OPI 4A - Allwinner T527

[AurealNix]

@L. Jorge Soares  Thanks a lot for testing both — genuinely, this is the most useful thing anyone can do for the project. 🙏

CLI: great to hear it boots and HDMI works on your setup — that's the first confirmation from hardware other than mine, so it means a lot. If you get time, I'd love to hear how it holds up (networking, USB, and the 4 GB variant if that's what you have).

Root password: that's by design, not a bug. Root login is locked on purpose — the image ships with a default user / user account and SSH enabled, so an open root account would be a security hole. Use the user account with sudo:

• root shell: sudo -i (or sudo su)
• to set a root password if you really want one: sudo passwd root

KDE image + Etcher error: let's pin it down. Full disclosure — I flash with dd myself, so I haven't actually run these images through BalenaEtcher; I'll test the Etcher path on my end to try to reproduce it. In the meantime, two quick checks:

• Verify the download — a truncated/corrupt download is the #1 cause of Etcher errors. The desktop image sha256 is: 63b0019423d2a320aaa5fe58df97db68823b353a30510ffa863fec475904e0ba Check yours: sha256sum on Linux/Mac, or certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256 on Windows. If it doesn't match, re-download. And thanks for the heads up — I'll also double-check on my end that the file on the release didn't get corrupted during upload.
• Card size — the desktop image is ~5.3 GB when written (bigger than the CLI one), so it needs an 8 GB or larger card. A smaller/oddly-sized card makes Etcher fail.

If the checksum matches and the card is 8 GB+ but it still errors, it's most likely Etcher choking on the .xz — try Raspberry Pi Imager (Use custom → pick the .img.xz), Rufus (it writes in DD Image mode and takes the .xz directly), or on Linux just dd: xz -dc aurealnix-opi4a-debian13-v0.2.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

And if you can, paste the exact Etcher error text — that tells me straight away whether it's a size, decompression, or validation issue. Thanks again for digging in! 🙌

[JamesCL]

Hi, I'm testing your Linux image on an Orange Pi 4B/4A with an eMMC installed and wanted to share the results.

The image correctly detects the eMMC. The kernel recognizes the device as:

mmcblk2: mmc2:0001 ISOCOM 58.3 GiB
Operating mode: HS200

 

image : aurealnix-opi4a-debian13-cli-v0.2.img.xz 

@AurealNix Thank you for your work.

 

Update:

During boot, the kernel reports two reserved-memory warnings:

OF: reserved mem: Reserved memory: failed to reserve memory for node 'sec-sram1@42350000'
OF: reserved mem: Reserved memory: failed to reserve memory for node 'sec-sram2@43000000'

The system remains fully functional. OP-TEE and BL31 reserved-memory nodes are present in the device tree, and eMMC HS200 operation has been tested successfully.

 

root@orangepi-4a:~# uname -a
Linux orangepi-4a 6.18.38-g59eb61929e89 #49 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 16 00:46:12 CEST 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@orangepi-4a:~# free -m
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            3830         330          95           9        3592        3500
Swap:              0           0           0
root@orangepi-4a:~# cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.6
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"
root@orangepi-4a:~# lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk0      179:0    0  7.4G  0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1  179:1    0  7.4G  0 part /
mmcblk2      179:32   0 58.3G  0 disk
├─mmcblk2p1  179:33   0  1.2G  0 part
└─mmcblk2p2  179:34   0 57.1G  0 part /mnt/emmc-test
mmcblk2boot0 179:64   0    4M  1 disk
mmcblk2boot1 179:96   0    4M  1 disk
root@orangepi-4a:~# fastfetch
        _,met$$$$$gg.          root@orangepi-4a
     ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P.       ----------------
   ,g$$P""       """Y$$.".     OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) aarch64
  ,$$P'              `$$$.     Host: OrangePi 4A
',$$P       ,ggs.     `$$b:    Kernel: Linux 6.18.38-g59eb61929e89
`d$$'     ,$P"'   .    $$$     Uptime: 38 mins
 $$P      d$'     ,    $$P     Packages: 299 (dpkg)
 $$:      $$.   -    ,d$$'     Shell: bash 5.2.37
 $$;      Y$b._   _,d$P'       Terminal: /dev/pts/2
 Y$$.    `.`"Y$$$$P"'          CPU: sun55i-t527 (8) @ 1.80 GHz
 `$$b      "-.__               GPU: Allwinner sun55i-a523-mali [Integrated]
  `Y$$b                        Memory: 331.41 MiB / 3.74 GiB (9%)
   `Y$$.                       Swap: Disabled
     `$$b.                     Disk (/): 744.36 MiB / 7.19 GiB (10%) - ext4
       `Y$$b.                  Disk (/mnt/emmc-test): 24.49 GiB / 55.91 GiB (44%) - ext4
         `"Y$b._               Local IP (eth0): 192.168.7.12/27
             `""""             Locale: en_US.UTF-8



root@orangepi-4a:~#

 

Edited Friday at 03:26 AM by JamesCL
update

[AurealNix]

@JamesCL This is a fantastic report — thank you, James. 🙏 You've actually confirmed two things I couldn't test on my own hardware…

 

1) eMMC works (detection + HS200 + read/write)… booting from eMMC is a separate step I haven't wired up yet.

