Duplicate Box

[Wanderer190]

I have 2 MeCool M8S Pro L boxes. They are both LB versions. One is working great, the other will not boot past the blue tooth loading screen (I have tried numerous firmwares from here on the site and not been able to get it to boot, I think the hardware is bad), but worth a try.

How can I make a clone copy of the working box, preferably without a cable, like using Burn Card Maker? I am really open to all suggestions though.

Also, can someone please point me to the correct version of TWRP for this box?

All help appreciated.

[t23]

Found it - complete with instructions. You can always upgrade to 3.2.1 later.
(Not sure how to link to a specific post "the right way" - i'll figure it out).

[Wanderer190]

Found it - complete with instructions. You can always upgrade to 3.2.1 later.
(Not sure how to link to a specific post "the right way" - i'll figure it out).

@t23: Awesome. I will give it a try. When I install it, will it remove or wipe all the existing apps & data that's on the box if I leave the Wipe Data and Wipe Media UNCHECKED? I want to install it one a working box and hate to reinstall everything. Like I said, I am new to all this

[t23]

When I install it, will it remove or wipe all the existing apps & data that's on the box if I leave the Wipe Data and Wipe Media UNCHECKED?

Nopes. Recovery sits on its own partition and has nothing to do with the running OS. No need to wipe anything. Of course, something might always go wrong, but it's the exact same installer i used for my KM8P and it worked fine for me.

There are several ways of booting into recovery from Android - i suggest getting a terminal app like Termux, from there you can type "reboot recovery" and you're there a few seconds later.

[Wanderer190]

Nopes. Recovery sits on its own partition and has nothing to do with the running OS. No need to wipe anything. Of course, something might always go wrong, but it's the exact same installer i used for my KM8P and it worked fine for me.

There are several ways of booting into recovery from Android - i suggest getting a terminal app like Termux, from there you can type "reboot recovery" and you're there a few seconds later.

I installed TWRP and Termux. I assume when you type 'reboot recovery' it is expecting a recovery image from somewhere, cuz I am getting No command 'reboot' found, did you mean:

[t23]

My bad - you want to "su" first.

[Wanderer190]

My bad - you want to "su" first.

Don't think that is the correct TWRP. It does reboot now, but then it hangs on the Mecool logo screen and the red light never turn blue on the front of it. You know these boxes don't use the Pure Android OS, but a semi version of the actual Android TV OS, right? Would that make a difference? Do I need to leave the sd card inserted?

[t23]

It's supposed to be - as long as the board is a q20x it ought to work. Without knowing for sure, boot logo and red light sounds like it's in update mode. That is very very strange.

[Wanderer190]

ok, I found the twrp 3.2.1.2 image version on Magendanz's Folder (http://freaktab.org/folder/28/q20x). I put it on a blank SD and put it in my bad box, got it to boot into twrp fine. Gonna try to rig up a paper clip or something to short pins without taking apart my good box and try it on the good one. Maybe I (we) are making progress...haha

[t23]

That's a start - if you still got that restore image, you are very close to being back up and running with the bad one.
If you *have* to, there are screws under the four rubber feet underneath it - unlike other Mecool boxes you can just snap apart with a metal plectrum.

[Wanderer190]

I was able to make a paper clip thingy and was able to short pins on good box. I am backing it up as we speak. I have the bad box already taken apart. And yes, I have kept all the images I have downloaded so far. So when this good ne is backed up, I should be able to put the sd card in the bad box and give it a whirl, right? Since it has TWRP and the backup on it now

[t23]

That's the plan - TWRP is really easy to work with, just choose Restore and point it to the backup. Pick everything and let it do its job.

[Wanderer190]

I got it going, it was set to System Read Only and I had to figure out how to change that. Will know in a couple minutes though, cross your toes...haha

[Wanderer190]

They need a chat thing on here...the vendor said this morning they are going to replace, but who knows how long that will take, maybe I might just be able to pull this off, but I think its hardware issues. But dad burnit, I got a clone backup for the new box now, thank you for helping me

[Wanderer190]

Ok, now for the results. I now have a working box (it's past the pairing screen and a clone of my good box). However, there is no blue-tooth in it. When I try to pair the remote or even a gamepad, it never finds anything. But it wasn't a total loss, I did learn some great things and have a functioning box without blue-tooth. I was able to plug in a voice remote via usb dongle and get some of the voice working if I click on the voice icon, but the voice button on the usb remote doesn't activate voice like the bluetooth one.