Anbernic RG552 AOSP 11 Beta #18 (Widevine L3 & OC tweaks)

Thank you.

Jason Clark

Is there ever another update planned? Android 11 should be fine for some time but I was just wondering.

Urbs

Just commenting that in late 2024, this worked for me with a fresh install, first thing I tried I just read the read me file and it was a breeze. Just charge the device up before doing it, the timings suggested I found quite conservative too.

Conza

For some reason my caps and some keys ain’t working anyone know how to fix this

Nuno

For step 4 my device stayed on a black backlit screen. I waited a few minutes to a quarter and eventually gave up and pressed reset. Only at this point did it show the "Installing system update". After this, the installation just took a few mins and the wiping even less. Installation finished successfully.

Gerard Braad

Hey man congrats for that stunin CFW, I have a problem with dolphin running gc backups ;) when i just run the game it displays me that can't run open GL drivers properly and the game performance is poor.... The dolphin is the latest version of play store. Do you have a solution or idea to solve it?

jaume jane

He talked about it working on Jelos for WiFi and bt

slvclw

Also every switch emulator I run even with product and title keys wont load games. Is there an accelerated driver for the gpu? I’m not sure if that’s the issue but I’m thinking it might be I see some people talking about installing additional gpu drivers for different handhelds on droid

slvclw

Hey man so you’re android 11 is running great on this build thank ya. I have a Bluetooth adapter that works in Jelos and can pair my mouse. But in android 11 it’s not seeing BT. I would think that droid might have generic BT built into the kernel bu I can check for the manu if you need it’s odd because BT is on then I go to pair it doesn’t see the mouse then I swipe down and BT is off.

slvclw

you didn't wipe your data before powering on. Now u have to put the SD card back in, re-install Android and when it asks "reboot now" go down five times with the volume down button to "wipe data-factory reset" then select it, then it will work.

Ovidiu_311

Bom dia, alguém conseguiu jogar nos controles físicos ? Pois não tem a opção de ativar na barra superior.

Alexsandro Soares

Hello, after the update to Android 11 all programs are gone, is that normal? rg552

Pascal Walczak

Does is have to be a 4gb? I'm using a 128Gb and the device is just blackscreen when I turn it on.

Thomas Moore

i have the same problem, did you fix it? thanks!!

Pedro Pablo López de las Heras

I did everything but the device frozen at the "Android" leters screen what could hace gone wrong?

Gerardo Diaz

I finish flashing and it stays on the factory reset for hours, is there anything i can do?

Daniel Quiroga

Hello could make available the APK the control adjustment of jostick the original comes with a very good app that can configure the virtual buttons with the buttons of the control if you have another app that does this could indicate too°?

Miguel Kallemback

I soldered in the reccomend wifi/Bluetooth adapter works great on android but now Amberelec refuses to connect to wifi. Does reinstalling Amberelec fix this problem or do I need a different Linux distro?

Wade Ryun

Hey, I'll come back when there is an update. Thank you.

Ok im gonna try this bought the wifi/Bluetooth module also it will be soldered in. Can't wait. Got a 1tb sd card been running a test on it to see if it's real the initial time was 3 days. Lol. I threw the sd card in the trash and got a new one it was junk.

Wade Ryun

what's the good software for rg552 i reformat the sd card

Jet Pelayo

Just downloaded and installed today, thanks! I did have the same question as KS Tan about portrait mode. I can't seem to figure out how to rotate the screen and would appreciate some help.

Pumpkin

downloading, thanks for your work

Mauricio

Hi is there any way that android 11 on the RG552 will be fixed so launchbox will not stop instantly crashing? every time i..launch it..not launchbox it..pardon the pun...but even the most recent version of launchbox for android seems to always instantly crash on the loader screen...help?

Catherine Jones

in case anyone else finds this, the reason this same thing happened to me was that i followed step 7a, when i should have followed step 7b because i was coming from the default Android 7

Sebo Crider

I do habe the same issue here. Have you solved the problem Kevin?

MeRoMo

Hi may I know any function to rotate to portrait mode? Thanks

KS Tan

Hello, are there any news on new build for this? Without playstore included?

Farfenkugell

Thanks for your answer. Good day

Louis

There's a toggle for this in the notification pull down menu.

Black-Seraph

Hi; is it possible to change the cpu overclocking as we can do with android 11 official update ? Thanks for your answer and have a good day.

Louis

I'm working on a Android 12 build for the whole range of Anbernic devices right now. The expected order of releases is RG353P/V followed by RG552. As for battery life: It should be on par with the stock ROM, which doesn't mean much given the (comparatively) bad RK3399 battery time. It is one of the hungriest Rockchip SoC out there.

Black-Seraph

So, I'm still having pretty bad standby battery life (with no deep sleep) and thinking about going back to OEM android. Should we expect an update anytime soon or what's the level of support here?

travelingsales

Cheers fella. Just wanted to be doubly sure before I did the deed. Nearly bricked a few android phones messing about with them on the Gingerbread era

Tristan Staff

No extra steps needed afaik.

Black-Seraph

I already replied to your identical DM but: - It already has a gamepad mode toggle in the notification shade you can use for this - It's a known problem for Android 11 & 12 that is related to upstream changes by Google, there's even an open issue on their mailing list for this, but I'm doing my own independent research trying to find & fix this as well - No idea, that one's new to me as well, maybe capture a logcat log to see if the game spits any useful error messages out?

Black-Seraph

Hey guys, i'm currently running this build without any issues but am looking to sell my 552 and i'm still not using it much. I'd like to revert back to the original android software but wondered if there is anything I need to do in particular before running the Anbernic tool? Would like to minimise the chances of bricking the device :D

Tristan Staff

I see. Any way I can possibly test those clocks?

