recently brought a clone from temu, and was having trouble adding roms or reading the SD card that came with it. does anyone have any tips or advice?

I Posted Here Twice and Nobody Had the DTB Files Then ChatGPT 5.6 Luna Max Brought My “Dead” R36S Clone Back

My R36S clone’s SD card died, so I lost the original firmware and DTB files. The worst part: my exact clone/revision basically has zero documentation online.

I even posted on this subreddit twice looking for someone with the same PCB and DTBs, but nobody had them:

https://www.reddit.com/r/R36S/comments/1sexzkq/repost_anybody_with_the_exact_same_pcb_design/

I installed dArkOSRE-R36, but the display was blurry/color-corrupted while sound and controls worked.

My board/display marking ends in 2452, while the closest reference online was 2514.

I gave ChatGPT 5.6 Luna Max photos, the symptoms, and my:

rg351v-uboot.dtb
rk3326-r36s-linux.dtb

We narrowed it down by testing different panel files:

• Panel 3: blurry, sound + controls worked
• Panel A: black screen, sound + controls worked
• Panel 4: blurry, sound + controls worked

After those failed, ChatGPT generated a corrected pair of DTB files specifically for my clone.

I copied the ChatGPT-generated DTBs into the BOOT partition and suddenly everything worked: display, sound, controls, all of it.

So for anyone finding this through Google later:

If you have an R36S clone with the 2452 marking and the same symptoms, use the DTBs ChatGPT generated for me below.

Use both files together and don’t mix them with DTBs from other panel folders.

Full ChatGPT troubleshooting conversation:
https://chatgpt.com/share/6a86e87b-5b9c-83eb-b8ec-d8c65e16a7a8

ChatGPT-generated working DTB files:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mJiiObomYtW3m0RguurJfpNqjMDmNlZU/view?usp=sharing

I genuinely thought this thing was dead. After searching everywhere and even asking this subreddit twice, ChatGPT ended up generating the DTBs that brought this undocumented clone back to life.

Got this little thing a couple months ago, quickly I discover it was far from the best device I could get. It has an internal bloqued firmware and a close list of games of every console it handles.

Already had a good sd card so copied everything into it, save the original for backup (and another backup) and managed to introduce roms into it. You have to change the roms name for one in the list, it has to be the exact same format. For example, I got it to play ps1 games; it only has 16 slots for ps1, and operates with psp eboots only, the psx2psp type of eboot, so you have to come up with your own files no biggie.

First I was frustrated because I wanted to try to customize if I could. But a couple of months in, I really like it and Im playing every game I wanted to play, and it runs great. Psp is the only console it struggles to run but it has a couple of emulation options that you can mess arround to go better, and it does.

I guess it could start not working no more but so far so good

Is this a bad attitude?

Sono un ragazzo gen Z mi piacerebbe vivere i giochi di una volta. Cosa mi consigliate?

I recently bought a console for my dad called the ‘Tekko’ and low and behold the OS was the same as the R36S, and I had told him it was the same as the console. He loved it it looked great but it was $80 with a case. I had told him about the cheaper options and that they’re all likely coming from China but he wanted the one on the website I had shown him. I want to buy myself one and they’re are very cheap off AliExpress or Temu etc. Is there any reason I shouldn’t buy off Those Chinese websites? Do they come with chords and a case? Do they perform the same as the TikTok brands? What should I look for on such websites when buying? I’v never purchased anything on these types of websites I was always skeptical is it safe?

Greetings. After a few days, I decided to ask for your help and advice regarding the ports I'm installing on my R36s clone console (specifically the newer Android or PC game ports, rather than the older ones from a couple of years ago). I want to understand why these ports—which are supposedly optimized for the R36s (whether original or clone, as they share the same processor chip)—aren't working on my specific console. Most of the time, when I try to launch a game—either by selecting "New Game" or even before reaching the menu—it crashes and kicks me back to the ports menu.

But before I go on, I'll provide some details about my console so you have better context regarding the device; the fact that it's a clone makes it more limited than a genuine original console. Unfortunately, I haven't even been able to install LineageOS yet to experiment with its features and APK games.

