CX919II - bought from ibood, 17 november

[weirdow]

My first post, apologies for the lousy photo's, I was bored and didn't have my camera on hand, so these pictures, taken with my gt-s5301 camera.

The iBood CX-919 II
inside top


inside bottom


inside top showing black paper-like cooling shim. The cpu was covered with a hard white lacquer (coolpaste?) which I removed using a knife and gentle strokes.


List of easily readable chip id's
TOP :
2 memory chips : 8LQ18 X9MFB
power regulator? : Active 8846QM CD355
CPU : RockChip RK3188-T SBAU32FX 1338
crystal : X24.000 (next to cpu)
6pin chip next to microusb, M69

Bottom :
2 memory chips : 8LQ18 X9MFB
Flash nand eeprom : SKhynix H27UCG8T2BTR
HDMI interface : ITE IT66121FN 1339-BXG ECAONB
WIFI/BT : AP6210 TOD8009 1342
crystal? : EAMB
chip next to crystal : 8563M 1333

Writing on PCB
2013-06-17
CYXTECH_RK3188 909
V1_1

Though, I have not tested this, nor measured the signals. I assume, that the 3 pads between the microsd cardslot and the button are a serial interface.

A friend of mine had the same one, bought at the same time, flashed with another rom, and it died before the end of 2013. The casing had signs of thermal stress. on both sides of the casing, on the location of the Active 8846QM chip. I think he used the rom found here :

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?6120-J22-TVSTICK-with-AP6210-wifi&p=111313&viewfull=1#post111313

Greetings to all!

update : 201401252244
Serial Console output - Dmesg
bootup-serialdmesgoutput.txt

Update : 201401251916
Added Hi-res pictures.

[Max One]

Hey weirdow,

welcome to this forum.

I see that store is located in Berlin. I am also from Berlin. Tell me pls, how much did u paid for it?

And yeah those photos are really bad, u could update them

It would be nice if u can ask the seller for firmware and post it here http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-CX919II-GM282

How much points do u score in antutu?

Is your cpu limited to 1.4ghz, because its a RockChip RK3188-T. And I´m asking cause of that thread here http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-of-RK3188-CPU.

Thx for ur first post and for the details of ur cx 919II.

Regards

Max 1

[Aliquis]

I bought one from (Dutch) iBood as well, but on the first of january this year. It cost me 70 euro. I didn't open it. I tried flashing various firmwares, but in the end not many worked for me (Finless 2.0 beta has non-working Wifi). Interestingly some firmwares that were mentioned by people in the ibood thread that worked, didn't work in the end for me. So it seems to be a lot of hit and miss with this stick.

In the end, the firmware/kernel from this thread worked for me: http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-dan-Vsync-Fix

I'll try and run a benchmark later this week.

The supplier indicated there would be a 4.4 update available soon.

[Max One]

....The supplier indicated there would be a 4.4 update available soon.

Pls if u get that update from the supplier, post it also here http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-CX919II-GM282. Thanks in advance.

Max One

[weirdow]

Hey weirdow,

welcome to this forum.

I see that store is located in Berlin. I am also from Berlin. Tell me pls, how much did u paid for it?

And yeah those photos are really bad, u could update them

It would be nice if u can ask the seller for firmware and post it here http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-CX919II-GM282

How much points do u score in antutu?

Is your cpu limited to 1.4ghz, because its a RockChip RK3188-T. And I´m asking cause of that thread here http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-of-RK3188-CPU.

Thx for ur first post and for the details of ur cx 919II.

