDs, until I finally came across to the ROM called “MXQ-EP-2-V1.0_SV6152P_OK By: (Zer013)” from this site.

 

With said ROM, I was able at least to get the HDMI video and LED’s blinking, but I got stuck at a boot animation loop forever. For some reason, only when I flash it from Windows using BatchTool or RKDevTools it works.

 

At least I was able to test different Loaders, and with this ROM, I have tested successfully all the loaders below, either flashing by Linux or Windows. (Remember: The device gave video and LEDs, but I still got stucked at ROM’s boot screen):

• RK322XMiniLoaderAll_V2.47_spectek_en_ddr2_rd_odt_171209.bin – This was extracted from the above ROM image that give me workin LEDS and HDMI Video
• rk322x_loader_v1.10.238_256 from a 2020 comment on this thread from a guy trying to overclock his ddr memory.
• rk322x_loader_v1.10.238_256.bin from first page, from the “Installation (without SD card, board with eMMC)” section

I was trying to flash different loaders in hope that some of them would make my armbian to boot from the SD card, but without any luck unfortunately.

 

I have also tried to erase the flash completely to force the SD Card boot, but I have got the same no-screen / no-leds behavior.

 

If anybody has any ideas on how to go further to install armbian in this board, I would appreciate a lot! I don’t need the wifi for the purpose I intend to use it, so minimal installation is more than enough for me.

 

I’ve been turning it on mostly with just the USB cable in the OTG port, so at least I can check the device status with lsusb in linux. Sometimes I do some tests with the power cable turned on, and I have noticed the same behavior as well. Does it make any different to turn it on by USB or Power Connector?

I’m still not able to find the Serial UART pins, even after I have tried soldering my USB-TTL in different points of the Board as there is no printed info, so this also adds to the overall complexity. Despite my efforts with the multimeter, I was not able to identify them yet. Since I’m afraid to burn another USB-TLS adapter, I’m being cautious and only using the GND and RX pins from the adapter. So far, I have found 2 interesting pins, but they only give me gibberish text, despite trying different baud rates (I have tried them all). Most promissing PIN for now is the pin labeled “K” in the pic below, as it is the one that gives me more output when the device is booting, almost in the same time as a normal system boot… So my “guess” is that the Pink K is the board TX pin…



Attached there are all the photos of the mentioned components from my board.

[fabiobassa]

@Vinicius Guastala

first of all thank you for so much detailled infos and your efforts to find any  relevant pin on your board.

Yes china manufacturers are well known to use the first avaible chip they have unused on desk so I am not  at all surprised to have this frankstein model of a 322x
Unfortunately I don't own such board, so really at the moment I have few clues to point you on the right direction.

Mine are generic considerations:
1) no separate chips apart from cpu, just one big big chip = ECMP usually 8 giga rom, 1 giga ram ( good for you if it is 16/2 but i doubt)
2) to me looks more interesting the FGHI part for uart, REMEMBER that uart speed is 1500000 ( yes!!!!!   one million 500000) but follow the tracks for any missing resistor/missing short that stop the uart signal from CPU to pads
3) if you have a radio-aficionado or a tv technician that owns an oscilloscope finding the uart pads will be easier

Sorry if I am not any further useful for your case, cannot buy every single new board that comes out on market, but if for you is important  feel free to send me one sample for study and development


EDIT : I just remebered that if you are lucky because not all boards have enabled. you'll find a uart on the sd card reader, starting from most right pins and counting 4 . Let me be more clear : two small and two big, from right....on the 4 you will have a uart at 1.500.000

Of course if you put the sd in you will lose this signal, but at least confirm you have any readable character on that pin )
 

Edited 19 hours ago by fabiobassa

[jock]

@Vinicius Guastala I agree with @fabiobassa, thanks for the very detailed post of your board and broad description of the behaviour.

I would suggest you to erase the internal flash and try to boot from sdcard with this armbian image. It is an "experimental" image with opensource Trust OS; many recent boards are having issues with proprietary trust os, possibly yours has similar issues, so you could give a shot to this. By the way, the serial log output would be indeed very handy if you have the chance to find the serial port.

 

Beware also that armbian (and multitool) use 115200bps baud rate for the serial, while proprietary software uses 1.5Mbps baud rate!

[Vinicius Guastala]

@fabiobassa and @jock, thanks for your quick responses! You are true heroes for this community.

The suggested experimental image have not worked for me unfortunately. Same behavior, no Video and no Leds.

However, a little progress on the UART search... Connecting my RX adapter pin to the SD Card 4th pin gave me the biggest console output so far, even though its just garbage, I see it as a little progress... Please see the attachment.

Also, I think I was able to identify that the Samsung chip is a 1gb/8GB one from the "rkdeveloptool rfi" command... see it below with some more output from the rkdeveloptooll...
 

[2025-05-12 18:49:03] viny182@desktop-mint ~> sudo rkdeveloptool list         
DevNo=1	Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x320b,LocationID=302	Loader

[2025-05-12 18:49:17] viny182@desktop-mint ~> sudo rkdeveloptool list-partitions
Not found any partition table!

[2025-05-12 18:49:46] viny182@desktop-mint ~ [1]> sudo rkdeveloptool test-device
Test Device OK.

[2025-05-12 18:49:58] viny182@desktop-mint ~> sudo rkdeveloptool rfi
Flash Info:
	Manufacturer: SAMSUNG, value=00
	Flash Size: 7456 MB
	Flash Size: 15269888 Sectors
	Block Size: 512 KB
	Page Size: 2 KB
	ECC Bits: 0
	Access Time: 40
	Flash CS: Flash<0> 
    
[2025-05-12 18:50:19] viny182@desktop-mint ~> sudo rkdeveloptool read-flash-id
Flash ID: 45 4D 4D 43 20

[2025-05-12 18:50:26] viny182@desktop-mint ~> sudo rkdeveloptool read-chip-info
Chip Info:  41 32 32 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[2025-05-12 18:50:41] viny182@desktop-mint ~> sudo rkdeveloptool read-capability
Reading capabilities failed

 

[Vinicius Guastala]

please ignore my previous comment. THE EXPERIMENTAL IMAGE DID BOOTED FROM SD CARD! IT WORKED 

I have forgotten to erase the flash on the first time... After I erased, it booted from the SD Card.

I cannot thank you guys enough!!!! <3 <3 <3  

 

[fabiobassa]

@Vinicius Guastala

@jock indeed is a semi-god on those boxes 😅 ✋

[Vinicius Guastala]

@fabiobassa @jock you both are master-gods with the power of every god from all the mythologies known by the human kind!

Next step for me now is to install it to the eMMC (if that's not possible, I will stick with SD boot only, no problem).

I heard that there is the armbian-install command, so I will try it since the provided image is a XFCE Desktop one and I want a minimum image to free up resources since I just need a headless machine...

Any suggestions for guides/documentations to install a minimal enviroment to emmc from the SD desktop enviroment?