R35S/R36S Ultimate Setup Guide - ArkOS, Roms and BIOS 

10/26/2023 Update - There is now an R35S image, use that instead of the RG351MP image. If the R35S image doesn't work, use the one shown in the video and steps. There is apparently some issues with some SD cards, you can see a compatibility list here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gWxtr-GmwWop-_qGUq022RXxK2aTLpPg9Qra68TQLI8/edit#gid=0 If you are getting a black screen, they have changed the screens for newer devices, so you'll need to try other dtb files. Here is the link: github.com/AeolusUX/R36S-DTB/tree/main/New%20Screens - there is Panel 1/2/3/4, you will have to download the files inside each Panel folder, and replace them on your device until one set works. Flash ArkOS onto the SD card, replace the DTB, then insert into device and see if it works. If not, move to the next Panel, one of the four will work. You can use this tool to check which panel you have - aeolusux.github.io/ArkOS-R3XS/tools/dtbIdentify.htm - simply upload the file it asks for on this page from your ORIGINAL SD card.

You deserve a raise lol 🙏🏾. I bought this as a Christmas gift for my husband and I’d like for it to be setup and updated when he opens it. This is the first video I found out of many that I’ve watched that lays it all out step by step clearly!! Thank you!!

Thanks for providing this guide, it made the task much easier. I received my R36S today and immediately went to work following your instructions. Everything worked great, but I thought I would leave some notes about my experience for other R36S users: 1) I used the RG351MP image. I didn't try the R35S image, so I'm not sure about the success of using that image 2) After flashing the OS image, I was able to access the Boot partition without any additional steps (didn't need the Minitool Partition application, Windows automatically mounted it) 3) I replaced the .dtb file with the one provided BEFORE the first boot as you suggested Thanks again, I'm now a subscriber to your channel.

I searched all over the internet for a fix because everytime I tried to flash the firmware I got a black screen and finally I found the answer was just using different files for the new screen and I finally got it to work with the 4th panel files! thank you so much!!

You don't need a separate tool to assign a letter to the boot drive. The default windows partition programm works fine. I like the "default" arkos with the brandings a bit better, but it was a pain to find a dump online. A tutorial how to use wifi and scrap the games would have been a great addition

Just want to say a million thanks for this! as this device gets more and more popular among those just starting on this journey this was extremely helpful!

Worked for me! I didnt want to wait to download the 120gb set, so i just copied the original files to my desktop, then copied into the new sd card. Its been working for me!

Thank you so much for that guide! My wife played Pokemon on that stock sd card and her 12h savegame crashed. After extracting the savegame and installing a new sd card with your guide she could continue her game. Thanks!

I really like how slow you go through these steps when you speak them its really helpful compared to a lot of people who make guides i really enjoyed this

Thank you so much for this it was a major help and thank you for making the updates for the new keyboys in the description it was the solution for me to get passed the blinking white line. The games download great to from the tiny best set. This was my first retro handheld that I bought and you're tutorial saved it from being sent back to the dealer. Thx again

Dude, this video helped me SOOO much. Thank you. I had the black screen but was able to solve it with help from your comment. Bought an r36s for my brother's birthday and was testing it out on my own with just the preinstalled card and everything I looked up said to replace it so I just did. These retro styled handhelds, emulation, and finding my old psp have really reignited my love for gaming =)

Thank you so much, You speak clearly and dont move on too fast. i had never heard of you before this tutorial, i will have a browse through your channel to see what other nuggets you have. Thank you again buddy

You saved me I revived a first one with panel 4 data, then i revived a second one with panel 3 data. Once you already know the steps, its super fast

Thanks so much, luv. That "white screen of doom" help really, er, helps!

I have one coming in the post very soon. This video couldn’t be any more perfectly timed. Thank you.

This worked like a charm to get an R35S I had sitting in a closet fixed and ready to sell on Marketplace ;)

Thanks Joey. I used this guide to rescue my daughters Rg20s that lay in a cupboard for a year because of junky SD cards.

Just got my R36s. Thanks for the video! Will enjoy it for a bit as it is and will replace the cards and will follow all the video

Awesome to see more R35S content, thanks for this!

