Hi to all
I've an atv1200 with Android 4.1
The problem is a unstable wifi connection.
I tried to install Android 4.2 and the problem is solved, but a new one occurred:
I use this device with the CVBS connection on a CRT tv. In Android 4.2 (while in 4.1 it works) I can't correct a decentered screen (for a bug, it works only with hdmi)
Do you suggest me to pass to Linux-Kodi? Does it work with CVBS?
Wich version eventually?
Thank you!
(2015-09-01, 14:42)ed_davidson Wrote: [ -> ]Should I just keep trying or try something else?
I suggest you try
this, post 1406 in this topic, it's the only thing that worked for me.
(2015-09-01, 14:42)ed_davidson Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-08-23, 15:33)p_turner_uk Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-04-29, 09:13)raymw Wrote: [ -> ]With the pin shorting technique I have noticed that nothing happens even holding the shorting pins and the reset button in for a couple of minutes BUT if you then simply remove the pin shorting and reset button, power off the box and reboot still with the boot SD card in and just the reset button held in (no need to short the pins again this time) then you will get into old normal recovery mode. Then simply reboot with the Ember convert file set SD card in instead and of course just the reset button held in for 10-15 seconds in the normal way and bingo you have Ember V1.0.0
Sorted it out...... exactly how raymw said in the above quoted post.... thanks!
So I put Ember 1.0 on my box and then it went wonky so I decided that
I would put mx linux back on it.
I bricked it and have tried many things to get the boot screen up that
were suggested in the post.
Here's what I have been trying lately:
I have a black screen.
I bridged the pins and hold in reset for 2 mins, with the empty boot disk in.
Turn off.
Restart the box with just the reset button pressed and the empty boot
disk for 15 to 20 seconds. I get nothing.
I still have a black screen.
Should I just keep trying or try something else?
Well Ed I can only suggest the method I outlined here before, which you have used it seems. I see some other suggestions above too but basically they are exactly how I have described. I have had two boxes of which one would not unbrick at all and I sent it back to China, via my supplier, where Geniatech kindly fixed it for me, and the other one I am still working on as I am confident I can unbrick that when I get the free time.
Some boxes seem to unbrick first time when shorting the pins and others seem to take many times. Make sure you do not apply too much pressure when shorting those pins as they are very fragile and can break away from their soldered connection and then you will never boot until you make the solder joint good again and then please do so very very carefully with a very fine point solder iron as too much heat applied will easily destroy the motherboard solder pads an then it is a doorstop. .
You must though ensure that you actually do have the pins properly shorted as it is very difficult I find to ascertain whether my small electrical flat head screwdriver is actually fully in contact with both pins. I think that is the reason why many attempts fail and they only end up working when the pin shorting is good, but that is only conjecture though it does seem most likely.
Sadly the last two boxes bricked when I tried to install the public EmbER V2.0.2 on them directly over the default Android OS and both failed to boot after what seemed a successful install. I waited up to 20 minutes for the post flashing auto boot up to complete and still only a blank black screen. So both those boxes then required unbricking (one I have done and is now running 100% solid with MX Linux Helix 14.2, and the other one is still to do as per above. So for now I only use Auxbox's MX Linux Helix 14.2 dated 14/04/2015 to install on new Android G02Ref boxes, which is very stable and reliable and never fails when flashing to these boxes like the ATV1200/1220. Though MX Linux builds still have the easy fixable (with an active screen saver) display freezing problem that EmbER has cured.
I hope EmbER v3 will solve these problems with bricking when flashing to these new G02Ref boxes as I cannot spend the time having to unbrick boxes, and for which I really have never had such problems before. I do though like EmbER a lot and the whole concept of OTA OS updating is excellent and I also have enormous respect and confidence in the work of croniccory and Josh.
Further to the above posting it would be useful if one of the real experts here like Josh could outline the pin shorting method exactly step by step. None of us seem sure how long to hold the pin shorting on for when booting up and whether or not to hold in the usual recessed reset button at the same time, and if so for how long is recommended with this technique? And what is the best configuration and files to use for the SD card for unbricking?
Quite a bit of ambiguity with this unbricking so would be good to have a definitive procedure written down, that is more likely to reliably unbrick first time. So anybody ?? Would be very much appreciated by the community here.
(2015-09-03, 08:06)raymw Wrote: [ -> ]Further to the above posting it would be useful if one of the real experts here like Josh could outline the pin shorting method exactly step by step. None of us seem sure how long to hold the pin shorting on for when booting up and whether or not to hold in the usual recessed reset button at the same time, and if so for how long is recommended with this technique? And what is the best configuration and files to use for the SD card for unbricking?
