ncravino / h96_max_v58

Experiments with the tv box H96 MAX V58 that runs the new Rockchip RK3588 SoC.

Playing with the H96 MAX V58 (Rockchip RK3588)

I've got my box from Ali Express at around €150. It came with a non-stock modified firmware that seemingly did nothing more that the stock one did. OTG was also not active.

Specs

It uses the new Rockchip RK3588 SoC, you can check the datasheet.

• 2 processors
  • Quad Core Cortex-A76 @ 2.4 GHz
  • Quad Core Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz
• 4GB or 8GB of LPDDR4
• 32/64/128GB of eMMC storage
• ARM Mali 610 MC4 CPU
• 1x USB2 port + 1x USB3 port
• 1x Gigabit RJ45
• 1x HDMI
• 1x SPDIF
• 2 wifi antennas
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 8K capabilities
  • Hardware Codecs Supported: Besides the usual it has AV1, H265, VP9, VC1 (not 8K)
• an NPU with max 6TOPS
  • supports tensorflow, pytorch, tflite, caffe, ONNX, etc
  • supports int4,int8,int16,fp16,bf16,tf32
• Android 12

It's quite a powerful SoC from Rockchip at a nice price. With proper Linux support (and probably additional cooling) it could easily be used as a desktop.

Mainline Linux Support

This SoC is very new, but there's currently (2023-08) an effort to integrate the RK3588 SoC into mainline. This means it'll probably be easier to get things like LibreElec on this box to boot in the future.

Playing with it

DISCLAIMER: You may brick/damage your box, do only if you know what you're doing and at your own risk

I've documented most of the experiments that I've done with the box. You can find about them in the links bellow.

Only tested for H96 Max v58 (Rockchip RK3588).

How to disassemble

Disassembling the H96 Max V58

How to use the different Boot Modes

Boot Modes

How to install the Stock firmware

Installing Stock

Activate OTG so we can use adb

The device comes by default with all the ports in host mode.

Activating OTG on the USB2.0 Port

When debug mode is on the port cannot be used for peripherals like a keyboard.

Install a new Launcher

I find the stock launcher unusable so I installed another one.

Installing a new launcher

Fixing Hardware Feature Flags for TV

There was an issue with Plex and this box where it was constantly changing layout due to a missing feature flag.

Fixing Hardware Feature Flags for TV

Cleaning up the Stock Install

There was plenty of software there that I didn't want, instead of uninstalling one by one via interface I used adb.

Cleaning up bloatware

Rooting

Should be doable with the usual magisk patch method, not tested yet.

Installing Rockchip Linux for RK3588

WIP: Still reading on it to make sure I don't brick it :D

Scripts

You can find helper scripts under ./scripts/.

h96_max_v58's Issues

Wifi

Have this box. Wifi doesn't work have flashed every firmware image I can find. Ethernet works for about 5 minutes after firmware installation then drops out doesn't come back online. Desperate for a fix from developer or if anyone else can help.

fyi: extracted firmware dump, etc

Hi, I've been experimenting with this box.

I hope to try collabora's rock5b u-boot on the h96 max v58 soon and see if I can get a modern u-boot booting. It should have USB support so it should be theoretically easy to get something up and running.

I have some notes, and a link to extracted firmware on my notes repo: https://github.com/colemickens/h96-max-v58-investigation

Feel free to close, just wanted to make sure you'd seen it. Maybe we can share notes as we progress.

Linux Support

I have one of these. Would love to learn how to flash linux onto it once it's supported in the mainline kernel.

flashing Mekotronics R58 rom to H96 v58 possible?

Nice research on the H96 V58 RK3588 box, I have this box and although it has the same hardware as Mekotronics R58, it runs at a lower clock speed. I was looking for a custom kernel that allows to set cook speed to the same as the Mekotronics R58. Any infor on this?. I think this box can't be bricked as it has a built in USB flasher.

Regards

solved

solved

advice on updating Graphics drivers

So the box is indeed easily rooted with magisk to gain root access and super user, the question is, I las firmware update for this box was Version:20221116.1404 as found at thr following link https://www.h96tvbox.com/firmware-download/

I found a newer firmware then that on some Russian website but didn't find any info on what was updated.

The current GPU driver often gives VK_Lost error. I know Google pixel has a more up to date GPU driver however I am not sure if that will be compatible.

There's also development of drivers etc from the soc at the following

https://github.com/industrialtablet/RK3588-Development-Board/blob/main/RK3588_Update_Firmware.md

Not sure if the driver is any better, I'm not really wellversed when it comes to Android.

Hoping to get some advice.

I recently installed an active pwm fan with controller to this TV box to keep it cooled down and have made it somewhat an emulating machine, it's amazing how it's able to perform pretty good using only 7 Watts in comparison my Ryzen 7 5700G Apu is not as good using igpu and that's with 70watts.

No other community forum exist for this particular TV box, hope to get some support, advice.

I didn't find a discussion channel on this GitHub so my apologies if I should have not posted it as an issue.

Thanks