yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
It'll be like flashing my modded kernel. You need to do it from adb shell over TCP (ideally) or Terminal Emulator with the tools I linked. I don't have access to my device to dump the recovery right now, but I'm sure Benni or relol could help you there.

Be aware that borking the recovery will likely make it so you can't reset your device without UART.
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
I will be dead straight with ya.. I just had to google "adb shell" "borking" and "TCP"

Might not be for me ye know, and i wouldnt expect you to write step by step instructions because that would take an age.

Its working again now so if its not broke i better not try and fix it.

Thanks again for all your time matey!!
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
I was somewhat "barbaric" because I went trough all of the trouble writing an instruction set that should cover all possibilities to unbrick a soft bricked MX box, and then you did not follow it. And it really pissed me off - because you successfully recovered the box at the first time and then went and installed the zip file manually on top of a working box rom... And no matter what you say, you did not follow the instructions.

Let me explain.

You see, when you initially did not have the signal, and you inserted the sd card with the special image and let it sit for a long time and then you saw the screen with the Android Recovery open - the box was already fine. If you see the recovery screen, means it has signal and it has been recovered. Did you read what was on the screen? My guess is NO. You would have seen the 2 errors that are mentioned in my instruction. You just should have removed the plug and the sd card and let it reboot by plugging in the power cord again.

I mentioned in my instructions specifically, that it gives 2 errors after installing and then just unplug power. You did not do that - instead you installed the M3 version of the software manually - on top of the working installation, more specifically, the previous model that was before MX. The hardware is close but not identical, CPU is different and memory capacity is different.... etc.

My advice, print out the instructions, take a ruler and follow every step on the paper. Line out every step after finishing it.

By saying, that you need to read the instructions again, I literally meant it, now you need to do the same thing again - use the sd card method, this time after it finishes and gives 2 errors, just pull the plug and remove sd card and put the power back on.

And for the record, leaving it overnight is just overkill. The whole process takes 15 minutes, max. If you have no HDMI cord, then, leave it for 30 minutes just to be sure. You can see the results after 30 min, if it sits on the recovery window with 2 errors, just unplug, wait 30 sec and replug the power cord. Don't forget to remove the sd card.

If this method does not work for you, you can try UART method (do you know how to??).... cancel the boot after connecting the UART cable and write this at the command prompt (Putty):

nand erase whole

Wait for it to finish, power off and then insert my sd card and follow the instructions.
[Hardware Hacking General] hannyid:
Amlogic 8726mx no signal no reset

Hi

I hope I have come to the right place

My MX8726 after installing acemaxtec latest firmware (Nov 2013) my box worked on first reboot but after turning on later i just get blue light and no signal and no reset/recovery button will work.

Can you help me?

Any downloading etc will be done on a mac running mavericks, no windows pc in my house

Thankyou
[Hardware Hacking General] freejack2k:
Use Benni's instructions, same things happened to me, when i updated via OTA on my mx box it bricked it and i got no signal at all. If you read back a few pages osm0sis gave me some very good advice for using Benni's image. The main thing is get the right stuff on the sd card and make sure you click in the reset button and it should fire it up.
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
You need to find a method to write .imgc file on an sd card. Maybe a virtual pc (VMWare with WinXP or 7) .... and run the HDDRawCopy to write the file on SD CARD!!!! Don't just copy the .imgc file on sd card.

After that you just follow the instructions on my instructions.
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
Thanks again for the reply. I will have to google how to and try UART method. The one thing i cannot get my head round is that once i insert your sd card in and try to apply the image the android status bar stops instantly(within 1 second), and turns into a dead android man, but still i followed all the instructions, unplugged it after the two errors and it just doesn't work.

Here's the errors i get written how it says.

E:Bad bootloader arguments

"(null)"

Finding update package...

Verifying update package...

E:signature verification failed

Installation aborted.

When i do the "incorrect method" the status bar takes a little while, maybe 2 mins, but then my box boots into life.

If i unplug the box as you suggest after these errors i just get no output. the Tv knows there is signal there but its just nothing.

I found the exact same box on gumtree for sale so i bought it to try and problem solve and this one is behaving exactly the same.

I have used other people to follow your instructions to the letter with a different computer/sd card and tv, the results are the same. :(

Thanks again as without your efforts i would be stuck with a couple of bricked boxes!
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
I will write a comprehensive tutorial for the UART method, eventually.... but feel free to google it up. There is some material on this on the AndroidGadget.co.uk forum.

It seems you are still not following my instructions or you are not using my sd card image properly.... or you messed up your box in a way that is unfixable by the sd card method.

You are not supposed to install anything MANUALLY by choosing any images, zip files or anyhting. If you do that, means you are not following my instructions.