João Pedro Kurtz

I've tried 2.4GHz in a private build before and the unit more or less just kept rebooting in 1-minute intervals. 2.3GHz left me with 5 minute cycles, so there really isn't much wiggle room left beyond 2.2GHz.

Black-Seraph

Thanks for your fast reply. With anbernic firmware the rg552 would get really warm while gaming, while using medium fan +2,2ghz here doesn’t get anywhere close. Using an app to check temps, if they are correctly reporting - hottest temp on SoC was around 52C. When googling this cpu max temp I saw two different answers - 60C and 80C (as it would auto shutdown on 85C). Of course, I’m sure you know much better than me. Still it would be nice to test if it goes a bit further…

João Pedro Kurtz

Hi Black-Serpah, new here. Love the build, but encountered a few problems on gamepad mapping: - The Odin supports a function to choose between Xbox Layout and Switch Layout (A/B, X/Y swap basically). Is this something the version somehow can, or do you plan to include it in future builds? - Several games have problem recognizing the gamepad (Dead Cells, Limbo, Sproggiwood, Castle of Illusion, Rigid Force Redux) - any idea for a fix? - Sponmgebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom: Screen stays fully black (game runs, sounds in the back) - any idea? :-) Superb work, happy to be a supporter

Dieter Schoeller

The thing is quite literally burning at 2.2GHz and only a handful of units can run that clock consistently without running into throttling or other thermal issues, so while this is possible it's not something I'll ever attempt without a physical cooling mod to go with it. Keep in mind that the thermals increase exponentially when going up... So that last step you suggest would produce quite a good chunk of heat.

Black-Seraph

Hey, thanks a lot for your work on this. Would it be possible to overclock the big cores a bit more? Like 2,4ghz or 2,5ghz… my rg552 runs great and cool on 2,2ghz. Thanks to your firmware I can even run persona 3 fes on it!

João Pedro Kurtz

Oh I see thanks!

Yonathan Asefaw

You download all parts, put them in the same folder and then unpack the 001 part with 7zip. It will unpack all files for you automatically.

Black-Seraph

Also am I confused about the files for RG552: I just want to downgrade my firmware to 9.0 but apparently it seems better to use Android 11. Do I get every file here from your link or do I just select one?

Yonathan Asefaw

Sorry for the dumb question but does this beta have google play store? I just subscribed to your tier so I am wondering if it has that? Also thank you for your work on this thing, I used to be a patron to you Seraph.

Yonathan Asefaw

Just keep me posted! FYI: I see 1.5 to 2.5% battery drain per hour standby on my RG552. This is what you should be seeing.

Black-Seraph

Great! I'll try that. So I also just tried Power Saver Mode, and I think this has enabled deep sleep. Before, the "on" light would never turn off, and I thought that was normal. Now it turns off when in Power Saver Mode (PSM). Speaking of which, would you mind adding a quick setting toggle for PSM? I will investigate why the unit won't enter deep sleep outside of PSM. Also, I did a full wipe after install, just to get that out there 👍

travelingsales

It's old but I've found GSam battery monitor to work well on the RG552. Problem with that one is that it takes a day or two of battery charge & discharge to get useful values.

Black-Seraph

Okay, that's good to know. Any suggestions for troubleshooting? I usually use Accubattery to troubleshoot this, but it says that the RG552's charge controller isn't supported, and the built-in battery monitor isn't showing any issues.

travelingsales

Not really. My standby drain is way lower than that. But 4-6 hours screen on time does sound realistic for a RG552. Which makes me think some app of yours might be keeping it awake.

Black-Seraph

I'm having some problems with this ROM and some ungodly battery drain. As in, I can charge the battery to 100%, put the RG552 into standby, and 6 hours later it'll be completely dead. Any suggestions on this?

travelingsales

and at least .. i installed android 9. testet vsynctester.com ... and directly get working 60fps shown ... i hope you can find a way to fix it in android 11

The Freak

android 11 have a function to controll the refresh rates of the display (loom for displaymanager and SurfaceFlinger) ... i found it only in german .. and hope it helps to fix it. but the hz control is mainly stored in this surfaceflinger part.. sorry i am bad in english

The Freak

About the input lags .... I saw on vsynctester.com that the rg552 only provides arround 50 fps but not the expected 60 fps .... if the problem is similiar to the odin pro 61 hz bug ... it could be the reason for lagging ... on 1800 mhz it reached only 40 fps.

The Freak

Just finishing up some release work (hopefully I can finish those within the next week) and then it's back to bugfixes for a little bit. I hope I can score all of the reported issues then.

Black-Seraph

Howdy Seraph, you're doing gods work with this, thank you very much :-) The image itself installs flawlessly and works really fine. Just as some of the other guys on here, I'm having the same stuck / missing input issues. Tried it with Drastic as well as Redream. Some inputs it seems to register as double press whereas others are completely missed. I can't use it for gaming that way. Will try out your latest Android 9 build. Have a good week, thanks for your hard work, Kamogli

Kamogli

My output seems to work fine, mind showing me a picture of the issue? Edit: Oh, just realized you were talking about 9. The newer builds have 16:9 HDMI output rather than 16:10.

Black-Seraph

Thanks. Controller stuttering seems to be absent on Android 9 version, but HDMI output cuts off the borders of the image. I may reupgrade to the newest 11 build for RG552 and just deal with the controller stuttering until a new version is out. Is there any known way to deal with the HDMI overscan issue? I'm hooking it up to a 4kTV.

David O'Toole

No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.

Black-Seraph

Thanks for your response, I had misunderstood the comments on the page about downgrading. I downgraded to Android 9 (your Beta 15 build) and am testing it out now. Thank you!

