[Fire TV Themes and Apps] fxbill:
Well.... It was a long night... I quit at almost 4AM and started again today! I've learned an awful lot in that period of time.....mostly quirks and such with the unit.

Today I did 2 complete restores with the unit.....had it perfect the first time and did one thing that screwed it up again....and I just did it again!

I first restored and was lucky enough to catch the unit before it updated and cancel it, but I couldn't get the unit to connect with the FTV application. Then I finally discovered that I had to check the mark under developers to allow it to connect.

Then I installed Superus, Llama and autopilot. I also prevented updates. Then I installed the custom XBMC application from this site. It went right in and had all the icons under each heading including the sleep mode screensaver for XBMC, The icons wouldn't work saying that the programs weren't installed yet so I went back into FTV and installed them. At that point all of them worked fine...I was thrilled.

Then I went to Llama and configured it to start XBMC with Classic TV. That's a big, big mistake!!! As soon as you do that you lose all functionality of the shortcuts under the Android section in XBMC! Now none of them worked...

Once again I wiped everything out and went through the entire process again....and again after installing all of the icon program under Andriod Apps they all worked fine again. I thought I'd give it one more try so again I configured Llama to start XBMC and I'm right back to having non functional shortcuts to any android program! I need to find another way or live with starting XBMC the long way from FTV.....or find a program that will allow me to start the unit with XBMC and have a shrtcut to get back into FTV. I'm done for the night..... right now for some reason I can't get the FTV utility to connect with my unit so I'm stuck until I figure that problem out. I had it happen once before, but realized it was superus that was stopping me.....now I can't connect no matter what I do. I've rebooted everything and still no go. It's a workign unit now that looks great, but all of the shortcuts are simply eye candy. I need to find a different approach rather than using Llama....it kills too many other things in the process.

UPDATE:.... I discovered the reason the ftv application wouldn't connect......somehow my IP address on the box changed. Now I connect fine. Also....I've discovered that sometimes the android icons do work, but I get messages popping out from the right side of the screen right before they work...and they differ a little. One says "error....failed to start common cache" and the next one pops out and says "parental controls started" although I have them disabled. Sometimes after I only get the parental controls message the shortcut will open the program. When I get the "common cache" error none of them will function. I'd like to find out what causes this and how to correct it. If I can....I'll have an ideal unit....not quite as perfect as my other 2, but so close to it that I would not care!! I'm down to correcting just that one thing and I'll have it in the bag.

Thank you so much for the reformat instructions....they worked perfectly on the first attempt!! It was a little shaky at first, but only because of my fear of updating or bricking, but once I reconnected with the utility program after restoring the unit I felt safe again! It's a great program. If I can learn to feel comfortable with it in one day knowing virtually nothing about coding these units then it's a very user friendly application.....and it flat out works! I should have made a backup to store in the kodi folder before doing the Llama shortcut, but both times I simply forgot since I was so caught up into all of it, but I might actually do another restore since it doesn't take that long and back it up before making the XBMC shortcut with all of the icon shortcuts working. It might be worth studying to see why that peculiarity happens after doing the Llama trick.

Someone needs to write a total clone program to make an exact duplicate of one unit to put onto a stock unit and end up with the ability to crank these out quickly....even if it's for sales purposes, but in my case just to duplicate something that to me is perfect for what I want. I'd pay dearly for that type of program....and I'm sure many others would as well....especially these Flebay sellers who are selling 100's of these units. Unfortunately most of them are selling quick loads with little on them. My seller doesn't sell many....but he sure does them correctly and spends a good deal of time doing it I'm sure.

Anyway... I'm done for today....reasonably happy with what I have and if I can just clear up those non functional shortcuts I'll be thrilled with the unit!