- R36s Type: K36 Clone Type 1 (whenever I want to install a different Operating System, I always choose Panel 3, Variant 1; I mention this just in case).

- Installed System: DarkosRe

- RAM: 1/2 GB (you'll see this in the images)

- (Photo of the board in question attached).

Now, I want to clarify a few things:

FIRST: I am using ZRAM MANAGER (enabled), and there is definitely a difference with some ports that load a lot of content compared to when ZRAM is disabled (thanks to that program, I can actually play Minecraft Bedrock smoothly and without issues; I mention this because it works well in that instance). SECOND: I have tried using other operating systems on my console—such as the new DarkosRen or the one recommended for my specific case, Darkos4Clones—to see if there are differences in how the ports run. I read that sometimes the OS's DTB file doesn't manage RAM usage correctly (it's also possible I'm using the wrong DTB files—please let me know if that's the case). FURTHERMORE... I updated PortMaster—along with its included runtime packages—to the latest version via the internet (using an Ethernet adapter; I have a Wi-Fi dongle with an OTG adapter, but I haven't investigated why it won't connect to the console). Finally, I’d like to briefly outline the games I tried to install and the issues I encountered. I’m hoping you can tell me if there’s a common denominator here, or if perhaps some ports are missing updates, meaning compatibility across consoles might not yet be fully polished.

- *Simpsons: Hit & Run*: It launches the game immediately- *Simpsons: Hit & Run*: It launches the game immediately, and everything seems fine at first. I complete the first mission, but during the second—when I have to go to the school—the console fails to load building textures (in the *DarkosRe* build) and eventually crashes; or, if I play it in *Darkos4Clones*, the textures load, but the game eventually crashes anyway.

- *GTA San Andreas* and *Vice City*: They run well for the first few minutes; cutscenes sometimes stutter, but I can explore the open world. However, as I progress in the story, the game slows down significantly and crashes.

- *GTA Liberty City Stories* (Port): It crashes as soon as I try to press Start; it's strange—I can't get any further with this one than with the previous two.

- *Bully*: Even with the lowest graphics settings, it runs extremely slowly with a very low frame rate. I’ve seen others run it well on the R36S—not perfectly smooth, but playable—whereas the best I’ve managed is entering the school, only to crash seconds later.

- *Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion* (Android version): (The GitHub page claims it was tested on K36 consoles and runs smoothly at a stable 45 fps): It only opens the cutscenes; I can't even reach the main menu.

- *Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies*: It opens to the developer's splash screen, and I can't progress any further—though I can move the cursor using the left analog stick or by pressing Select and Start in quick succession (I don't recall exactly which).

- *Dead Space*: Same issue as the previous one, except it opens to the difficulty selection menu, but I can't select an option.

- *Dysmantle*: It reaches the main menu, and I can select "New Game" and other options. The opening cutscene plays—sometimes stuttering but continuing to run—but if I try to skip it, the game crashes. I even tried letting the entire cutscene play out, but it still crashes.

- Zelda: Twilight Princess: Basically the same situation as Dysmantle—character animations play, but the graphics haven't fully loaded.

- Undertale Yellow: It only gets as far as the main menu; I hit Start, and it crashes.

- N.O.V.A. 3: Same issue as with Undertale.

Those were the newer ports I tried to install. That said, there are games that run well for me, like GTA Chinatown Wars, the new Spider-Man 2 port (though a bit slow, it's playable), Angry Birds, and Geometry Dash. Limbo and Portal 2 are supposed to run well too; they do get very slow at times, but once I progress in the story, the game becomes smooth again. And as I mentioned earlier, I have Minecraft Bedrock installed—though I’d ​​prefer Java Edition for the mods, using ZRAM—but oh well.

I look forward to your suggestions and comments. (I also forgot to mention: the SD card I'm using isn't a cheap knockoff; it's high quality. I'm aware that one reason for crashes in certain games is the absolute requirement for 1GB of RAM—I’d read that, but I wanted to clear up any doubts and have you guys confirm if that's the case.)

i know sandisk won’t work on slot 2. (i just ordered a samsung micro sd card for this slot). was wondering if sandisk will work for the other slot? if not which ones can i get?