David O'Toole

It's the exact same process as installing 11. As for input issues: I haven't had stuck buttons yet but I've been able to confirm a few app specific issues across a few supported devices. That would strongly hint at a Android code-base issue, but I haven't been able to pinpoint the causes yet.

Black-Seraph

Hi! Great work. I am also having problems (similar to user above) with input sometimes being missed or "stuck" buttons. It seems to affect both built in hardware controls, and Bluetooth gamepads (8bitdo). It's not unplayable, but noticeable. What can I do to help troubleshoot? I'll keep my eyes open for updates... I read about the process to downgrade to Android 9 and it sounds daunting...

David O'Toole

I hope you can find the root of the problem. Using Android 9 now, none of the issues I mentioned have manifested so far.

André Braga

The issue is being investigated.

Black-Seraph

I'm having problems with input lag, input not registering, double input and micro stutters. I think I'll test Android 9 and see what happens

André Braga

Thanks

Andrzej Hutsch

Just press the F button.

Black-Seraph

Hi there! Works good, but I'm missing key-mapping tool. Is it somehow possible to install this?

Andrzej Hutsch

Thank you very much

Lachlan Jones

Each card is mounted in it's own directory. Emulators that support external storage usually let you pick which storage you want to use, either via a directory selector or by manually typing in the mount path of the card. As such it should work just fine. It does for me at least using RetroArch (the APK version from their website, not the crippled Play Store version).

Black-Seraph

Is it my understanding that this version of android 11 supports SD card 2 as a location for ROM files, or do I still need to use version 9? I am planning to be using JELOS with your android build. Thank you for all the hard work you have put into improving this device!

Lachlan Jones

Yep, the Plus one from the store. Will try it! Thanks a bunch.

Emodernist

Are you using the play store version of it? That one doesn't support SD cards properly. Get the one from their website instead.

Black-Seraph

I did the update and everything worked. One minor and weird thing, i can't find my external SD card when i'm pointing the directories inside Retroarch. Do you know anything about that? Everything was fine when i was using the beta #17

Emodernist

I'd need a logcat log to see what's going on on your unit. As for Sean, his issue was that the card was running on a bad partition table if I remember correctly.

Black-Seraph

Hi Sean, were you ever able to find a solution with this? I'm having the same issue -- Android 11 isn't giving me the option to just use the SD card I'm using for Amberelec. I can only format it for portable storage or use it as internal storage. Russ at Retro Game Corps mentioned that the Android 9 build doesn't have this issue, so reverting to that for now.

Aaron Steen

OK got SU granted, it was the rotation control. logging now.

Sean Ong

Not sure what fullscreen overlays are? I did install rotation control so I can use the RG552 as an e-reader. Also I'm a Mac user 😅

Sean Ong

That's a message I haven't seen yet on my end. Do you happen to have some shady software installed that uses fullscreen overlays by chance? If the on-device option isn't possible you should still be able to create a logcat from a PC as well. My YouTube channel has a video for this as well: https://youtu.be/natecRROVOg

Black-Seraph

I tried to grant Termux superuser rights but a message popped up saying "Because an app is obscuring superuser rights, Magisk can't verify your response"

Sean Ong

Here you go, made a video showing how awhile back. https://youtu.be/G4g5zvcCfOI

Black-Seraph

How do I create the logcat log?

Sean Ong

Can you create a logcat log and send it over? That should give me a pretty good idea why Android refuses your card.

Black-Seraph

Installed your A11 build and everything works great. However, when I put in my Jelos roms SD card (Samsung Evo Plus) in slot 2, it says there is a problem with the card and asks me to format it. I do have all my roms backed up, so I could survive with formatting the card and find out if it doesn't quite work. The Roms card is in exFat format though which I thought was supported? Ideally I just want to point Android emulators to tf card 2 and pick the already existing roms in the folders. I also tested this with a 2nd roms SD card (Sandisk Ultra) from a RG351V and still the same issue. I'll have to hunt around for a spare micro sd to do some testing.

Sean Ong

There are. Things just take a bit to work out is all.

Black-Seraph

Are there any more updates coming for the RG552?

Kevin

If the older installation method works for you then it's definitely your card.

Black-Seraph

Thanks for the quick reply! I actually got it working by just using the beta #15 and the method described in the readme / following the retrogamescorp video (that was how i got here in the first place). I will to update to this build later and see how things go.

Emodernist

If you see a Anbernic text without the logo that means it failed to boot the kernel. Which should be impossible unless the flash itself failed (given how all RG552 have identical hardware). My money is still on a bad MicroSD card. And yes, it should boot just fine without any cards in it once installed.

Black-Seraph

I used another SD card and i got the same Anbernic screen.

Emodernist

Sounds like your installer MicroSD card flash failed. Try re-burning the image onto another MicroSD card using Balena Etcher or the Raspberry Pi Imager with verification enabled, then re-try the installation.

Black-Seraph

After installing the update and removing the SD card, i did a wipe / factory reset and when the device reboot i'm stuck in a "Anbernic" (just the text, without the R logo) screen, am i missing something? Will the 552 boot without any SD cart inserted? I didn't got the "erasing" message described in the README file. Context: Just bought the RG552 and it came with a Linux system, so i believe the wipe and reset is the right choice?

Emodernist

No problem 👍 Cheers

Black-Seraph

No worries. Thanks again for the help.

Steven King

The images provided by me are intentionally barebone so that every user can configure them the way they like. As such you will need to manually install whichever emulators you wish to use.

Black-Seraph

So I tried with Raspberry Pi imaging and it worked. I have moved all the files back to the device that I had backed up. Will the emulators be hidden in the device files or the game file SD card somewhere or will I have to download these again? Thanks for your support.

