New Rock64 User Problems

1st Official Post

    Hello,

    I recently purchased a Rock64 SBC. I know that LE is still in alpha for this board, but I thought I had been reading in the forums that people were having reasonable luck with playback and usage. But I'm not. The video playback I get on almost all videos I try, isn't even stuttering, it's still frames that change at seeming random intervals, sometimes every few seconds to maybe 15 or 20 seconds. During this audio plays fine. I also sometimes get kernel panics on boot. It sometimes takes 3 resets to get the GUI to come up. And the GUI will freeze/crash on occasion.

    I've had the same results with the current nightly:

    LibreELEC-RK3328.arm-9.1-nightly-20190507-4df8ad4-rock64

    The 2 nightlies before that. And the 8.9.x version also won't play video any better.

    I've tried using both eMMC and a fast SD card. Same results. If I turn the HW decoder off, it will play non HEVC video reasonably well with the CPU's maxed. But with the HW decoder on, no luck. I've assumed that the comments on the Rock64 decent playback was with HW decoder on, or are people only using this board with LE with HW decoding turned off for now?

    If this is the state of the current builds for Rock64, that's perfectly fine, I realize it's a WIP. Unless I'm mistaken, I thought I read that other people are getting decent playback on the board even with HEVC content. And if so, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

    I'd appreciate whatever clarification I can get, on what I should be able to expect working on the Rock64 build right now.

    Thanks very much.

    That's weird. I have a cheap MX10 Android RK3328 TV box and I have zero problems on all playback with HW decoding on. In fact, playback on this box is better than any of my S905* amlogic boxes - it's faultless. 99% of my media is HEVC. I have no issues with 4K HDR playback with HW decoding on. This is using the latest nightlies (I might not be up to date but it's a fairly recent one). The only small issue for me is the built-in wifi does not work, but I have a USB wifi adapter that does.

    Is this a clean install? Have you any "advancedsettings.xml" file in your kodi "userdata" folder, or anything in the ".config" folder such as an "autostart.sh" that may be messing things up??

    Could it be a faulty board?

    Quote from ukmark62

    That's weird. I have a cheap MX10 Android RK3328 TV box and I have zero problems on all playback with HW decoding on. In fact, playback on this box is better than any of my S905* amlogic boxes - it's faultless. 99% of my media is HEVC. I have no issues with 4K HDR playback with HW decoding on. This is using the latest nightlies (I might not be up to date but it's a fairly recent one). The only small issue for me is the built-in wifi does not work, but I have a USB wifi adapter that does.

    Is this a clean install? Have you any "advancedsettings.xml" file in your kodi "userdata" folder, or anything in the ".config" folder such as an "autostart.sh" that may be messing things up??

    Could it be a faulty board?

    Thanks for the reply.

    Yes, it's a clean new install. New board. My first board from Ameridroid didn't start up, so sent it back, ordered a new one. Second one powers up fine. It would seem unlikely that I'd get 2 bad boards in a row, with different issues, unless other people that have bought the Rock64 also have histories of having faulty boards.

    No config other than changing audio to the A/V port, my SMB shares, and turning off GUI sounds.

    No advancedsettings.xml. No autostart.sh in config dir.

    Just a Logitech wireless mouse USB dongle, and generic wireless keyboard dongle in USB ports.

    Often after booting to the point of getting the LibreELEC logo, there are kernel panic error messages, memory dumps to screen, then just hangs.

    "kodi_crash.log" is created and is empty.

    In the Kodi log the only things that stand out are:

    2019-05-09 01:31:57.691 T:4091109392 ERROR: DBus error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown - The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files

    2019-05-09 01:31:58.935 T:4069520256 WARNING: Pulseaudio module module-allow-passthrough not loaded - opening PT devices might fail

    • Official Post

    Both error messages are harmless.

    A quick peek at stats shows more active Rock64 installs than any other RK board, although the numbers aren't large enough to rule our abnormal install behaviours, e.g. it could represent more happy users than any other board, or more frustrated users repeatedly reinstalling :)

    I'm giving it another try...