You turn off the box, remove the cable, insert toothpick in the reset hole, insert the sd card, then connect power. AND THEN ONLY WAIT. In about 15 seconds, release the toothpick from the AV hole. AND THEN WAIT FOR 15 MINUTES. DONT DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH THE BOX. After 30 minutes passed, remove the POWER. Then connect the power again. Nothing else, just connect the power. And the hdmi cable or av cable.

Do not choose anything, do not press anything, do not try to flash anything.

I do not understand why are you trying to manually install the zip file. There is a hardware check that does not allow manual installation of Matricoms image.

It can only be done this way as I have described.

I thought of something now .... you or someone else have modified the sd card, maybe put your own zipped rom on it. It does not work that way, you have to build the sd card from scratch, you cant just delete my zip file and put your own there, it just won't work, because it is a special sd card image.

Rewrite the sdcard by following the instructions.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
My other thought was that his recovery might be borked, in which case it might not auto-install via the sdcard trick. I'm thinking he might need to reflash stock recovery from the root prompt THEN follow your method.
[Hardware Hacking General] relol:
just a question, what's the problem with matricom images? why can you flash it directly?
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
I honestly have followed the instructions to the letter from start to finish COUNTLESS times. Using different sd cards/computers. I even went as far as to get someone else to follow the instructions with the box and nothing at all. I will google how to "reflash stock recovery from the root prompt"

and let you know how I get on. Thank you.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
You should do it with my flash_image script and the MTD-Utils I explained earlier in this thread. Get them from my Odds and Ends thread. :good:

I'll dump the recovery and PM it to you whenever, just let me know when you need it.

First thing though, download Terminal Emulator, open it, and type: cat /proc/mtd

Post the output so we can see what we're working with and be sure we're dealing with the same device partitions on this bizarro box you've somehow acquired running ICS 4.0.4.

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:00 PM ----------

[MENTION=4671084]BenniBenassi[/MENTION] [MENTION=1584633]relol[/MENTION]

So I just discovered both of these exist:

/sys/devices/lm0/peri_otg_disable

/sys/devices/lm1/peri_otg_disable

They contain the same thing:

cat /sys/devices/lm1/peri_otg_disable

IDDQ = 0x0

Anybody have any ideas what should be in there if OTG was set up? If we plug in the right values we might be able to the the M-M USB cable working for adb. :D
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
Have you tried it? Try it and you will see the result. (Hint: perhaps a hardware check will ring a bell)

---------- Post added at 03:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:19 AM ----------

Have you tried commenting these two lines out in the init.amlogic.rc ???

Very nice find by the way ... on older boxes the OTG worked fine over USB.

And also a find on my side, this box is very resistent to power outages and manual power offs (not by remote). Have been using the manual power off by switch on extension cord for months now, never had a glitch.....

Might have something to do with the hardware power off function implemented on the board and the fact that this board is so locked down boardwise....
[Hardware Hacking General] relol:
Code is not for me. A quick search brings this:

https://github.com/aleeyt/android_device_ainol_aurora2/blob/master/usbctrl/usbpower_mx_iddq.cpp

Hope you understand what it means beacuse here i am lost.
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
Sorry, been away. I will try Terminal emulator over the next couple of days and as soon as i suss it out will post reply, thank you.

---------- Post added 29th January 2014 at 12:00 AM ---------- Previous post was 28th January 2014 at 11:23 PM ----------

Ok I have.

pp_45@android:/ $ cat /proc/mtd

ev: size erasesize name

td0 00400000 00100000 "bootloader"

td1 00400000 00200000 "ubootenv"

td2 01000000 00200000 "aml_logo"

td3 01000000 00200000 "recovery"

td4 01400000 00200000 "boot"

td5 20000000 00200000 "system"

td6 0c000000 00200000 "cache"

td7 40000000 00200000 "userdata"

td8 8fc00000 00200000 "NFTL_Part"

pp_45@android:/ $
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Alright so compare with ours:

You've got something different.. You can still try flashing our recovery to see if you can upgrade everything, but here be dragons (uncharted territory) if we don't actually know what device you have. And that brick potential is very real.
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
I'm honestly out of ideas. if i knew the type of boxes i have i would maybe googled more.

I have piccys of the outer box too but all it says on the box is "Android TV Box" in an orange box.
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
I Also earlier in the thread took piccys of the main board too. Its winding me up this box is lol
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Like I said you can risk converting it by using our recovery image and Benni's sdcard but you're going to want to back up as many of your original partitions as possible first so if you do mess something up you have the possibility of getting it back.
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
Open the box and take a picture of the board itself.

Take a clear picture.

