Dead MK808?

[derekmcl]

Hi all
I've had my mk808 since November and all has been fine til last week. Plugged it in and nothing! No blue LED, No TV picture. I have a HDD connected to OTG which I had been using to watch videos. The LED on the HDD lights up still and I can hear it spinning. Any ideas?
I bought my Mk808 from ****, so I emailed the supplier in Hong Kong. In an attempt to help identify the problem I mentioned the LED on the HDD. I got this reply
"As MK808 is using the low current to operate, it is not suitable to connect the external hard drive which require the large current. This made the MK808 overloaded and burnt out"
Any truth in this or is that just the supplier trying to blame me for the failure?
So, two questions.
Is anyone else consistently running a HDD from their MK808 with no power issues?
Do you think my MK808 is salvageable? And If so, how do I go about fixing it?
Many thanks
Derek

[vsg]

your external hdd, was it connected directly to the MK808 or through an usb hub?
What the seller is saying, is possible, but can't say if that is actually what happened. You can always try flashing it again, and if all else fails open it up and see if you figure something that way, at least that is what I would have done, if I was in your place.
However, if what the seller is saying is indeed true, I guess that is potentially a big problem, because a lot of people would like to (and already are) connect it to an external HDD.

[swiftmuvmentz]

your external hdd, was it connected directly to the MK808 or through an usb hub?
What the seller is saying, is possible, but can't say if that is actually what happened. You can always try flashing it again, and if all else fails open it up and see if you figure something that way, at least that is what I would have done, if I was in your place.
However, if what the seller is saying is indeed true, I guess that is potentially a big problem, because a lot of people would like to (and already are) connect it to an external HDD.

dont give up until you try flashing

[exglynco]

I tend to agree with the seller. The USB standard is 5V, 0.5A output power, which has to come out of your MK808 (which only had ~1A going into it), and an HDD wants that and more.

[PoisonWolf]

I tend to agree with the seller. The USB standard is 5V, 0.5A output power, which has to come out of your MK808 (which only had ~1A going into it), and an HDD wants that and more.

I also agree with what the seller described. Remember that these reverse engineering entrepreneurs will use the cheapest means to produce a reliable product. So I do not think the wiring is meant to run a HDD for prolonged use as it would require more power going through the MK808 which means more heat. And more heat = more chance of it burning out.

Always connect it to a POWERED USB hub.

If you must connect a HDD, please use a self-powered HDD.

[zvoddy23]

At this stage i disagree...The 5V rail should be common---It is with my mx1---This means what ever power available from the psu to the " mini-USB power socket" will be the same available at the mini-USB OTG port
or USB A port. So any loading will be in paralell.
Try a different PSU & try without the USB HDD.
In a PC the USB 5V is separate & rated differently to the 5V LOGIC rail , one being 0.5A & the latter at multiple amps.
The blue led should be on at all times when power is connected regardless of any other component failure, as it is simply a power indicator.

[PoisonWolf]

At this stage i disagree...The 5V rail should be common---It is with my mx1---This means what ever power available from the psu to the " mini-USB power socket" will be the same available at the mini-USB OTG port
or USB A port. So any loading will be in paralell.
Try a different PSU & try without the USB HDD.
In a PC the USB 5V is separate & rated differently to the 5V LOGIC rail , one being 0.5A & the latter at multiple amps.
The blue led should be on at all times when power is connected regardless of any other component failure, as it is simply a power indicator.

So my follow up question would be...would 5v 0.5 amp have more/less heat than 5v 2.0 amps or would the heat output be the same because it is still 5v?

I'm not an electrical engineer or have any specific knowledge on this matter so it is more out of curiosity.

[zvoddy23]

So my follow up question would be...would 5v 0.5 amp have more/less heat than 5v 2.0 amps or would the heat output be the same because it is still 5v?

I'm not an electrical engineer or have any specific knowledge on this matter so it is more out of curiosity.

