[AuXBoX]

Don't give up. I'ts definately worth it.
Do you get into recovery screen?
You should leave any sdcard or usb stick out
Hold the reset button, plug in power.
Hold for 15 seconds, release and it should boot to recovery.
Plug in the sdcard or USB stick and flash file i gave you

Thanks for you help Auxbox, always most appreciated.

Well if I do that with no SD or USB card plugged in then nothing happens just a blank screen and no recovery screen no matter how many minutes I wait. Just the blue LED lit on the front of box and nothing displayed. If I plug in a bootable SD card, albeit one used for the ATV1200 boxes, then I get the MX Linux logo up and it tries to update but fails and leaves me then actually in the usual recovery screen with the failure message I reported before, but it is frozen and I cannot select any options with remote (or wireless keyboard) though the power off button at least does work. This happens no matter whether I point the factory_update_param.aml file text to use the G02 or G18 update zip file. If I leave the factory_update_param.aml empty of any script then it boots into a clean recovery screen with no failure messages but alas again it is frozen and I cannot select any options or even get it to reboot only power it off.

Tried the old Jynx Revert to Android SD bootable card, which for me always works brilliantly with bricked ATV 520/1200 boxes, and this again fails as is expected and normal first time, but then just continues to fail on second and any subsequent attempts as I would expect being an Android install intended for the ATV1200 / 520 boxes. So I am stuck unless you have a revert to Android SD card boot up set up for these G18Ref boxes as then I can return to the box to its original or near original Android state. Then I can try again properly from scratch now knowing where the reset button is hidden.

I think the problem has been caused by my trying to update to Linux through the Android system update facility as I mentioned earlier when I could not find the hidden reset button. If that is all it is, then this is a shame as these boxes look good and solid, and of course somewhat cheaper than the Geniatech G02Ref dual core boxes.

I just got another box which has mxII on it. This one has no reset button and I tried to do the same as you did and I've got the same problem. I'm trying a couple things now and will let you know the outcome