Post it here (upload to photobucket and link here)
[Hardware Hacking General] relol:
Hey guys, i did another cwm compilation which works with matricom 1.1.6 and similar firmwares. Basic stuff works, backup, restore, wipe data, wipe cache. And now it can be controlled by the ir remote. Just a note on this, the "enter" key is actually the "backspace" button in the ir remote.

https://mega.co.nz/#!AxtAUapb!f22BH5suiIGjkT0O7YZqUxQe8r6cke5eX-TPeaG_17g
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
Great work :)
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
[MENTION=5610662]SteveBurney[/MENTION] check your PMs and download that recovery image from my Dev-Host so I can delete it. ;)
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
[MENTION=1143630]osmosis[/MENTION]

Can you help me with an init.d script that would turn on VPN every time box boots?

Would appreciate :)
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Is this kinda what you're looking for? :)

https://vpn.tv/faq/android-on-vpn-tv-requires-rooted-phone/
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
The problem is:

Settings > More > VPN (set up a VPN profile)

VPN Starts

Trying to set the VPN so it starts automatically. So I select the top right option Always ON - VPN.

There is only one option - none.

So I am looking for a script that would start VPN every time box boots.

Like the Wireless ADB script ...
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Not so simple though. We need a service. When you've got VPN on type getprop and ps in the command prompt and see if you see anything VPN related.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Used Titanium Backup to convert all my downloaded GApps to system apps (renamed manually to the correct Stock ROM filenames) to save some space the other day.

Also came across the following little gem.

/system/etc/init.d/00dalvik2cache:

#!/system/bin/sh
# chmod -R 755 /system/etc/init.d
# osm0sis @ xda-developers

# move the dalvik-cache to /cache to save space on /data
busybox rm -f /data/dalvik-cache/*;
busybox mkdir /cache/dalvik-cache;
busybox chown system:system /cache/dalvik-cache;
busybox chmod 771 /cache /cache/dalvik-cache;
busybox mount -o bind /cache/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache;

We've got a ton of space in our cache partition we don't use since we don't bother with OTAs, so why not? :good: :)
[Hardware Hacking General] SteveBurney:
Thanks very much matey!!!! :good:
[Hardware Hacking General] a.d.a.m.:
I'm wondering exactly what my clone is.

The reset is behind SPDIF.

In CPU-Z the RAM is reported as 770MB

In CPU-Z the Internal storage is reported as 5.34GB / Available 4.78GB

The model name in settings is saying MBX reference board g18ref

Also when I power it off with the remote, I notice it comes back on by itself.

Are the RAM and storage low because stuff has been reserved?

Cheers
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
It's the data partition, so it has all downloaded apps and app data on it as well. RAM can be reserved for various system things, like graphics rendering. Pretty normal numbers.
[Hardware Hacking General] a.d.a.m.:
Cheers, that seems OK then. What about the power on issue, does that sound normal. I'm using the basic IR remote that came with it. When I press the power button, the box seems to instantly power off. It then turns on by itself a few seconds later.

Actually, when I plug the power cable in, the box boots up by itself.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
On mine it boots automatically when you plug in the power cord, but the remote is the only way to actually turn it off. And it stays off (red light) when I do. Not sure what's up on yours. Sticky remote button?
[Hardware Hacking General] a.d.a.m.:
A factory reset after flashing a new firmware seemed to sort out the power off issue, but I decided to return it by that point. Basically it wasn't a v.2.1, 2.2 or 2.22 board but something new, that is is not compatible with all the roms that are floating about according to some other threads I've read.

Here is what it looks like.

Different layout, no proper heatsink

Does anyone have any links to ebay sellers selling the decent versions?
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
V1.1 but dated VERY recently - interesting!
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
You ever find anything out for this [MENTION=4671084]BenniBenassi[/MENTION]?
[Hardware Hacking General] Cili0:
nice
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
Nope :(
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
What was the output of those commands when VPN was running?

Edit: [MENTION=4671084]BenniBenassi[/MENTION] what are your thoughts on the new official Matricom Betas being developed by AOKP devs? They're up to 1.1.9 with 1.1.10 coming soon. Apparently "stable" will be 1.2.
[Hardware Hacking General] lungtran75:
Please help with lost factory data on MX tv box

My MX tv box lock up and I found the solution was reset with wipe out factory data, it cleared the lock up problem but now my tv box became useless, I tried several update from this site but it seems I did not get the right stuff so it wouldn't load. These are what I found from my box info:

- software: Linux 3.0.99 #1 (smp)

- Hardware: Amlogic Meson6g18 MX2 platform

Please help me to recover the factory data

Thanks.

I'll try to attach the picture of my MX board.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Looks like the right board at a glance. It doesn't get much better than Benni's sdcard image and instructions using the toothpick method. Search and you'll find it. :good:
[Hardware Hacking General] lungtran75:
recovery

Hi Benni,

I followed your direction to create SD card, but my MX box didn't see the image, I can see the file in the SD card.

