G-Box RK2918 (2 USB Ports) Rooting (read & write)

[Paincake]

It's not really a tablet but after talking to Bob I'll post an thread here.
I'm having one of these chinese android tv set top boxes.(white case with grey top and two USB ports). It is working quite well but a full root would be nice. I asked Bob if he could do it like he did it on other tablets and he answered that it seems to be possible.

(Pictures of the Board)


(some information about the device)

http://androidfragmentation.com/database/v/dr/590570/oem/unknown/dm/G-BOX/carrier/Unknown

I got it partly root by inserting su and superuser.apk in my rom but a r/w root would be really nice.
I'm now in flash mode and waiting for Bobs instructions.

To get there with your box do the following:

1. Shut down box and unplug power cord
2. insert male to male Usb cable in box and computer
3. keep the reset switch (some hole near the power cord in the back) pushed by a needle and insert power cord while keeping the needle pushed.
4. Wait a few seconds until pc finds a new device
5. Select and install the correct drivers for your windows version (you can find them in rk batch tool 1.4 for example)
6. Enjoy flash mode

If that doesn't work try all the steps again a few times.
I had a broken reset switch and had to bridge the two connection points inside the box near the power switch on the mainboard instead of pushing the button. Maybe this works for you.

At last: Be sure you're having the right box. The firmware is not compatible even if your box looks nearly similar.
Finally thank you Bob for working on this.
I'm ready for new instructions now.

Greetings Paincake

[Finless]

I am looking at your ROM now.
However because I cannot test this ROM other than to boot it (I know it's not a brick), we will need to take baby steps.

First let's make sure we have a working STOCK ROM flash kit.
This is basically the ROM you gave me converted into a ROM flash kit. Once we know that all works and have a basis to work with, we can they continue to root it etc.
So please flash this ROM, let me know all is good, and let's go from there.


http://video.freaktab.com/?subpath=f..._stock_rom.zip


If the kit works fine then I am thinking of skipping the semi-root where system is still cramfs and going right to EXT3. It's a bit of a risk but after doing another Player set, I think I can do it.

Bob

[Paincake]

After changing "Loader" file to the one you supplied in the image folder flashing worked.
I connected the box to my tv after everything finished and it started in recovery mode, cleaning cache etc.
After automatic reboot one minute later it booted normally to dekstop.
Everything working well

[Finless]

paincake, your ROM is done. I am uploading it now. Should be about 30 minutes.

Bob

[Finless]

Here is my V1.2 ROM

Features:
1) System has been converted from CramFS RO file system to ext3 RW file system.
2) SU binary and Superuser.apk has been installed for full root access.
3) Init.rc has been edited to mount the new ext3 files systems as RW on boot.
4) /system size has been increased for rooted apps to have space to write files to /system

Please see the README in the kit but in summary you:
1) Erase IDB using the erase button in the flash tool. This iIS A MUST DO when going from stock!!!!! The file system changes are major so this is required.
2) Check the loader box in flash tool so the loader gets flashed with the ROM.
3) If you already have the drivers for RK BATCH tool / RKAndroid tool installed on your PC. YOU DO NOT need to try and install them again.

I cannot test this 100% so you will be a crash test dummy
At least you have a stock ROM now to go back to if it doesnt work.

Here is the new ROM:

ROM -> G-Box TV Player - Finless ROM V1.2 full root and EXT3 (105 megs)


Let me know how it goes,
Bob

[Finless]

Well? so how does it work?

I am on pins and needles here

Bob

[Paincake]

Don't have the time to do a full test right now (maybe in a few hours) but it boots, shows desktop and internet and musik still work.
Great work Bob

Edit:
Market and rw root access are working too! Maybe it's just me, but i think booting is much faster.
Had to watch UEFA Football Championship yesterday, so sorry for not replying to your post.

[Finless]

Yes booting should be much faster now that the file system is not CramFS.