Steven King

What's the exact error you're encountering?

Black-Seraph

Thanks all repartitioned but same flash failed result. Is it worth trying other software other than Etcher?

Steven King

About the flash failing for you: That's hard to tell without being there in person to take a look at it. About it resizing to 4gb capacity: Just re-initialize the card's partition table and it will show the full capacity again.

Black-Seraph

I have tried this on two 32GB SD Cards using Etcher. It has failed both times to flash and it seems to have resized the card to roughly 4GB capacity. Is there something I am doing wrong? Thanks

Steven King

What options are you missing?

Black-Seraph

So I did a reset on the 552 and the problem went away, so I think this was due to a problem in the installation process. Plese, make more options for the cooler :)

Bruno Barreto

No problem let me know how it goes.

Black-Seraph

Black, before making the video, I will reset my console and check if the problem continues. To rule out configuration errors and etc.

Bruno Barreto

Ok. I will do this.

Bruno Barreto

A unlisted YouTube upload will do just fine. Send me the link either via DM on Patreon or on Discord (if you're a member of the Retro Handhelds Discord server).

Black-Seraph

Yes, how can I send the video to you? I will record a video today as soon as possible and send it to you. I'm a friend of Vitor Iemini, I did the process on his recommendation. thanks for the support.

Bruno Barreto

Could you provide a video showing the problem? I can help you further from there. Greetings.

Black-Seraph

Correction, all games. platform independent. small crashes

Bruno Barreto

That's right, I'm running some 16-bit games and the system is giving small crashes, I realize that the game inputs, directs and such, are freezing. games like mario and etc no way.

Bruno Barreto

Fast crashes?

Black-Seraph

I'm suffering from fast crashes and delayed entries. and this is independent of the emulator, console and platform. I also think the fan speed options are few.

Bruno Barreto

Veré qué puedo preparar. De todos modos, he querido darle al mapeador de pantalla táctil un poco de pulido muy necesario por un tiempo. No estoy seguro de cuándo exprimirlo todavía.

Black-Seraph

Sí, está bien usarlo mientras se carga. ¡Saludos!

Black-Seraph

una consulta, la consola se puede usar normal con el cable de carga conectado o restaría vida a su bateria (a veces yo juego o lo uso con el cable de carga conectado ya que su bateria dura muy poco) saludos y gracias

bloody haunt

gracias a ti por el apoyo a la comunidad, si le podrias agregar tambien un mapeado de botones mas sencillo o similar como en el android 11 de la version oficial seria perfecto para no tener que recurrir a aplicaciones de terceros, en mi caso el android 11 funciona mejor que el 9, es mas estable y sin lag, el 9 me daba mucho lag y la pantalla se calentaba bastante, saludos.

bloody haunt

Oh, tienes razón, esta compilación no tiene una opción de rotación forzada, Android 9 sí. El RG552 no tiene un sensor de rotación físico, por lo que el sistema operativo fuerza la rotación horizontal de forma predeterminada. Entiendo que esto podría causar cierta confusión. Consideraré agregar una opción de rotación forzada para el control de rotación manual en una compilación futura. Gracias por sus sugerencias son muy útiles. Saludos

Black-Seraph

estare pendiente de la nueva actualizacion, sobre la rotacion forzada no la encontre, los unicos iconos que hay son los de wifi, cpu speed, gamepad mode, no interrumpir, fan speed, transmision en pantalla, tema oscuro/claro, invertir colores, bluetooth, modo avion, ubicacion, hotspot, ahorro de datos, grabacion de pantalla y compartir con nearby, y en la configuracion de pantalla solo encontre la rotacion automatica, saludos y gracias por su respuesta

bloody haunt

Hola, esta compilación no tiene una opción para eliminar la hora y la fecha de la pantalla principal. Dudo que tenga suficiente tiempo libre para agregar la función en el corto plazo. En cuanto a la rotación forzada, puede activarla y desactivarla desde el menú desplegable QS o mediante la configuración de Pantalla en la aplicación Configuración. ¡Saludos!

Black-Seraph

una consulta, es posible quitar el icono de la hora y fecha de la pantalla principal en el android 11, ademas tambien colocar la rotacion de pantalla forzada como en el android 11 oficial de anbernic en lugar de la rotación de pantalla automatica, saludos

bloody haunt

I was on a business trip so this reply is a bit late. I'll look into the latency issues you mentioned, but it would be great to have a few examples of where the issue shows exactly. Having easy to pinpoint / compare examples helps a lot with fixing such issues. As for running 9: that's a perfectly fine workaround for the time being if the results line up with what you want.

Black-Seraph

so after flashing android 9 onto the device i have noticed a lot less input lag and sound hicups, not sure what happend there but seems android 9 works better than 11 on my specific device. anyways great work as always

Richie

the linix side runs fine with none of the audio hicups / popping noise or controller latency found on the android 11 side, is it as simple as reflashing the andriod 9 version on a sd card wipe/reformat after install?

Richie

so ive just installed your Andriod 11 on a new Rg552 and every game i play from psp-Dreamcast-snes -Ds has micro stutters every few seconds the sound skips im wondering can i wipe and go back to Andriod 9

Richie

Ah great! With android 9 or 11?

Chamin Hardeman

try the SNES9xEX+ emu by R. Broglia from the GOOGLE play store, works fine for me.

Javier Bustamante

oh no problem! Don’t wanna take your time!

Chamin Hardeman

Bit busy at the moment but I'll take a look at Mario world for you later.