Regards

Max 1

okay, so
- First iBood the web store. purchased for 69.95 without shipping. (or was it .99? ) http://www.ibood.com/
- Second, antutu? maybe, if I REALLY feel like it, I'll run it. after installing it. and downloading it, as well as finding it, which is, at this moment, highly unlikely, since I don't really like benchmark programs.
- Third, I know the pictures are bad, it really merrits repeating, it's only a 2 Mpx camera on the phone, and I doubt it has an active focus. Funny thing is, the friend took high res pictures with his phone, but.... they're still on the phone, he hasn't sent'm to me.... yet.
- Fourth, according to what little information I can gather from the software on the stick itself, it should be running at 1.6Ghz.
- Fourth addendum, I read the thread about the Terrible version, I don't know how it all fits together, I don't have the datasheets. So I won't speculate on wether it is truly terrible or not.
One thing I recall, after flashing several roms, mostly with display problems, and wifi/bt not working due to no drivers, we tried to find the original rom, and used that kernel. which didn't give any flashing screen problems and also had wifi and bt working.

So, the next thing I will try on this stick is see if I can get a serial console working.
If it truly is the three pads between button and sdcard it should be fairly simple and straightforward to hook it up. When I get all the parts together, which means I need to find my usb-serial adapter, measure the pins to see which is ground, receive and transmit, hook it all up to the computer, find a serial com port terminal program, like hyperterminal in windows or minicom in linux, or putty, and then log all the output from the bootloader, kernelboot, etcetera....
So maybe that will be next month.

If you can do that, go ahead, post the output!
greetings.

[PolarBear]

^^^ Coooool!

Hope you discover some cool stuff

[danaca79]

Kernel troubles

Hey guys,

I also got the CX-919II stick from the Dutch iBood and it seems to be very tricky to find a working kernel for this stick. I've tried all kernels I could find on Freaktab for this device (1080p & 720p, overclocked and stock speeds) and most gave me screen flickering (blackouts every few seconds). The few kernels without screen flickering (1080p & 720p) had no working WiFi (and probably BT). I also tried most of them on 3 different roms (Finless 1.6b, Neomode Hybrid Rom 1.7 & 1.8), but no change in performance.

The only kernel that seems to work without issues is the one from Freaktab-user "zetzzzz":

here is all my modified, patched and OC kernel:
from baidu --> http://pan.baidu.com/s/15WL16
or
from mediafire --> https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1i0...20kernel%20mod

I'm currently using Neomode Hybrid Rom 1.8 with "kernel_vsfsam.img" (from "kernel_vsfsam.zip", 720p with stock speeds) and it has been perfectly stable for 3 days now, with Antutu score ~16600. Not very impressive, but I'm nonetheless happy I finally found a working kernel for this stick. Stock firmware was stable and functioning properly as well, but I've only tested it for half an hour before flashing different roms/kernels (where's the fun in running stock firmware anyway ). I didn't do a backup first unfortunately....

The weird thing is that flashing the overclocked kernels from zetzzzz doesn't actually change anything, it still runs at stock speeds ([email protected]) and Antutu score is roughly the same. I haven't checked with a CPU tuner though, maybe I should have and will....

Which kernel/rom-combination is working for you guys? I would like a OC'ed true 1080p kernel, but for now the Neomode Hybrid Rom 1.8 (with Nova Launcher & XBMC 13alpha8) + zetzzzz 720p-kernel with stock speeds is pretty smooth as well.

[PolarBear]

Hi, I'm using the finless 1.6 for cx919 and zetzzz's 1.8 kernel, though, like you, cpuz reports it as 1.6ghz, and it's not a model T.

[weirdow]

Interests.....

I forgot to mention,

I am not interested in overclocking the device.

I do want to find how to compile a kernel for it, what needs to be added/changed to get it to compile, and have all the hardware function, the way it is supposed to (including all the hardware bugs that go with it, and their software workarounds) and, I'd like to be able to plug in any existing and linux supported usb devices and actually get them functioning and working without them crashing on me...

Also, on another note, the Serial port, and no it's note some wine you have for breakfast.
a simple google for RK3188 and serial port reveals to me, that my assumption seemed to be correct, about the pads between the button and sd card. I haven't tested it yet, but did find my trusty old nokia usb2 serial converter, so.... sooooon-ish.
also found my camera, so better photos will come as well.

greetings!

[Aliquis]

Pls if u get that update from the supplier, post it also here http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-CX919II-GM282. Thanks in advance.

