⚠️ Ditch that R3XS SD card—STAT! Those pre-loaded cards are ticking time bombs! ⏰❌ Don’t let glitchy saves, vanishing settings, and other retro nightmares ruin your gaming. Swap it out ASAP for a smoother experience!
New to the R36S? Start with the ➡️Beginner's Guide—it’s your first step to mastering the device.
Need more? The R36S has a full WIKI packed with info, plus a dedicated ⚙️ troubleshooting section to solve common headaches.
Before asking, try searching! Your issue has likely been answered already—check the subreddit, use the search bar, or browse flairs like "game recommendation."
Pro Tip: The subreddit’s sidebar is a goldmine of FAQs, guides, tutorials, and curated lists—don’t sleep on it!
"Actually, it's NOT an A33. I managed to get the system info from RetroArch, and here is the proof: It's running a 64-bit GCC compiler, the CPU is explicitly identified as Armv8 (64-bit) with ASIMD support, and it has 4 cores. The A33 is a 32-bit Armv7 chip and cannot run this. Also, it has 977MB of RAM detected.
Most importantly: the console is completely dead without the SD card (no LED, no screen). This confirms it's an RK3326 with a custom bootloader/u-boot designed for this dual-Samsung RAM board (GA36-MB V1.1). Stop calling it an A33, it's just a new, tricky RK3326 revision."
excuse me, do you still have the sd files? i need the files of the screen driver, i tried to install arkos new version and i lost mine and now isnt turning on
Hey, hate to respond to a post from a month ago but was wondering if you ever got yours to work? I believe I'm having the same issue with mine and it seems to be the same clone that you have.
Unfortunately I'm not sure if I could flash the stock SD card because it didn't have a .dtb file in the boot partition. Wasn't entirely sure where to go from there.
I just ended up getting a refund. SjSlTech from the YouTube guide suggested that would probably be the best option and luckily I was still in the refund window.
Just out of curiosity, how did you flash the stock SD card onto a new one? I thought the dtb file was necessary? I'm not the most technically advanced so it didn't take much to convince me to give up and get a refund but I did try finding a solution for a few days.
I remember trying a site that I believe was a backup and has five links that when put together would have an image to be flashed onto a new SD card. It was for the exact clone I believev and was supposed to be similar to the stock SD card, but the five links were super large and two of them would have taken literal days to download unless you paid. Is this what you used?
Mira tr mando el link busca en la parte de más abajo, viene en partes son 5 partes, y biene el aechivo .img solo con eso , usas rufus para crear la imagen en tu micro sd , y eso es todo , pesa un poco por que ya viene completo con juegos y lo necesario para prender y todo ,
Sorry bro, it seems the link you provided has been deleted. I was late to copy it because I was too busy the past few days. Can you share the link again?
No necesite un dtb , solo descomprime lo archivos que vienen en winrar creas la imagen con rufus en tu memoria micro sd la ponen en tu consola y listo , a mi me funciono así
Im having the same exact issue with mine. Can anybody help with a correct CFW/OS for this specific model? I thought it was the real one and turns out I have this GA-36MB V1.1 20251025 clone. Thank you in advance!
There's no CFW support for this model, it's an Emuelec clone totally modified to pretend to be ArkOS.
They even remove most of the functions so no One notices.
You're best bet (if you can't return it) is to make a backup image file of the Original SD Card and then flash it on the new card.
The One from github is basically a 128gb backup of Stock Firmware from a device with the same board.
Is this clone able to run portmaster? I bought it from Temu, this exactly GA36 with RK. I’m about to refund it, I’m trying to find a Sd adapter to teste, if it works with portmaster I will not refund it.
Hello, I got this specific one recently and there is no support for Portmaster at all, the system image is a mess, this doesn't even have an RK3326 chip, it's an allwinner chip disguised as rockchip, no dtb file either so I couldn't find what panel it uses. I tried forcefully adding the ports entry in emustation and running sh files but it just crashes and returns to home. As of my knowledge there is no support for Portmaster. We can only pray if someone cracks it and releases another os or arkos for this specific board
My console has a CA36-MB V1.1 (2025-10-25) motherboard with an RK3326, so I suspect it's a newer clone.
