Minix NE0 U1 flash

[rapalax]

Trying to figure out how to initiate toothpick mode in order to flash a minimal iot Armbian image.

 

I found a recovery1 button (accessed from a pinhole) but holding this while powering on, or holding the 'power' button while powering on, doesn't seem to get me anywhere.

 

It seems that whenever I insert my 32G sdcard (maybe not supported?), something happens where the stock android does not boot after the initial MINIX splash screen, but just sits on a black screen (regardless of how I may have powered it on). Initially I thought it was doing something, so I let it run overnight.. I restarted it in the am, but when I removed the SDCard, it just booted back into the original stock androidn.

 

[SteeMan]

What settings have you tried?  dtb, uboot?

[rapalax]

Yes, so copied u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext, and the image seemed to already have  fdt /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905x-p212.dtb  in extlinux.conf which seems to be a good candidate.

What bugs me is that it just goes blank - leading me to suspect its not finding whatever bootstrap script it needs.

 

Something strange is that when I mount the burned the SDCard, I see two partitions: armbi_boot (containing the dtb, uboot, etc)  and armbi_root with an empty /boot dir..  am I supposed to copy stuff to the armbi_root partition under /boot ? amd create a /dtb dir? I otherwise don't see a /boot dir in the armbi_boot partition as described in the amlogic instruction : "In the BOOT partition of the SD card there will be a file /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf" ... there is only a /extlinux/extlinux.conf  that I have been playing with.

Edited November 5, 2025 by rapalax

[SteeMan]

From what I see online that box has an s905 amlogic CPU

[rapalax]

Wow.. I don't know how that brainfart happened. Used the correct uboot I managed to get somewhere. I tried to use the meson-gxbb-p201 but seems that the FS cannot be found... will try others but wondering if I should be tweaking UUIDs given the errors I am seeing:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y5GM3a6XUy6SZ6JA6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qq3EPGScPUFWfuQP6

 

I do seem to have mmcblk1 (and  mmcblk1boot0, etc..) in /dev if I poke around. Not sure if trying new dtb is a good approach or should I try to add the delay like the error suggests.

 

Edited November 5, 2025 by rapalax

[SteeMan]

You can try different dtbs, different sdcards (older/smaller/slower = more compatible) and potentially a newer or older kernel.

These failure to read the sdcard have been occuring more and more recently.

  No one has had time to reproduce and figure out the cause.  

I didn't see where you mentioned what build you are using, that would be helpful information 

 

[rapalax]

Sure.. appreciate the guidance... 

I am using Armbian_community_25.11.0-trunk.413_Aml-s9xx-box_noble_current_6.12.57_minimal

 

So far I tried 2 different SDCards, one recent sandisk 32G (a good one) and one china fake that says 512GB .. both did the same thing.

 

I also tried 2 dtb so far: meson-gxbb-p201.dtb and meson-gxbb-p200.dtb .. will try a few more before I send this to the EcoCenter.

This box seems to be a lot more rare than I expected, so totally get why anyone (including me) would want to invest a lot of effort in getting it to run. 

[SteeMan]

Try a build using a newer edge kernel as a test

[rapalax]

I tried Armbian_community_25.11.0-trunk.413_Aml-s9xx-box_plucky_edge_6.18.0-rc3.img 

 

I think the same is happening ... I did end up with the first error, as seen in the first pic above:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y5GM3a6XUy6SZ6JA6 

 

But then I got a nice Armbian splash screen, eventually it ended up going to initramfs, but interestingly no error about waiting for the FS was reported this time.. 

 

....

Begin: Loading essential drivers ... done.

Begin: Running /scripts/init-premount ...

 

BusyBox v1.37.0 (Ubuntu 1:1.97.0-4ubuntul) built-in shell (ash)
Enter ‘help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs)

[rapalax]

Success! 

 

It's still showing that first error, but using  meson-gxbb-wetek-play2.dtb it was able to boot up and configure.

Wifi works also.

 

You guys are amazing! Thanks for all your inputs. 

[rapalax]

Bluetooth also works

 

[wedok]

Hello,

can you please say, where i can find: Armbian_community_25.11.0-trunk.413_Aml-s9xx-box_plucky_edge_6.18.0-rc3.img

thank you.

[wedok]

Minix Neo U1
Armbian_community_26.2.0-trunk.606_Aml-s9xx-box_trixie_current_6.18.18_minimal.img
win32diskimager to sandisk 16gb sdcard
extlinux.conf -> fdt /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxbb-wetek-play2.dtb
=NOBOOT!!!

 

"if you have ever booted a different distribution then your box will be incompatible with the Armbian build"

Ok, but hey ... i forgot ... i own a Wetek Play 2 and the internal WeOS was never touched in any way.
So it must work ... or ???
Lets see:

Wetek Play 2
Armbian_community_26.2.0-trunk.606_Aml-s9xx-box_trixie_current_6.18.18_minimal.img
win32diskimager to sandisk 16gb sdcard
extlinux.conf -> fdt /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxbb-wetek-play2.dtb
=OF COURSE !!! ... ... HYPERTENSION ... ... NOFUCKINGBOOT!!!

armbian s9xxx makers: please explain! 🤔❓

Edited 1 hour ago by wedok

[SteeMan]

17 minutes ago, wedok said:

Minix Neo U1
Armbian_community_26.2.0-trunk.606_Aml-s9xx-box_trixie_current_6.18.18_minimal.img
win32diskimager to sandisk 16gb sdcard
extlinux.conf -> fdt /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxbb-wetek-play2.dtb
=NOBOOT!!!

First some logs would be helpful.  You may have to solder a usb-uart connector to the debug uart pads on your board to get boot log information.  Without knowing what is going on, diagnosis is difficult.

 

Second, you don't say which u-boot you are using.  Can you provide that information?

 

Finally, why are you using the wetek-play2.dtb for this box?

 

[SteeMan]

On 3/23/2026 at 6:44 PM, wedok said:

can you please say, where i can find: Armbian_community_25.11.0-trunk.413_Aml-s9xx-box_plucky_edge_6.18.0-rc3.img

truck.xxx builds are daily/weekly rolling release builds and are not archived. 

[wedok]

Now flashed with Rufus (very popular windows program) and of course also no boot.

 

I just strictly follow Google KI:

 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Download Image: Download a suitable Armbian image for Amlogic S905/S905X devices (e.g., from the Armbian forum threads by balbes150). 

Flash SD Card: Use BalenaEtcher or Rufus to flash the image to a MicroSD card. 

Configure DTB: Open the SD card's boot partition, navigate to dtb/amlogic/, and locate a file for the S905H or generic S905 (gxbb_p200_wetek_play2.dtb or similar). Edit uEnv.txt or extlinux/extlinux.conf to point FDT to this file. 

 

 

Wetek Play 2 dtb on "Minix Neo U1" because:

1. 

Zitat

 

Success! 

 

It's still showing that first error, but using  meson-gxbb-wetek-play2.dtb it was able to boot up and configure.

Wifi works also.

 

You guys are amazing! Thanks for all your inputs.

 

2. Its the only dtb which makes all working with a Minix Neo U1 in Libreelec.

 

So now i need a detailed step by step manual on how to get a working armbian on a wetek play 2 or minix neo u1!

 

 

Edited 43 minutes ago by wedok