M8S firmware help

[slanted]

Hi, I'm looking for suitable firmware for my 'OTT' M8S box - was hoping to use openelec on it and bricked it while trying to install it.

been trying various android and openelec firmwares for the last week with no joy and have just about given up

Any help to bring it back to life will be greatly appreciated thanks.

board: m9&m8 v1.1 2015/09/2

[charlesbronson]

slanted I had the exact same problem, the solution I found that got my box back up and running with Android 5.1.1. But I must inform you of a couple of issues that occur with this...
1. If you power down the box with the remote and leave it off for a couple of days the remote won't power it back up. You will need to unplug the box wait a few seconds and then plug it back to boot up again.
2. You will lose ethernet on the box, WiFi will still work, but plugged ethernet will be gone (I am still on the hunt for the right drivers to help solve the problem under Android 5.1)
3. You will need to use a patch to use the box remote that came with your OTT box. The patch gives you the basic button controls but I have found a few buttons are not mapped correctly. I forgot which ones they were since I use Yatse as a remote once in Kodi.
4. You will need to install an app called wakemescottie which will prevent the box from going into deep sleep so that should solve the issue of the box not turning on once powered down, but anything over a couple of days I find the app does not stop deep sleep, and an unplug to reboot is required.

Anyways on to the fun stuff...
1. Get the USB Burner tool http://adf.ly/12297117/burntool-v20515 (You can switch it to English by clicking the second option in the top bar a drop down will display showing 'English')
Once installed use a toothpick to hold down recovery button inside the A/V port on the back of the box (use non conductive material i.e. wooden toothpick) then plug your computer into the box via male to male USB (box should be recognized and be able to be flashed fine without the power cord plugged in).

2. The image I was able to burn using the USB Burner tool with no issues https://mega.nz/#!1Fw1Ta5a!0kpwpqjiY...Q-B09FRcGrsAHY.

3. Boot the box up (be very, very patient I kept rebooting to find that everything installed fine but the first boot took so long I thought it had froze, wait along the lines of 20 minutes 'not kidding').

4. Create a bootable SD card (I used a SD flash card not sure if USB will work, but it should).
I used this tool to create the flash card http://chinagadgetsreviews.blogspot....r-english.html
This is the file I flashed to the SD card https://mega.nz/#F!y4ZmQZaI!0G8hPIwHmyul4DvCWdkIrA (download as a zip file option)
*Quick note* When setting up the burn tool, check off 'To Partition and Format' and for the 'Choose your bin files:' option use the u-boot.bin file found in the 'S812-5.1-M8S-wifi-160318.zip' file.

5. Place newly formatted flash card or usb drive into your box, push a toothpick into A.V port. While holding the toothpick in plug in the power and you should be greeted with an update/install screen and the box should install Android 5.1.1.

You will need a mouse and/or keyboard to run things at first until you flash this patch http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...emote-Updator= which will allow your remote to work again.

Also this app will prevent the box from going into deep sleep http://bit.do/wakemescottie.

I think that's everything.

[charlesbronson]

slanted I have the exact same board and had the exact same problem with Openelec. I got my box back up and running but I was unable to obtain the original firmware so my box is now running 5.1 which is great, it's much smoother and responsive than 4.4.2. The draw backs to it though are...
1. I needed a patch to use the original remote the OTT box came with.
2. I lost Ethernet. WiFi works great but plugged Ethernet is gone (I am still trying to locate the drivers to get it going again as I prefer the stability and less buffering from plugged Ethernet).
3. I had to use an app called 'wakemescottie' so that when the box is powered down, or 'stand by' by the remote it can be turned back on. Though I did find the app only keeps the box out of deep sleep for around 2 days, after that the box does not want to wake on the remote you will need to physically unplug the box, wait a few seconds and then plug it back in to reboot.

If your box is still bricked let me know and I will reply with what I did (originally my reply had all the steps but for some odd reason when I posted the page froze and nothing got posted).

[slanted]

slanted I have the exact same board and had the exact same problem with Openelec. I got my box back up and running but I was unable to obtain the original firmware so my box is now running 5.1 which is great, it's much smoother and responsive than 4.4.2. The draw backs to it though are...
1. I needed a patch to use the original remote the OTT box came with.
2. I lost Ethernet. WiFi works great but plugged Ethernet is gone (I am still trying to locate the drivers to get it going again as I prefer the stability and less buffering from plugged Ethernet).
3. I had to use an app called 'wakemescottie' so that when the box is powered down, or 'stand by' by the remote it can be turned back on. Though I did find the app only keeps the box out of deep sleep for around 2 days, after that the box does not want to wake on the remote you will need to physically unplug the box, wait a few seconds and then plug it back in to reboot.

