find /boot/overlay-user -type f
/boot/overlay-user/pwm.dtbo
/boot/overlay-user/pwm.dts

 

 

So, using the included /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay/ files like rk3308-b@1.3ghz.dtbo, rk3308-s0-ext-antenna.dtbo and rk3308-sdio@10mhz.dtbo
and my own overlay in /boot/overlay-user/ named pwm.dtbo
The ONLY way it works is this:

(important lines in /boot/armbianEnv.txt):

 

overlay_prefix=rk3308
.
.
.
user_overlays=pwm
overlays=b@1.3ghz s0-ext-antenna sdio@10mhz

 

Edited January 6, 20251 yr by Meestor_X

Hi all,
I'm new here, but I know armbian since years ago.
I have a Rock3A and I downloaded the latest Armbian 25.2.3 bookworm, at the first try armbian-config worked.
But after an update I had a problem with armbian-config, I reinstalled this tools that was corrupted.
Here are the problems with Invalid overlay_prefix, and after searching everywhere and doing some tests I found the solution, here it is:

mkdir /boot/dtb/overlay
cp -r /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay/. /boot/dtb/overlay/.

 

cat /boot/armbianEnv.txt
verbosity=1
bootlogo=false
console=serial
extraargs=cma=256M
overlay_prefix=rockchip
overlays=rk3568-pwm8-m0-fan
fdtfile=rockchip/rk3568-rock-3a.dtb
rootdev=UUID=194f1dc9-d186-438e-b1fd-064e3e8b1304
rootfstype=ext4
usbstoragequirks=0x2537:0x1066:u,0x2537:0x1068:u

 

my files start with overlay_prefix=rockchip, then armbian-config and now your overlays selection works. The folder basically needs to be moved, hopefully that will be done in the next image.
I hope it can be helpful for those who have the same problem.

 

In my case I have not yet solved the fan operation on pwm8, which works with S.O. Radxa.
I also tried to compile the dts downloaded from Armbian, but there must be some problem on the kernel that has not been solved.
If anyone has managed to get the fan to work on the Rock3A connector, I would be grateful for any help1

 

Thanks
Tony

57 minutes ago, Tonydee said:

The folder basically needs to be moved

That is wrong approach as we follow kernel source / standards:

 

and this (boot script) contains the mechanism for loading it:
https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/bootscripts/boot-rk35xx.cmd

 

It should work:

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/bootscripts/boot-rk35xx.cmd#L51-L52

 

Is your image an upgrade from some old one? As we indeed have issues with this at some point.

Unfortunately all these solutions did not work.

But by installing the latest Armbian Noble Gnome installation, and changing the overlay_prefix=rockchip line in the armbianEnv.txt file
I can select the overlays.
Evidently my image was corrupted, or the upgrade failed.

 

Now, I have a bigger problem is to enable the fan on Rock-3A, and it does not work even loading the PWM8 overlay of radxa.
Then I did a bit of research and since the Armbian dts change a bit, and I spent hours rebuilding this driver, but it does not work.
I do not know if anyone has enabled the fan on the dedicated connector of the Rock-3A. Here is my dts:

 

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

/ {
metadata {
title = "Enable PWM8-M0";
compatible = "radxa,rock-3a", "radxa,rock-3b";
category = "misc";
exclusive = "GPIO3_B1";
description = "Enable PWM8-M0.
On Radxa ROCK 3A <= this is pin 16.
On Radxa ROCK 3A >= this is pin 16.
On Radxa ROCK 3B this is pin 16.";
};
};

&pwm8 {
status = "okay";
pinctrl-names = "active";
pinctrl-0 = <&pwm8m0_pins>;
};

 

This doesn't work, maybe because I read somewhere that Linux 6.xx has problems with PWM ?

