@Dochartaigh I just did a quick read of your progress (or lack of same and I really feel your pain!!) and I may have missed something but was just wondering if you have tried a USB2 port and reader to burn the image and a larger microSD card (maybe 32gig)? I would just load the basic image to see if ran OK, then add ROMs one at a time till it fails. Please don't think I am patronizing you or your effort.