Bricked M8 device

[tani666]

If the recovery will not be booted than download this https://yadi.sk/d/JVXoUA6UfAxWh
You will see uboot .bin ,BootcardMaker.exe,factory_update_param.aml,recove ry.img and text file.Download files.Use u boot to create bootable sd card than put inside the sd card factory_update_param.aml,recovery.img em8 finless rom18.zip from my link and the aml_autoscript from M8_TV_BOX_Amlogic_S802_169451-20141112.rar.Use Sd method.Post the result

[JustMe]

short pins out and use usb burntool making sure that a/v reset switch is pressed then plug in the usb cable some boxes may also require you to plug in the power source.

[tani666]

Flash this img rom https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By...TVCX3hZVmZlV00 with usb burning tool version 2.0.4 .Download usb burning tool from here https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By...Th5OFAzM2Zuekk

If you see errors than try again but the second time you must try shorting pins 29 and 30 than open usb burning tool and try to flash the rom.

[tani666]

JustMe i see that you have posted the solution for the problem (M8 soft unbrick) .The mode to unbrick the M8 box was with PROBOX2-EX-20150129 rom but if you search in freaktab forum you will find that Em9_ap6330_2g8g_150203_usb is able to unbrick the box , if the box will be bricked by flashin PROBOX2-EX-20150129 rom.So i think that my img rom shut work.

[Ballz2k7]

I have unbricked my m8&m9 v0.92 around 10 times in the last 24 hours testing firmwares to enable ap6234 wifi support. Get yourself a UART serial cable and have a look at the boot up log direct from the CPU. Its much easier to do whats required this way. You can see if its stuck in NAND boot mode, sat in USB burn mode or failing to boot a kernel. I use the EM9_AP6330 rom mentioned above to recover mine from a hard brick..
Connect usb, jumper in place for OTG, power cable IS needed, connect UART and connect your client(Putty etc)
Power up the box with the power supply, as soon as you do short the nand pins. You need to be quick. Once successfull you will see the failure to boot from NAND in the serial log, it will then force switch to SD card or will drop to the BOOTP routine(unless you interupt it). Once your in the root shell via serial its easy to flash an image from the SD card. You can also enable usb burning from there with the update command. Maybe then you will have a better chance with the USB burn tool as its activated direct from the cpu. Either way you should be able to recover it fine.

If all fails then you have a damaged NAND chip and the only way is to replace it, but to be fair its probably less hassle to buy a new box. Hope this helps.

[crytoy]

I am afraid that the SD Card method no longer work for my device as the device does not boot to recovery no matter what I do. I have used the SD card creator, but the device does not flash, black screen, no light.
In the USB burning method, the problem is not in the firmware that is being used, the problem is that the device once the flashing process is started and reaching the uboot_comp , the device suddenly disconnects, and after 10 seconds, the flashing process fails, even-though I have done (hort pins out and use usb burntool making sure that a/v reset switch is pressed then plug in the usb cable some boxes may also require you to plug in the power source.)

[crytoy]

I have unbricked my m8&m9 v0.92 around 10 times in the last 24 hours testing firmwares to enable ap6234 wifi support. Get yourself a UART serial cable and have a look at the boot up log direct from the CPU. Its much easier to do whats required this way. You can see if its stuck in NAND boot mode, sat in USB burn mode or failing to boot a kernel. I use the EM9_AP6330 rom mentioned above to recover mine from a hard brick..
Connect usb, jumper in place for OTG, power cable IS needed, connect UART and connect your client(Putty etc)
Power up the box with the power supply, as soon as you do short the nand pins. You need to be quick. Once successfull you will see the failure to boot from NAND in the serial log, it will then force switch to SD card or will drop to the BOOTP routine(unless you interupt it). Once your in the root shell via serial its easy to flash an image from the SD card. You can also enable usb burning from there with the update command. Maybe then you will have a better chance with the USB burn tool as its activated direct from the cpu. Either way you should be able to recover it fine.

If all fails then you have a damaged NAND chip and the only way is to replace it, but to be fair its probably less hassle to buy a new box. Hope this helps.

Can you create a video showing the (UART serial cable) method and a tutorial, I have never heard of before, it seems something that might works.
Waiting for your reply

[Ballz2k7]

I dont have the facility to create a video but I will try to explain the steps.

You will need a USB > Serial UART adaptor. I use a PL2303 chipset one, Its not the best in windows 7,8,10 as there are a lot of clones that dont work properly with the latest drivers. (Mines a clone)I have ordered an FTDI device which should arrive in the next few days(Higher quality, more reliable).
Connect the UART to the pins on the right of the board (still mounted in case, ports to the rear, upside down in your hand) I actually soldered pins into my holes, then I soldered to my pins.
From the top its (Green wire(TX), White wire(RX), Black wire(GND)) . I will attach a picture of mine lower down.
Fire up putty(its free - Google it), select serial connection, select your COM port and put 115200 into the baud box. Hit connect. You will just have a blank black screen for now.

Now heres the tricky part, it sounds to me like your device is stuck either in the usb/tftp boot loop or its booted from nand and its stuck in the BOOTP loop. Either way the SD card will not work.



Hard Brick
Power the box to see what the log displays, usually if your hard bricked you will be stuck in the BOOTP loop but there is a message to interupt the process in serial.
As you power on the device short the NAND pins, you should notice this causes the box to power up and ignore the nand, sometimes it finds your card and flashes, other times USB burn tool will see it start up.

Mine had an issue where burn tool would see it but kept failing to flash on 3% so I left burn tool open and connected/running. Repowered the device and shorted the nand pins. As soon as burn tool saw it this time it flashed 100%

Soft brick

This is the easy way, if you can boot to the root shell you can flash using the sdc_burn tool
place your img and the file aml_sdc_burn.ini on your sd card. power up the device and wait for the serial console
in the console type sdc_burn aml_sdc_burn.ini
this will start to flash your img to your device from the serial console.

This is about the best I can do, Hope it helps.

[Ballz2k7]

I can never seem to upload a full sized photo. Heres a better image of it. http://imgur.com/0zJxm4K

[crytoy]

There is some progress!!!
I have used the SD Card method using one of the roms that (tani666) posted (M8_TV_BOX_Amlogic_S802_169451-20141112.rar), along with using the uboot from the same rom. and applying the pin shorting method (Justme, tani666) I was able to boot to recovery.
Now I can boot to recovery, and using my external keyboard I select the (update from EXT) but there is a problem, see the photo attached.

canot mount or format cache or data or... therefore cant install the firmware

[tani666]

I have posted this https://yadi.sk/d/JVXoUA6UfAxWh.Do you have trayed.Maybe with this files you will boot to recovery without errors.I think that is posibke to flash img with putty using usb uart adapter.In ubiquity antena i am able to flash rom from putty (i use ip of antena to connect).Now i payed for the usb uart adapter with 6 pin connector.i will try after one month to flash the img rom with putty using usb uart adapter.I have mx3 clone box but i think that nand is dead.I will try usb uart method when i have the usb uart adapter

[tani666]

Do you have trayed the files in post #16

[tani666]

I posted the post # 16 to resolve the mountin problem.

[crytoy]

I posted the post # 16 to resolve the mountin problem.

I have tested it, same results, I insert the sdcard and it sideload the recovery, but failing to mount /cache , no such directory.......
I cant mount or format

[Ballz2k7]

Try flashing the recovery from the Openelec builds. It normally shows a full red screen before the menu appears. I have had more success with that one. I did see another recovery with efuse options too. Im currently wanting to try TWRP but none of the ones I have tried will flash.