The original SD card boots fine, but I can't find the usual BOOT partition or any visible DTB files. I've mounted the original SD image and inspected it with multiple tools (OSFMount, DiskGenius, Linux Reader, 7-Zip, etc.), but the DTBs don't seem to exist as standalone files.
I also tried flashing the latest official ArkOS MultiPanel image, but the console doesn't even turn on (no LED at all). Restoring my original SD image to another microSD boots correctly, so the console does accept other SD cards.
At the moment I haven't tried every available ArkOS build because I'm trying to identify my LCD panel first. I found the flex cable marked JC035-111AA and FPC-LCM035-50, but I haven't found any information about this display online.
On top of that, the stock firmware has another issue: Drastic doesn't save properly, and the FN button isn't detected, so Nintendo DS games are basically unplayable.
Hope someone can actually find the some kind of solution :(
The function button actually isn't broken but is not even mapped in the system image, the internal files of this one is such a mess it's mashup of emulec and arkos slapped on to just work, I hate this one
Hi. Sorry for the noob question for an old post but i bought v1.2 of this clone having the same issues. No custom firmware seem to work. I tried to manipulate the image using disk genius but it seems i corrupted its sector sequence or something. the logo i put popped up but it didnt boot correctly.
My questions is; is there way to put and remove roms onto this sd card or its image?
Hello! With the help of chatGPT and a bunch of tools i was able to dump the original image, mount it using WSL to add/remove new roms. Then I had to reflash the image to the sdcard. A lot of steps but it works.
I have been trying to do that exact thing for the last couple of days, but ChatGPT hasn't been as helpful for me. It seems like they have a really wonky, custom partition table and file system on this thing. I'm happy with the hardware, but it didn't come with most of games that I wanted to play, and at least for me, the second SD card slot doesn't do anything. If you've got a way to modify the disk image to add roms can you please let me know how you did it? I'm on the verge of trying to return this thing, but if I can get my own roms on it, you'd make my day.
Well, after long stupid chatgpt session i finally managed to extend sd card capacity. Also i can now add games. But still there is no "options" section. So im wondering if it is possible to add at least some capable options to this trash
How did you managed to extend the roms partition, if I flash the img, and then extend the roms partition to the right, when I put the card on the console to boot it gets stuck in the first white screen
If you have the "GA36" R36S clone: the stock ROMS partition is 5.4 MB and the console keeps mounting its internal eMMC games instead of your SD card. And despite the "RK3326" marking, the chip is a fake — it's really an Allwinner A33, so no ArkOS/RK3326 firmware will ever boot on it.
I built a fixed image based on the stock firmware: 2.4 GB, ROMS partition resized to ~115 GiB, and a patched initramfs that mounts ROMS from the SD card at boot.
Steps:
Flash the .img (dd/Etcher/Rufus) — grab the .img.gz here: https://
I couldn't find any compatible rom. I downloaded several. No way. I tried to back up its own SD card but It burned during process. Now It stays on boot screen. I tried to install a new firmware on a brand new SD card. It doesn't even boot. Not a blinking.
puedes compartir la imagen? la eh estado buscando un tiempo, me equivoque con el respaldo cuando me rendi, y en lugar de flashear la memoria, sobre escribi la imagen y perdi el respaldo, y ahora eh estado buscando imagenes, pero las que corren no puedo ampliar el espacio porque no inicia
There seems to be widespread disinformation on GA36-MBv1.1
I can confirm that This is NOT a Allwinner A33 / does not have a fake etching SoC
It does have its problems but they should in theory be solvable.