2) 4GB variant confirmed (free -m shows 3830 MB)…

 

The two warnings — you read it right, secure SRAM for OP-TEE/BL31, harmless, cosmetic DTS cleanup I'll tidy up. …that's the most useful kind of report there is. Thanks again! 🙌

Edited Friday at 08:08 AM by AurealNix

[bickns]

15 hours ago, AurealNix said:

One thing that's right up your alley given your outdoor-audio project: the A523 analog codec now has a working driver (ported from the BSP). Headphone output and jack-detect are validated on hardware; mic capture is wired in the driver but I couldn't bench-test it (no onboard mic here). You'd be the ideal person to confirm whether capture works

That sounds good.  I'm not using the jack for mic or output but should be able to check the DSP when things are more tied down with this outdoor-audio project.  Will let you know and thanks again on a great job with this board!!

 

[AurealNix]

@Nick_Sl @bickns — the headless build is up (146 MB, pure Debian 13, mainline 6.18.38, SSH from first boot): https://github.com/ut-slayer/orangepi-4a-mainline/releases/tag/v0.2

If either of you gives it a spin, I'd love a short report — what works, what doesn't. No rush and no obligation; even "booted, nothing broke" is useful.

@Nick_Sl — you offered to test, so I'm taking you up on it 🙂. Most useful gaps right now: NVMe / M.2 SSD, suspend, and the GPIO header (eMMC and the 4 GB variant were just confirmed by another tester).

@bickns — if the board ever leaves the drawer: the analog codec driver works, but mic capture is the one bit I couldn't bench-test (no onboard mic here). With your outdoor-audio project, you'd be the only one who could close that gap. Zero pressure either way.

And if you don't mind, I'll add you to the thanks in the repo — testers get named there (JamesCL is already in for confirming the eMMC and the 4 GB variant).

Also, early days and no promises: the VPU (hardware video decode) is something I've now started digging into.

Thanks both.

[L. Jorge Soares]

@AurealNix download the KDE v0.2 again and I was able to write it to SD card . No issues.

 

I am impressed, KDE loads just fine. Took a bit to load the first time.  Wifi works just fine, loaded Chromium and launched Youtube. Playback is good, at the moment full screen drops frames.

 

Audio through HDMI just worked, no issue.

 

I also loaded the KDE image on eMMC, it did not boot. I will check what is going on use serial and report back if I see anything.

 

 

[JamesCL]

@AurealNixThank you, excellent work... boot from eMMC

All that's missing is adding support for NVMe

 

Edited Friday at 11:42 PM by JamesCL
update

[L. Jorge Soares]

Using the KDE image on eMMC storage, this is how far the boot process get. The results or from the serial port.

 

 

[217]HELLO! BOOT0 is starting!
[220]BOOT0 commit : 595900dccf
[224]periph0 has been enabled
[227]set pll end
[229]PL gpio voltage : 3.3V
[233][pmu]: bus read error
[236]PMU: AXP2202
[241]PMU: AXP1530
[245]power mode:33, sys_vol:920
[249]vaild para:1  select dram para0
[253]dram_para[0]:0x4b0
[255]dram_para[1]:0x8
[258]dram_para[2]:0x7070707
[261]dram_para[3]:0xd0d0d0d
[264]dram_para[4]:0xe0e
[266]dram_para[5]:0x84848484
[269]dram_para[6]:0x310a
[272]dram_para[7]:0x8000000
[275]dram_para[8]:0x0
[277]dram_para[9]:0x34
[280]dram_para[10]:0x1b
[282]dram_para[11]:0x33
[285]dram_para[12]:0x3
[287]dram_para[13]:0x0
[290]dram_para[14]:0x0
[292]dram_para[15]:0x4
[295]dram_para[16]:0x72
[297]dram_para[17]:0x0
[300]dram_para[18]:0x8
[302]dram_para[19]:0x0
[305]dram_para[20]:0x0
[307]dram_para[21]:0x26
[310]dram_para[22]:0x80808080
[313]dram_para[23]:0x6060606
[316]dram_para[24]:0x0
[318]dram_para[25]:0x74000000
[322]dram_para[26]:0x38000000
[325]dram_para[27]:0x802f3333
[328]dram_para[28]:0xc7c5c4c2
[331]dram_para[29]:0x3533302f
[335]dram_para[30]:0xc60
[337]dram_para[31]:0x48484848
[340]board init ok
[363]enable_jtag
[365]card no is 0
[367]sdcard 0 line count 4
[370][mmc]: mmc driver ver 2023-03-24 16:23
[380][mmc]: Wrong media type 0x0
[383][mmc]: ***Try SD card 0***
[405][mmc]: HSSDR52/SDR25 4 bit
[408][mmc]: 50000000 Hz
[411][mmc]: 30436 MB
[413][mmc]: ***SD/MMC 0 init OK!!!***
[425]boot param - magic error
[428]DRAM BOOT DRIVE INFO: V0.67
[432]DRAM_VCC set to 1160 mv
[559]DRAM retraining ten
[577][AUTO DEBUG]32bit,2 ranks training success!
[606]Soft Training Version: T2.0
[7410][SOFT TRAINING] CLK=1200M Stable memtest pass
[7415]DRAM CLK =1200 MHZ
[7418]DRAM Type =8 (3:DDR3,4:DDR4,7:LPDDR3,8:LPDDR4)
[7428]DRAM SIZE =4096 MBytes, para1 = 310a, para2 = 10001000, tpr13 = 6461
[7459]DRAM simple test OK.
[7462]dram size =4096
[7469]nsi init 2023-2-23
[7605]Loading boot-pkg Succeed(index=0).
[7609]Entry_name        = u-boot
[7619]Entry_name        = monitor
[7623]Entry_name        = scp
[7626]Entry_name        = dtb
[7631]mmc not para
[7632]Jump to second Boot.
NOTICE:  BL31: v2.5(debug):20a8ac62a
NOTICE:  BL31: Built : 17:17:28, Jan 22 2024
NOTICE:  BL31: No DTB found.
nsi init ok 2022-11-08
ERROR:   Error initializing runtime service opteed_fast
 

