Z69 Mini 2GB/16GB Android 7.1.2 S912 Firmware (requesting tweaks)

[phear00]

I purchased this box a few months back and finally was able to convince GB'ing to post the firmware on their blog. It's the full IMG and uploads perfectly via AMLogig's burning tool.
I was hoping some of the more experienced firmware tweakers could take a quick peek and slim it down and update some components. I'm obviously happy to beta test anything.
A few of the problems that I experience are: 1) when installing another launcher, the system crashes whenever I try to change the wallpaper/background and 2) The speedtest app shrinks like it is being used on a vertical phone and the button click-overlays are not actually on the buttons.

Link the firmware:

http://blog.geekbuying.com/2018/03/z69-mini-2gb16gb-android-7-1-2-amlogic-s912-tv-box-firmware-update-20180307/

Thanks for any help or guidance with this.

[JBone]

I have this TV box as well and would like a tweaked firmware for it too. Will be keeping an eye on this thread.

[JBone]

Phear00,

How did you do your firmware upgrade. I looked for a reset button on my Z69 mini but couldn't find one. Could you tell me your procedure on how you upgraded the firmware? I have the current Amlogic image burner and made a male to male USB cable.

Thanks,
JBone

[phear00]

Phear00,

How did you do your firmware upgrade. I looked for a reset button on my Z69 mini but couldn't find one. Could you tell me your procedure on how you upgraded the firmware? I have the current Amlogic image burner and made a male to male USB cable.

Thanks,
JBone

I use the method where I start Amlogic's Burning Tool, load the firmware, press 'Start', and then connect the box via USB. Then within a few seconds the box is detected and the firmware starts. (If i guessed the wrong USB port nothing happens. I just then just switch to the other USB port and it detects and starts.) This method has worked on 90% of the boxes I've worked with. I've rarely had to use any reset button on the boxes.

[JBone]

I use the method where I start Amlogic's Burning Tool, load the firmware, press 'Start', and then connect the box via USB. Then within a few seconds the box is detected and the firmware starts. (If i guessed the wrong USB port nothing happens. I just then just switch to the other USB port and it detects and starts.) This method has worked on 90% of the boxes I've worked with. I've rarely had to use any reset button on the boxes.

Thanks for getting back to me. After playing around with it I figured it out and loaded the new stock firmware.

Thanks,
JBone

[JBone]

phear00,

I'm curious to know if you can play Asphalt 8 Airborne on your Z69 mini. I can install if but the loading screen is a very low resolution and cant get to the menu system. Also I cant get my xbox 360 wired controller to work with it either. Just was wondering what your experience is with this device.

Thanks,
JBone

[phear00]

phear00,

I'm curious to know if you can play Asphalt 8 Airborne on your Z69 mini. I can install if but the loading screen is a very low resolution and cant get to the menu system. Also I cant get my xbox 360 wired controller to work with it either. Just was wondering what your experience is with this device.

Thanks,
JBone

I'll give it a try tonight hopefully. I play A8A on a different android device, so at least I'll know what to expect when I get it on the z69 mini.

[JBone]

Cool! Thanks phear00.

[phear00]

OK. Installed the game fresh from the Aptoide market and let the game download all of it's supporting data. After that the game starts fine with the typical high resolution loading image I'm used to seeing. From there everything is normal for me. I can navigate all the menus and enter a race. The races runs fine. Usually I use a cordless gamepad but its on-loan to a friend so I'll report back in a few days on how that experience goes. So, TLDR, A8A works normally for me on the z69 mini with the non-tweaked firmware from above.

[JBone]

Hmm. I'll try to download the version form the Aptiode market and see if that makes a difference for me. Thanks for the report. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
JBone

[JBone]

Well I've tried to install every version I saw on Aptiode of A8A and every time it wants to download the updates or whatever over wifi but I use an eithernet connection. I even tried to download it over wifi but to no avail. It doesn't see that I have an active connection to the internet for some reason. Any idea whats going on here? Maybe some other Android box gurus seeing this have any ideas?

Do I have a "F" upped box?

Thanks,
JBone

[phear00]

I finally got around to trying some of the above. First, I don't have an XBox controller, but I tried my cordless USB gamepad from Tronsmart and it works very well in my previous A8A installation.
I then uninstalled A8A and retried installing it from Aptoid using ethernet only. I have the same result as you. It *requires* a wifi connection. From what I researched, this is a known problem with lots of games (including A8A). They don't expect their 90% tablet/phone market to have ethernet, so didn't bother checking for it. I tried on a few other boxes I have and all have the same problem on ethernet. I know that Tanix was supposed to include a "virtual wifi" workaround on their boxes, but I didn't see an option for it on mine (with the latest beta firmware) and A8A still asks for wifi.
On the z69mini, as soon as I switch back to wifi, the game will start it's 1.5GB download though.

[JBone]

Thanks phear00 for replying. I'll try to DL it via wifi next time and see what happens. As a side note, I could not run any benchmark programs to test the CPU/GPU performance. Ananuntu (sp?) will not pass the GPU test, it just hung there at the GPU testing phase. So I submitted a ticket to Gearbest and they are sending a new z69 mini to me.This was about a week ago so I'm waiting for it to get here.

[phear00]

Yeah, that sounds like a hardware problem. I also did Antutu 3DBench a few days back and it completed without error. Not great results, but it completed.

[JBone]

Yeah that's what I figured. Its weird though that it will stream live TV just fine. When I get the new box, the old one will be relegated to the bedroom for live TV streaming only. Again thanks for the help here and sorry I took over your thread with my issues.

Jbone