[xoted]

hi all
old age pensioner here so not very tech orientated, please bear with me.
4 years ago family bought me a tv android box and it got stashed away,to have something to do in these lockdowned times I fished it out.
the manual that came with it showed connection/operating instructions, all went okay in getting all the included cables connected however the first thing I was supposed to do was be able to access the browser screen so as to download whatever. my problem is when I switch on I get taken straight to an pre-loaded screen which is obviously obsolete/out of date.
so does anybody know what I have to do to be able to access the android browser application?
The unit describes what I have as :: android 4-2 operating system with ARM dual cortex A9.
                                                 :: supports many kinds of IPTV and OTT TV programmes.
            xstreamTec                                      :: MX quad core operating openelec Linux .
                                                 :: pre-loaded with 15-2 isengard.  some old addons do still work (but majority obsolete)
So it seems I need to be able to take this box back to factory reset and then download what is available via the box's browser screen but cannot seem to do this any ideas would be helpful. is it possible to do what the manual says re manual.??

[FXB78]

Your box is running a very old operating system called OpenELEC, which is now obsolete and has been replaced by a new o/s called CoreELEC. There may be an option to boot to Android if you go to the Power menu in Kodi & look for 'Reboot to Android' or 'Reboot to NAND' or something similar. But even if you did manage to get to the Android system I believe Kodi doesn't support Android ver 4.2 past Kodi 16, so it's probably not worth it.

You could possibly install CoreELEC on there, I'm not sure if such an old box would be supported or how well it would run, and you'd need to flash the CoreELEC image to your system, which depending on your level of tech knowledge might not be an easy task. Maybe someone else here would have more knowledge of that than me.

In my opinion if you are wanting to run the latest version of Kodi buying something like an Amazon Fire Stick would be much easier & give you a better end result than trying to resurrect this old box. Or you could of course just use it in it's current form, but as you say many addons will no longer work properly due to being obsolete.

[xoted]

Your box is running a very old operating system called OpenELEC, which is now obsolete and has been replaced by a new o/s called CoreELEC. There may be an option to boot to Android if you go to the Power menu in Kodi & look for 'Reboot to Android' or 'Reboot to NAND' or something similar. But even if you did manage to get to the Android system I believe Kodi doesn't support Android ver 4.2 past Kodi 16, so it's probably not worth it.

You could possibly install CoreELEC on there, I'm not sure if such an old box would be supported or how well it would run, and you'd need to flash the CoreELEC image to your system, which depending on your level of tech knowledge might not be an easy task. Maybe someone else here would have more knowledge of that than me.

In my opinion if you are wanting to run the latest version of Kodi buying something like an Amazon Fire Stick would be much easier & give you a better end result than trying to resurrect this old box. Or you could of course just use it in it's current form, but as you say many addons will no longer work properly due to being obsolete.

[xoted]

hi
1stly thanks for your advice yes I appreciate everything is out of date. I was told by "various experts" that I should still be able to access the initial browser screen operation and also be able to return to a virgin setting (none of them say how mind).
that is basically what I wanted to do as it was supposed to be my first option according to the manual, albeit that I could probably not use it for much now, how do I wipe it clean and just access the browser screen?
it is amazing that some of the installed add ons still work, I even installed a current url and it worked but as I said I just want to know how to access the browser screen on it. to see what could be done with it outside f kodi. I suppose more a box question than a kodi one (sorry if that is wrong thing to do on here )
once again thanks for your time and info.

cheers

[FXB78]

If you click on the power button in the bottom left, does it give you an option to Reboot to Android, or Reboot to NAND or similar? See below highlighted in Red:

[xoted]

hi
when I use that selection I get following options;;=  power off system
                                                                          custom shutdown timer
                                                                          reboot
                                                                          log off master user
I have tried all of these top one shuts box off
2nd dsnt appear to do anything
3rd one shuts the screen down but leaves power button on box on (blue light)
4th one produces a screen with master user box on show. that is it. this has become a challenge now just to gain access to the browers screen/operation
thanks for your attention I am learning all the time.
cheers

[FXB78]

Sounds like your box just has Openelec installed as the operating system and there is no dual-boot to get to Android (as it's not installed). Openelec doesn't have a browser so unless you can flash the original Android os on there I don't think a factory reset will do anything other than restore OpenELEC to default settings. You could try the 'toothpick' method where you put a toothpick or similar into the AV socket at the back on booting the box, it might give you some recovery options. Other than that I'm all out of ideas

[xoted]

hi
okay thanks for your efforts anyway.
if I get any further will let you know. seems odd that the manual that came with firstly describes what to do to use the browser screen if that option is not on/in the box.
cheers