Heat or power in watts is "Voltage multiplied by Current" in Amps.
Power consumption is determined by resistance, the more resistance in Ohms a circuit has the less power it consumes. Current in Amps equals the voltage "V" divided by resistance in Ohms.
So 5V @ 0.5A is 2.5Watts......so effective resistance is 10 Ohms.... & now 5V @ 2A is 10Watts of power consumed & now the resistance is 2.5 Ohms.
If you have a 5V 10A (50W) power supply & you place accross it's terminals two resistors in parallel, one being @ 2.5 Ohms & the other @ 10 Ohms the power in Watts consumed will be 12.5Watts. Now the resistors are the same temperature if they were connected one at a time or together in paralell, that is the 10 Ohm will be dissipating 2.5 Watts ( not hot )& the 2.5 Ohm still dissipating 10 Watts (hot).

[derekmcl]

Thanks for all the replies.
For clarification

• My HDD was connected directly to OTG and is a USB-Only powered Drive. I did originally try it with a powered USB hub but could not get it to work (think the hub may be dodgy)
• My power supply is 5V 2A, I assumed this was enough to power HDD and even if not then the HDD woukd simply not work.
• Even with HDD removed, no TV picture and no blue LED

So I took your advice and flashed it. Bit of a problem getting drivers loaded, but got there eventually. Got some errors when flashing ROM, something about failed Download, but I noticed that the blue LED was back on. So plugged it back into the TV and Lo and Behold it worked.

So, my assumption is that it had bricked, probably down to other factors, not having a proper power down option etc and that the HDD is not part of the problem. What are your thoughts?

Can I continue to use my HDD as I was previously?

Many thanks

[derekmcl]

It only worked for a day, then it froze on start up screen. I have flashed and re-flashed 1.6 and 1.7 several times now. Every time it powers up fine the first time then on subsequent occasions it will freeze on the start up screen.

Any ideas what I may be doing wrong? Or is my MK808 damaged?

[Finless]

It only worked for a day, then it froze on start up screen. I have flashed and re-flashed 1.6 and 1.7 several times now. Every time it powers up fine the first time then on subsequent occasions it will freeze on the start up screen.

Any ideas what I may be doing wrong? Or is my MK808 damaged?

Somehow your NAND is getting corrupted. Not sure why but /data is getting messed up which is why it wont boot.

Are you installing something? Does it do that without setting up anything or installing anything?

Bob

[derekmcl]

You were right

Hi Bob
thanks for your wise words.

You were, of course right.

I reflashed to 1.7, No errors.

Started it up, closed it down. Then it started again no problem. So I started changing settings and adding apps, one at a time. I shut the Mk808 down in between each change, and restarted it to try and establish exactly where the problem was being caused.

I suspect XBMC is the problem. On one occasion it froze causing me to unplug the MK808. It didnt reboot properly next time. I have reflashed again and will continue my investigations.

Has anyone else had issues with XBMC?

I really appreciate you looking in on my little issue Bob.

Keep up the good work

Many thanks

Derek

[986ONR]

Thanks for all the replies.
For clarification

• My HDD was connected directly to OTG and is a USB-Only powered Drive. I did originally try it with a powered USB hub but could not get it to work (think the hub may be dodgy)
• My power supply is 5V 2A, I assumed this was enough to power HDD and even if not then the HDD woukd simply not work.
• Even with HDD removed, no TV picture and no blue LED

So I took your advice and flashed it. Bit of a problem getting drivers loaded, but got there eventually. Got some errors when flashing ROM, something about failed Download, but I noticed that the blue LED was back on. So plugged it back into the TV and Lo and Behold it worked.

So, my assumption is that it had bricked, probably down to other factors, not having a proper power down option etc and that the HDD is not part of the problem. What are your thoughts?

Can I continue to use my HDD as I was previously?

Many thanks

Was reading your post and am really hoping that you can help!
Was flashing my MK802iiis with Finless 1.5. OTG port on MK is connected to USB on computer. Successfully put MK into Flash Mode, then Windows prompted me for drivers and as I was navigating to folder where drivers were saved, computer lost connection to MK.
The blue LED on MK is not on (which I think is normal for Flash Mode) but the MK is not recognized by the computer. There seems to be nothing I can do to get blue LED to turn on.
In reading your post, it seems that you were able to recover the device, with blue LED turn off. Could you describe how you did this?