    I downloaded the nightly from today:

    LibreELEC-RK3328.arm-9.1-nightly-20190509-1816bad-rock64.img

    I used the Ameridroid USB2.0 eMMC writer to write the image to the 16GM eMMC 5.1 module I purchased for this board from Ameridroid. I used Win32DiskImager. Verified after writing. Put the eMMC into the Rock64. Powered up for first boot. No kernel panic this time. GUI opens. I do the setup and turn on SSH. I copy sample videos to the eMMC, to test playback locally. Big Buck Bunny and Tears of Steel. I make no other changes at all to settings. I try to play the videos I copied over, and I get the same unwatchable playback of less than a frame per second.

    When I press X to stop playback, the GUI locks up, SSH is dead.

    After reboot this is the last few lines of the log file:

    2019-05-09 16:54:05.055 T:4086419472 NOTICE: Whitelist search for: width: 4096, height: 1714, fps: 24.000, 3D: false

    2019-05-09 16:54:05.067 T:4086419472 NOTICE: Display resolution ADJUST : 1680x1050 @ 60.000000 Hz (16) (weighx: 0.037)

    2019-05-09 16:54:12.137 T:3603391360 WARNING: CRenderManager::WaitForBuffer - timeout waiting for buffer

    NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL....a few hundred repeated NUL characters till the end of the log file.

    I try the same again using a different monitor, a monitor I use daily with LE9 on a Tanix TX5 with an S905X. Same results, unwatchable playback, GUI crash at stop video playback.

    If anyone can comment on what I might be missing, please let me know.

    P.S. I had trouble posting this message cause the word "weigh t" without a space is censored, and it shows in the Kodi log. Why is "weigh t" a censored word?

    Hi Carey !

    I try both video on my Rock64 and they play flawlessly.

    I have a Rock64 with 4GB ram. I run Librelec nightly-20190501 build from a micro SD card (samsunbg EVO 32 GB). All my playback are done via my NAS with SMB protocol.

    Just by curiosity, and I do not think it's related to your problem, how many ram do you have on your Rock64 ? And do you try to run the video via a HDD plug into your USB ?

    Quote from mike2002

    Hi Carey !

    I try both video on my Rock64 and they play flawlessly.

    I have a Rock64 with 4GB ram. I run Librelec nightly-20190501 build from a micro SD card (samsunbg EVO 32 GB). All my playback are done via my NAS with SMB protocol.

    Just by curiosity, and I do not think it's related to your problem, how many ram do you have on your Rock64 ? And do you try to run the video via a HDD plug into your USB ?

    Hi mike2002,

    My Rock64 has 4GB RAM as well. I haven't tried a USB HD. I've only tried playing video from the local eMMC, the local SD card when I tried using the SD card instead of eMMC, and from the Kodi SMB shares.

    eMMC should be fine as well as any memory amount that is available for Rock64 (1GB would be sufficient too). It would be worth a try playing a file from an HDD, but I doubt that eMMC is at fault here, if it is not broken.

    Are there any errors/warnings in dmesg?

    I am currently on a Rock64/2GB and everything except DivX/MPEG-4 content plays fine. I never tried 4K content tho.

    That's really weird. Just some little setings to check :

    - Set GUI Resolution to 1920x1080p (system->Display) (personally I set it at 1280x720p)

    - Set refresh rate to 60 Hz (System->Display)

    - Whitelist all supported resolutions (System->Display) In particular do not select all resolution with 4096

    - Adjust display refresh rate On start/stop (Players->Videos)

    ArchNMy ! I agree with you, 1 GB should be fine but users report some problems in another thread related to the Rock4 1 GB... May be there problems are not related to the ram amount but that cost nothing to ask, just to know if we found a correlation.

