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Every other R36S guide starts by telling you to flash a firmware image. That is the wrong first step, and it is the most common way people end up with a black screen.
The right first step is finding out which computer you bought. Several genuinely different boards ship under the name R36S, the firmware images are not interchangeable, and once you have overwritten the stock card you have also destroyed the evidence of which board you had.
So the order below is deliberate. Identify, back up, then flash.
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What You Need
- An R36S, whichever board turned up.
- A microSD card you bought yourself, 64GB or larger from a brand you recognise. This is not optional and the reason is in step 2.
- A card reader and a computer. The identification step and the flash both happen on the computer.
- A plain USB-A to USB-C cable and an ordinary 5V charger. Read step 7 before you reach for a modern phone charger.
- Your own game backups and BIOS files, from hardware and cartridges you own. We do not cover obtaining them, and we give the preloaded card no credit for what is on it.
Step 1: Find Out Which Board You Have
Do this before anything else. It takes five minutes and it determines every later step.
Why it matters. There is no R36S manufacturer. Sellers order units and list them under the same name, and factories have changed what is inside the same shell over time. The documented families are a Rockchip RK3326, which is the genuine one everything is written for, an Allwinner H700 clone family first widely reported in August 2024, and an Allwinner A33 board that ships with half the RAM. One clone firmware project states the consequence plainly: no existing R36S custom firmware supports its board, because they all target the Rockchip chip.
Check one, the easy one. Boot the device as it came and find the system information screen. A genuine unit reports a Rockchip part. The H700 clones report an identifier from the Allwinner family, which looks nothing like a Rockchip name.
Check two, the partition names. Put the system card in your computer and read the partition labels. A genuine unit running community firmware has one called EASYROMS. The common clones show labels belonging to a different firmware base instead.
Check three, the definitive one. On the boot partition, look at the device tree files. The filename names the board. A genuine unit has a Rockchip device tree filename. Clones have filenames that do not mention Rockchip at all, or no device tree files whatsoever.
Copy that device tree file off the card and keep it somewhere safe. If a later flash gives you a black screen, that file is how you work out which image you actually needed, and recovering without it means guessing.
Step 2: Back Up the Stock Cards, Then Stop Using Them
Two cards usually come in the box, one for the system and one for games.
Image both to your computer before you do anything to either. A full card image, not a file copy. That image is your record of which board you received and your way back if a flash goes wrong.
Then put the originals in a drawer and do not use them again. Two reasons, and only one of them is about what is on them.
The practical reason: the stock card is the single most common point of failure on this device. They are the cheapest cards the price allows, in a device where the card is the system drive. When one fails it takes your saves with it, and it tends to fail without warning.
The other reason: these ship preloaded with game files, and this site is written for people playing games they own. We give the preloaded card no credit and the rest of this guide assumes your own backups. Our best microSD cards guide covers buying a card that is what it claims to be, which is its own problem at this end of the market.
Step 3: Install Current Firmware, Not the One Every Guide Names
This is the step where most R36S advice online is quietly out of date, and it is worth knowing before you follow a video.
ArkOS is archived. The firmware almost every R36S guide tells you to install was archived by its own developer, with its last update in August 2025. It is not maintained. A great deal of writing from 2024 and 2025 assumes a live project.
dArkOS is the maintained successor, described by its developer as a Debian based rebuild of ArkOS, and still being updated in November 2026. The R36S line circulates as a device-specific release, and there is a separate build for supported clone boards. Search the firmware name rather than a repository path, and take the image from the project's own releases page rather than from a mirror, a video description or a file locker.
The flash itself, in shape. Download the image, write it to your new card with a standard imaging tool, and on first boot pick the model or panel that matches the board you identified in step 1. That selection step is where people go wrong: choosing the wrong model gives you a black screen on a device that is physically fine.
If you get a black screen after a flash, it is almost always the model selection rather than a bad write. Recheck your saved device tree file against the options, pick again, reflash. Do not cycle through versions at random, which is how a five minute problem becomes an evening.
If you have a clone board, your options narrow. There is a clone-specific firmware line for some of them, there is a purpose-written Debian firmware for one Allwinner board, and that project's own notes say it works on one specific board revision of that clone and may misbehave on others. If none of those matches, the device is what the vendor build makes it, which is a usable toy and not the device the reviews describe.
Step 4: Folders, Games and BIOS
Once it boots, the structure is conventional.
/roms
/nes
/snes
/gba
/gb
/gbc
/megadrive
/psx
/pce
/neogeo
/arcade
/bios
One folder per system, lowercase, no spaces. The frontend scans these on boot, and anything in the wrong folder simply will not appear, which is the usual cause of "my games are missing".
BIOS files go in /bios, from hardware you own. PlayStation 1 is the one that actually needs them here, and a missing or misnamed PS1 BIOS is the most common reason a game that should work does not start.
Refresh the game list after copying files. On this firmware family that is a menu action rather than something that happens automatically, and skipping it is why people think a correct copy failed.
Our ROM and BIOS organisation guide covers the general version, and the PortMaster guide covers adding native game ports, which this device supports and which is the most underrated thing you can do with it.
Step 5: Saving, and the Habit That Saves You
Two different things get called saving and the difference matters on a device with a fragile storage situation.
An in-game save is the game's own save, written to a file beside the ROM. This is the one that survives everything and the one to prefer.
A save state is a snapshot of the whole emulator, taken from the menu. Instant, convenient, and tied to the emulator version. It is the right tool for pausing and the wrong tool for a long playthrough.
The habit. Use in-game saves for anything you care about, and copy your save folder to a computer occasionally. On a device whose most likely failure is the card, a copy of your saves is the only backup that matters. This is more important here than on any other handheld we write about.