[Nick_Sl]

On 7/17/2026 at 5:26 PM, AurealNix said:

you offered to test, so I'm taking you up on it 🙂. Most useful gaps right now: NVMe / M.2 SSD, suspend, and the GPIO header (eMMC and the 4 GB variant were just confirmed by another tester).

thanks. The image has been launched. I will try to test  gpio and  mipi camera.

 

mipi csi camera not vorking ( need drivers

Edited 14 hours ago by Nick_Sl

[AurealNix]

Small update: the patch series on GitHub is now up to date with what I actually run on the board. It went from 106 to 129 patches, all on vanilla 6.18.38.

 

https://github.com/ut-slayer/orangepi-4a-mainline

 

What's new since the last drop:

 

The GPU was running at the wrong frequencies (and now it isn't).

 

This is the interesting one. The A523 GPU clock is not a linear divider — it's a cycle-masking one: rate = source * (16 - M) / 16. Everyone modelled it as linear, including the vendor BSP. The practical effect: what the kernel labelled "150/200/300/400/600 MHz" was really running at 487/648/560/750/599 MHz. So the GPU was faster than advertised, and thermal throttling to "400 MHz" actually raised the clock to 750.

 

To be clear: nothing was ever unsafe. It ran like that for weeks, stable, at 920 mV, with temperatures in the normal range — the chip simply tolerates it. But the labels were wrong, throttling did the opposite of what it should, and you cannot tune power/performance on numbers that aren't real. Now the five operating points measure 149/199/300/399/597 MHz with the Mali cycle counter, from the intended parents.

 

Credit where it's due: Chen-Yu Tsai spotted the fractional divider while reviewing a patch I sent upstream. That review also produced a Reviewed-by for the generic clk fix, which is now on the lists.

PCIe / M.2. The controller and the Innosilicon combo PHY now probe, link training runs and the root port enumerates. I want to be honest about the limit of that statement: I don't own an NVMe drive, so I have only tested it with an empty slot. The bus comes up and behaves; whether a real drive negotiates, enumerates and performs is something I genuinely cannot confirm. If anyone here has an M.2 NVMe in this board, that report would be very welcome — including a failure report, which is just as useful.

(Kernel side comes from Marvin Wewer's Armbian series, authorship preserved, plus a 1-lane fix from the BSP and the device-tree wiring for this board.)

 

Hardware video decode works for H.264/H.265. With the cedar-ve shim in this tree plus the Allwinner userspace (libcedarc + gstreamer1.0-omx), YouTube plays smoothly in a WebKit browser (I use Cog). VP8/VP9 do not — that engine never raises its interrupt — so those codecs are capped and YouTube negotiates H.264 instead. Note the userspace half is not in the patch series and not in the published images yet.

 

Also in: a display fix for a frame that could get stuck after direct-scanout transitions, and JOYDEV/UINPUT enabled (analog sticks were dead in software that opens /dev/input/jsN first).

 

Images: the published v0.2 images are now well behind this. Refreshed Debian images (Desktop and CLI) built on this kernel are in preparation. No date promised — they go up when they're tested.

 

Thanks again to everyone testing and reporting here; the eMMC and 4 GB confirmations came from this thread, and the PCIe work started because someone took the trouble to diagnose why NVMe didn't show up.