If your box is still bricked let me know and I will reply with what I did (originally my reply had all the steps but for some odd reason when I posted the page froze and nothing got posted).

charlesbronson still bricked - if you could let me know how you unbricked it that would be great thanks

[charlesbronson]

slanted sorry for this long explanation below, I tried running the firmware but I found I had to use the USB Burner Tool with a specific ROM first just to get the system to boot up. I am sure there is a better (easier) way to do it but unfortunately this was the only way that worked for me after trying multiple ROMs.

1. Download and install the USB Burner Tool to your computer http://chinagadgetsreviews.com/downl...-v2-0-4-3.html
2. Open the USB Burner Tool application, plug the OTT box into your computer using a male to male USB cable. (You do not need to plug in the power, just make sure you are holding a toothpick in the A/V port when plugging in the box, it should appear on the screen under one of the Device ID Status rows).
3. Download this ROM https://mega.nz/#!1Fw1Ta5a!0kpwpqjiY...Q-B09FRcGrsAHY and flash it to the OTT box using the USB Burner Tool.
4. Once complete the box should now be able to power on so disconnect the box from your computer (make sure it's done first) and plug the power back in.
5. The box will take a long time to load for it's first load (something like 20 minutes for me I think, it was really, really long).
6. Unplug the OTT box.
7. Download this ROM https://mega.nz/#F!y4ZmQZaI!0G8hPIwHmyul4DvCWdkIrA (choose option 'Download as ZIP').
8. Download this tool to make a bootable SD or USB (I used a SD card, but from what I read USB should work) http://chinagadgetsreviews.com/how-t...n-minutes.html
9. Extract the u-boot.bin file from the 'S812-5.1-M8S -wifi-160318.zip' ROM you downloaded.
10. Check off the 'To Partition and Format' option and make sure to use the u-boot.bin file you extracted.
11. Once the bootable card has been formated and made, plug it into the box and hold the toothpick in the recovery port (A/V) wait until something appears on the screen then pull the toothpick out.

The ROM should install itself and you will be good to go running 5.1, but as I mentioned before you will lose ethernet. You will also need this app http://bit.do/wakemescottie to stop the box from going into deep sleep preventing you from turning it on with the remote. I found it only lasted 2 days and then I would need to unplug the box and reboot it. But this app at least helps if I watch the box twice in a day.

The next this you will need is this patch to use the box remote http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...emote-Updator=. You need to flash it in recovery. Let me know if you need help with that.

Again sorry for the long explanation, if I have described any steps you knew how to do I apologize I just like to be as thorough as I can just in case.

If you run into any hiccups let me know.

[charlesbronson]

slanted OK, for some odd reason after typing the entire thing again it's now showing as post #2 from 7 hours ago, but my new reply isnt showing, not sure why, anyways hope the info in post #2 helps.

[slanted]

charlesbronson Thanks so much, I'll give that a whirl later and let you know if I gt it sorted

[slanted]

charlesbronson Thanks to your detailed instructions the box is now alive ! Although, there is alot of random freezes/crashes - I guess I'll just have to hope for an openelec release at sometime which will work on it. Was only wanting the box for kodi. Thanks again

[charlesbronson]

charlesbronson Thanks to your detailed instructions the box is now alive ! Although, there is alot of random freezes/crashes - I guess I'll just have to hope for an openelec release at sometime which will work on it. Was only wanting the box for kodi. Thanks again

slanted No problem, glad I could help bring it back to life. If I knew how to program better I would make a one click unbrick tool kit for this box. Make everyone's life easier. For the random freezes and such, try booting into recovery and clearing your cache and dalvik cache. I recall that helping me. If you do find a working version of Openelec that allows the box to turn back on after being shut down please let me know.

[satlover]

Hi Guys,
i have the same board like the one posted here, when i try the usb burner tool, it won't connect to it. I tried to jump the ic pins won't do it either.
The blue light triangle is on, when i connect it to pc or to power cord. How can i solve this mystery.
Thank you all in advance.

[sad_droid]

Hi slanted
I have exactly the same pcb like you.totally briched no blue light.it can connect to pc true usb but stop burning firmware at 2% .i have tryed many .img file but nothing works.could u pls tell me what firmware you used and how to get back it to live.??
thanks

[Jephte]

Hi.
Write step by step how to make patch remote control.
Have you found the ethernet driver ?
Thank you

[jumpy]

Guys,
I have the same problem as sad_droid! My usb loader stops at 2% with Usb Control Setup Error! My board is a M9&8_8bit_v1.1 2005/09/2
Any help with this would be fantastic please? Have been trawling the forum for answers but getting nowhere fast!
Thanks in advance
jumpy

[jumpy]

Hi,
Is there really nobody on here able to help me with this problem please?
How do I overcome this error?
Thanks
jumpy

[RISCy Dude]

Hello jumpy, Welcome to Freaktab.

I do not own this box, so I have nothing specific to offer. There is some discussion on this in this post.(Line item 4)

Hope you get it going.(Line item 4)