Thank you! I accidentally formatted the stock memory card that came with my R36S and couldn't use my handheld anymore. But I was able to get it up and going again using this video

No homo but I ❤ you joey, you earned a sub from me I had black screen issues followed your instructions after a few hours of messing about I got it too work, I had to install the image in the video but also panel 4 from the screens section into the boot folder and im back up and running, so much heartache this device brings had it only for 2 days and was ready to lose all hope but thanks to your advise I got there in the end, go you man 🎉

Oh the pain that went into this content. 🤕. How many times did you want to bash your head into the pow kiddy clone Joey? 3, 5, 13? Well done getting through it we can hear the pain in your voice, you’ll make it buddy it’s gonna be okay! 🫂

just go the r36s abd this info helped to set it up properly. stable, and working fast. thank you for this. usbc to usb-a dongle and wifi worked stable and perfect. it was bad out of the fox.... this is great content. thank you again

Well thia kimd of detailed retro content deserves a sub. Well done.

July 2024: I followed the instructions on video for my R36S. I went for the 2 sd cards. I used a kingston sdxc canvas select plus v10a1 64gb. I had the issue mentioned when put the card in the console. I didn't have to download the minitool wizard, since the partition was visible. The Panel 3 files (see pinned comment for link) worked in my case. When tried to use the 2nd sd card for the games, it didn't work, I got a message that no FAT, ntfs exfat card detected, although I used all option in rufus. I read many comments mention that kingston doesn't work as a ROMs card, so I used a Samsung EVO Plus A1 V10 and it worked at first try. The only issue that I have is that GBA emulator doesn't work when I open the console after a full shutdown (that's why I only use standby mode). I had this issue with the stock sd card when I got the console, that's why I tried this setup.

Thanks for this, such a good guide! I've used your guides so many times, and always recommending them in the handheld socials! I've just got this device, my first ever unbranded, which sits amongst my Miyoo's, Anbernics, Retroids and Powkiddy's! Mine came with ArkOS already installed, so i'm just cleaning up the library as most games are fillers! Great little device, i've also got the R36S. The only really annoying this is the clicky L & R buttons, I mean gees, they are loud!! Certainly couldnt pop this out and play on my daily commute on the train as i'd end up having it thrown out the window! Keep up the great content, hugely appreciated!

THANK YOU I THOUGHT MY CONSOLE IS NOT WORKING . NOW IT WORKS PROPERLY THANK YOU.

THANK YOU so much!, literally spent the entire day arsing about , i have had every bugged issue going, black screen, black screen blinking, white screen, half a white screen, flickering screen. something buggered up on my pc too all the images were clogging up my c drive even though i dlted temp files everywhere i could, used treesize (free) to find the cached files & remove them. so i plugged my phone into the r36s to update after a restart it was hanging on the black screen blink that dtb file fixed it!

JELOS now oficially supports the Game Console R35S and R36S! An option to select your device variant is available in the "System Settings" menu.

Idk if I am doing something wrong but I did it step by step and I all I have is a black screen when I turn it on. never shows the arkos logo or anything. I tried it over three times with flashing and all.

this is a cool device man, even stock, I'm playing so many different games. , now i just want to tinker with it and improve it anyway that i can. overall happy though just the way it came.

Cannot thank you enough for this incredibly thorough and well explained guide!! Exactly what I needed as wanted to get rid of the dodgy stock arkos build mine came with -- now content with Stardew Valley running! you're a legend

You can add a letter to that partition using the own Disk Manager included with Windows. Regards.

You can use both sd cards for roms if you want more space just go to option advance and click on read from sd1 and sd2 for roms

Thanks for the guide. Much appreciated

My RG35 is blank screen when booting up with a voltage text...if i plug it in it starts to the RG35s screen but says chkdsk failed! Any idea whats up.

You are a hero! I tried to update mine following a video and they hadn't been very thorough. I lost all my games. Your video got me up and running again. Thank you so, SO much!

