diff --git a/first_time_install.sh b/first_time_install.sh
index 89b3828e..02e54a58 100644
--- a/first_time_install.sh
+++ b/first_time_install.sh
@@ -795,7 +795,7 @@ else
         # Try to initialize submodule if .gitmodules exists
         if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules" ] && grep -q "rpi-rgb-led-matrix" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules"; then
             echo "Initializing rpi-rgb-led-matrix submodule..."
-            if ! git submodule update --init --remote --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master 2>&1; then
+            if ! git submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master 2>&1; then
                 echo "⚠ Submodule init failed, cloning directly from GitHub..."
                 git clone https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.git rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
             fi
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ else
             cd "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR"
             rm -rf rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
             if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules" ] && grep -q "rpi-rgb-led-matrix" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules"; then
-                git submodule update --init --remote --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
+                git submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
             else
                 git clone https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.git rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
             fi
diff --git a/src/display_manager.py b/src/display_manager.py
index 15538866..e548e86f 100644
--- a/src/display_manager.py
+++ b/src/display_manager.py
@@ -103,7 +103,14 @@ class DisplayManager:
             # Pi 5 only: 0=PIO/RP1 coprocessor (default, less CPU),
             # 1=RIO/Registered IO (faster; gpio_slowdown effect is inverted in this mode)
             if 'rp1_rio' in runtime_config:
-                options.rp1_rio = runtime_config.get('rp1_rio')
+                if hasattr(options, 'rp1_rio'):
+                    options.rp1_rio = runtime_config.get('rp1_rio')
+                else:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        "rp1_rio is set in config but the current RGBMatrixOptions "
+                        "implementation does not support it (RGBMatrixEmulator or older "
+                        "library version) — value will be ignored"
+                    )
             
             logger.info(f"Initializing RGB Matrix with settings: rows={options.rows}, cols={options.cols}, chain_length={options.chain_length}, parallel={options.parallel}, hardware_mapping={options.hardware_mapping}")