Posts by dtech

Quote from tico

I redid two new Sd card (two different makers) and I am getting the same results as the first one. I was doing some search of dtb files for M8 and I found this one in txt format, but I don't know if it is the wright one. I thing it came from the original rom k200-ota-20140807. Here is the link.

I used the same dtb as Demetris, so I don't understand why it doesn't boot. Unfortunately, I have no idea without viewing the UART output.

Quote from MIKMXIII

Code

I wanted to ask Dtech if it was possible to modify your LibreELEC-MXIII-1G.arm-9.2.8.3, as this works fine with my one gig MXIII box with amlogic S802 but all videos (of any kind) baffering continuously . Sure it's because you created it for AP6330 while mine is AP6181, but the wify works anyway that's weird, can you do something for my box? thanks anyway.

If you can provide an URL from dmesg | paste that would be good.

Quote from tico

Thank you dtech for the new file, but it didn't work. I tried to update first, no luck (it was saying there was compatibility issue). So I made a new SD card and it went on a boot loop. Thank you for your effort.

The tar-based update will not work if the two devices do not have the same name (n200 ≠ M8), so it is completely normal.

But, that boot loop is weird, because there is only difference from the n200 that the M8 image got the dtb of M8.

Are you sure everything is fine with the second sd card?

Quote from loki7777

I just ordered hot air station - nothing fancy but should do the trick.

A tip before soldering:

You should always use the right amount of good quality flux and set a well-chosen temperature, because copper foil can be damaged if you keep it at a high temperature for a long time!

If you follow these (and your hands don’t shake either), you may be able to replace this IC. I wish you good soldering.

loki7777

This Ricoh RN5T618 is a slightly more complex voltage controller, hot air is required to replace it.

Unfortunately, the 5V power supply of the cheaper boxes is not really efficient. If the load fluctuates, the power supply of the USB devices will not be stable either, due to the fact that it also needs 5V. The solutions used in 12V boxes are orders of magnitude more efficient.

The KI Plus I fixed (photo attached earlier) already used a 12V DC adapter. Meanwhile, it was proved that the 12V->18V booster IC (INN8186) of the satellite LNB power transmitter kicked back to the power line, and the indicated IC was destroyed.

I tried to transfer from a donor (with hot air) but it also went short-circuited very quickly (approx. 2 seconds).

(However, the box and the DVB-C/T2 part of the tuner remained fully usable without this booster IC, so the success rate is ~95%.)

tico

Please try this image: http://libreelec.dtech.hu/snapshots/20211214/

Quote from loki7777

I will open the box later on again and will try to look for diode but i couldn't find anything burned but one section of the board was extremely hot.

I read online on other forum that most of the time it is not even wort looking for issues with those cheap boxes.

Extreme heat disipation can indicate a short circuit, but then the faulty part must be determined.

I'm sorry, I'm an electrical engineer so I tend to go deeper into things. Including multimeter and soldering iron...

I recently repaired a box with a similar problem, although this was caused by a DC-to-DC step-down converter (STI3470) and not a Z-diode:

The dead box was this: I search Libreelec device with DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 tuner, any suggestion?

According to envagyok, the fault happened after a pre-announced power outage planned by the electricity supplier.

Unfortunately, an inductive load (such as the compressor of an older refrigerator) can deliver a transient peak pulse to devices that are not adequately protected with a phase correction circuit. If several loads are energized at the same time after a power failure or the circuit breaker switching back on, it can produce "interesting" things on the same phase in any other part of the household. Unfortunately in a bad sense...

Sorry for the late reply, but unfortunately I don’t have much time for anything outside of work lately.

Quote from loki7777

I think that will be my last time in this forum as my box just decided to die today. No power light at all but I can feel that usb hdd is spinning. Tried different power adapter but no luck.

There was no power for a sec when box was on.

Does the box's factory adapter supply voltage in idle state? Because if not, it might be broken and took a Zener-diode with it in the box. This is relatively easy to detect (with a multimeter) because the input side will short circuit if the Z-diode fails. But to do that, the box needs to be disassembled.

When experimenting with other DC adapters, pay attention to the voltage: If the box needs 5V DC, use only 5V DC power!

I already had to label my boxes separately because they operate at different voltages, but their DC power connectors are the same.

If you connect a higher voltage adapter instead of 5V (eg. 12V), the power LED will flash for a moment, then the zener diode will go short to protect the device. Repair is only possible by desoldering and replacing this diode. (Of course, this only works if the manufacturer has installed the protection diode at all. If not, the box has gone up in smoke.)

Quote from tico

I am running LE-9.2.8 from sd card on a M8 S802 (k200) box. Everything work great except I cant connect to my network using Ethernet, WIFI works great. I would really appreciate any help to solve this problem.

My log file. ix.io/3Hvw

Thanx for the great work.

Which version was previously installed that Ethernet worked?

Quote from gthebest

Code

fb_addr=0x07900000

I know you have already sent this. This seems it is the standard address on MXIII-G/Plus, so I accept it.

However, I think it would be worth replacing your SD card because the it boots very slowly in your video, but that's not the device's fault.

Quote from viachy

Hello guys,

I have an Amlogic M8s+ tv box (S812) and I``` am running LE 9.2.8.2 and it`s been great.