Hey I'm going through all of this right now, just a few notes that you didn't address in your video. When installing the new OS, the device needs to be plugged into a power outlet it seems. I may have had a low battery for it to flash properly so it may still work on just the battery, but I spent 3 hours scratching my head as to why it wasn't booting into new ArkOS from the SD card. Second note, is that the Sandisk Ultra SD cards don't seem to work in the ROM slot 2. They seem to work for OS slot just fine though> I have 2 Sandisk cards one is 32gig the other one is 64gig, I tried formatting them every way possible, NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, but the system refuses to recognize that there is a card in slot 2. I then formatted the original OS unbranded card that came with the device and used it in Slot 2 and it recognized it immediately. I've just ordered the Samsung and Amazon Basics cards to test, but again it seems that Sandisk could be causing issues for whatever reason. Hope this helps if anyone runs into similar issues. P.S. Wish you would have included a little bit on the setup of the RetroArch itself any tweaks that would be beneficial on this device. I'm still very confused about the integer scaling option and thee is also a ton of video filters that I have no idea what to do with. On top of it, since it doesn't have a built-in wifi, does it make sense to get a dongle one for it to update the ArkOS?

Excellent and thorough video! It helped out a lot! God bless you and yours. Praying for you.

Thanks bro appreciate your help keep up the good work.

Great tutorial man, thanks a lot!

Thanks for showing how to correct the flashing issues, great tutorial!

this is awesome! well done sir 😎 also purchased some stuff using link in your description, so enjoy that lil commission ;)

finally it work, thanks a lot

Thanks this really helped me!

I'm having a issue, despite having set up the games SD card as said in the video the console isnt detecting the SD card exists, it gives the error "Could not find a Fat, Fat32, Exfat, or NTFS based SDcard to mount from slot 2", the SD card is fat32

i bought a new R36S console 128 GB but the firmware version is a little old and there is no options menu available to reach WIFI and to update the console firmware. Is there any method to show this options menu?

It took me 7 tries and 8 hours to finally get the OS to load on the R36S. The R35S image did not work, and this is where I was having issues. I used the other one instead. I totally deserve this pat in the back.

The mini tool partition program also screwed me up. "Unhide partition "was not an option. But "hide partition " it took me an hour of extra b.s. to figure out that if I clicked, hide, I could then unhide it, to finish the task

You're a godsend :) Thanks for helping me play this cool thing!

Hy any idea about the error “the mono runtime could not be located”? Thanks

EDIT: I just managed to make my Sandisks work. I had one Red-Gray 64GB Ultra Sandisk and one Red-Gray 128GB Extreme Pro Sandisk. At starters, I tried to put the smaller card for ArkOS and the bigger one for ROMs. I got stuck at the ROM step-my R35S could not recognize it. Nothing worked, not even downloading minitool wizard and changing its format. But then I swapped between them. I used 128GB for the operating system (big lol) and 64GB for the ROMs. Somehow this worked, and R35S managed to recognize Sandisk 64GB in slot2. It's a temporary fix until I get my hand on a Samsung card, but I'm leaving this here in case it helps someone.

I do love that we have this full, in depth guide but would it be possible to just copy the stock micro sd cards to some nicer ones? Or is this full walkthrough necessary for formatting and whatnot? New to retro handhelds, sorry if this is a dumb question

You didn't mention that it takes an entire day to download games for tiny best set go is there any way to get the games faster I'm literally using a library computer fam

Hello. I want to ask you to sort it out. at the stage when we need to make a Rom for the second card and we make a non bootble disk. after I insert it back into the device and do the switch to sd2 for rom step, I get the message “cound find fat ntfs….. and so on.. vased sd card to mount from slot”. what is the problem?

Please help: I'm having a weird issue, and haven't had any luck troubleshooting it. I followed the tutorial, used a 2 card setup (even used the exact SD's you did). Only variations I used was swapping in the "Panel 3" dtb file you linked in your pinned comment to fix the black screen issue (I have an R36S, btw). I originally swapped both dtb files in the "Panel 3" folder since there were two. I figured that was the issue with the problem I'm about to explain, so I reflashed the BIOS img using Rufus, this time using just the one dtb file that was relevant in the video. It does seem to be a BIOS issue, since it's not ROM specific, but it's only a working theory. The issue I'm having is that all ROMs show up and are playable, and audio works fine in the menu as I'm navigating, but every single ROM (regardless of game, regardless of system) is preceded by a static-y robot message saying "WARNING, YOUR BATTERY LEVEL IS AT 'x' %" (regardless of what it's at, even near full), and then when the game loads up, the audio is completely mute except for a subtle white noise static I can hear if I put my ear up to the R36S (not heard in the menu, audio is just fine, no static). Have you heard of this happening? Do you know a fix? Update: Oh my god, the issue was so stupid and so simple. Random obscure reddit thread came through for me. If anyone else is having this issue, check the link. www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming/comments/18u2977/r36s_no_audio_when_battery_is_below_30_but/

Guessing this guide will work for the R36S now that the R35S has been discontinued?