Quite a bit of ambiguity with this unbricking so would be good to have a definitive procedure written down, that is more likely to reliably unbrick first time. So anybody ?? Would be very much appreciated by the community here.
I'm far from being an expert, but what I can tell you is that if the box is badly bricked, then using an empty SD boot card will not cut it. I have found that it is generally sufficient to use the boot card (link in post 1406 of this thread) and just to short the pins with the box powered on. You can go through the whole routine as below if you want to though.
- Start with no power applied to the box
- Short the pins and hold in the reset button
- Apply power
- After 5 seconds remove pin short
- After another 5 seconds release the reset button
- Sit back and give the box at least 2 minutes to do its thing
One other piece if advice - I found that one of my TV's screen remained black long after the box was recovered, so I thought the recovery process had failed. So, after 2 minutes, try removing and reconnecting the HDMI cable to be sure this is not the problem.
Apologies if I'm also covering well-trodden ground but I was able to recover my bricked ATV1200 using the bootable SD Card & pin shortening method.
Check out this related post #953 on this thread from a while back
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid1817595
Although i'm a mac user I used a PC laptop to create the bootable SDcard.
I followed the instructions (on the PDF doc) and ran the sdcard maker exe - to make my card bootable.
Once done, I copied over all the files from the update for MX 20130805 boot card box file folder onto the newly bootable SD card.
I then put the card in the box and plugged in the power & held the reset button in whilst shorting the pins with a small screwdriver (tricky on the ATV1200's as you almost need 3 hands!)
It took me a couple of attempts and a certain amount patience but after approx 2 mins the status LED flickered to green then I got a blue / grey screen and then the android boot logo finally appeared.
(NOTE: i personally didn't remove the screwdriver until i saw the logo appear but others on the forum have confirmed it isn't necessary to shorten the pins for this long)
If it doesn't work the first time, do try it again (I also didn't release the reset button before 10-15 secs)
Best of luck
(2015-09-03, 13:14)Grand Total Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-09-03, 08:06)raymw Wrote: [ -> ]Further to the above posting it would be useful if one of the real experts here like Josh could outline the pin shorting method exactly step by step. None of us seem sure how long to hold the pin shorting on for when booting up and whether or not to hold in the usual recessed reset button at the same time, and if so for how long is recommended with this technique? And what is the best configuration and files to use for the SD card for unbricking?
Quite a bit of ambiguity with this unbricking so would be good to have a definitive procedure written down, that is more likely to reliably unbrick first time. So anybody ?? Would be very much appreciated by the community here.
I'm far from being an expert, but what I can tell you is that if the box is badly bricked, then using an empty SD boot card will not cut it. I have found that it is generally sufficient to use the boot card (link in post 1406 of this thread) and just to short the pins with the box powered on. You can go through the whole routine as below if you want to though.- Start with no power applied to the box
- Short the pins and hold in the reset button
- Apply power
- After 5 seconds remove pin short
- After another 5 seconds release the reset button
- Sit back and give the box at least 2 minutes to do its thing
One other piece if advice - I found that one of my TV's screen remained black long after the box was recovered, so I thought the recovery process had failed. So, after 2 minutes, try removing and reconnecting the HDMI cable to be sure this is not the problem.
Thanks for the input. The relevant bit you mentioned here is that you found it sufficient just to short the two pins (I assume for only about 5 seconds) with the box already powered on, and of course with the boot card in the SD port. That will make things far easier if that is a sound and reliable method and exactly the feedback I wanted to get form raising this important unbricking issue.
Yes I have wondered if it was really necessary to struggle with pressing in the usual recessed recovery button at the same time as pin shorting and then with a third hand plug the power back in. I will try this simple pin short with power already on method and see how I get on with my still bricked ATV1220T box. If this works it will make the job so much easier though it is important to carefully make that SD boot card as per the full instructions using that little Dos based application that Geniatech refer to.
As I said we need a solid system that works and works as easily as possible for folk here. For now it seems sticking to MX Linux Helix builds is the safest way to go to avoid bricking, Whatever way you use, of course most of us do not want to be stuck with Android bloatware.
Since my post I was able to make an android boot card and I can get into recovery mode but only with the pin shorting method every time. The android is on his back. I tried to update to android firmware and it says everything went well. On reboot black screen again. I contacted Mygica and they asked what firmware was on it. I said 4.1. I was trying to load 4.2 on it. If I get the correct android firmware 4.1 I might have a a chance. Does anyone have it?
Since my post I was able to make an android boot card and I can get into recovery mode but only with the pin shorting method every time. The android is on his back. I tried to update to android firmware and it says everything went well. On reboot black screen again. I contacted Mygica and they asked what firmware was on it. I said 4.1. I was trying to load 4.2 on it. If I get the correct android firmware 4.1 I might have a a chance. Does anyone have it?
