Tronsmart MK908 Android 4.2.2 "Official" - Finless ROM 1.5

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Just to report back so far,

Running Epic Citadel @ 1080, Got very hot! and over heated (locked up), the benchmark was noting special either ...

mk808 @1080 22fps
mk908 @1080 26fps

This is understandable due to the graphic being the same however the mk908 over heating in order to produce this is not so good, seems the extra cores heat generated by this is just too much.

Just running LD video in 1080 and its getting pretty warm, not over heated yet!

Bob, Can I turn the cores down or do I need to download an app ?

[adoan412]

From my experience both the 1080 and 720 rom are snappy through the menu's. Video still seems to be a bit choppy in areas, but definately getting better compared to the original rom shipped with this device.

After running the 1080 rom for a few hours it did get quite warm,to be safe im going to keep the 720 rom due to the heat.

Both of these new 4.2 roms gave me issues with hulu plus, no real biggie as i wont be using that service for long. Did anyone else encounter that issue?

Also i would just like to say thanks to bob. I am new to this community / niche ( I have been using the iphone for years now, and always stayed as far away from andoid as possible ). It is a very welcoming community with plenty of communication going on with a VERY helpful and knowledgeable leader ( Finless ).

Thanks Bob!

[kingfisher]

Adobe Flash Player 11.1 not working with 1.5 rom

Hi all I am new to this forum. Yesterday I flashed to the 1080P kernel but decided against it as the MK908 got quite hot and had some issues with play store which after a while would not connect, but on the whole the MK908 was still quite slick. Today I flashed to 720p and everything seems to working fine now, with one exception. Adobe flash player 11.1 is not compatible with this rom and does not work. Tried to reinstall but got not compatible with this device. Bluetooth appears to be ok also as my ps3 controller paired just fine.
Thanks for all your hard work Bob

[adoan412]

Hi all I am new to this forum. Yesterday I flashed to the 1080P kernel but decided against it as the MK908 got quite hot and had some issues with play store which after a while would not connect, but on the whole the MK908 was still quite slick. Today I flashed to 720p and everything seems to working fine now, with one exception. Adobe flash player 11.1 is not compatible with this rom and does not work. Tried to reinstall but got not compatible with this device. Bluetooth appears to be ok also as my ps3 controller paired just fine.
Thanks for all your hard work Bob

It looks like there are various versions avalible here:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html#main_Archived_versions

I have not tried this yet, just thought i would chime in with the link.

Good luck to ya, and dont forget to let us know the outcome!

[kingfisher]

It looks like there are various versions avalible here:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html#main_Archived_versions

I have not tried this yet, just thought i would chime in with the link.

Good luck to ya, and dont forget to let us know the outcome!

Thanks will try some out and let you know

[kingfisher]

How to get Flash Player to work on 4.2.2

Thanks will try some out and let you know

Tried a few archived flash players on the Finless 1.5 with android 4.2.2 rom none worked, but there is a way around. Just follow this link http://mickeythegeek.blogspot.com/20...n-android.html. It worked for me. Courtesy of MickeyTheGeek

[jammupatu]

My comments on 4.2.2 1.5 Finless

Hi all.

First a big thank you for Bob for this cleaned up ROM and keeping things open even when you're getting offered money for this. I raise my hat, sir.

Flashing went smoothly. I did go straight to 1080p and the unit does run too hot especially when testing 1080p LiveTV via XMBC libstagefright http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=152005. I'm getting hangups of XMBC as well, but not with the unit's OS itself, so I'm guessing it's the Alpha status of XMBC acting up. Didn't try any movie file, only the TVHEADEND client.

On Netflix the video flow is quite smooth, but not as smooth as it should really be (tried 50hz and 60hz 1080p). 10 minutes of Netflix didn't heat up the unit as much as XMBC. Remember, XMBC is doing things like bilinear resizing of pixels etc.