Hi the rom download for ArkOS isn’t working anymore as it’s exceeded the maximum downloads - any chance you can upload it please my device is currently a brick

Okay so, i watched a TON of videos about so many different handhelds, for weeks, before i chose the R36S and ordered one 2 days ago. I thought i had a good handle on what needed to be done to it, to update the OS. Now, I've watched many more videos and set up guide type videos... and right now I could cry. Maybe this wasnt the thing for me, to just be able to play lots and lots of retro games?? I've never owned any type of emulation device; this is my first foray into this "world". I'm not totally computer illiterate, but it has been a few years since I was "fluent", exactly. Watching this made my head spin. So total honesty here... what is going to happen if i dont tinker with the device, and just play it as is, when it arrives? (The most I really have any interest in playing is a couple of N64 games... mostly just NES, GB, GBA, etc.). I'm so totally confused, at this point. Thanks for any advice you can offer me, at this point!!😩

Please How Can I FIX This BIG ISSUE no gamepad detected problem on r36s please someone HELP me guys

Really grateful for your help!

If I have a brand new micro SD card do I need to format it before I use Rufus to flash ArkOS on to it? Or does Rufus format the card as part of the flashing process?

When it comes to these chinese clones we're lucky they even ship them with any OS installed let alone a semi working one. If you lack PC knowledge and get of of these you better pray you get lucky and receive a model that works right out of the box and never fails.

After updating I've run into a problem where my games won't load the save states after exiting the emulator. I'm using the sd card that was recommended in the video description

Can I do this on Mac?

2 Q's: 1 does it make a difference whether you use 1 or 2 sd cards? 2 what in the heck is the third button bext to the select and start button for?

Hi, Can somebody help me with problem I'm having? After selecting the option to switch to 2nd card for ROMs and putting it later to the PC, it only shows 4 folders (alg, thomson, videos, wasm4). Any ideas why its like that and not like in the video with tons of folders and BIOS folder?

For now amberelec is the best. Great wifi support when you built in it.

after following your tutorial an infinite black screen appears... how can I solve it? please help me

fantastic guide, anyone with any tech know how can follow, great job

I have problem starting. Is there any button combination to get into arkos while starting?? When I start the device ist comes the loading points, takes much longer. Then the cursor blinks on the left top corner. Can anyone help??

How to make nitendo games sharper and better quality my games seem blurry

So, I finally got through it... after 6 hours of banging my head against my monitor, wishing I just left the stock cards in there. First of all, the file you have to replace is in the first few lines of the description for this video. That took me forever to find. You glossed over where that download is, So I downloaded the file from the boot drive, and couldn't get it to work, refreshed my card like 6 times, and watched two other videos before I figured it out. Once I got it to boot, I had to download that ROM pack from the tiny best, and they apparently throttle the download speeds, at like 1.5mb sec.. so it took forever, then just to load them on my brand new 128mb SanDisk card, (2 card method) and the R36S couldn't find the SD card, no way no how, it didn't recognize a card in the 2nd slot at all. After hours of reconfiguring and changing that all around through Rufus, and god knows what else, I gave up on it, and I then re-download the boot and arkos to the 128gb card, to just run one card, got it to reboot, then installed roms to the easy rom partition on the big card.... After 6 hours, I got to play a game on a device that was working properly when I decided to break it. So let me advise all of you newbies, like me, 1: just download that dtb file from here, follow those steps first. Don't even think it will work without it. 2: skip the 2 card method.. it doesn't work. 3: download the rom packs a few days prior to actually trying to get this done. Good luck. This pro makes it look so easy. But he doesn't talk about what to do when it doesn't work. And I don't do discords

The only problem that I have with the newer versions of ArkOS 2.0, is that I dont see some "retrorun" or standalone emulators anymore, being available only the Retroarch/libretrocore version of some of them (Finalburn/FinalburnNeo, MAME/MAME2003 for example), and the Retroarch Libretrocore version use to perform worse... that's a problem for some games, like some high demanding arcades, Gunlock (also known as RayForce / Layer Section/ Galactic Attack), for example. Maybe the Saturn version could work fine, but not sure because Saturn is a hard plataform to emulate (anyway, it don;t solve the problem, maybe we can find another arcades that don't perform well with a libretrocore, and pormormance could be pushed up a little using a standalone or "retrorun" emulator. And I don't really know a way to add some of the old emulator to the newer versions of ArkOS 2.0... it's a pitty

Thank you, Much appreicated!

