[raymw]

Hi, I have 2 Sumvision X2 boxes which I wanted to try Kodi Linux on. I tried updating the first to Ember 3.01 which resulted in a brick. I have tried to unbrick using the guide on the previous page with absolutely no luck so far. Firstly is it possible that trying to install Ember could have bricked the box to a state beyond the unbricking method ?
On the second box I have installed the Helix 14.2 image which used to be on the first page of this thread. This installed perfectly. My understanding is that I could now install Ember on this box with little chance of bricking ? If this is the case I'm wondering if the first page of this thread should still have a link to the Helix 14.2 files and advise people to install that first before Ember if they have a 1200 box (rather than relying on an unbricking method that may not work)
The unbricking method looks straightforward and I was a bit surprised when after numerous attempts it still hasn't worked for me.
Thanks for the guides and efforts anyway.

Hi Meva.

Well first as you discovered it is imperative with an ATV1200 or 1220 to first install normal MX Linux KODI 14.x first of all and then you can safely install EmbER V3.0.1 public version. Yes I agree it would be a good idea to keep a link to this MX Linux image on the Page 1 of this thread list, so Auxbox any chance of doing that please mate ??

Now as to the bricking, which sounds like a pretty much standard bricking, I assume the front panel red indicator light does come on and stay on okay. What you have done is given yourself probably the most common bricking situation in trying to install EmbER V3.0.1 on top of a virgin Android ATV1200/1220 box. I have to say this is the first time I have heard of this recently posted unbricking method not working and indeed I have tested it on 5 similarly bricked ATV1200 (one a badged Sumvision Cyclone X2) and 1220 boxes and it worked first time and every time and had several other good reports too from others. So we need to find out why it failed to unbrick your Sumvision Cyclone X2 (ATV1200) box.

Firstly did you initially carefully prepare the SD card with the special formatting utility as this is a very important step as it writes an appropriate uboot file to a special boot partition on the SD card. Without that it will not unbrick. Also ensure that your SD card has not had the write protect lock slider accidentally applied as that will stop it working too (I have done this myself several times over the years). Obviously it would have been write enabled initially else you could not have prepped the SD card. I also have to assume you used exactly the same files as per the instructions when writing to the SD card from your PC. What size was your SD card ? I have heard problems with flashing images to these boxes with the larger capacity cards, so normally I suggest sticking with the currently ready available 4 or 8 GB cards.

Secondly another typical reason for it not working is that you may not have actually shorted the two pins 6, and 7 as shown on the picture file. Sometimes these pins may have an insulating coating over them so with the box powered off carefully ensure that any coating is gently scraped off those pins before trying another unbrick routine. Also ensure that you are also fully holding in the reset button at the back of the box when you power up and hold that reset button in until you see the screen pop into life hopefully into the recovery mode screen. There is no harm in holding that reset button in for more than the usual 10-15 seconds. Shorting the pins need only be held in place for 5 to 10 seconds at the most after power on, and indeed i find just 5 seconds normally works fine.

Okay there are a few things for you to try, but please come back and let me know how you get on. If it does not work first time then try again a few times more, paying particular attention to the shorting of those two pins for 5 to 10 seconds after power up, and also ensuring that the reset button is indeed held fully in at power up too and held in until you see a screen display. Your screen may well remain blank for as long as 2 minutes though usually less than a minute in my experience and you should see some activity with the front panel lights before you see a screen display and usually the red light flashes to green too on that box and that is a good sign that it is now booting up. Good luck with it and I wait to hear back from you hopefully with a big smile.