Few missing things I noticed: the physical keyboard layout isn't there anymore. Is this an Android 4.2.2 general issue or specific to Tronsmart's / Bob's rom? It's very annoying to be forced to use US layout on a Finnish keyboard. (I did even try to put Finnish (QWERTY) instead of Finnish). Also, spell checking for Finnish wasn't available. Swedish was though, bah. First they're trying to steal Sauna from us and now this! :S

I'm wondering will the heat issue go away once the kernel optimizations are iterated or is this a lost cause? Could you more experienced guys make an educated guess? How about Geekbuying, what's your opinion on heat issues and 1080p? At the moment I'm thinking of opening the device (and voiding my warranty) and checking out / replacing the thermal paste under the heatsink. I think I saw instructions somewhere on Freaktab. Another alternative would be to try to negotiate a replacement of this product. Heat issues and a (buggy?) 4.2.2 arriving a month later than promised are in my books valid reasons for this. Anyways, this isn't the correct forum for replacement discussions.

Regarding video stuttering and heat issues - I haven't tried 720p kernel yet. Also, I haven't measured what kind of amps I'm getting from the default PSU I'm using (the one in the original package). I'm by no means a guy who understands electrity but I'm thinking more amps would generate more heat even if the performance would improve or the video stuttering would go away.

Will report more once I have more time on my hands to check test things like RKRemote etc.

Best Regards,

-J-

[Finless]

I think just like the 3066 devices, running a 1080 kernel on stock hardware will always cause heat issues. We all learned this before. It was interesting that Tronsmart released a 1080 kernel knowing this would be a problem.

So just like on 3066 devices... if you want to push it and run a 1080 kernel, your going to have to add a decent heatsink. In the 3066 area there are all kinds of posts showing how to mod and add a heat sink.

The board layout of the 908 is almost identical to the 808.

Here is an example here:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?5009-My-TV-MK808B-Others-setup-MK808B-cooling-mod

Also your comment about a higher AMP PSU. This is exactly the opposite. If a PSU cannot deliver the needed amps, then voltage can drop. This causes the device to draw more amps. In turn this causes heat which in turn causes the internal resistance to go up, which in turn cause the device to draw even more amps.. It is a worsening cycle..
Heat=increased resistance=voltage drop=increased amp draw=more heat -> Back to the start.
In electronics this is known as thermal runaway.

So no, having a PSU that has the ability to deliver more AMPs will not cause more heat. In fact it can improve that by not allowing voltage to drop under heavy load.

Bob

[jammupatu]

I think just like the 3066 devices, running a 1080 kernel on stock hardware will always cause heat issues. We all learned this before. It was interesting that Tronsmart released a 1080 kernel knowing this would be a problem.

So just like on 3066 devices... if you want to push it and run a 1080 kernel, your going to have to add a decent heatsink. In the 3066 area there are all kinds of posts showing how to mod and add a heat sink.

The board layout of the 908 is almost identical to the 808.

Here is an example here:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?5009-My-TV-MK808B-Others-setup-MK808B-cooling-mod

Also your comment about a higher AMP PSU. This is exactly the opposite. If a PSU cannot deliver the needed amps, then voltage can drop. This causes the device to draw more amps. In turn this causes heat which in turn causes the internal resistance to go up, which in turn cause the device to draw even more amps.. It is a worsening cycle..
Heat=increased resistance=voltage drop=increased amp draw=more heat -> Back to the start.
In electronics this is known as thermal runaway.

So no, having a PSU that has the ability to deliver more AMPs will not cause more heat. In fact it can improve that by not allowing voltage to drop under heavy load.

Bob

Hi,

many thanks for the link and explanation about the term "thermal runaway". Sounds like a vicious cycle. As I said, I do not know about eletricity at all basically... except that it comes from the wall socket, so to speak. =)

However, my friend is an electrician by trade and I will ask him to measure the original PSU's output so I know what I'm getting out from the unit. I also know he has the tools for this basic operation.

This is really weird that if 3066 series has heat issues with 1080p and they still released a 1080p kernel for 908 (3166). Guess it's about the cultural differences between different regions of the world for the concept of quality. Sadly after 45 mins of usage with 1080p the stick froze and rebooted. Also, it was too hot to touch.