I followed step by step, but even replacing the dtb file doesn't help, still have a black screen, what should I do now?

Now I have a red screen after everything. I can apparently choose something from some list and then I hear somthing that sounds like some in-game sounds but the screen just stays red, switching to dark turqoise from time to time.

HI, the second card doesnt show the gamefolders after inserting to the computer to drag new games in. Do you have any suggestions?

Where did you get the dtb file? Was it the device tree blob file from the original firmware/Linux on the devices stock firmware?

Thanks it helped me a lot

Hi, I use otg to usb to connect with WiFi dongle, and Bluetooth. But none of them having any response.... Please help.... 😢

I created a new sd card with some gmaes (gameboy only), the games are working fine but my savgames dont beeing saved...i have to start erverytime at the beginning of a game...whats the problem here?

cool beans 😎👍 it worked with a R36s now i just have to find a way to get my game covers to show, don't know how they go if anyone can help much appreciated 👍

Have you found a satisfying setting or an optimised setting that would run best for N64 and Dreamcast?

I have a question. What’s the difference between using only one micro sd card as to using 2?

Hello, I did all the steps carefully, but it did not work, the screen remains black. I hope for a solution to this problem r36s

Question: I just bought a R40S Pro and there wasn’t the 256gb memory card that was supposed to come with it, but it does have over 1,000 games, though I imagine the card would have provided me with the other 14,000 claimed. Is this a problem or can I try to download on a new memory card what is currently running the console? I’ve heard this has happened to others buying the R40S Pro.

Can i just download the rom from my android phone, extract zarchiver or whatever and just process it in my phone? It wont bring any harm right?

I have the problem that my R36s does not turn on. The screen stays black, only gets lighter and darker. I have tried it several times and carried out all the steps. Does anyone know what else I can do or what the problem could be?

But it would not recognize my ps1 iso ,bin file...it use pbp format instead. How to convert to pbp format

Hello, thanks for the video. I did the 2 sd cards thing and I see all the games in my library but none of them load. The files are not zipped and they are the correct files because I downloaded them from tiny best. I made sure to put all the bios files in the folder as well but not one game is loading. Any clue on what Im doing wrong please

The Tiny Best Set seems to only include Sega CD, PS1 and PC. How do I get all the other games?

I have 2 r36s handheld system. One with the operating system with 128gb with games included. The other one has 2 SD card ( one for roms (64gb) and the other one for operating system) my question is. Can I insert the 64 gb SD card from one system to the other one ( the one that didn't come with the second SD card). Will this affect my device?

I salute you in Korea.

Thank you so much. I really wanted to do this but was very confused. I must say this really helped me and now I have about 30 hours on here since getting it a week ago. Suggestion would be making a portmaster tutorial for this! I would love to see it. Is it just me but with the new update I can't assess the overlay in game for like saving, loading, screenshots? Do you know if this is normal?

After everything, I still can't save my progress. I have the R36S. Setting everything up worked, but how do I save my progress? Been trying it with Resident Evil 1 for the PS1. In the beginning, it shows me that no bios file is found. I can try to put it into the bios file the device again, will that work?

Thanks for much for this. It’s really helped. My device still seems to to not work properly after I’ve followed the instructions in the video. I still end up with a blinking line in the top right corner. Any other possible solutions, please?

Such a fuck around just to swap to a better sd card

in the tiny best set there is a folder for Atari" but there isn't on the SD card? There is all the different gens of atari but none labeled just atari. also is "MD" in the roms for MegaDuck or MegaDrive?

Is there a way to transfer the already existing save files I might have? For Example, i was playing pokemon yellow, is there a way to get those saves back after have installed ARKOS on a new SD Card considering that the ROM could be the same one?