Rock 5 troubleshooting guide
Here I will try to gather the most common issues with Rock 5 boards and offer answers, so that people who get the board don’t need to create more of the same threads.
Problem 1:
My Rock 5 does not boot!
Solution
Try another power supply. If not, try another one still. Even if you have the “official” one. Disconnect all the USB devices, then try booting again. Make sure you are using the image prepared for your board - if you can’t mix them up and use a 5C image on 5B, for example, it won’t work.
Rock 5B-specific: Get a cheap barrel power supply and a converter to USB-C. 12 volts is better than 5 volts (lower Vdrop under load).
Problem 2
My Rock 5 still does not boot!
Solution
Check whether your flashing method unpacks the operating system image. If you see the partitions on an SD card after inserting it, it probably does. If so, read on.
Problem 3
It still does not boot!
Solution
Check another display. Some weird/old/cheap displays are known not to work. Take a look at the diodes. If the blue diode blinks, the board booted. Connect the ethernet cable and log in to your router to see its IP. Depending on the distro, you might be able to log in remotely via ssh.
Problem 4
How to boot from the NVME SSD?
Solution
There are 2 methods. One - you flash the bootloader image to the SPI NOR chip. This overrides the default boot order (SD then eMMC). Second method - you keep the /boot partition on the SD or eMMC and move the main (root) partition to the NVME drive. This is a bit more involved, but you avoid any risks of soft bricking the device (by flashing an incomplete or wrong SPI image). Remember to change the UUID of the old root partition if you plan to keep the drive in.
Problem 5
My NVME doesn’t work!
Solution
Try another power supply. Or another Linux distribution. Or both. If it still doesn’t work, tough luck. Some SSDs are too power hungry for the poor Rock 5B to cope. Maybe 5B+ would (not sure).
Problem 6
There are 2 WiFi interfaces! Cannot connect to ssh on Radxa A8!
Solution
This is explained and solved here: Radxa A8 WiFi Device Names
Problem 7
GPU acceleration doesn’t work!
Solution
Easy mode: install Joshua Riek’s Ubuntu (contains legacy kernel)
Or install a recent Radxa Debian release [240716] System Release Notice for ROCK 5B
Or Armbian with kernel 6.10 at least (mainline/“edge”, not “legacy”)
Keep in mind that video playback/encoding acceleration is likely to not work as well on the mainline kernel (6.11 as of today) as on the “legacy” kernel, now called “vendor kernel” (6.1). To keep track of what is mainline, this is a helpful link: https://gitlab.collabora.com/hardware-enablement/rockchip-3588/notes-for-rockchip-3588/-/blob/main/mainline-status.md - if you can understand the jargon at least…
Problem 8
Some USB devices don’t work!
Solution
Use a powered USB hub, especially for power hungry USB 3 devices like SSD enclosures. Or use the USB 2.0 port if you don’t mind the limited throughput.
Problem 9
Fan doesn’t work like I’d like it to!
Solution
Currently, the fan is usually controlled by a kernel driver. Here are some ways to customize its behavior (legacy kernel):
Problem 10
The eMMC doesn’t work/has issues.
Solution
Check if it’s seated properly. It should be firmly in place. Don’t insert and remove it many times, the connector is rated for about 30 insertions. You can flash it on the board directly.
Some chips are known to fail on Rock 5A even though there is a mitigation that reduces the frequency (and speed). There seems to be no fix for this right now.
On Rock 5B, the trouble might be with command queuing support. This is an ongoing issue. More details here: https://github.com/Joshua-Riek/ubuntu-rockchip/issues/1060
This list will be added to when something comes up.