(2015-09-03, 15:45)ed_davidson Wrote: [ -> ]Since my post I was able to make an android boot card and I can get into recovery mode but only with the pin shorting method every time. The android is on his back. I tried to update to android firmware and it says everything went well. On reboot black screen again. I contacted Mygica and they asked what firmware was on it. I said 4.1. I was trying to load 4.2 on it. If I get the correct android firmware 4.1 I might have a a chance. Does anyone have it?
Is it a MyGica box? If so then surely MyGica are the people to ask for the firmware. If not, then try the software I suggested a few posts back.
(2015-09-01, 16:46)Marty McFly Wrote: [ -> ]I use this device with the CVBS connection on a CRT tv.
Welcome here, I was going to point you to this thread but wasn't sure if I should bring it up on the official mygica forum. CVBS is composite, not component, right? I also have older but nice '100 Hz' CRT tv with scart and composite video inputs only, I might test it if I will be able to make the tv work (with Android 4.2.2), it was put aside because of picture flickering due to some cold solder on board, also have older computer monitor with composite video input but that I think wouldn't be the same.
I might finally get to flashing this linux, the second version with Helix 14.2 seems the best bet, if I do I might also do the test.
Thanks for all your help. I really can't tell you how it worked but it did. The last thing I tried was the Android boot disk and it worked. Think I'll stick with mx linux now.
(2015-09-01, 16:46)Marty McFly Wrote: [ -> ]Hi to all
I've an atv1200 with Android 4.1
The problem is a unstable wifi connection.
I tried to install Android 4.2 and the problem is solved, but a new one occurred:
I use this device with the CVBS connection on a CRT tv. In Android 4.2 (while in 4.1 it works) I can't correct a decentered screen (for a bug, it works only with hdmi)
Do you suggest me to pass to Linux-Kodi? Does it work with CVBS?
Wich version eventually?
Thank you!
MX-Linux Helix 14.2 has just three available resolutions (Settings-System) - 1280x720p; 1920x1080p; 1920x1080i (50/60 Hz).
With my 13 yrs old CRT Grundig TV which has 100Hz screen refresh I don't get any picture from this installation on ATV1200 (I did set the box first to 1280x720p, the lowest available resolution, before connecting to CRT TV)
As a side note, Android 4.2.2 has video problems just as you outlined on MyGica official forum, v 4.1.2 is better but I get very marginal picture quality (text in Kodi is hardly readable, movies sort kind of OK to watch but could be better), with my TV anyway, perhaps because it is 100 Hz screen refresh (common refresh for CRT TVs was 50/60Hz). I will post there with some details.
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As for MX-Linux Helix 14.2 (v2 first page) - it installed fast flashing it on the orig box Android 4.1.2 (didn't try boxes upgraded to 4.2.2 yet) and it looks like I am well set with it. Only thing I found is - I shouldn't switch off Kodi by that software power button at the left bottom of screen. It put the box into a funk (stuck on Kodi Helix startup logo when I pressed the power button on remote again to start up) which I cured eventually by resetting the power (adapter). I suppose one should just use the red button on remote, also seems there is no 'long press' alternative there. And I guess pressing the button on the box has the same function as pressing the red power button on the remote? Could somebody summarize the current options regarding shutting, putting to sleep (is there a sleep mode apart from screen auto dimming when left idle for some time)?
Since I am configuring some boxes for really lay users, is there a way to hide the soft power off button (that whole menu) from view? If people use it they might get stuck and call me for help...
My back up files have grown huge and I notice clearly it is the massive number of thumbnails that have built up on my system. Looking at them on the PC I notice most are just superfluous thumbnails and of course there are many essential ones. As there are so many hundreds or even over a thousand of them it would take ages to go through on the PC and delete them and load back in an edited list of thumbnails still needed via FTP (yes I use FTP into my box now occasionally). So is there a safe way to delete them even if all and let new needed thumbnails load back in form online
I tried simply by restoring all built the thumbnails with robwellers Backup add-on I use but although it still booted it ended up with just a blank black screen and needed to Revert to Android and then re-flash MX Linus Helix 14.2 back to recover the box. SO obviously I cannot just blanket delete all the thumbnails as they have coded links to them it appears
Of course I could just start a fresh set up adding the needed sources like .Xunity and Fusion and Super Repo etc and installing afresh all the add-ons I like to have in my basic set up and saving that as a fresh backup to load onto newly converted MX Linux boxes. But wondered if I need to go down that quite convoluted hour or so worth of work.