Black-Seraph

Just tried that, worked much better. Can you if 2010 has the same result on your device? Still find it a bit strange since 552 is mid rang

Chamin Hardeman

You can also try using a older snes9x core. 2010 uses way more power than 2005.

Black-Seraph

Ok i’ll try, keep you posted. I’m new to this emulation world but the 552 should be able to run snes almost like native devices right? It’s not asking psp or ps2 performance ;)

Chamin Hardeman

You can try evening run-ahead in the settings. That usually helps with input latency issues.

Black-Seraph

I did read about people that went back to android 9 because of performance.

Chamin Hardeman

I’ve also sideloaded Retroarch. I’ll try and make a video. But do you know if i can boost retro-arch or the emulator? Retro-arch has a ton of settings i’ve noticed. Or maybe just this question: did you load specific settings into retroarch?

Chamin Hardeman

I haven't noticed anything of the sort during the 2 week internal testing period but I'll be keeping an eye out for it. It's weird though because I'm using RetroArch extensively myself (aarch64 APK from their website) but I'm not using launchbox.

Black-Seraph

I’m starting games using lauchbox->retroarch

Chamin Hardeman

Hi I’m having some input lag on emulators (eg snes9->mario world). Just little hickups during play. It feels a bit like there are background processes which are taking too much and a garbage collector kicks in. I’ve tried several emulators. Is there anything I can do?

Chamin Hardeman

There is actually but it takes me a bit to work these things out. Please be patient for a little longer.

Black-Seraph

Anything new planned for the RG552 please ?

Fabrice Usieto

Theres anything i can do to improve it? 2GHz for me is pretty good

Erigann

That's the silicon lottery. Not every unit out there can handle the same clocks for prolonged periods of time. Which means some units can handle overclocks better than others. Because of this the toggle is tiered the way it is, so that people can dial the highest stable value for their own unit in themselves. I personally own two RG552 for development purposes and one can barely handle 2GHz while the other sits comfortably on 2.2GHz all day just fine.

Black-Seraph

So I keep having this problem... every time I try to use it for some task that requires a little more from the device it automatically restarts (usually when the overclock goes over 2000 hz), I don't know if the problem is just with me or even if it's a software thing, but I come to report for possible analysis

Erigann

No widevine, depending on the streaming service used either means you're completely locked out or limited to 480p. L3 means you can stream DRM protected content up to 720p. L1 is for anything above 720p.

Black-Seraph

Erigann

The only difference in 9 & 11 regarding SD cards is that 11 uses the storage access framework to access data (SAF) while 9 uses a sdcardfs overlay and regular file access APIs. The reason why this difference is an issue for some people is because not all apps out there have been updated to use SAF yet and some (really old ones) probably never will as they have been abandoned by their developers. At the end of the day everyone has to make their own decision though. Do they want to "stand still" and stick to the older builds or do they want to move along with the newer Android revisions like Google intended.

Black-Seraph

So ive heard on other places that your Android 11 is unstable wont read Sd cards ( so i cant store roms on a sd it all has to be internal & im better off with your android 9 version for sd as storage & more apps compatible is this true? i don't believe it is but thought id go straight too the source, surely 11 is better as 9 will be phased out ?

Richie

All fine now! Thanks a lot 👌🏾👌🏾

Chamin Hardeman

So, everything good now? If you are still stuck I can help you 1:1 later after I'm back home.

Black-Seraph

It's going!

Chamin Hardeman

1. Use a MicroSD card imagining tool of choice to flash the update.img file onto a >= 4GB MicroSD card (Balena Etcher, Raspberry Pi Imager, Ubuntu's built-in Disks utility, dd, etc.) 2. Power off your RG552, remove the cable from the port labeled "USB" (if you currently have one plugged in) & remove all MicroSD cards from it 3. Plug your RG552's charger into the port labeled "DC" to ensure your device doesn't run out of power mid-flash 4. Plug the MicroSD card you flashed previously into your RG552's "TF1/INT" MicroSD card slot and power it on After I turn the device on I get: https://pasteboard.co/68HQ67Su4H6D.jpg I don't get "installing system update" on the screen whatsoever. It seems like it just won't go. I did a "wipe data / factory reset " as you mentioned but even that doesn't seem to do anything (see: https://pasteboard.co/oO4AC1cKJMMt.jpg). I can (i believe luckily) restart the device (without the SD) and it starts and runs my previous setup with Android 9 and everything works there.

Chamin Hardeman

I don't have the README in front of me right now as I'm replying from my phone, so I'm not exactly sure where you are stuck.

Black-Seraph

I don't get to step 5... i immediately get the output as shown in the first image.

Chamin Hardeman

Status 1 is a generic error. That can mean anything. May I suggest flashing the installer image to a different MicroSD card and retrying the install? Preferably with verification turned on in Balena Etcher to make sure the image flashed properly onto the MicroSD card?

Black-Seraph

Thanks! Did that it gave me this: https://pasteboard.co/oO4AC1cKJMMt.jpg

Chamin Hardeman

Nothing to be sorry about. Always happy to help.

Black-Seraph

Chamin Hardeman

It's written in the README, but here you go anyway: Keep pressing the volume buttons until Wipe data/Factory reset is selected, then confirm your selection with the power button.

Black-Seraph

Hi :) After writing the image to SD with BalenaEtcher and restarting I get this. How to proceed? https://pasteboard.co/68HQ67Su4H6D.jpg

Chamin Hardeman

No problem! Always glad to be of help!

Black-Seraph

Tank you for the quick response, and the clarification. Great job on the firmware

Richie

You flash the image onto a spare MicroSD card that's 4gb or bigger in capacity. You then enter that card into slot TF1 and turn the device on. It will automatically start installing the firmware. You will reach a point where it will ask you to remove the card, do so. At that point you will see that menu and need to pick the wipe data option.