Bob

[Paincake]

Will you convert it now to ext4 or is it not necessary?
Is there a away to mod the image before flashing it to the box or will it be in future? There is still the useless stock launcher which i have to remove manually and a useless game for example.

Greetings Paincake

[Finless]

Lets take this a few steps at a time.

Did you say this ROM has google market? Is it an old version and does it update to Google Play?

>Is there a away to mod the image before flashing it to the box or will it be in future?

Not sure what your asking? You mean the boot screen image?

I can remove the stock launcher BUT usually you cannot do that as the framework tries to use it on boot even if you have installed another launcher. e.g. on first boot after flashing it is not going to know about a new launcher. How are you removing it now and how are you replacing it?

As for bloat apps, yes I can remove those if you tell me the APK name.

Bob

[Paincake]

>Did you say this ROM has google market? Is it an old version and does it update to Google Play?

Updated perfectly to play store


>Not sure what your asking? You mean the boot screen image?

Yes! Remove some apk, add some, replace hosts file, edit build.prop ...


>I can remove the stock launcher BUT usually you cannot do that as the framework tries to use it on boot even if you have installed another launcher. e.g. on first boot after flashing it is not going to know about a new launcher. How are you removing it now and how are you replacing it?

When I edited the original rom i removed stock launcher with rk29xx image tools and replaced it with go launcher ex. I reboots normal after i flashed it. I deleted it today with your rom and titanium backup.
Reason: everytime I install an app, the stock launcher asks in which category it should be installed, even if go launcher is standard.


>As for bloat apps, yes I can remove those if you tell me the APK name.

gboxlaunch.apk and Solitaire_mega.apk

Thanx!
Greetings Paincake

[Finless]

Unfortunatly I cannot put GO Launcher in a ROM due to distribution rights. Sorry. We cannot violate EULA's for APPs.

Regarding changing the boot screen or boot animation. Is that what your talking about? I am still not following you there. When I took apart your ROM I did not see any boot screens or bootanimation. And I believe the reason is the display size is 1280x720. Thus a boot screen or boot animation other than whats is in the kernel, the image size would be larger than the ROM can support!

As for removing APKS like these gboxlaunch.apk and Solitaire_mega.apk

No problem.

If you want me to replace the host file and build.prop, please supply what you want me to inject.

However now that system in ext3, you easily can mount it in linux and make these changes. In the next ROM we will try EXT4 and I can make those changes for you OR I can do the ext4 and let you do them if you like?

Bob

[Paincake]

Ok, I see the problem with go launcher.

There is still a boot animation showing a simple blinking blue and white "g-box" logo. Because the display size is changeable from crt tv to full hd it is maybe not an image file but some kind of vector thing done by programming. I disabled it with adding a line in the build.prop when I cooked my own rom. "debug.sf.nobootanimation=1"

If you don't mind I would do the few changes in build.prop etc. on my own with your finished work then, cause it's much easier than giving instructions and I can test it really fast.
Thanx again for the great work you are doing!

Greetings Paincake

[Finless]

Feel free to make any changes you like. Heck publish a ROM if you like!

That boot animation is what is in the kernel and yes that command disables it. But it wont disable the other animations I was talking about (which are not in your ROM currently).

So you know you can add yet another boot screen (not an animation). You do this in boot.img. Simply add a RLE type image to boot.img called initlogo.rle
Google search how to make an image a RLE file type.

Then on top of that you can have another boot animtion of your own. This one is easy to add. Make a animation called bootanimation.zip and put it in /system/media and it will work automatically.
Google search Android boot animation for how to make the animation.zip.
Or see Daman's tutorial here:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?865-Create-A-Simple-Boot-Animation

Bob

[Paincake]

Thanks for your explanation, now I know what you mean.
On the device that remainin bootscreen is pretty decent and simple. I will disable the other ugly one in the ext4 image build.prop if that's ok for you.
When will it be finished? I'm curious how it will work
Take your time, I'm going on vacation for the rest of the week in 10hours so I'm not able to test it the next days.

Greetings Paincake