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FAQ

Q1: Connecting Communities​

Please refer to https://docs.radxa.com/welcome

Q2: ROCK 5B will support WiFi 6E. does the new ROCK 5B board come with its own (6E) WIFI chip? Or do I need to buy it separately?​

As different users require different WiFi speeds, a WiFi card is not included by default, and Radxa team recommends using a WiFi card with the RTL8852BE chip to achieve a balance between price and performance.

Q3: Can the ROCK 5B boot from a PCIe M.2 NVME SSD without an eMMC and TF card?​

Yes, the ROCK 5B can boot from a PCIe M.2 NVME solid state drive. The ROCK 5B is equipped with a 16MB SPI Nor Flash and PCIe M.2 M-Key interface. The SPI Nor Flash stores the boot loader, and the NVME SSD stores the entire system image (including at least the kernel and rootfs). See this guide for more information on writing images. SPI Nor Flash and PCIe NVME SSD boot.

Q4: Also, are heatsinks and fans included in the price?​

No, the heatsink and fan are not included by default.

Q5: My new ROCK 5B won't boot/stuck in infinite boot loop​

The ROCK 5B supports negotiating USB PD power supplies to higher voltages such as 9V, 12V, 15V, 20V to meet total system power load requirements (~30W with WiFi, SSD, USB peripherals, etc.). Currently, the PD negotiation is implemented in the kernel driver and we need to boot into the kernel to start the negotiation, but some power supplies cannot wait for the ROCK 5B negotiation and cut off the power when the timeout occurs, resulting in an infinite boot loop. We offer the following suggestions:

  • Use the official power supply - Radxa Power PD 30W.(Highly recommended) The Radxa Power PD 30W has been tested for all conditions of ROCK 5B.
  • Use a faster SD card or eMMC module and disable the bootloader/kernel serial console.
  • Use a fake 12V USB C power supply
  • Check other power supply statuses reported by the community.
  • Wait for Radxa to port the PD negotiation to the bootloader (u-boot).
  • Double-check that your power supply is capable of delivering the required power, especially the 5V voltage. Many power supplies have a maximum 5V voltage of 3 amps (15W), while others may have a higher maximum 5V voltage.

Q6: My ROCK 5B won't start, how do I check if it's broken?​

Follow the steps below to troubleshoot ROCK 5B:

  • Power off the ROCK 5B and remove the eMMC module, SD card, and NVMe SSD.
  • Press and hold the MASKROOM button [(tag 32)](. /hardware-design/hardware-interface)
  • Plug the ROCK 5B USB C connector into the computer using the USB A to C cable, the green LED should light up
  • Check if there is a new USB device in the computer's Device Manager, if so, the ROCK 5B is active. If not, try another USB port, we recommend connecting the ROCK 5B to the rear panel of your computer.

Q7: My ROCK 5B HDMI does not display anything!​

  • You can manually add the HDMI resolution and frame rate in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
  • Just add video=1920x1080@60 in an additional line (just change the resolution and frame rate to the resolution supported by your monitor)

Q8: I burned eMMC with RKDevTool successfully, but after powering up, the Led doesn't flash and there is no output on the screen.​

Confirmation: Remove eMMC Module, MicroSD and NVME devices.

Remove the eMMC Module, MicroSD and NVME device, then connect the board and PC via USB cable, then see if the device enters Maskrom state. If it's not in MaskRom state, it's most likely due to the following reasons.

In Burning system to eMMC via USB, did not follow the instructions to press the Maskrom button, causing the system to reach the SPI Flash, and when the system starts, it reads the SPI information first, and then there is an error and it cannot start normally.

Solution:

Empty SPI Flash, then follow the steps again Burn system to eMMC via USB

Q9: Radxa APT public key not available​

When I try to run apt update, I get the following error:

root@rock-5b:~# apt update
Hit:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security InRelease
Hit:2 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian bullseye InRelease
Get:3 http://apt.radxa.com/bullseye-stable bullseye InRelease [2362 B]
Hit:4 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates InRelease
Hit:5 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports InRelease
Err:3 http://apt.radxa.com/bullseye-stable bullseye InRelease
  The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 9B98116C9AA302C7
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://apt.radxa.com/bullseye-stable bullseye InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 9B98116C9AA302C7
E: The repository 'http://apt.radxa.com/bullseye-stable bullseye InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

The reason is that the public key has expired. You can execute the following command to get a new available key.

sudo apt-get install -y wget
export DISTRO=bullseye-stable
wget -O - apt.radxa.com/$DISTRO/public.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update

Q10: Fan does not rotate/How to install the fan​

Please follow the Fan usage tutorial.

Q11: ROCK 5B, can I use M.2 WIFI to nvme adapter board to connect a 2230 SSD as system disk?​

No, it can be used as a system disk, but it can be used as a storage disk.