Armbian for H313 X96-Q LPDDR3 TV-Box

[rafaeldavid]

1 hour ago, Nick A said:

It shouldn’t take that long.. did you try booting without the sdcard?

I tried, nothing happens, it stays on a black screen. 😪

[Nick A]

@rafaeldavid Try a different sdcard.

[rafaeldavid]

13 hours ago, Nick A said:

@rafaeldavid Try a different sdcard.

 

I tried, unfortunately the other one I have here at home doesn't recognize when I use it. To try another one, I'll have to buy a new one... =(

[Đỗ Quang Huy]

Hi,

 

I have an another version Box from H96 Max.
  https://www.h96tvbox.com/product/h96-max-h313-android-14-atv-tv-box/

Already install version X96Q V5.1 and almost worked except Wifi and Ethernet
Wifi chipset is AIC8800D40
 

What I need to do for enable wifi and Ethernet ? Do you have any suggestions 
 

[Nick A]

For Ethernet maybe this will fix your problem. 

 

The X98H also has the same wifi chip.

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/blob/v20250306/patch/kernel/archive/warpme-6.12/2001-arm64-dts-allwinner-h618-add-x98h.patch

+&mmc1 {
+	vmmc-supply = <&reg_vcc3v3>;
+	bus-width = <4>;
+	non-removable;
+	max-frequency = <35000000>;
+	status = "okay";
+
+	wlan: wifi@1 {
+		reg = <1>;
+	};
+};

 

[Đỗ Quang Huy]

@Nick A

Thank you so much. I build with x98h version, both Ethernet and Wifi worked.
Wifi only has problem when use command "reboot", wlan0 is disappear. But if I unplug power and plug again, then wifi is work again.

[sicxnull]

Just checked in and am surprised this thread has gotten so much attention. Glad people have been able to use and modify the image as needed. Huge shoutout to @Nick A for all the support he's giving in here

 

[Nick A]

Glade to see you back @sicxnull. Thanks for the shoutout! Tried my best while you were gone. I don’t own one of these boxes. But I guess it doesn’t matter which one I get because theirs so many variations of the same box.

[Krayfish]

Hello, @sicxnull, Thanks for all your work on the H96X box.

I'm trying to install Armbian on my x96q V5.1, your image (Armbian-unofficial_24.11.0-trunk_X96q-v5-1_bookworm_current_6.6.44_mate_desktop.img.xz) works great apart from I'd really like a server instead of desktop. I'm just wanting to use it for a VPN (Tailscale) exit node.

Would it be hard to build a server version? I have no Linux experience.

 

[junji]

Notice, translation by ChatGPT.

Hi everyone!
I have an MX10 F3 TV stick running Android for a specific purpose, but I believe it could be more efficient with Armbian.

I'm testing Nick's image Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-lpddr3-v1-3_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_xfce_desktop.img.xz on a microSD. It works well, except for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth — the chip is AIC8800.

I don’t know how to install the patch that has been shared. I also haven’t been able to make it work by installing the firmware and SDIO from https://github.com/geniuskidkanyi/aic8800

@Nick Aif you plan to release future versions, do you intend to include native support for the AIC8800 chip?

[Abay Kalenov]

@IronIgel  @ketzercat so, i also bought one of these have you launched somehow?

[rockamal]

@junji. Can you explain me how you proceed to boot this OS image Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-lpddr3-v1-3_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_xfce_desktop.img.xz ?

[Abraham Tamayo]

Wow Tnx A LOT .. @Nick A .. your img work perfect to me .. 

download that image

Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X98h_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img

burn to sd

sudo dd if=/ISO/H313/Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X98h_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img of=/dev/sdk bs=4M

 

intro with ssh

ssh root@192.168.X.X

 

check the partitions 
lsblk

 

burn to emmc

dd if=/dev/mmcblk1 of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M status=progress

 

e2fsck -f /dev/mmcblk0p1

resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p1

turn off = shutdown -r now
remove the SD, reboot

Enjoy.

If dont works, try with gparted .. 
sudo apt-get install gparted
sudo gparted
resize

[junji]

@rockamal
Write the image to the SD card using whichever method you prefer—Balena Etcher, Rufus, dd, etc. I installed it on Manjaro using gnome-disk-utility. Just insert it and power on the TV box, and it should boot from the microSD.

[Chelson a]

This is an awesome effort from you all! I purchased a v3. 1 2gb ddr3 version off ebay for 25usd and tried out the mate graphical image and it worked like a charm. Just some feedback for you all and others like me that read this forum. 

 

996mb ram I think it is as reported by other users also. 

 

Vulkan graphics seem to be working, WiFi and usb ports all working out of the box. Bluetooth appears but I didn't try to connect to any devices yet. 

 

I even tried the tiny stories 656k ollama llm to see if that would work and its pretty fast with some bad stories haha even the 1b parameter model loaded but it's barely working. I will try llama.c next to try get some. Kind of acceleration from the gpu. 

 

Supertuxkart runs very smoothly. 

 

I installed on a 32gb SanDisk tf card with no worries flashing using etcher. 

 

It's quite a capable little machine. 

 

I even managed to compile a game I'm building at the moment for Linux + dos called deadseas which runs rather well. 

 

I havnt tried sound or anything yet as I'm direct into an old monitor via hdmi > dvi. 

 

So much better than the stock Android that the x96q comes with. 