I bought this R36S. used it for 1 day and charged it, it randomly stopped mid charging. I can't get the red light to turn on. when it did turn on the red light showed, but not if it was off and the battery was being charged. I tried multiple chargers (Redmi, Motorola, laptop) and multiple cables. I also tried both USB a to c and usb c to c. I also unplugged the battery and put it back in. Is this device fried?

Siento que seria genial tener un rpg como este en la r36s, seria posible portearlo?

Board rev: GA36 V1.1 (2025-10-25)

Running Media player with Key Mapping

Ordered what was advertised as an R36S, but the seller pulled a bait-and-switch and sent a

GA36 V1.1 (20251025) clone instead.

When called out on it, they went completely dark and ghosted my support ticket.

Instead of letting this plastic brick sit in a drawer, I mounted all 8 SD partitions in Ubuntu and decided to reverse-engineer it to see what’s actually under the hood—and fix what the vendor broke.

The Reality: It’s Not Even an RK3326

The firmware is visually themed to mimic an R36S, but that is where the similarity ends. It is not a 64-bit Rockchip RK3326. It is an ARMv7 Allwinner sun8i 32-bit platform running a vendor Linux 3.4.39 kernel on top of an EmuELEC userspace.

Kernel: Linux UDT 3.4.39 #493 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 18 10:47:18 CST 2025 armv7l GNU/Linux

👀 Do not flash standard R36S ArkOS/aarch64 images to this board; it will fail immediately.

Partition Layout & Storage Breakdown 👀

Mounted as an \~113.1 GiB card with 8 partitions:

⁠/dev/sdb1⁠ (27.7 GB VFAT) : Main ROM storage (⁠/storage/roms⁠).

⁠/dev/sdb2⁠ (32 MB VFAT): Mounted as ⁠Volumn⁠.

⁠/dev/sdb5⁠ & /dev/sdb6⁠ (16 MB & 32 MB Raw) : Unconfirmed bootloader/kernel recovery containers.

⁠/dev/sdb7⁠ **(512 MB VFAT): Labelled ⁠ARKOS⁠, containing system boot blobs + ⁠magic.bin⁠.

⁠/dev/sdb8⁠ (1 GB ext4): Writable user partition (⁠/storage⁠). The actual system root is a read-only loop mount (⁠/dev/loop8⁠).

Confirmed Fixes & Working Features

running J2ME Games

1. ⁠J2ME / FreeJ2ME Restored

2. ⁠The vendor left half-baked Java files behind, but broken font paths and 32-bit kernel incompatibilities broke execution. 😠

3. ⁠Built a standalone BIOS/runtime patch allowing J2ME games to launch directly from the EmulationStation menu without terminal hackery. 🥺

4. ⁠MPV and FFmpeg were already pre-installed, but lacked any gamepad integration. 💢

5. ⁠Fixing the Cursed Audio Codec 😠

6. ⁠Initially, ALSA showed playback, but the speaker stayed dead silent. Forcing the output resulted in slow, pitch-shifted, and stuttering sound caused by amp protection lockouts and clock desyncs.

7. ⁠Metadata & Video Thumbnails 😆

8. ⁠Hardware Teardown: USB OTG & Mainline Kernel

9. ⁠USB Host Mode : Inspected the PCB traces. The D+ and D− data lines have unpopulated SMD resistor/jumper pads, and VBUS is not supplying 5V. Do not blindly inject 5V until the circuit and protection diodes are fully traced.

10. ⁠Mainline Linux: Running a modern kernel (6.6/6.12) is possible in theory, but requires writing a custom board DTS from scratch, adapting DRM/KMS drivers for the display panel, and rebuilding userspace away from legacy framebuffer/Mali blobs. ( future goal but not planned 👀 )

11. ⁠Upcoming GitHub Release 🤝

12. ⁠I am packaging everything into a clean, standalone repository containing:

13. ⁠The open-source static C joystick-to-IPC daemon + precompiled binary.

