MK809 - My experience with Finless 1.7

[nbuuifx]

I'd have thought if you wipe the nand it would go back on.

I have no plans to revert though as I never managed to get such speeds from the stock rom - but I've managed to get good stable speeds twice now.

I just don't seem to be able to keep them!


I've played around a bit more with external aerials. I can make a small improvement but I'm talking about the difference between 500kbps and 1000kbps.


What I can't understand is that the upload speed is always at the line max of around 2.1mbps. I can make it drop by disconnecting the aerial etc - but when the down speed is only 800kbps I'm still get max upload speed.

[Bang]

My problem is, that my WIFI simply keeps dropping.. Still trying to figure out what to do..

[Bang]

Well this is interesting - i have reinstalled the original firmware with the same kernel as finless, and just got 14mb down 2mb up

EDIT: Again, the XBMC turns off the WIFI... hmm

EDIT EDIT: Alright, tried another version of XBMC, this doesn't turn the WIFI off, but is still a bit slow (along with the rest of the software) Think i'll try the finless again

[nbuuifx]

Frustrating isn't it!

I'm not getting as advanced as putting xbmc on yet as I want to make sure it is stable with the minimum apps on so I've got less to blame.

I'm wondering if a cache starts to get full, I might try reflashing the finless rom to see if I get good speeds again to start with.

I've also ordered a different type of usb - ethernet adapter to try. Not ideal as I'll have to run a cable through walls etc but if it does the job I'll be happy.

[Wermelin]

Hi guys

I have the exact same issue with my MK809. So I was reading this thread with great expectations to find a solution in the last post - but unfortunatly.

I am still on the stock rom. I have changed the channel in my router from ch 5 to ch 13. It gave a slightly better signal strength in Wifi Analyzer but the speedtest only reaches about 1mbps down and 1mbps up. My Samsung Galaxy SII reaches 8mbps down which is ok because I only have 10mbps at max.

I'll try chasing some solutions and of course report back here. (I am pretty new into this so bear with me).

[nbuuifx]

Good to see someone else trying things with their mk809 - if we all keep trying maybe we will find a solution!

I'm not even sure if this is the right place for talk about the mk809. It doesn't seem the most popular device but the hardware looks the same as the UG802 and obviously the firmware from the ug802 matches and works for the mk809.


I decided to test using different power supplies quickly today (only had a few mins to play!)

I wanted to get it setup and as stable as possible before switching supplies. I connected it up and switched on and checked the speedtest results - approx 800kbps down 2000kbps up (as per usual) at this point I just had a 12" piece of wire as an antenna. I connected the external wifi aerial up to the end of this wire and tested again - 11mbps down 2mbps up. Fantastic I thought!

I was careful not to disturb anything at all and ran the speed test again - 5mbps down 2mbps up (not quite as good but still acceptable). Ran the test again (1mbps down 2mbps up). Ran it again 800kbps down 2mbps up

Tried a few different power supplies - I usually just use the nexus 7 2a charger, but it seems to make no difference. I can use a sony 1a charger, the nexus 2a or the usb port on the TV with no noticeable difference. The one on the TV does seem to be quite high power as I can plug an external portable HDD straight in and it works fine.

So I'm still at a loss - I keep getting glimmers of hope. What frustrates me is how rock steady the upload is!


Edit - just tried one more thing and it is possibly working.

Currently getting around 8mbps down 2mbps up which I'll be happy with! Ran about 20 tests so far and only had one drop down and that went to 4mbps down 2mbps up.

Will do some more testing and post back up if it proves to work - I pretty much doubt it though as everything before works for a short while then gives up!

Still happy - I've left it streaming some mp3s from the NAS even whilst streaming I'm still getting 7mbps+ on the download.

I'm using the Mk802 remote app to control it so I don't have to go near it (don't want to disturb anything!)

[nbuuifx]

Ok,

Quite interesting...

My stick was runnning very stable, the wifi was great. I've made sure I haven't gone anywhere near it for risk of distrubing it.

Every check returned between 6 and 8 mbps even whilst streaming mp3s to it. - Fantastic.

I used the mk802 remote app to press the reboot button and let the stick reboot, when it came back I checked the wifi - 800kbs down 2mbps up! I left it a few minutes to retry and the wifi icon was blue the whole time, but each check returned the same result!

However I was able to get my speeds back again

So after doing one thing - I'm back to having ~8mbps down and ~2mbps up.


