TX3 Mini Won't Boot from SD Card or eMMC After Resizing Partitions Armbian

[Phoenix 0025m]

 

Hi, I'm new to the Armbian community, but I have used Linux before. Recently, I followed this tutorial: https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0316.html to flash Armbian 20.10 Bullseye on what I suspect is a fake TX3 Mini. It has a red motherboard probably not a p-281 board, it could be a q201_N device as twrp said before installing Armbian. Anyways, Armbian detects 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage in it.

It most likely has either an S905X or S912 CPU since I used "u-boot-s905x-s912" during the process. 

After flashing the SD card with Armbian, I was able to boot successfully.

I then installed Armbian using the terminal with "install.sh." After completing the installation, I decided to check the partitions using GParted. In the eMMC (internal storage), I noticed around 900 MB of unallocated space. I decided to add this to my root partition. 

To do that, I first moved the boot partition upwards and placed the unallocated space next to the root partition. However, when I tried to extend my root partition into the unallocated space, GParted froze. I canceled the process and reopened GParted, but this time it said it was unable to read the eMMC. I thought it might be a bug, so I rebooted, but after the reboot, the screen remained blank—nothing happened. When I insert the SD card, the screen flickers blank for 2 seconds and then shows "no signal" for 3 seconds.

Did I just kill the device, or is there any way to fix this? Please help!

 

 

Edited August 31, 2024 by Phoenix 0025m
Added more information about the board

[SteeMan]

That unallocated space was your boot loader.

[Phoenix 0025m]

Hi SteeMan, thank you for responding. Is there any way to fix the box, or is it completely bricked and beyond repair?

[Phoenix 0025m]

After some digging and trial-and-error, I finally fixed the issue with my TX3 Mini! Here’s what I did in case it helps anyone else:

First, I confirmed the specs of my box (by inspecting the main board) —it indeed has an S905W CPU, 1GB of RAM (as Armbian mentioned), and 16GB of NAND storage. To resolve the issue:

   
1. I Downloaded the Stock ROM: I found the original stock firmware specifically for the TX3 Mini with 1GB RAM and 16GB storage. (The firmware I used was compatible with both 1GB and 2GB variants.)
   
2. I Prepared a Bootable Burn Card: Using the Amlogic Burn Card Maker, I created a bootable SD card with the stock firmware.
   
3. Triggered NAND sort method: I sorted the NAND pins on the board, which allowed it to boot from the SD card. This step eventually led to the firmware flashing itself.

For some reason the process was stuck at the beginning. But after some experimenting, I unchecked the Erase Flash and Erase Bootloader options in the Burn Card Maker, which resolved the issue and allowed the process to complete successfully.

And just like that, my box is back in action! If anyone else encounters a similar problem or needs help with their TX3 Mini, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to assist!

Here’s the firmware I used for my box: TX3Mini-20180716.img

 

[dreamlayers]

https://github.com/7Ji/ampart/ can tell you what parts of the eMMC can be used. It can also be used to rearrange Amlogic eMMC partitions so that more space is usable.

 

Note that these partitions are separate from the ordinary partitions you see with generic partitioning tools like GParted. You won't see them at all in those tools, and those tools will overwrite them if you're not careful to avoid them.

[hamidreza h]

I have a tx3-mini 1G-ram 8G-Rom device and I installed the versions images available on the site on it. I have three questions: why does it stop working when I update the operating system? - The site of benchmark says that the s905w cpu has a speed of up to 2GHz, but my system does not speed up more than 1.2 GHz. And the last question: some of the images available on the site are installed on it, and some are not. The ones that work also stop working with the update. Of course, not with a single update, when it works for a week, you update it during the week, and from some point on, it will not boot again. This is because my device is fake.

[SteeMan]

1 hour ago, hamidreza h said:

why does it stop working when I update the operating system?

I don't know.  I do not have that issue with my tx3-mini boxes.  You would likely need use a usb uart connector to capture the boot log and report it back here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpVMO7gbnYM

1 hour ago, hamidreza h said:

And the last question: some of the images available on the site are installed on it, and some are not.

1.2 GHz is the rated clock speed of these CPUs.  Some android boxes will overclock or just lie about the speed.

 

1 hour ago, hamidreza h said:

The site of benchmark says that the s905w cpu has a speed of up to 2GHz, but my system does not speed up more than 1.2 GHz

I haven't experienced this problem.  You will need to provide more details.

 

[hamidreza h]

tank you for answer. ok i will try use to uart connector . but my board is a tv box not a training board. It will take time to open the box and find the port and solder the wire to it and connect it. If possible. On the other hand, unfortunately I reinstalled the operating system on the same SD card and lost the data. I will definitely do it next time.