Repurpose a TV Box Allwinner H313 (similar to H96 Max) to boot secure image

[Sergioclr]

Newbie on Armbian.

 

I have an Allwinner H313 (confirmed) box that I want to to use as a basic Samba server.

 

 CPU:Allwinner H313Quad Core ARM Cortex A53 
 GPU:Mali-G31 OPenGL ES3.2
 Memory:2GB
 Flash:16GB
 OS:Android 10.0

 

The actual firmware is a secure image and, no matter what procedure I do, I can't  load any other image but

the secure one.

 

Debugging shows that 'fastbootd' has the "secure" flag set.

 

My intention is to create a  basic secure arm64 Debian image but I am having a hard time in doing so.

 

Any ideas (specific Wiki, procedures) on how to create the secure image or "reset" the "secure" flag will be very appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Nick A]

 

[Sergioclr]

On a first analysis, I noticed that the git already has a very similar option that I need (H313):

~/build/patch/u-boot/u-boot-sunxi/board_x96q$

   arm64-sun50i-h313-add-x96q-lpddr3-defconfig.patch
   sunsi-add-h616-internal-eth-phy-support.patch

 

so I am stuck on how to proceed because the example has H616 parameters.

 

Help will be appreciated.

 

 

[Nick A]

@Sergioclr the H313, H616, H618, and IK316 are essentially the same SoC family. To successfully boot an image, you must match the correct AXP chip (the Power Management IC) and the specific DRAM version used on your board.

 

Essentially, any thread discussing the H616/H618 (excluding older H3/H5/H6 chips) will contain relevant information for these SoCs.

 

 

PMIC Information:

http://linux-sunxi.org/AXP_PMICs

 

DRAM Types:

3: DDR3

4: DDR4

7: LPDDR3

8: LPDDR4

 

You can try flashing various boot images until one successfully initializes your hardware. (If your box is secure-boot enabled, you will need to add the secure-boot modifications posted above.)

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

 

Alternatively, for a more precise approach:

Extract your Device Tree (DTS).

Identify the specific AXP chip located on your board. 

Connect a USB-to-UART TTL device to the RX, TX, and GND pins on your board to monitor the boot sequence.

 

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/29794-how-to-install-armbian-in-h618/#findComment-232411

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/29794-how-to-install-armbian-in-h618/page/4/#findComment-187672

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/29794-how-to-install-armbian-in-h618/page/23/#findComment-218660

https://linux-sunxi.org/UART

 

Decompile your Device Tree Blob (DTB😞
dtc -I dtb -O dts -o source.dts source.dtb

 

For a visual reference of a board using these specific chips, check out this hardware breakdown.

http://nskhuman.ru/allwinner/krugh618.php?np=3

 

Edited 15 minutes ago by Nick A