Black-Seraph

hi i hate to be "that Guy" but im totally new, so my rg552 is on stock fimware so it will be a "fresh install" , in the read me it says" Press the volume minus button 5 times to select "Wipe data/factory reset, does this menu come up when i first boot the rg522 with your custom firmware image on the sd card? as it seems strange that i would install the firmware and then "wipe data factory reset " I dont have my rg552 yet its in the mail, i just want to be sure what im doing before it comes. Great job with the firmware

Richie

Hi, i buy recommend bluetooth dongle, but work just 30 seconds. You know can be? Thanks

Thyago Mendrot

Will try then, tnx

matparn

You can capture the dmesg output while plugging the HDMI cable in and out to see if it's being detected.

Black-Seraph

Nothing, I have changed HDMI dongle and tried on a TV and PC monitor, with no avail. :( Starting to fear it's an HW issue... Any test you suggest to reduce possible issues/causes? Tnx

matparn

The TV yes, I fear the HDMI dongle/adapter might be the culprit.. will check tnx

matparn

Can your monitor handle 1920x1080@60Hz? That's what it outputs.

Black-Seraph

Ok then I have an issue with the cable/adapter I am afraid, thanks.

matparn

It's plug and play.

Black-Seraph

Thanks. Will look more deeply over point 2 (fan profiles). Btw, HDMI out should be automatic in this release, correct? I mean, it should be plug and play, or I need to setup something? Tnx

matparn

1. You will most likely need a custom launcher for that as landscape labels aren't supported in the default one. 2. It shouldn't, but given the weird things I've seen over the years working with niche handheld hardware I can't rule it out fully.

Black-Seraph

Hi, two questions: 1. A silly one, but how can I make app labels show in the home screen? I have just small icons, but went through all Android options with no avail :( 2. Is it possible that if I set the fan to be "quiet" under JelOS, when I boot into Android it won't change profile no matter which one I choose from there? (Trying to replicate this one). Tnx

matparn

Try a different MicroSD card and make sure you verify your written image with something like balena etcher.

Black-Seraph

After installing my rg552 will get to the Android logo and just stays there

Jeremiah

Will do!

Black-Seraph

No worries! Thanks for all you do! I’m really enjoying my rg552 a lot more now because of you. Please keep it up

Gordon Marino

I'm happy you're enjoying my work this much! About switching systems: At the moment the only way to avoid the MicroSD auto boot is to eject the TF1 card before booting. I hope to patch the bootloader at some point to allow for button based skipping of the MicroSD boot, but I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Black-Seraph

This is so great! I am a new member here, but am happy to contribute to a great talent. Can you let me know how to switch from amber elec back to android? do I need to take the SD cards out all the time to do this?

Gordon Marino

No problem! Let me know if it all works out. Cheers!

Black-Seraph

Ok thanks for helping me I ll try to buy another SD card.Good to you!

Low Coast

If you don't make it past the Anbernic boot logo that means your installation card was broken. The RG552 boot stages are: Anbernic text without logo: Bootloader stage Anbernic text with logo: Kernel boot stage Android animation: Android init stage If you get stuck in one of the first two it's probably a good idea to try another MicroSD card and enabling verification in Balena.

Black-Seraph

Well its better but still doesn t work after installation,reboot and factory reset its blocked on anbernic white logo I dont know what s wrong with it ...

Low Coast

It's normal to end up in the recovery screen post-install. Just select factory reset and after that reboot.

Black-Seraph

All steps are good but after reboot no android screen and sometimes instead of black screen I have android recovery screen asking me reboot,reboot bootloader,wipe data factory,wipe cache factory etc.... I tried to download once again all 5 files but it remains the same I cant recover android

Low Coast

Trying to decipher your message here, so please confirm for me that we are on the same page here: So you created the installer MicroSD card with Balena Etcher? You put it into the TF1 slot and the install went through correctly with all the on screen messages, finally telling you to eject the card? And after it reboots you see the Android logo, which then disappears and leaves you with a black screen & running fans?

Black-Seraph

install processs is beginning by android color loop then blackscreen,fan is blowing and still blackscreen update img has been created by balena etcher. I just try to install new android from start with all package given(rg552 plugged onto usb on pc,instal driver...)create update.img

Low Coast

Can you be a bit more specific maybe? Black screen where exactly? What were you trying to do?

Black-Seraph

Hi! So many tries and always blackscreen...Dont Know what to do ?

Low Coast

/metadata is the hw-encryption storage partition, /cache is unused in modern Android revisions (>= 8.0) and /cache/recovery is where the recovery system keeps it's logfiles. So, whatever it is that you're encountering there, it's thankfully non-critical as none of these partitions are required for Android to function.

Black-Seraph

Here is what I could grab from the screenshot; E:Clibfs gr]Failed to mount /metadata: Invalid argument enter try do sdcard boot try do sdcard boot is done, is sdupdate-stat-0 E-libfs gr)Failed to mount /cache: Invalid argument E:Failed to mount /cache/recovery/last_locale E:Clibfa gr)Failed to mount /cache: Invalid argument Btw, so far so good. :)

matparn

I'm not sure what you saw but if everything works just fine as you say I'd not worry about it too much.

Black-Seraph

Hi, when extracting the SD and rebooting, I had an error at the bottom of menu (failed to mount some dir), and I couldn't choose between menu voices in order to wipe the original version. I was stuck so I rebooted, it entered the Android installation as nothing happened... :) All right anyway or not? Thanks!

matparn

Always happy to be appreciated!