    Quote from mike2002

    That's really weird. Just some little setings to check :

    - Set GUI Resolution to 1920x1080p (system->Display) (personally I set it at 1280x720p)

    - Set refresh rate to 60 Hz (System->Display)

    - Whitelist all supported resolutions (System->Display) In particular do not select all resolution with 4096

    - Adjust display refresh rate On start/stop (Players->Videos)

    I did as suggested above, and attempted to play from a USB 3 SSD, and I have the same playback problems of one frame every few seconds, audio okay. Even SD content doesn't play smoothly.

    Quote from ArchNMy

    eMMC should be fine as well as any memory amount that is available for Rock64 (1GB would be sufficient too). It would be worth a try playing a file from an HDD, but I doubt that eMMC is at fault here, if it is not broken.

    Are there any errors/warnings in dmesg?

    I am currently on a Rock64/2GB and everything except DivX/MPEG-4 content plays fine. I never tried 4K content tho.

    This message repeats over and over again in dmesg:

    [ 817.351570] rk_iommu ff360480.iommu: FORCE_RESET command timed out

    [ 817.351587] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: Failed to attach iommu device

    [ 817.351596] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: vcodec service attach failed

    [ 817.385831] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: resetting...

    [ 817.386107] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    [ 817.386117] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    That explains at least something, but now we need to find out why the Video FFU and the IOMMU crash. Are there any devices attached to the Rock64? What PSU are you using?

    PS.: That download of 4K HEVC Big Buck Bunny takes forever ...

    Quote from ArchNMy

    That explains at least something, but now we need to find out why the Video FFU and the IOMMU crash. Are there any devices attached to the Rock64? What PSU are you using?

    PS.: That download of 4K HEVC Big Buck Bunny takes forever ...

    Attached are Logitech wireless mouse dongle, generic wireless keyboard dongle, and USB3 SSD.

    I unplugged them all. Attached a corded keyboard. Rebooted. It hung on the next boot at the Kodi full screen logo. Reset. This time GUI comes up. I copy 2 videos over SSH to eMMC, one SD and one HD. I start with trying the SD video. Plays fine. First time I've had a video play on this thing. Stop and try the HD video. Unwatchable playback. Go back to the SD video. Now also unwatchable. Now neither video is watchable.

    I check dmesg. I have hundreds of these:

    [ 710.044979] rk_iommu ff360480.iommu: FORCE_RESET command timed out

    [ 710.044996] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: Failed to attach iommu device

    [ 710.045003] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: vcodec service attach failed

    [ 710.079244] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: resetting...

    [ 710.080587] dma-pl330 ff1f0000.dmac: Reset Channel-4 CS-20400f FTC-40000

    [ 710.080757] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    [ 710.080769] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    [ 710.201615] rk_iommu ff360480.iommu: FORCE_RESET command timed out

    [ 710.201632] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: Failed to attach iommu device

    [ 710.201639] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: vcodec service attach failed

    [ 710.235879] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: resetting...

    [ 710.236156] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    [ 710.236166] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    [ 710.354932] rk_iommu ff360480.iommu: FORCE_RESET command timed out

    [ 710.354949] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: Failed to attach iommu device

    [ 710.354956] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: vcodec service attach failed

    [ 710.389200] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: resetting...

    [ 710.389485] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    [ 710.389494] rk-vcodec ff360000.rkvdec: reset done

    At this point all that is plugged in is:

    - LAN cable

    - HDMI cable

    - Audio patch cable to AV port

    - Corded keyboard to USB 2.0 port

    - 3A 5V power supply.

    I tried another test with SD card instead of eMMC card. It's a brand new SanDisk Extreme Pro MicroSDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 64GB.

    I wrote today's nightly image to the SD card, dated today 05-09. It boots, expands the OS to the card, reboots on it's own, and hangs at a kernel panic. I took a pic where it stops and attached the image. In case someone reading this knows if this looks like an LE OS problem or a hardware problem.

    For example it says:

    Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

    BUG: spinlock lockup suspected on CPU#1, systemd/1

    This is first boot after install.

    I use the Pine64 installer and the images work for me on the SD and on the emmc card. maybe you are testing the pine64 installer or etcher as recommended by pine64.