Still testing to prove it is what I'm doing but it looks positive! Not a hard thing to do each time but I can't see why it would help.

I've got a few more tests to do then I will post my results and what I did. Then everyone else can try too!

[Chaoslord]

I got the Finless 1.7 installed following various guides (including this one ), and i got it to boot once or twice at the office. I then took it home, and havn't been able to boot it at all. It just stays at the loading screen with the blue orbs flashing.
I wanted to re-flash it, but since I can't get into the settings, I can't connect it to USB.
I guess I could try to flash it with stock again, using the update.zip method, but I'm not quite there yet.

Chaos

[nbuuifx]

I got the Finless 1.7 installed following various guides (including this one ), and i got it to boot once or twice at the office. I then took it home, and havn't been able to boot it at all. It just stays at the loading screen with the blue orbs flashing.
I wanted to re-flash it, but since I can't get into the settings, I can't connect it to USB.
I guess I could try to flash it with stock again, using the update.zip method, but I'm not quite there yet.

Chaos

Strange the only thing I've heard which could relate to this is that just pulling the power on these sticks (which is about the only thing you can do as standard) can corrupt them.

Should be fixable though

[Chaoslord]

Well, i have pulled the power on the stick a few times.
I was not aware that this could be a problem...
Any idea on how to flash it again, without booting it up all the way?
Is there an update.zip file with the Finless ROM?

Chaos

[nbuuifx]

I've been through various testing and whilst I am happy as I seem to have a solution which is working for me at the moment - I'm not so sure what it means.


When testing before I've turned the wifi on and off with no difference. However now when I reboot the wifi gives me a max download of around 800kbps (every time). If I then go and turn the wifi off wait a few seconds then turn it back on then the speed jumps up to around 8mbps (don't know if the 10x difference is coincidence?)

Now that's good news for me but as I say I've tried that before - the only difference I have is that I have the external antenna connected at the moment.

Can't think why it always gives me 800kbps max when I reboot though until I disable then re-enable wifi?

The difference isn't just numbers reported - streaming doesn't work at 800kbps, youtube is awful, even play store is slow. At 8mbps all are spot on.

Wifi Analyser never really changes it always shows about -62db

The connection is always reported as good (3 blue bars out of 4 on the icon) and always says it is connected at 54mbps


My next stage when I get time is to properly attach the external wifi antenna and box it all back up and see if I can keep it working this well whilst moving it and touching it etc.

[nbuuifx]

Well, i have pulled the power on the stick a few times.
I was not aware that this could be a problem...
Any idea on how to flash it again, without booting it up all the way?
Is there an update.zip file with the Finless ROM?

Chaos

There is two pads on the back of the board which you have to short with something metal. It is a very similar board to the UG802 so have a look on there as I'm pretty sure there will be a guide somewhere for getting into recovery mode.

Once you are into recovery mode by shorting the pins you can then reflash as if you are half way through the guide.

Case pops open easy enough so shoudln't be much hassle. I recommend reading up on it first which will take you much longer than actually reflashing! Even easier seeing as you must already have the drivers etc on your PC.

[Wermelin]

Very strange.

I thought I would try your newest findings... so I turned on the power supply and started out with a quick speedtest just to be sure it still was bad... but it wasn't! I got 8mbps right away. I haven't done anything since I turned it off yesterday.

So it might be that the wifi has some kind of bug when it is initialized.

I will keep testing and hopefully get some speed tests showing 1mbsp. Then I will try just to reboot it to see if it has an effect. And try (when I have low speed next time) to disable/enable the wifi to see if it's enough.

[nbuuifx]

Well through testing I have switched it on and off somewhere in the region of 30 times today and every time it came back with a download speed of approx 800kbps except for once when it worked straight away at around 8mbps.

Every time switching the wifi off and back on again resolved the issue and download speeds were back to around 8mbps.


Interestingly I used the same speedtest app on my Nexus 7 and that also got around 8mbps.

My laptop tends to get around 22mpbs on wireless and the hard wired PC gets 30mbps.

It is a 30mbps cable internet connection

[Chaoslord]

Well, i got it up and running on Finless again
I installed Speedtest.net myself, and decided to test the speeds myself.
I have a 70/10 cable connection, and I have tested anywhere from 7000 to 11000 down, and the same for up.
I will test more tomorrow.
One thing i noticed tho. Speedtest doesn't pick the same testserver each time. Could this be why you get varying results?

Chaos