 

For now I'm happy with setting GPIO3_B1 pin to 1, and the fan works, but if I run this:
#Fan controller
echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/fe6f0000.pwm/pwm/pwmchip0/export
echo 10000 > /sys/devices/platform/fe6f0000.pwm/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/period
echo 5000 > /sys/devices/platform/fe6f0000.pwm/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/duty_cycle
echo normal > /sys/devices/platform/fe6f0000.pwm/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/polarity
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/fe6f0000.pwm/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/enable

 

The fan doesn't work, the pin is that one and radxa recommends PWM8.
For now I have to give up on the silent fan, then if there are updates I'll try.

 

Thank you very much for your help

Ok, this morning
apt-get upgrade tells me that there is armbian-config to update.
Done and now solved the overlay issue also on my old image

 

Thanks

armbianEnv.txt seem is not being loaded.  I am trying to get i2c-1 up and I have it checked in armbian-config but all I get is i2c-2 showing.  Loading the overlay manually gets the device to show up but not after a reboot.  What am I doing wrong?  ChatGPT sends me on a wild ride trying to fix.

 

/boot/armbianEnv.txt

rootfstype=ext4
overlays=i2c1 i2c-rtc ds3231 ds1307
usbstoragequirks=0x2537:0x1066:u,0x2537:0x1068:u

 

 

45 minutes ago, Wizbandit said:

Loading the overlay manually gets the device to show

What steps are you doing to get this working manually?  What is the overlay file you are loading (trying to load), and where does that file exist on the system?

On 1/6/2025 at 5:46 PM, Meestor_X said:

The ONLY way it works is this:

OMG - I can confirm this issue is also happening on orange pi 5 with latest armbian  v25.5.1 + Linux 6.1.*-vendor-rk35xx 

 

This is my armbianEnv.txt

 

Quote

 

verbosity=1
bootlogo=false
console=both
#extraargs=cma=256M
overlay_prefix=rockchip-rk3588
fdtfile=rockchip/rk3588s-orangepi-5.dtb
rootdev=UUID=5c3a1a5c-80df-4660-9b97-ccff04bfafe2
rootfstype=ext4
user_overlays=pwm1-m2
#overlays=rk3588-i2c1-m4 rk3588-pwm1-m2
usbstoragequirks=0x2537:0x1066:u,0x2537:0x1068:u

 

The pwm only loads when I copy it into overlay-user. The really strange thing is that I have two of these boxes and the one that went through upgrades is working just fine but I'm trying a fresh install on another and no way to get the overlay to work except this hack

45 minutes ago, OttawaHacker said:

#overlays=rk3588-i2c1-m4 rk3588-pwm1-m2

If you remove the "rk3588-" from each it should work as that is included in the overlay_prefix

1 minute ago, SteeMan said:

If you remove the "rk3588-" from each it should work as that is included in the overlay_prefix

I will try but I have this line working on exactly the same box with a older build that was upgraded

Is the overlay_prefix line the same in both too?

2 minutes ago, SteeMan said:

Is the overlay_prefix line the same in both too?

yes I can confirm

Coming back to this...

 

I'm not having any luck getting overlays to work, but I'll need to get out my serial logger to see what's wrong I guess.
I'm trying to get the USB-C into host mode on my RockPi-S. I can do it by editing the rk3308-rock-pi-s.dtb file directly, but not using an overlay file.

Here's the overlay file I've tried (usbc-host.dts):

/dts-v1/;

/ {

	fragment@0 {
		target-path = "/usb@ff400000";

		__overlay__ {
			dr_mode = "host";
		};
	};
};

and

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;
/ {

	fragment@0 {
		target-path = "/usb@ff400000";

		__overlay__ {
			dr_mode = "host";
		};
	};
};

 

Tried using:

armbian-add-overlay usbc-host.dts

as well as compiling the overlay to a .dtbo and adding the line directly into armbianEnv.txt

 

No joy either way...

 

 

Also, does anyone know why some .dtbo files also have the line

/plugin/;

below

/dts-v1/;

?

Edited July 31, 20251 yr by Meestor_X