I'm still very excited about the future of the stick even if I have to add a fan or two or replace thermal paste and / or heatsink. The potential is just too great to miss out on.

BR,

-J-

[trjepp]

1.4 ROM works also except for the frame skipping thing which I do not see on the 1.5 ROM.

I flashed to 1.5 today (using the default 720 kernel, the only change I made was to use 4GB of app space) and the low frame rate issue is definitely still there. Is there anything that I might have done differently/incorrectly? I'd love to hear that I screwed up, and that the problem really is fixed, but from where I sit we're not there yet.

Thanks for your hard work Bob, you're giving me hope that I haven't bought a paper weight.

[hoabycsr]

Nah it´s still there. A bit better I think but still there.

[csjohnny]

RkGameController application is compatible with PS3 Controller?
We have touch screen emulation?
4.1.1. 3.0.8 kernel works touch.ko file, but 4.2.2. 3.0.36 kernel does it work?

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?4458-Add-touch-screen-support-for-Six-Axis-Joy-Center-to-my-ROMs

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I'm wondering will the heat issue go away once the kernel optimizations are iterated or is this a lost cause? Could you more experienced guys make an educated guess?

Hi jammupatu,

The over heating is always going to be a problem (in its current state) unless you give the cores more idle time and or reduce the speed!!! Counter productive for a unit you want to run as fast as it can.

This is a design floor, I run the mk808 (3066) @1080 runs a lot cooler and has never over heated although it still is warm, slightly slower overall, and just missing 2 cpu cores opposed to the mk908 (3188). Its from cheap cost cutting manufacturing using the same too small enclosure, and inadequate cooling.

You could always add your own cooling! I didnt really want to go down this route so I think ill look out for another unit some have good heatsinks on.

[jammupatu]

Hi jammupatu,

The over heating is always going to be a problem (in its current state) unless you give the cores more idle time and or reduce the speed!!! Counter productive for a unit you want to run as fast as it can.

This is a design floor, I run the mk808 (3066) @1080 runs a lot cooler and has never over heated although it still is warm, slightly slower overall, and just missing 2 cpu cores opposed to the mk908 (3188). Its from cheap cost cutting manufacturing using the same too small enclosure, and inadequate cooling.

You could always add your own cooling! I didnt really want to go down this route so I think ill look out for another unit some have good heatsinks on.

Hi and thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I agree with you on the cost cutting and in general on what you wrote. I wish I had've done a bit more research on the stick before buying it. Afterwisdom is easy. Now I'd definitely go your route and get a properly cooled one. I'm already starting to think of dual fanning the 908 unit. I actually have two working fans from Papst and Chieftec which will most likely do the job. Only thing is that I need to get my friend to convert the power connectors to something useable. (They're for PC usage currently. Leftovers from past PC builds.)

On my first post I was kind of thinking / hoping the RK or the Kernel dudes could get in some more intelligent and optimized code with GPU offloading and intelligent throttling stuff etc, which would lower the temps a bit. (Purely speculative, I haven't studied the HW and SW yet to say anything if this is even possible. Just a thought which crossed my mind when stumbling upon libstagefright. Though, the GPU can get heated as well...) As you said, speed reducing feels silly. The unit should be able to run on max if needed. Intelligent throttling is another thing, which I do support. But lowering the performance in sake of overheating is just silly.

I did flash 720p kernel yesterday but didn't have the time to actually test it yet as bedtime called.

BR,

-J-

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On my first post I was kind of thinking / hoping the RK or the Kernel dudes could get in some more intelligent and optimized code with GPU offloading and intelligent throttling stuff etc, which would lower the temps a bit.

Remember these unit have all the chips housed tight together (off loading from one) reducing the heat from one will just create heat on another to maintain the same speed.

I forgot theses also house 2GB of ram opposed to the 1GB in the mk808, speculating but that could easily be causing more heat too, ive not taken them both apart to look and compare.

Regarding cooling there are plenty of USB powered fans on the market thats possibly the best option for fans.