Flashed OpenELEC on M8S Box - Box Died. Completely.

[ClemFandango]

Hi,

Would be interested to know what might have happened here if anyone has any ideas. I bought the new M8S box with the Amlogic S812 Chip from Aliexpress and got it this morning. This one to be precise.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origi...368069195.html

I used the 5.0.8.18 version of OpenELEC from this link

https://github.com/kszaq/OpenELEC.tv/releases

Booted the M8S in to recovery, cleared the cache and data and then, since the box has no Micro SD card slot, I had to go to 'udisk' to select the zip file that was on the USB stick that I had plugged in, and i selected the "update" zip that's inside the main zip file as the main zip file didn't flash due to - if i remember - the 'invalid footer' (or something like that).

Everything went through and i got the message saying "Update Successful" so I rebooted the box and .. dead. Absolutely dead as a duck. Won't even power on. Won't power on by the remote either. I tried the PSU from my other Android box as it's the same voltage but nothing - box is totally fried.

I've bricked many things over the years but i've always managed to get back to some form of recovery to rescue them - this is the first time i've ever fried something completely to the point where it won't even power on. If anyone has any ideas as to why it might have happened i'd be grateful.

I'm hoping the supplier will replace the box and, ideally, i'd still like openELEC on it but not if it's going to fry it again

Thanks.

[csgabe]

That OpenElec is only for specific S805 boxes, not for S812, like you have. You have to disassemble the box & search for a recovery button or do NAND pin reset.

[ClemFandango]

Thanks. I might have a look to see if there's a recovery button inside the box, but if i tried to do a NAND pin reset i'd most likely kill it even deader than it is at the moment

Is there a version of openELEC for S812's then ?

It just seems a bit weird that it won't even power on though - I guess i would have just thought it would have at least booted up to the splash screen or something like that and not gone any further.

[csgabe]

You flashed bootloader for S805, that pretty much kills it.
NAND pin reset method is used when you want to flash your box from a computer with Amlogic Burning tool.

[ClemFandango]

I haven't got a male to male usb cable anyway so there's not much I could do.

There doesn't seem to be a version of openELEC for the M8S with the S812 anyway, at least as far as I can see.

If the supplier replaces the box I guess I'll have to make do with a regular launcher

[csgabe]

There is an OpenElec for M8S(thread is here: http://xbmc.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=4587&page=155):

http://amlinux.ru/image/5.95.2/

But there may be different types of M8S boxes out there.

[ClemFandango]

There is an OpenElec for M8S(thread is here: http://xbmc.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=4587&page=155):

http://amlinux.ru/image/5.95.2/

But there may be different types of M8S boxes out there.

that's interesting - thanks. the box i got is 2gb ram which appears to be on that list. i'll have to wait and see what happens with the supplier first and foremost. might be a bit reluctant to try a re-flash in case i kill it again though i suppose

[ClemFandango]

just wondering, is there a software method of unbricking this ? can i copy something to a USB stick and try to essentially "boot" from that ?

i plugged the power lead in again earlier on and the red light behind the digital audio came on, so the box is actually getting power, just not booting up

[csgabe]

Yes, there is, but maybe it won't work, because you flashed the wrong bootloader. You'll need a firmware(I think you need an img format firmware) & this:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/jm...ogic_tools.rar
Run bootcardmaker(burnbootcard.rar) to make your sd card bootable(you'll need your own bootloader.img rename it to bootloader.bin), then copy firmware to the card.

[ClemFandango]

thanks, i'll give that a try. it's awkward because this box doesn't actually have an SD card slot, but i'll use the USB stick and see what happens.

[ClemFandango]

Yes, there is, but maybe it won't work, because you flashed the wrong bootloader. You'll need a firmware(I think you need an img format firmware) & this:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/jm...ogic_tools.rar
Run bootcardmaker(burnbootcard.rar) to make your sd card bootable(you'll need your own bootloader.img rename it to bootloader.bin), then copy firmware to the card.

is there any way of finding the correct bootloader ? i'm not having much luck so far. thanks.

[csgabe]

Correct bootloader is bootloader.img in zip update.

[ClemFandango]

excellent, thankyou. i've admitted defeat and ordered a male to male usb cable that should hopefully be here tomorrow so with any luck i might get somewhere, but i'll still give the usb method a go - i can't kill it any deader than it is

[ClemFandango]

well i give up. just spent the past couple of hours trying everything i can try with the usb flashing tool and gotten absolutely nowhere - the program actually sees the box ok but the image file never makes it beyond 2% before failing with errors. i've tried force erasing all, normal erasing - every combination i can think of.

the bootable usb stick doesn't work either so the box will be packaged up tonight and sent back to china.

[csgabe]

You should try to connect it to an USB3 port & that port should on the back of the computer & disable USB power saving(USB Root Hub) from device manager.
Also you should try a bootable sd card not usb stick.