Agreed. I have all my friends/family running on kszaq's builds and they were great to this day.
The amount of time he invested, not only on the builds -- but in patiently helping people on the forum, etc -- a truly selfless and gratuitous hum@n being. I, too, would like to wish him the best and let him know that he's touched the lives of many on this side.
(huh .. for some reason the word hum@n is censored in this forum, lol)
Speaking of boxes/chipsets to avoid... I have 11 different Amlogic boxes in s8/s9 series and I try to purchase fairly popular models.
The first somewhat popular model I've purchased with odd hardware is MECOOL's s905x version.
They lable this the "HM8", it's a standard 1g/8g eMMC but it uses a straonge "Sci" WiFi Chip (Chinese brand: sci-inc.com.cn )
It also won't mount any partitions local to the device with the 3.0.2 TWRP that works on other s905x boxes.
Here's a phone and one close-up of the WiFi (not legible, but best I could get with my phone).
Anyone else have any experience with this / any special dtb or something as a workaround?
I've tried the above and get the errors in the attached screenshot. The only way I have been able to run Libreelec is by using the USB/SD Creator tool and the gz compressed image file to boot from SD card. Any ideas?
I don't think you're alone.
I have no problem running @kszac's img.tg builds on s905's, but I've never been able to get Demetris img.gz builds to run on s802 hardware (tested only on round S82 boxes aka Orbsmart).
In fact, I can get OpenELEC running on the S82 boxes I have, but any time I install Demetris S82 builds for the same hardware, it just boot loops.
Speaking of which, it may be easier for you to start / try the "kerber" builds of OpenELEC and get everything working, before you try these LibreELEC builds. I know that might sound like a waste of time, but for some reason, those builds always work without a problem for me, and it will help you get a feel for what should be happening, and if it's actually something you're doing wrong ...or... truly a problem with compatibility.
This is the link to those builds for testing:
MEGA
Depending on your box, you won't necessarily have an option for a 7.0.2 OpenELEC build, you may have to go back to 6.0.0, which is fine, because this is for diagnostic and learning purposes both, you can always upgrade once you get this one working.
Also, I thought you were going to try unzipping Demetris latest build and flashing through recovery ("Flash from EXT" > choose drive > choose .ZIP) - have you had any success with that?
Moving on .. This post raises a question for Demetris:
First, thank you for all you do. Your work is awesome, and the time you dedicate to others is amazing.
Do you have any idea why there might be problems in your LibreELEC builds on certain hardware, which runs great with the old CodeSnake/Kerber builds? For example, I have S82 boxes and I can install Kerber's builds without any problem.
When I download any of your LibreELEC 8-RC releases, I get boot-loops (reflashing, rebooting, reflashing) if I attempt to apply the terminal "reboot update" method (or directly via recovery).
I'll go back to those S82 boxes that won't run with your release, and install the S82 OpenELEC builds without problem.
Could there be a problem or compatibility issue with your Round S82 builds specifically?
Thank you in advance!
EDIT: Someone mentioned the old "alpha" release in 2016 worked when all of the newer releases did not. I've tried this and indeed the Alpha installs on the S82 boxes. The RC4 bootloops to re-attempt flashing, on the same S82 boxes. What could be causing the problem in RC4?
I've had several Amlogic boxes, for myself and family/friends, all of them loaded with OpenELEC or LibreELEC.
Occasionally I run into problems and have to flash a stock firmware using the Amlogic USB Flash Tool (latest ver v2.0.7.2), and I'm back in business.
I have 4 boxes (s905, s802, and two s812h) that won't boot, no matter how much I try to flash them. They take the stock flashes from USB Flash Tool, but they won't boot.
In a situation like this, where the Flash Tool won't work, with not FASTBOOT available on Amlogic, is there anything else I can try? Or is this a common problem where sometimes Amlogic devices just get bricked, no amount of flashing a stock ROM to fix?
Thank you in advance for ANY ideas!
Thanks, it does make sense. Whenever I've booted into recovery and tried to flash the zipped image file I get an error stating that the file isn't signed or has the incorrect header. Can't remember the exact error. So I'm not sure what to do next?Also in terms of my other question, do I use Keymap Editor in map HDMI-ARC?
Okay, now I understand the issue.
More than likely, you're attempting to flash a .ZIP that is technically a compilation of files that need to be UNZIPPED prior to flashing. In other words, the file you want to flash, which is indeed a .ZIP file .. is *inside* the current .ZIP file you're attempting to flash. If you open the current .ZIP you're attempting to flash and you see a .ZIP inside of it, then you can guarantee this to be the problem.
Yes, to map the HDMI-ARC power-off button to something else, the easiest option is Keymap because you can just tell Keymap to listen for the key you want to map (eg - press a button on your remote), it will track that key-code, then it will ask you what you want to map it to. This creates a keymap.xml file that you could create yourself.