I am interested if I can upgrade to LE 10 (Matrix) ? I` have been browsing through the different sections but cant figure it out.

Can someone advise please if that will be possible (in the near future if not now)..?

Thanks

This is a recurring question...

Post

RE: Legacy v9.2 (LTS) builds for Amlogic S805/S8X2, S905/S912 and all WeTek boxes

Since Matrix (Kodi v19) the legacy amlcodec is no longer supported. The old kernel (3.10) is already very outdated anyway, so the only solution is to switch to the mainline kernel. At the moment the state of the vdec is pretty much WiP. However, there is some progress in this area (Meson 8* Lives!), but it seems that Kodi v20 may be the first to run on Meson8* devices.

dtech

November 29, 2021 at 1:54 PM

Quote from loki7777

fb_addr=0x07900000

On my box it takes like ~22sec from kodi reboot menu to land back in Kodi again. Boot from Nand.

Do you also have a black screen between the vendor and the LE logos?

Mine only started a little slower because the "wait for network" (aprox. +10 seconds) option is also enabled due to loading the IPTV channel list and EPG (XMLTV). This is important because if Kodi can't load them at startup, it won't try again later. Without that, it would take me about the same amount of time.

Mine also runs from the internal eMMC, but it is not much slower when starting it from a U1 class card (a.k.a. Class 10). BTW, the sd card of gthebest seems terribly slow.

gthebest

Okay, it's really "almost" perfect. It already looks quite tolerable, but your SD card seems a bit slow.

However, the black screen between the Tronsmart and the LibreELEC logos is probably due to an incorrect framebuffer address.

I know it, because I tried the reverse (0x15100000 -> 0x07900000) on my M8S and experienced the same black screen.

However, I have no idea how this got into your device, because this is the standard value of fb_addr for S805 SoCs, not S812.

Coincidentally, isn't (or wasn't earlier) an unofficial "cooked" Android ROM installed on your internal NAND?

loki7777

Can I request an fw_printenv output from you too? I'm just wondering what fb_addr is set to on your device.

Quote from gthebest

Its working almost perfect. I can see the Libreelec logo again for 4-5 seconds!

"almost perfect" -> What does it mean exactly? For example, what is the difference on your box compared to one of my boxes?

gthebest  loki7777

Maybe I managed to fix the issue, please check the new image here:

http://libreelec.dtech.hu/3rdParty/S8X2/ (Updated: 2021-12-01)

Quote from V77V77

i installed corelec for my very old Enybox M8S, thank you very much.

But when I install docker, jellyfin doesn't seem to work. I can't conect my media server through port :8096 or 8080 (docker not run, i think so). Can you help me?? Sorry my English is not good.

Thank you.

You are welcome, and... wait a minute. Did you mean LibreELEC, right? I never created CE images.

About docker support:

Post

RE: Legacy v9.2 (LTS) builds for Amlogic S805/S8X2, S905/S912 and all WeTek boxes

[…]

From branch 9.2, along with the end of official amlogic support, aml-specific patches for docker support was also dropped.

The docker compatibility was not a priority in my builds, so I wasn’t really concerned with re-implementing background support.

dtech

September 12, 2021 at 4:28 PM

I found something: Pandora's Box 3D 8000 Games Arcade Console Gameboard JAMMA Motherboard DIY PCB

The S912 is not a Cortex-A9, but the S802 and S812 are. Anyway, the heat sink is held in place by a spring-loaded strap, so why not take it off to check it out? The type is inscribed on the top of the SoC.

gthebest

I honestly admit that at the moment I have no idea what might be causing it.

The same platform_init script works perfectly on M8S+ and WeTek Core (and in theory on Minix devices, though I haven't received any actual feedback on it).

However, it was noted that the MXIII-G uses a different memory area to load the logo, such as the two devices above:

• OTT M8S+/WeTek Core:

fb_addr=0x15100000

• Your device (MXIII-G):

fb_addr=0x07900000

However, I saw the same framebuffer address (0x07900000) on my S805 devices only. Strange...

Quote from loki7777

LibreELEC-n200-AP6330_2G.arm-9.2.8.2 - some glitches at boot(when you see "linux things" - same with last snapshot but not important).

loki7777 Have you experienced this too?

Quote from gthebest

I mean, did it show up for you instead of the logo?

However, if the onscreen log only appears for a moment and only flashes once before the logo loads, it's completely normal. It doesn't really show up on some TVs, it happens so quickly.

gthebest

Which version did you update from?

The logo should hide the console output, but something is wrong with the resolution at boot time.

But I see the first lines of the LE logo at the bottom of the screen, and the image is also quite distorted.

I need a dmesg and an fw_printenv output shortly after the Kodi is loaded.

Quote from chewitt

U-boot also allows the entire boot process to be encrypted/signed and protected; but this requires support for those things in Silicon which increases costs, so you almost never see it with cheap TV box devices.

It would have been more of a philosophical question, I personally don't like UEFI too much.

Altough on the boxes the /dev/system partition, which contains the squashfs file it is ext4, but on the sd card, flash drive (or removable eMMC) it is FAT. In principle, would u-boot be able to find and start the kernel if the first partition on the sd card is ext4?

I know I'm now speaking against myself as a Windows desktop user. Native ext4 support under Windows, that would be nice.