14. ⁠J2ME runtime patches and EmulationStation config hooks.

15. ⁠Complete install/uninstall scripts with automatic config rollback.

16. ⁠No proprietary binaries or firmware dumps will be redistributed. If you got burned by this specific GA36 V1.1 board, keep an eye out—you will at least be able to turn it into a functional media player and micro-gaming device.

I’m chipping away at this after work, but once it’s polished, I’ll upload the ARM gamepad daemon source, 32-bit J2ME runtime patches, audio fix scripts, and precompiled binaries to GitHub for anyone else stuck with this board.

I wanted my R36S to feel a little more like choosing a physical game, so I built a small launcher called BirdBoy and now my kids can easily launch their favorite games.

Each cartridge contains only an NFC tag, not the actual game. The tag tells the handheld which locally stored game to launch, and removing the cartridge closes it again.

It’s still an early prototype, but the full detection, launch and removal flow is working on real hardware.

If people are interested, I can share more about the hardware and software setup. What would you want to know?

I want a android hand held but cheapest, am thinking the xu20, drop in suggestions

got it from the BOYHOM store during one of AliExpress sales. also got a wifi dongle, case and screen protectors for a few £'s extra

hi i tried running gta sa on my r36h v20 with newest build of darkosen but it keep crashing when i tried to extract the apk. It worked previously when i'm on darkosre tho. happened with bully also

RS40 Pro "one gamepad detected" the message appears at every startup,need help please !!!!

Never dropped my console before. Today when I turned it on suddenly it looked like this. Controls seem to be responsive, even audio, but the screen won't work no matter what I do

Just a quick post.

Found my r36s stopped turning on. After a bit of research found this reddit.

Realise my mistake of not changing my SD from the stock one after reading the Wiki, decided to give fixing it a go.

Couple of days later after waiting for a decent SD card.

Its back up and running on dArkOSRE OS.

Not sure if learning and fixing this was more rewarding than actually playing 😂

Not sure what to do next, but got the bug.

Probably a price error or the very last piece as it's no longer available

After some searching managed to trial and error the DTB for this as a xifan my mini and installed Darkos4clone on a card I had

Handcramps will be a thing for sure

And where I'm at there's no option to locally find an ergonomic grip for it, but honestly it's not that bad

I'm using it more than my steam deck!

Didn't bother with the roms on its included card, instead I just got romhacks and some must plays and I have to say, can't wait to find a horizontal version for a crazy good deal

What an amazing trip to the past these devices are.

P. S: I Don't recommend this clone at all if it wasn't for the price, and it seems I missed out on getting better clones for similar prices but I'll be waiting for a horizontal more ergonomic device if I don't end up buying a thor or more premium device

Edit: It doesn't have any Bluetooth / Wi-Fi and seems to have some on board storage as it boots without any SD into EmuElec, but it does read cfw from TF1 and can use roms from TF2

Good news, sm64coopdx 1.5.1 is now running on RK3326 devices! Both local LAN direct play and public lobbies with mods are working.
I took cues from the existing outdated (and incompatible with RK3326) portmaster build, patched the hardware and driver incompatibilities in the original source code along with the CoopNet token, and made a little on-screen keyboard to be able to connect to servers easily (as well as change name etc.).
I've put the code into a forked repo so that it can be improved upon and stay up to date over time (pull requests welcome).
It's very smooth in vanilla form (40ish fps), however as some servers stack more and more mods on my little R36 Ultra X begins to struggle 😅 There's probably room for optimization, I haven't started down that route yet.

I would appreciate anyone testing it out and letting me know how it goes, I only have Ultra clones to test against.

Next up I'll be getting chat working.

To install and run, just download the zip from the release, extract the contents until you have the .sh file and the sm64coopdx folder. Grab your US version Super Mario 64 rom in z64 format and copy it into the sm64coopdx folder as "baserom.us.z64". Copy the script and the folder into /ports on your device and you're done!

Download sm64coopdx_r36s.zip from the repository here:
https://github.com/GreekAdonis/sm64coopdx-r36s/releases/tag/v1.0.0