Black-Seraph

Absolutely love this build. I feel slightly mislead because the anbernic rg552 is straight trash for ps2 6 frames at best. I wish you could create a custom ps4 firmware. That's what the rest of the day is today jail breaking my ps4. Keep up the great work, love what you are doing

SL7669

Glad I was able to help out! As for dig: I fear I can't help you on that one as I never used it before.

Black-Seraph

You were right, as usual, I can get to the files on the SD card now I was ready to resign myself to nothing but snes9x so thanks, now if I can get dig or something similar going my desire for click ngo may be fulfilled 🤣🤣🤣

Edwin

I'm just going to assume you have your roms on a MicroSD card? If so, download the APK directly from the RetroArch website. The Play Store version can't handle SD cards properly for some reason.

Black-Seraph

I love everything you've done, but I keep coming to a similar problem with all the newer Android versions, I have no idea how to setup the directorys so retroarch can actually get access to the roms, guess I'm an idiot or haven't looked hard enough

Edwin

The second way is probably the easier one.

Black-Seraph

I’m a bit rusty in android romz but will give it a try. Or search for a list and download them from other sources

Igor Hagens

There is but it's not something the average user can do. If you feel adventurous though: Unpack the stock sdupdate image, then the afp image, then the super image, then the system, system_ext, product and odm image, and then extract the APK files from the extracted images. Most are in the product partition.

Black-Seraph

Is there a way to extract them from anbernic built myself? It did not made a google backup.

Igor Hagens

There isn't that I know of and I can't provide one either because it contains a metric ton of cracked / pirated apps. :(

Black-Seraph

Installed this as a new noobie today. Is there a APK Pack for all the emulators that where installed in the anbernic built?

Igor Hagens

Game Pass is finicky and kills itself when packets are dropped which means your WiFi connection must be in perfect condition to use it (unlike other streaming apps that handle packet losses just fine).

Black-Seraph

I've had a few reports like that but never personally encountered it in the two units I own, making it quite difficult to pinpoint why it's happening.

Black-Seraph

I have a similar problem in Retroarch but it happens in game too. For example if I jump back and forth over a spiked pit in Mega Man, every 10 seconds or so, the controller either sticks on the last input or stops receiving inputs. I'm not sure if this is only related to Retroarch or Android in general but it's not my hardware as everything works fine on AmberElec.

Pete Naylor

I have only used the latest build and I don't think I had this problem at all before getting the WiFi dongle.

Kevin

Did you have this issue previously or does it only happen on the newest build?

Black-Seraph

Hello Black-Seraph, first off the work you have done is very impressive. Thank you. I am having some WiFi instability problems. They seem to have started after I got and tried a USB 5Ghz WiFi dongle. Since then I have had both the USB and internal WiFi stop working randomly. Turning WiFi off and back on doesn't help but a restart always fixes it.

Kevin

The guy behind Magisk now works for Google so there's a certain conflict of interests at play with newer revisions. The hide functionality was completely removed and it's now up to other independent developers to provide similar hide functionality as part of Zygisk modules. It doesn't help that the hide functions used break within weeks as Google rolls out newer detection mechanisms.

Black-Seraph

Can't you simply hide Magisk using the manager? You can even choose which apps to hide from. I used this feature on a phone to hide the root from my banking apps and never encountered any issue with it.

Baron

Hello, I'm in doubt about the performance of xcloud, because on my rg552 after a game start time, it just crashes. Has anyone gone through this?

WAGNER ALEXANDRE

If you removed Magisk and it's still saying it's rooted then it's quite simply lying to you. It's common practice for games to blame root on anything they don't like so it's really difficult to tell what it's really mad about.

Black-Seraph

how do you go back to 9.0?

Steve

Hey hey Black-Seraph do you know how to unroot the rg552, I've been trying to play apex legends, unfortunately it comes up with detected rooted device, so I uninstalled magisk but no luck. Any ideas

Peter Bruce

Both are on the to-do list. RG353P has priority though.

Black-Seraph

hello Black-Seraph, a quick question: any plans to look into building/making a custom rom for Anbernic rg503 or the new Anbernic rg353p? thanks in advance

superpoeper

here you can see a similar experience where I am repeatedly pressing the button: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ag9IwyuR6Mqrx8F9ie1TEiXAjg1Y1w?e=orLqRO

Lars Van beek

Charged it up to full, unplugged it and left it in my desk and went to work. Came back and it had dropped to 35% and was a little warm to the touch. I think it's just a faulty battery.

Live Ghost

There's a touchscreen mapper you can access by pressing the F button. You can also choose between Nintendo and XBOX profiles via the quick toggles.

Black-Seraph

Is there keymapping in this OS I was unable to find it.

Dave Be

Yeah that was it. I was just impatient my bad.

Dave Be

Do you mean the erasing screen?

Black-Seraph

Dave Be

Too many people to keep them all sorted in my head, sorry about that, but the issue came up on Twitter as well. But yeah... The profiles do what they advertise. One stimulates a Switch Pro controller, the other a XBOX One one... And the emulation is (very) accurate, to the point of emulating the flaws as well. And Nintendo gamepads (except the GameCube ones) don't have analog triggers, so when something expects analog values and gets digital ones instead then we see issues like these.

Black-Seraph

Hey, I guess that was it. Thanks! I always have it in Nintendo mode as my daughter uses this as well and A needs to be A and B to be B. Lol When streaming PC games, the buttons always seem to map to the labeled buttons as opposed to their physical mapping location. I guess I assumed the same for game pass so I never bothered to change it or even think to change it. I'm also not on Twitter. Thanks once again! :)

Nicky Santoro

Keep us posted.

Black-Seraph

Battery's probably a lemon then. Gonna see if swapping back to the OEM usb-c cable and adapter makes any difference. Thanks again.