If you'd like to save yourself the time of using Keymap, you can create a keymap file that has the following, and I'd say that 9 times out of 10 this works for HDMI ARC:
-----------------------------
<keymap><global><keyboard><key id="61662">stop</key></keyboard></global></keymap>
-----------------------------
Take ONLY what's between the lines, don't take the dashed-lines themselves.
Save this as "keyboard.xml" in the "keymaps" folder, which is under the "userdata" folder.
If you don't know where the "userdata" folder is, being that you will be on a native linux build, it should be here:
/storage/kodi/userdata
Reboot, then power-down your TV, and check that your Kodi box doesn't go to sleep. If it does not, you're golden. If it does, try Keymap 
Thanks rkmfl, what's the best way to map the my remote to do this? Can I use Keymap Editor in Kodi/Libreelec?Also how do I install Libreelec to my internal storage/NAND?
I don't have an s802 box around to test, I only used this image to install one for a friend; however...
I was under the impression that this release was always flashed directly to the device (NAND is just the type of memory that serves as the storage, like a hard drive, on these boxes - in other words, if it's installed on the box, it's on your eMMC / MMC aka NAND storage).
If this release isn't already installed automatically in that matter, all you do is boot to recovery and flash the .zip file by choosing to "Flash ZIP File" from the recovery menu, then choosing "uboot" if it's from a USB stick, or "sboot" if it's from a MicroSD card. Once you do this, it will be written to your device, overwriting the original SYSTEM partition / removing Android an replacing it with this native Kodi/LibreElec build.
Does that make sense?
Hi guys, can anyone give me some guidance on my questions above. Thanks!
Every one of my boxes, LibreElec or OpenElec, none of them have come out of resume properly.
These things basically use no electricity and remaining on can be beneficial for grabbing metadata, etc -- therefore, the best solution to me is to disable whatever is causing your box to go into power-save, whether it's the time-out or the HDMI-ARC. If it's the HDMI-ARC you just map the remote command to a button like Home, which disables it.
quickmic - thank you for the follow-up.
And .. To anyone else stumbling on this thread in the future -- as far as I know, adb and Amlogic's USB Burning tool are the only options for Amlogic devices.
My everyday device is WeTek Hub (gift from WeTek), I also have Odroid C2 (gift from Hardkernel) and T95x - the cheapest S905X device that was available at the time I was buying, but I don't like it for its weak WiFi. I used to have Beelink MiniMX but I broke down some time ago. I also have a few S805 devices - for testing only.
Thanks so much for this information, it's very helpful. I had never considered using an Odroid C2, but if you have good luck with that, I'm going to order one and test.
Do you use the official LibreELEC build for ODroid, or is one of your device trees geared towards the C2 as well (I only ask because I didn't see anything specific in the device tree)?
Do you have any opinion on whether any of the differences in the hardware are better/worse? For example do you suggest the 1GB vs 2GB boxes or the 8GB vs 16GB eMMC's or 100 Mbps versus Gigabit chipsets?
Thank you in advance!
kszaq, any chance you'll let us know which box you run? I've asked a couple times and didn't get a reply.
If you're intentionally not replying, I understand -- just wanted to double-check before I order boards for my family because I'd really prefer to buy whatever box you are running.
Thank you in advance!
@kszac,
Is it common that after a couple days the Amlogic boxes on Librelec tend to lock-up or get very slow?
I never had the issue on my s812's running Kerber's build. Once I moved to s905 boxes on Libelec, I started to have the issue. I went back to Openelec on one s905 box and the problem disappeared.
Don't get me wrong, I think your Libelec builds run better overall on a freshly booted box, it's only after a couple days that it has issues.
Also, could you tell me which Amlogic box you run personally? I'd prefer to run a box you own, assuming it would be the best tested and supported by you.
Thank you in advance!
Then you should have some experience about "fastboot"
quickmic - I am not the one you were replying to; I have plenty of experience with fastboot/adb -- however, something you said interested me..
I've never been able to connect to AMLOGIC devices using fastboot. I had just assumed it wasn't supported or no valid Windows drivers for fastboot.
When I read your comment it made me wonder if I've been doing something wrong with Amlogic devices and whether others are able to use fastboot? For example with the 812 or 905 chipsets, can you confirm you can get fastboot, and if so, which driver/OS you're using?
Thank you in advance!
I make some pretty dumb mistakes .. but this isn't one of them, lol.
This is me .. eating my words .. I make dumb mistakes and this IS one of them.
Thank you both. The problem wasn't that an SD card was in the box...
The problem was that I was SSH'ed into an entirely different box that was indeed running from SD, due to problems with these no-reset boxes and moving them around so much.
Boy do I feel stupid, thanks for being patient with me :-).
This looks like LE running from a 2GB SD card, not internal memory.