 

Anyway thanks for your efforts! 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25 by Chelson a
Spelling mistakes on my phones autocorrect

[Trauma]

Hi, I have the v5.1 board and I was wondering if there's ongoing support for it. I tried @Nick A Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-ddr3-v5-1_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server.img build but Wifi and ethernet don't work at all.

 

Also I noticed that the X96Q-5.1-DDR3 branch from @sicxnull was never merged in armbian-main, was support dropped?

 

 

P.s. Armbian-unofficial_24.11.0-trunk_X96q-v5-1_bookworm_current_6.6.44_mate_desktop.img.xz from sicxnull works fine, but I'd like to keep the system up to date

 

[Nick A]

@Trauma try this image. Let me know if wifi and ethernet work.

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/releases/download/20250306/Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X98h_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_xfce_desktop.img.xz

[Trauma]

@Nick A Ethernet appears to be working, I'll set up the device and see if everything works as it should. Thanks for the help.

 

 

Edited July 8 by Trauma
Mistakenly thought that red LED meant that the device didn't boot, probably just an issue with device trees

[Nick A]

I already have that patch. I use the same Ethernet phy on other boxes and it works fine. I don’t have your box so it’s hard for me to debug it. Maybe if you compare sicknull board config uboot and kernel patches with mine you might find the problem. 
 

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/blob/v20250306/patch/u-boot/u-boot-h616/100-sunsi-add-h616-internal-eth-phy-support.patch

 

or if someone can send me a box I’ll add proper support.

Edited July 8 by Nick A

[Trauma]

 

@Nick A good news, everything seems to work except emmc. For now I'll just use the SD card. Thanks again for the help

 

Update: I messed around with the device trees and found out that eMMC works if  the frequency is lowered to 12Mhz as done in this patch:

https://github.com/sicXnull/armbian-build/blob/333e462466670e9a8609771ccd05977b87800881/patch/u-boot/u-boot-sunxi/board_x96q-v5-1/sunxi_mmc-dec-f_max-to-12MHz-to-get-emmc-reliable.patch

 

Maybe the next x96q-v5.1 builds can just use the x98h base with this patch applied

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8 by Trauma
eMMC fix

[Randlin]

I have a couple of cheap Allwinner h313 tv sticks "G96" that I would like to try to port to Armbian. Not exactly sure where to start, but I managed to soft emmc brick one doing so (boots off sd card fine). No compatible firmware is available anywhere, so I rooted it and dumped the emmc firmware, available here: https://archive.org/details/G96_Firmware_Dump . This firmware boots just fine off a sd card. The wifi chip is BCM43340, which has been patched into Armbian before. There are a few more images at the link, let me know what I should do/dump to help.

[Nick A]

Can you tell me the axp### numbers on the chip? I can’t see it in your pictures.

Try these images.. maybe you’ll find one that boots

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/releases/tag/20250306

Edited yesterday at 07:13 PM by Nick A

[Randlin]

Alright, that took a little bit to find, that chip is small! 
AXP313A
pc21BAA
64N1

[Nick A]

Try the Transpeed, vontar, x98h orTanix-acp313 images. There might be few other boxes that use axp313 chip in the list. 

[Randlin]

Ok, I'll try all of them. I'll report back tomorrow.

[Randlin]

The Tanix-tx6s-axp313 image goes straight to fel, no serial logs

Edited 23 hours ago by Randlin
typo

[Randlin]

So, unfortunately all the images that I have tried get stuck in fel mode. I do know the G96 needs secure mode according to debug logs when I was using Phoenixsuit before and is signed in test keys if that helps. The h313_20230921_atv_Transpeed_2_16_orig android image will launch into uboot (I can get into uboot shell via serial) and flash in Phoenixsuit, but will get stuck in sboot upon rebooting and unable to get any farther, so no uboot shell.

Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Tanix-tx6s-axp313_bookworm_edge_6.12.11 stuck at fel
Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X98h_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server stuck at fel
Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Transpeed-8k618-t_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server stuck at fel
Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Vontar-h618_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server stuck at fel

Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_X96q-lpddr3-v1-3_bookworm_edge_6.12.11_server also stuck at fel

Edited 6 hours ago by Randlin
I got the details wrong, fixed it

[Randlin]

Oops, I screwed up which Android image works. The X96 image, not x96q will launch uboot during the Phoenixsuit flash, but will not fully complete and will complain it needs secure or something, I'll get logs, the Transpeed atv image will flash and will get stuck not getting past sboot.
 

The images in question:
X96_S400_20220610-1210

h313_20230921_atv_Transpeed_2_16_orig

 

I can upload them if it will help.

[Randlin]

The X96_S400_20220610-1210 will error out with:
sunxi sprite: toc magic is error

need secure image

 

This was from an attempted flash with Phoenixsuite

[Randlin]

Doing a little digging,

From https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/uboot/patch/20210822044649.13585-3-samuel@sholland.org/

"Most Allwinner sunxi SoCs have separate boot ROMs in non-secure and secure mode. The "non-secure" or "normal" boot ROM (NBROM) uses the existing sunxi_egon image type. The secure boot ROM (SBROM) uses a completely different image type, known as TOC0."

I am not an expert, but I feel that is likely the issue here. Since the X96 s400 will launch the bootrom, it should only require a bootrom change.

from https://linux-sunxi.org/TOC0#U-Boot.27s_mkimage
It should only need a RSA key generated, as the X96 S400 will launch the sboot, thus no Vendor e-fuse should be set.