I will. I asked the supplier if he was able to put a number on 'soon' and a unit (days, weeks, months) and he said he expected about two months since Chinese new year is around the corner and that usually means a period of low activity in updates. So We'll have to sit and wait.

[albinonotjes]

i have also bought this stick from Ibood. I have a question about the memory. On the advertisement stands that the internal memory is 8 GB. But if you look at the memory there is only 0.98 GB and 5.23 gd nand flash. Can tell somebody what nand flash is and why the memory is split up.

[unaszplodrmann]

I recently received the same model as you, weirdow. The NAND flash is the only significance. The one has a Micron part which, judging by the part number, is actually a faulty 64 GB part that has been reprogrammed down to 8GB. I used F3 to confirm that all available blocks can be written to successfully.

The covering on the SoC is one-side thermal tape. There is a thin layer of aluminium sandwiched inside. Almost totally useless and took a while to remove with acetone. It does serve to conceal the fact that RK3188-T has been specced though I have a heatsink ordered ... Bit worried after reading of the power regulator failure, too ...

The power supply with this one was knackered and I'm waiting on a replacement for that also. Luckily, the rear ports on my desktop can output 1500mA, which should be OK in the meantime. I'm looking to build a kernel for it in the next couple of days. I think I will clone the official source from github with the RK3188-T changes and go from there. If Rockchip have limited the T variant to 1.4GHz, it is only good for 1.4GHz as far as I'm concerned, so I'll use their current source. I'm looking to use this stick as a web server running Wheezy, so I care a lot about stability. Yeah, screw bullshit toy benchmarking apps

Hopefully wifi and bt won't too much of a problem once I have the GPIO assignments. Good luck with serial interface!

[unaszplodrmann]

Github repo

I've forked aloksinha2001's Github repo to work on a GNU/Linux kernel targeted at this device. I'm testing with a picuntu system image and will switch to a debootstrapped wheezy when I'm happy with the kernel. So far, the ap6210 works and the display problems are much reduced (still occasional signal loss at 1080p) with some patches from upstream for the it66121.

https://github.com/unaszplodrmann/Linux3188/tree/cyxtech_909_v1.1

[unaszplodrmann]

Theres a lot of activity on the official rockchip repo so I decided to try building from there. Adjusted GPIO assignments, configured the framebuffer, command line parameters and initramfs, then built... It works

Display problems remain - artifacts and signal loss at 1080p once the device warms up. Saying that, it is running noticeably cooler to the touch... Gief thermal sensor...

Oh well, I'll just stick with 720p and the up-to-date source. I see little reason to use the picuntu kernel sources now.

[weirdow]

Theres a lot of activity on the official rockchip repo so I decided to try building from there. Adjusted GPIO assignments, configured the framebuffer, command line parameters and initramfs, then built... It works

Display problems remain - artifacts and signal loss at 1080p once the device warms up. Saying that, it is running noticeably cooler to the touch... Gief thermal sensor...

Oh well, I'll just stick with 720p and the up-to-date source. I see little reason to use the picuntu kernel sources now.

Cool, nice to hear you got a self compiled kernel booting. Which rockchip repo do you mean ? url?
I had a look at the rockchip-3.0 but it seems that they gather patches here and there and then merge it into the kernel. which also leads to our rk3188T's to have their max cpu clock standard, set to 1.4
my main reason to get a kernel compiled is that the amount of usb drivers that is included is just ridiculously small. I don't see any way of getting a webcam or scanner attached and working, since there is no kernel module... unless the application does the usb driving.... urgh. might as well go back to an old zx80. Also, since our stick does not in any way have a real camera integrated into it's package... why is the software for it in the kernel, reserving memory, occupying resources.... since, I doubt that any one will actually buy a camera and solder it to the chip....
There were a few other things that were nagging at me, luckily I forgot.
unfortunatly, I can't test the stick @1080p, cos I don't have a working monitor at the moment that does 1080p. so that'll have to wait.

anyway,

Congrats , Enjoy, and let it flow !!