| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Build identifier | rock3a |
| SoC | RK3568 |
| Model | Radxa ROCK 3A |
| Compatible | radxa,rock3a, rockchip,rk3568 |
| DDR loader | rk3568_ddr_1560MHz_v1.25.bin |
| UART | UART2 M0, 1,500,000 baud, 8N1 |
| User LED | GPIO0_B7, active high |
| USB host power | GPIO0_A6 host and GPIO0_D5 hub, active high |
| Bare-metal USB host | OHCI0 and OHCI1 |
| Chainloader backend | official mainline U-Boot FIT |
| BL33 load / stack limit | 0x00800000 / 0x03f00000 |
| First-stage media | MaskROM USB, SD, optional eMMC user area, SPI NOR |
The normal board descriptor enables both USB2 OHCI companions and the onboard hub power rail. The OTG rail is outside the bare-metal USB-host contract and is left untouched.
ROCK 3A identity and wiring are based on the upstream Linux/U-Boot device trees
and Armbian’s rock-3a.conf at commit
587b6f2c0a867859ca3f323f6008bee9e3ef1553.
rock3a.bin: normal firmware base requiring an appended FUEFI payload.demo_rock3a.bin: normal firmware plus the example payload.rock3a.img: RKNS v2 SD delivery image for the firmware-only base.demo_rock3a.img: standalone RKNS v2 SD demonstration image.make usb BOARD=rock3a
make demo_rock3a.img
make maskrom3568 # SoC-wide optional xrock USB-plug flow
The manifest pins official mainline U-Boot v2026.04 at commit
88dc2788777babfd6322fa655df549a019aa1e69, upstream
rock-3a-rk3568_defconfig and DTS, the board config fragment, Rockchip BL31
v1.46, and ROCK 3A-specific address and media policy. It does not modify
rock3a.bin or demo_rock3a.bin.
make chainload BOARD=rock3a
make chainload-check BOARD=rock3a
make usb-chainload BOARD=rock3a
After its three-second UART interruption window, mainline bootstd searches all
NVMe devices, removable SD (mmc1), USB mass storage, and eMMC (mmc0) in
that order. Onboard mmc2 SDIO/Wi-Fi is excluded. SPI commands remain
interactive; SPI NOR can supply the first stage but is not an automatic OS
target. SATA variants are not enabled.
The eMMC is optional hardware. Installation must abort safely when it is not
populated. Read the common chainloading and guarded installation
guide before writing persistent media, and follow the
visual SPI-NOR tutorial for SPI. The exact confirmation must
use rock3a, and cross-board restores are rejected.
See common bare-metal behavior for payload handoff, memory, HDMI, input, and reset semantics.