[S812] MIII Plus 2Gb\16Gb eMMC

  • Hello, thank you for the suggestion, I just reflashed the same build ( LibreELEC-n200-AP6330_2G.arm-9.2.8.8.img.gz ) replacing the .dtb file you linked as: dtb.img and also kernel.img file; still no boot from sd card or usb.

    The v3.10-based legacy kernel does not care about dtb.img, it only cares about the one integrated in the kernel.img file. So, it is unnecessary to exchange dtbs under the old kernel, because it will have no effect. In addition, the Meson8* devices cannot boot the OS from an USB drive, so it is worth trying only from an SD card.

    The aml_autoscript under each version also differs, so if you do not use the toothpick method, it is not certain that it will boot. LE10 test versions are not compatible with the old 9.x. So you may have 2GB of RAM, but if you did the toothpick with the LE10, you have to do it again for the 9.x version. (And vice-versa...)

    How much memory does the working LE10 show? (Due to the root squashfs filesystem unpacked into the memory, it will be less, so if there is around 1.5 GB, you actually have 2 GB RAM in your box.)

  • The v3.10-based legacy kernel does not care about dtb.img, it only cares about the one integrated in the kernel.img file. So, it is unnecessary to exchange dtbs under the old kernel, because it will have no effect. In addition, the Meson8* devices cannot boot the OS from an USB drive, so it is worth trying only from an SD card.

    The aml_autoscript under each version also differs, so if you do not use the toothpick method, it is not certain that it will boot. LE10 test versions are not compatible with the old 9.x. So you may have 2GB of RAM, but if you did the toothpick with the LE10, you have to do it again for the 9.x version. (And vice-versa...)

    How much memory does the working LE10 show? (Due to the root squashfs filesystem unpacked into the memory, it will be less, so if there is around 1.5 GB, you actually have 2 GB RAM in your box.)

    The working LE10 shows that I have 1528MB total RAM; I cannot use the toothpick method to boot into the device, whichever way I try doing the toothpick method, it never seems to get into the necessary state; I could try ssh while in the flashed LE on the box, with the sd card plugged in, and then reboot update or reboot recovery to see if that would make a difference.

    I will also try reflashing without replacing dtb.img and see if that will make a difference.

    I will try and report back. Thank you for your help dtech

  • The working LE10 shows that I have 1528MB total RAM; I cannot use the toothpick method to boot into the device, whichever way I try doing the toothpick method, it never seems to get into the necessary state; I could try ssh while in the flashed LE on the box, with the sd card plugged in, and then reboot update or reboot recovery to see if that would make a difference.

    I suspect that if by some miracle the toothpick method still succeeds, then the n200 image (without any modification) would be able to boot on your box.

    I will also try reflashing without replacing dtb.img and see if that will make a difference.

    It's useless to try. Unfortunately, that's exactly what I wanted to point out, because it doesn't matter whether you replace this dtb.img file or not. You can even delete it, because the 3.10 kernel doesn't use that file at all.

  • The 'dtb.img' used to be in the legacy releases as a means of illustrating on which architecture the kernel was booting, the DTB is appended to the kernel image when built. With Android Image Kitchen you can break the kernel components apart and see that the second image is in fact the actual DTB identical to the one in the file list as built for that box. Have had success in substituting the DTB in the kernel image using AIK to get the device booting and working with common core components, mind you the add-ons specific to the unique box did not always work unless they were already built into a compatible kernel and the modules were present in the SYSTEM blob. If the kernel was already built to support the specific hardware, adding the kernel modules to the SYSTEM blob (squashfs) and updating the kernel with the 'dtb.img' for your box or fixing it by using DTC to decompile and then recompiling these changes, LibreELEC would work for that target.

    While it is certainly easier to build from source, however, when those sources were not clearly known based on the patches and revisions being added adhoc to the amlogic baseline sources, liken it to when you operate a junk yard as a mechanic, you make do with what parts you have when putting things together to make it work.

    Kudos to dtech for keeping the legacy LibreELEC alive and kicking on the boxes that still have plenty of life and the capabilities for media applications without the bloat rendering them EOL.

  • solution of my problem must be in this thread i guess

    READING.. meanwhile here is the problem

    y0ush4
    February 21, 2024 at 2:03 PM
  • balbes150 I believe that myself and others who have the same device as I do may have been operating under a slightly false assumption, in that it seems that these OTT M8S clones (down to even the sticker) with both the AP and BCM wireless are actually 1G/8G when they are sold and advertised as 2G/8G, unless there's just not a working firmware out there for them.

    Even back in the day early Openelec builds never worked with 2G ram enabled...

    Anyway, here are the 1G/8G dts and dtb files for both the AP and BCM versions (m8m2_bcm4335_n200C_1G and m8m2_n200C_1G):
    MEGA

    If I wanted to test using either of these dtb/dts files, would I need to actually build LibreElec? I have a server rack in the basement, but my Android/Openelec/Rockbox ARM build VM is probably out of date. And I haven't yet built any of the OpenElec based software before.

    i need the DTB/DTS FILES FOR N200_1G if you can upload it again?