With the reset button press, the MX box boot to the screen where you can select update from USB or SD.

Did I do something wrong?

Thanks.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
No idea why that would happen.. for me I don't even have video output through A/V but just holding the reset button in with the toothpick made it automatically install Benni's image to my device. No user input required. Maybe double check Benni's instructions to make sure you formatted the sdcard correctly. He's explained it a few times in this thread as well, so maybe search for posts by him. :good:
[Hardware Hacking General] typos1:
Dont know if anyone can help me, but I ve got a 4.2.2 box with an AML8726 chip (G18ref) and it will only output via AV if HDMI is plugged in, cant work out why, everything else is working ok, anyone got any suggestions as to how I can get AV signal without having hdmi plugged in (it has to be connected to a tv as well, just an HDMI lead plugged into the box but into no tv will not give an AV signal, very strange).
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
I'd take a look at the Display settings to see if anything looks messed up. Failing that a factory reset using Benni's sdcard image and the toothpick trick is your best hope. Good luck! :)
[Hardware Hacking General] typos1:
Nothing is messed up, already tried a factory reset, as its a G18ref board I m not gonna try putting something designed for an HD18 board on it, that d be asking for trouble, I just came across this thread after googling my problem and wondered if any one had any suggestions.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Benni's is g18ref, as is mine. I've used his sdcard many times since recovery only displays on HDMI for me, but I only have access to A/V currently, so I don't have the option of backup/restore on-device when I'm hacking around on it.
[Hardware Hacking General] applefag:
MX2 network lights flashing 5 times and black black screen.

I have a few MX2 (clone) boxes that have suddenly died (summertime here and have been fine until then, can't help think that lack of air flow has caused boxes to overheat). I have bennies scared that normally pulls bricked boxes back to life, but in this case nothing.

What I have noticed is that each box does the same thing, where the j45 connection lights blink 5 times then a few seconds later blink 5 times again, as you know when flashing successfully the lights seem to flicker constantly with the data being transferred. Ive read countless threads, including shorting pins 7&8 on the NAND but to no avail. On a side note the box is responsive to the remote where i can turn it on and off. Has anyone seen this before with 5 flash pattern and if there is anything I can try other than RMA.

TIA
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
I will try them... .... AOKP should be nice ... at least I hope they will not brick my box ..... but I have 4 of them now. My main hope is that Youtube will work as it should.

---------- Post added at 12:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 AM ----------

LOL: on the G18ref board there is printed HD18 on the actual board. And on Matricom mx2ref there is also printed HD18 on the board.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Yeah, having to reboot every so often to make the YouTube video overlay centered again is a huge annoyance. :good:
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
Tried newer AOKP, it did not even boot past the new blue glowing Matricom logo.

Had to recover using my method. I will investigate further, what is the issue here.

YOUTUBE APK:

You can find it here, I give you apk's link, that I use.

By the way, for Youtube, I use the old version of Youtube only. Version 4.1.47 works the best for me. I never let it update.....
[Hardware Hacking General] typos1:
This is my board, its an AMLogic aml8726-mx TV BOX, not the same then, obviously.
[Hardware Hacking General] BenniBenassi:
Yours is different board ......
[Hardware Hacking General] SallyChen:
Great, it's works for me .
[Hardware Hacking General] tchodz:
i just got a similar box, looks like this one. But mine is DVB-S2: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amlogic-AML8...item2593d842f3

it came with this conf:

Kernel: 3.0.50 ubuntu@ubuntyu_desktop

build number: JDQ39.20131203

Model: hd18s2 mbx dvb-s2

android 4.2.2

CPU: amlogic 8726-mx

I´m trying everything but after install its black screen and blue led. Anyone may help me?

Just got my mtd:

dev: size erasesize name

mtd0: 00800000 00200000 "bootloader"

mtd1: 00800000 00200000 "logo"

mtd2: 00800000 00200000 "aml_logo"

mtd3: 00800000 00200000 "recovery"

mtd4: 00800000 00200000 "boot"

mtd5: 40000000 00200000 "system"

mtd6: 20000000 00200000 "cache"

mtd7: 10000000 00200000 "backup"

mtd8: 18c000000 00200000 "data"

Already contact enybox and they send me a firmware for my box, but it simple doenst work.

I could enter into bootloader, and install firmware but it doesnt boot up, always black screen, Any suggestion?
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Have you tried the other outputs? Maybe A/V doesn't work, but HDMI or Co-ax does.
[Hardware Hacking General] osm0sis:
Not sure if anyone's actually using it, but I thought I'd tease the new osmod2, coming soon! I've just got to vet some tweaks, but so far I've added Synapse support to make that easy for all of us. :D

App Settings (Xposed Module): 178 DPI, 135 Font scale.