I make some pretty dumb mistakes .. but this isn't one of them, lol.
No SD card is in the device. I don't know if it helps, but I did use the feature you added and recommended, "installtointernal" to move over to the NAND from the SD.
But again, there is no SD in the unit and no USB thumb drive. Nothing. What you are looking at is the NAND patitions.
Could this be a result of the "installtointernal" due to the original SD being 2GB and the "installtointernal" using same partition structure?
Device trees use a standard partition layout provided by Amlogic. For 8GB eMMC, system partition is a bit less than 1GB, data is ~4.8GB. If you want to resize partitions, you have to modify device tree on your own.
@kszac, that's exactly my point. My other s905 boxes do have ~4GB data partitions on 8GB NAND's.
On the s905 100Mbps Realtek (gxbb_p200_1G_100M_REALTEK) it partitions to only 1.4GB (not ~4GB) despite being the same 8GB NAND, which I've tirple-confirmed including a photo of the NAND itself.
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs 305.7M 0 305.7M 0% /dev
/dev/mmcblk1p1 511.7M 146.2M 365.5M 29% /flash
/dev/mmcblk1p2 1.4G 1.3G 0 100% /storage
/dev/loop0 127.0M 127.0M 0 100% /
tmpfs 407.6M 0 407.6M 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 407.6M 6.4M 401.2M 2% /run
tmpfs 407.6M 0 407.6M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 407.6M 244.0K 407.3M 0% /var
tmpfs 407.6M 0 407.6M 0% /tmp@kszac, I don't know if you noticed my post that the Realtek install does not seem to partition properly? On the 8GB eMMC, the main partition is setup as 1.4GB
Also, could I ask which box you run for yourself? I only ask because I'd like to buy this same box, it will likely be better tested with the developer running!
Separately .. does anyone use the trakt.tv plugin successfully on the s905 builds? It runs fine on my old amlinux s812 build, but the LibreElec build it can't seem to communicate with the site, based on the debug logs.
@kszac -
I am running your 7.02.009 build (I run into those boot issues that some are having, on 32/64 versions of 7.03.011).
I notice that when I run the 100Mbps REALTEK dtb, that it doesn't partition the 8G eMMC correctly for some reason. This works on my other models / DTB's.
I'll publish a "df" below so that you can see the partitioning. You'll notice it has no free space, this is a result of scraping thumbs after the install (not the install's fault).
DTB: gxbb_p200_1G_100M_REALTEK_(for 7.02.009)
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs 305.7M 0 305.7M 0% /dev
/dev/mmcblk1p1 511.7M 146.2M 365.5M 29% /flash
/dev/mmcblk1p2 1.4G 1.3G 0 100% /storage
/dev/loop0 127.0M 127.0M 0 100% /
tmpfs 407.6M 0 407.6M 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 407.6M 6.4M 401.2M 2% /run
tmpfs 407.6M 0 407.6M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 407.6M 244.0K 407.3M 0% /var
tmpfs 407.6M 0 407.6M 0% /tmp Poida -
Thank you for all your advice. Thanks to your feedback regarding the reset buttons not being connected on some of those s905 boxes, I stopped attempting to install via any sort of reset process. As a result I spent more time on testing different builds / DTB's (then resetting with Amlogic firmware and re-attempting) until I got one working.
The 7.02.009 with the DTB mentioned above, is now working for this device by issuing a "reboot recovery" or "reboot update". In summary .. As long as I'm able to re-flash with the original firmware, I'll be able to install via recovery. If I ever have a problem restoring the stock firmware, I'll be out of luck. With that in mind, to anyone else researching which box to buy -- I'd recommend staying away from the Nexbox or "MiniMX+" device I showcase in my prior post. This MiniMX+ is the only box I've ever run into issues with, after testing dozens of other Amlogic devices over the years!
glenrunciter -
Yes, I'm strictly an Ethernet guy myself. However, 72mbps WiFi would be more than enough for any standard x264/x265 scene/internal rip.
I believe scene compliance for 720p is between 4 and 8 Mbps (or just over 2 for animation). For 1080p it's about 8 to 14 Mbps or about 5 Mbps for animation. If you're into streaming 4k (I definitely am not) - that's all x265 and very well compressed. In my case, other than a few key movies, I don't watch anything in formats over 720p and have never, not once, had an issue with the six s802-H devices currently at my inlaws, with one exception (which is why I'm sending them an old s812).
Not sure what you mean with the mxiii build.
I was just referring to the ROM mentioned in this post we're accidentally hijacking (sorry about that, but it will be helpful for many others who stumble on this looking for an s812 release and wondering). The original poster's ROM is an s812 ROM, although it's a 16GB eMMC (our CX-S806's are s812-H with 2 GB / 8 GB). So you're right, sticking with the MXIII build you mentioned is probably the best way to go.
Thanks again!