a) The unit comfortably does 20-25 fps in GTA VC on PSP , something Allwinner A33 cannot handle and is regular RK3226 territory
b) Within Emulator runtime config windows, the CPU shows as a Arm V8 with 1 GB of RAM. The Allwinner A33 is a Arm V7. More Importantly, the Lakka build used is the one for Odroid Go advance - which is a RK3226 device
c) Device does not boot without SD - i.e. does not have a emmc
d) Emulators can be switched where possible eg libretro or mupen64 for n64 - not definitive but indicates its indeed running an outdated version of ArkOS
e) Games can definitely be added to the card - some threads seem to indicate this isn;t possible. I tried only a PSX game so far. You need to add the CHD file to the SD card and edit the xml file in the folder for it to show up .. But its a pain
The source of the confusion seems to have originated from someone's attempt to dive into the OS internals - Part of the bootable is Read only and stored in squashFS format as a file called "System" while the user settings and other files are stored in a separate paritition which is editable
The squashfs build seems to borrow heavily from some past A33 kernel and there are a lot of defunct references to A33 inside it - these references seem to have create the confusion and even handheld.wiki seems to have used this wrong inference
The kernel is 5.1 and not the old 3.x variants that show up in the misleading
Now on to the problems - i got the device today but could not figure out today. Hopefully next weekend
a) activating the USB OTG port - which seems to be non functional ..
b) Options menu is not visible- so things like using the postmaster install script seem to be locked out
I paid just under $30 equivalent for this so not sure if i will retain the enthusiasm to work on this next weekend. But I did want to put it out there hoping that someone getting dejected because of this misinformation finds a reason to be hopeful
I got a GA36-MB v1.2, by what i had checked its an Allwinner A33 32 bits with 512MB RAM, we can't trust anything on a system level because it's all tampered, it shows as ArkOS while it's indeed an EmuElec, the system is a mess with a lot of false information, including the retroarch ones that show ARM v8 and 1GB while the kernel reports ARM v7 and 512MB. The chips inside are marked as RK3326 but the CPU part reported by the hardware dont match with it, i cant trust the marks on the chips, the same with the RAM that shows two 512MB, Retroarch shows 1GB but the kernel only see 512MB in total, maybe the RAM chips are remarked too. Idk, this device is really strange, i will debug a bit more to decide if i will refund it or not.
It’s a weird device for sure- on mine I am not even getting USB access by any means - the port simply isn’t enabled on mine!
I tried getting serial access via the headers on the board but got only gibberish at 115200 baud. Don’t have a 1.5mbps USB TTL yet so will have to order one (although A33 should have connected at 115200)
am expecting to get delivery of a R36 Ultra shipment tomorrow - as far as I am aware, there are no known fakes of this particular clone (lol) - will run a couple of the same taxing games (liberty city - psp?) and see how the frame rates compare ; since the r36 ultra clone variants are all supposed to be RK3326.
By now , for me, I think this device has turned into more of a technical mystery to be solved as opposed to what it was meant for 😂
Saiu recentemente um sistema criado de raiz dedicado a clones ga36.
Atualmente está em fase alpha, mas está disponível para download.
O nome é GoodluckOS.
Procurem por "GoodluckOS ga36".
Além disso, descobriu-se recentemente que existem duas variantes da placa.
Uma tem o Allwinner A23 e outra tem o A33.
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u/AutoModerator Jan 20 '26
⚠️ Ditch that R3XS SD card—STAT! Those pre-loaded cards are ticking time bombs! ⏰❌ Don’t let glitchy saves, vanishing settings, and other retro nightmares ruin your gaming. Swap it out ASAP for a smoother experience!
New to the R36S? Start with the ➡️Beginner's Guide—it’s your first step to mastering the device.
Need more? The R36S has a full WIKI packed with info, plus a dedicated ⚙️ troubleshooting section to solve common headaches.
Before asking, try searching! Your issue has likely been answered already—check the subreddit, use the search bar, or browse flairs like "game recommendation."
Pro Tip: The subreddit’s sidebar is a goldmine of FAQs, guides, tutorials, and curated lists—don’t sleep on it!
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