Exiting properly matters too. Use the emulator's own exit rather than pulling the power, because the save file is written on exit. Some clone boards have a documented bug where exiting an emulator leaves a black screen with audio still playing, and a community fix exists for one of those board families.
Step 6: Wi-Fi, and Why Yours Probably Does Not Have Any
Short answer: the base R36S has no Wi-Fi. No RetroAchievements, no netplay, no over the air updates, no transferring files over the network. Some sellers list Wi-Fi on R36S pages anyway, which is one more reason to read these listings as advertising.
If your unit genuinely has it, or you added a supported USB dongle, the firmware's own network menu handles the connection and the useful thing it unlocks is file transfer, which saves taking the card out.
If it does not, the R36 Ultra is the model in this family that adds Wi-Fi, covered in our R36S vs R36H vs R36 Ultra comparison. Moving the card to a computer is the alternative and it is fine.
Step 7: Why Your R36S Will Not Turn On
This has its own step because it is the most common R36S problem and it is usually not a fault.
The cable is the first suspect. The base R36S lacks the resistors a USB-C to USB-C cable needs in order to negotiate power. Plug a modern phone charger into it with a C to C cable and nothing happens at all. The device looks dead. Swap to a plain USB-A to USB-C cable with an ordinary 5V charger and it charges normally.
Use the right port. There are two USB-C ports. One is for power and one is for data. Charging into the data port does not work.
If the cable is right and it still does nothing, work down this list:
- Charge it for an hour on a plain charger before concluding anything. A deeply discharged cell can take a while to show any sign of life.
- Take the system card out and power on. A genuine unit will not boot without one, but you are looking for a backlight or an LED, which tells you the device has power and the card is the problem.
- Try a different card with a fresh image. A dead stock card presents exactly as a dead device.
- Check the battery connector. It is a standard plug and these ship with it occasionally not fully seated. Replacement cells are a few dollars and user replaceable, which is a genuine advantage of this device.
- If none of that works, there is no manufacturer to contact and no warranty worth pursuing. Your recourse is the seller's returns window, which is the real reason to buy one from a marketplace that has one.
Known Problems, and What to Do About Them
Black screen after a flash. Model selection, not a bad write. See step 3.
Games do not appear in the list. Wrong folder, or you did not refresh the game list. See step 4.
A PS1 game will not start. Missing or misnamed BIOS in /bios. See step 4.
Black screen when exiting an emulator, audio still playing. A documented bug on some clone boards, with a community fix for one family. Identify your board first.
Saves disappearing. The card. Back up your save folder to a computer and replace the card if it has not already been replaced.
N64, PSP or Dreamcast running badly. Working as designed. The chip is a 2018 class part and these systems are outside what it can do, regardless of what the listing claimed. The honest performance picture is in our R36S review.
It feels slow in the menus. Try the current firmware before blaming the hardware. The vendor build it ships with is the worst software this device ever runs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I set up an R36S for the first time?
Identify which board you have, image both stock cards to a computer, then flash current firmware to a card you bought yourself and pick the matching model on first boot. Identification comes first because the firmware images are not interchangeable between boards, and overwriting the stock card destroys the evidence of which board you had.
How do I tell if my R36S is a clone?
Read the CPU field in the system information screen, where a genuine unit reports a Rockchip part and the common clones report an Allwinner identifier. Then read the system card's partition labels, where a genuine unit shows EASYROMS. The definitive check is the device tree filename on the boot partition, which names the board. Keep a copy of that file.
Which firmware should I install on an R36S?
dArkOS, not ArkOS. ArkOS was archived by its developer with its last update in August 2025, and most guides online have not caught up. dArkOS is its maintained Debian based successor, still updated in November 2026, with a separate build for supported clone boards. Identify your board before you flash anything.
How do I add games to an R36S?
Copy them into the matching folder under /roms on the games card, one folder per system in lowercase, then refresh the game list from the menu. Games in the wrong folder do not appear, and on this firmware the list does not refresh by itself. BIOS files go in /bios, and PlayStation 1 is the system that actually needs one.
How do I save a game on an R36S?
Use the game's own in-game save for anything you care about, because it is written to a file beside the ROM and survives emulator changes. Save states, taken from the menu, are a snapshot of the whole emulator and are for pausing rather than for a playthrough. Exit through the emulator's own exit option rather than pulling the power, because the save is written on exit.
How do I connect an R36S to Wi-Fi?
On the base model you cannot, because it has no Wi-Fi hardware. That also means no RetroAchievements and no netplay. The R36 Ultra is the model in this family that adds it. If your unit does have it, or you added a supported USB dongle, the firmware's network menu handles the connection.
Why will my R36S not turn on?
Usually the cable. The base R36S lacks the resistors a USB-C to USB-C cable needs to negotiate power, so a modern phone charger with a C to C cable does nothing and the device looks dead. Use a plain USB-A to USB-C cable with an ordinary 5V charger, into the power port rather than the data port. If that does not help, suspect the stock microSD card next and the battery connector after that.
Do I need to replace the microSD card that came with it?
Yes. The stock card is the most common failure point on the device, it is the system drive, and when it fails it takes your saves with it. Image both stock cards to a computer, keep the originals untouched as your record of which board you received, and run the device from a card you bought from a brand you recognise.
How do I exit a game on an R36S?
Through the emulator's own exit option, usually a button combination documented in the firmware's own controls screen rather than by pulling the power. This matters because the save file is written on exit. Some clone boards have a documented bug that leaves a black screen with audio playing when you exit, and a community fix exists for one of those board families.
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