Live Ghost

No idea TBH. Mine behaves fine (it's my primary handheld at the moment while I work out the latest X18S update).

Black-Seraph

This isn't really related to the update but my RG552 keeps draining itself of battery even while it's powered down would you happen to know why? I hadn't updated since the Android 9 builds but after updating it to this build the battery keeps draining itself even while it's shut off.

Live Ghost

I already tweeted an answer to this as well but the latest build already has the Game Pass fix in there. I thought about it some more though and figured you might be running in the wrong gamepad profile. Game Pass only works properly in the XBOX layout, if you have the gamepad toggled into it's Nintendo layout then the triggers will report as digital buttons which will result in apps that rely on analog triggers to not detect them (like Nintendo gamepads do).

Black-Seraph

The RT and LT buttons still don't work in Game Pass. Seems to be something specific to the RG552 as my other handhelds have no issue. Is this a common issue?

Nicky Santoro

Weird....may try 11 again, you've made it pretty easy to change!

John OC

I even replied on Twitter regarding Dead Cells... I'm not entirely sure what the issue is here but it works just fine on my end. I even posted a video showing me playing it on this Android 11 build just fine. :(

Black-Seraph

The 11 Beta #18 worked extremely well except for one thing (for me) and that was Dead Cells, probably the only Android game I like to play. I use this mainly for emulation. The issue is the controls do not work, went back to 9.0 and it works. Any idea it's not working for 11? I would prefer to use 11. Really appreciate your work thank you!

John OC

Do you have a video showcasing this maybe?

Black-Seraph

I have a problem with the controller, when in Retroarch menu, every minute it holds a while then suddenly jumps to where i was 5 seconds ago.

Lars Van beek

Thanks for the tips. I'm up and running ;-p everything is great. diablo immortal runs great with the built in gamepad support. genshin impact works great with the "mapper" function... i am really loving my 552 now... tip: One game i really love playing on the 552 => swordigo

superpoeper

use android app from main retroarch site not google play

Joshua Boylan

You can just follow the instructions on their website.

Black-Seraph

Black, how do I get back to the original Anbernic rom? Maybe I'll sell the device =D

Allan Lopes Ferreira

Mac OS can't extract 7zip files? I find that somewhat hard to believe but given I have no Mac I can't really verify your claim or suggest you an alternative unpacking program. Maybe victoriemini or one of the other Mac users in here can suggest a good one for you?

Black-Seraph

howcan i do this on Mac OS because it wont let me open the files

Sage Tang

From what I've found if you are using the PLAY STORE Retroarch it might not work but sideload the .apk and it does... I guess results may vary.

Ryan Ransdell

euhm i'm having problems with retroarch not "seeing" the sd card. i cannot find the folder called 9FGT-31F7. could you point me toward the solution? (possibly a tutorial of sorts) i cannot load my roms on the sd card... all other emulators i use can see and use the card. i use the sd card formatted as portable storage.

superpoeper

Hi, thanks a lot it works very well. Have a good day !

Louis

Press the F button.

Black-Seraph

Black, congratulations on the work! In the original rom (11) there is an app that maps the physical buttons with the buttons on the screen, I didn't find this in your build, which app can I use instead?

Allan Lopes Ferreira

Ah ok I get what you mean. It's a shame because like a say apex legends was running well. Well let me know those modules to try when you get a minute. And once again thanks for all those hours you're putting in. It's much appreciated!

aaron jackson

The real problem is that it's not really root it's detecting but anything it thinks is bad. The message is a bit misleading. Which means even if I was to strip root out it would still not work. This cat and mouse game has been going on since Google started to sell device certifications to OEM. And all of these Chinese device OEM obviously don't pay to be certified so we have to make due with the workarounds we have.

Black-Seraph

Universal saftynet fix? I think.. I'm not completely familiar with these things. I followed a guide a while ago. Apex legends worked at first but the next time I started it it just said something about detecting root and had to close. It's a shame because it actually ran well.

aaron jackson

I don't have the names ready at the moment, I'll post a link to the one most people use tomorrow though. Mind telling me which ones you've tried though and what app is giving you trouble?

Black-Seraph

Is there a specific module I should use? The one I tried didn't work.

aaron jackson

There is nothing like a perfectly hidden root. Magisk hide modules get pretty close for 95% of things and that is what most people use.

Black-Seraph

All updates provided here are full builds. That means you don't need to "build up to it". Just pick the latest and you will be good.

Black-Seraph

I haven't gotten around to doing the last 11 update yet, do I need to install that before running this or can I go straight from your initial 11 release to this one?

Randall

Will this build show as rooted? There are some apps I just can't use on 9 because it says that root is detected and will close. Is it possible to have this completely un-rooted and would it have any affect of the system? Like the overclock etc..

aaron jackson

It really is personal preference at the end of the day. I don't know how I could help you in making this decision.

Black-Seraph

So pretty much equal to android 9 now but all the perks of 11?? Mmmm…I do love 9 so I’m conflicted. I play mostly retro games but I love psp and n64 performance on 9. I do play a few android games but not too many, should I switch or just stick with 9 ??

Robert Soliz

Bad download or MicroSD card flash maybe? I'd suggest giving it another try and if that doesn't work out check the FAQ on Black-Seraph.com to create a logcat log and send it over. If you make it to the Android logo that means creating a log should be possible.

Black-Seraph

I do a clean install but it didn't start, only Android shows up

V.Arz

You're welcome as always. :)

Black-Seraph

Thanks for your work ;-)

Belchine

Works when I download the files from the patreon APP... Sorry and thanks.

Estefano João Del Rei Belo da Silva

I am stuck on a error... Unexpected file end...

Estefano João Del Rei Belo da Silva