Hi everybody,

I want to try armbian on my tvbox.

I managed to build image using orangepi-linux 4.19 and u-boot-orangepi v2018.05 sun50iw9

i copied dts from my tvbox

decompressed my stock firmware to get boot0_sdcard.fex, sys_config.fex

replaced files with these from official armbian github.

replaced orangepizero2.dts in linux 

build image without any errors

used balenaEtcher to write to sdcard

but

I am not able to get it to boot on my tvbox

any help??

thank you

So, this will be the thread as my understanding is increasing about armbian and my stupid allwinner board

 

Progress

1. config file for armbian config/boards/t95-h616-2gb-x.conf may be orangepizero2
2. defconfig for the board (can be obtained from either /proc/configs.gz or /boot/config-$(uname -r) from tvbox)
3. build uboot.bin
4. dts file (by installing dtc through termux and getting from /proc/device-tree or something).
5. boot0_sdcard.fex, sys_config.fex and u-boot.fex (by unpacking firmware img file can be achieved by using imgRePacker_206 from xda) what to do with them i dont know yet
6. Try hexdump0815 github u-boot for h616
7. then read more about linux kernel to be used

Rest will be coming 

Download files

Hi. I appreciate your work here. I starting to learn about SBCs so I apologize if I make dumb questions.

I purchased a TV box where I would like to finally run a software from the snap store (it is the only format the vendor is providing it). This soft runs smoothly in hardware specs below Orange Pi Zero 2.

 

The tv box I have now has an unknown processor (IK316) but CPU Z identifies as a sun50iwp21 which leads to an H616 soc.

Comparing to Orange Pi Zero 2, power unit chip is the same.

    But memory is a Kingston 08EMCP08   which is a 8GB eMMC + 8GB storage in the same chip.

    wifi chip is SV6256P

     theres is another chip I couldn't find information on it.

 

My questions are:

1) With regards to hardware, will the images developed here have a chance to work for my board?

2) Same question for the orange pi z2 image?

3) Can these images burn or brick the board? as I read different voltage options for the memory chip.

4) How far would I be of running the snap on this board?

 

PD:  in fact, I tried both images from the SD but none of them showed anything on HDMI screen. Today I will test with AV output.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I got access to two H616 based android tv boxes here: the one that is labeled as H6 and other that is H96 Max H616, both identify hardware as sun50iw9p1.

Been testing various images and so far only one so far that does appear to boot with HDMI out is Armbian_21.08.1_Orangepizero2_buster_legacy_4.9.280.img. This image gives HDMI out and one functional USB port on the H96 Max so I can use terminal but Ethernet doesn't appear to work (and can't force eth0 to 100mbit). H6 appears to do something on boot but no HDMI out and I haven't hooked in serial to see what's happening there.

Worth noting is that this was the only precompiled image with 4.9.280 I found, all the rest were either 4.9.255 or 5.x.

I'm guessing hooking up that serial connector is the only way I can figure out further what's going on here.

Do you think this is the same HW?

 

If yes do you have any progress? Can I help somehow?

 

 

hi,

I've an H313 tvbox (same as H616)

How did you manage to take the .fex files from the box?

(couldn't they be useful for restoring stock rom?)

Edited May 17, 20233 yr by merxx
wrong link

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/29824-tvbox-m4xq-with-ik316-emcp-10/

T95 H616 Mali-G31 Panfrost GPU Fix

Problem:
The Mali-G31 GPU was detected by the Panfrost driver, but GPU workloads would hang and fail with errors such as:

gpu sched timeout
gpu soft reset timed out
gpu hard reset timed out
error powering up gpu L2/shader/tiler

The issue was not missing Panfrost support. The GPU was not being powered and initialized correctly due to device-tree power configuration.

Fixes:

1. Increased GPU voltage
The board was running the GPU regulator at 900mV.
Changing vdd-gpu-sys to a fixed 950mV stabilized GPU operation.

Device tree:
regulator-min-microvolt = <950000>;
regulator-max-microvolt = <950000>;
regulator-name = "vdd-gpu-sys";

2. Restored GPU power domain
A previous workaround removed the GPU power domain:

/delete-property/ power-domains;

This allowed Panfrost to load but caused unstable GPU power management.

Restored:

power-domains = <&prcm_ppu 2>;

3. Linked the GPU regulator

Added:

mali-supply = <&reg_dcdcc>;

This allows the Mali GPU driver to correctly control the GPU power supply.

4. Increased CMA memory

Added kernel boot parameter:

cma=128M

The default 32MB CMA memory was increased to 128MB for improved DRM/display buffer reliability.

Final working setup:

- Kernel: Linux 7.3
- GPU: Mali-G31 Bifrost
- Driver: Panfrost
- GPU voltage: 950mV
- PRCM GPU power domain enabled
- CMA: 128MB

Validation:

GL_VENDOR: Panfrost
GL_RENDERER: Mali-G31 (Panfrost)
GL_VERSION: OpenGL ES 3.1

Repeated glmark2 tests completed successfully with no GPU scheduler timeouts.

Conclusion:
The T95 H616 Mali-G31 Panfrost issue was caused by incorrect GPU power sequencing in the device tree, not a lack of driver support. Correcting the regulator voltage, restoring the GPU power domain, linking the regulator, and increasing CMA memory resulted in stable hardware acceleration.