R-Box PRO Amlogic S912 Octa Core - 3G + 16G

[trotter]

Trying to update with the firmware R-BOX PRO_S912_3GB_AP6330_IMG_18092016_AndroidPC_es.zip. Found several tutorials but none is working. Unfortunally I do not have a A - A USB cable.
When I place the firmware on SD card formated in fat32 and follow the "SD Upgrade Tutorial:" I select the "update from ext" and after selecting the file I get the failed messages shown in screenshot.

The file is good, I downloaded it three times and can unzip it without warning. When U do a an local OTA update the r-box restarts and complains about header wrong. What am I doing wrong?

I believe you have to use the crappy windows app to update it "Amlogic USB Burning Tool"

Reason being, I don't think that update has been made with the same keys and key verification is on. Stops users from flashing the wrong file but can be a pain if some one else makes the update.

IDK for sure tho as I've not set my windows backup. Had a raid failure and linux comes first Will be setting windows up now

That's why I was aiming for getting twrp going, so that we wont have to use the normal android recovery or windows.

[ToXiQ]

Thanks Trotter, just ordered a USB A - A cable.

[Frank168]

'When I place the firmware on SD card formated in fat32 and follow the "SD Upgrade Tutorial:" I select the "update from ext" and after selecting the file I get the failed messages shown in screenshot.' Just saw this article at http://chinagadgetsreviews.blogspot....c-devices.html, it said that "You can simply use this method also just to update your Amlogic device firmware." Not sure it is worth a try?

[ToXiQ]

'When I place the firmware on SD card formated in fat32 and follow the "SD Upgrade Tutorial:" I select the "update from ext" and after selecting the file I get the failed messages shown in screenshot.' Just saw this article at http://chinagadgetsreviews.blogspot....c-devices.html, it said that "You can simply use this method also just to update your Amlogic device firmware." Not sure it is worth a try?

I readed the intruction, but the firmware we can download does not have "aml_autoscript, factory_update_param.aml, firmware.zip, recovery.img, u-boot.bin, unlock_autoscript" files in the zip? only an img file

[trotter]

'When I place the firmware on SD card formated in fat32 and follow the "SD Upgrade Tutorial:" I select the "update from ext" and after selecting the file I get the failed messages shown in screenshot.' Just saw this article at http://chinagadgetsreviews.blogspot....c-devices.html, it said that "You can simply use this method also just to update your Amlogic device firmware." Not sure it is worth a try?

Only problem I can see with that is no link for original s912 firmware to do it that way. You got a link? I've download so many versions lol

edit: Well I've had no luck so I've put in my public key to get acces to the amlogic repo. I hear it can be slow to get in tho

[renoman]

Disappointing to hear the initial reviews on performance of this box as mine just got shipped from Geekbuying. I hope these are all firmware related issues and will be improved within next couple of weeks.
Considering that H96PRO is also an identical box I am wondering if we can flash that firmware on R-BOX Pro if it is better developed.
bigal123 you may try that one and tell us if the box works better with that.

the image file size is identical for both boxes. most likely the only difference is the bootloader screen at the beginning.

[resansid]

the image file size is identical for both boxes. most likely the only difference is the bootloader screen at the beginning.

Thanks for comparing the files renoman. Question is who is the daredevil to try this and let us know if both are compatible.

[spfx]

I got one of these R-Box Pro 3G/16G boxes and i screwed around with it for several days...Ran into the SD card writing error, got all confused with the different dates on firmware, finally got all the errors when trying to flash the thing in recovery mode...etc. I got so pissed at it i came real close to smashing it with a sledge hammer and mailing it back to geekbuying. It gets way too hot as well! So i had ordered the MXQ Plus with 2G/16G and it came in a few days later...seems better made, ota update works with no problem, it gets hot too but not as hot as R-Box. If i were to recommend a 912 box i would have to say get the MXQ Plus instead of the R-Box. I am gonna spend some more time with the R-Box one day soon but sometimes with these boxes the best thing to do is walk away for a day or two and then have another go at it! Not sure if i am gonna keep the R-Box until i mess with it some more....good luck to you if you bought one of these!

[trotter]

I got one of these R-Box Pro 3G/16G boxes and i screwed around with it for several days...Ran into the SD card writing error, got all confused with the different dates on firmware, finally got all the errors when trying to flash the thing in recovery mode...etc. I got so pissed at it i came real close to smashing it with a sledge hammer and mailing it back to geekbuying. It gets way too hot as well! So i had ordered the MXQ Plus with 2G/16G and it came in a few days later...seems better made, ota update works with no problem, it gets hot too but not as hot as R-Box. If i were to recommend a 912 box i would have to say get the MXQ Plus instead of the R-Box. I am gonna spend some more time with the R-Box one day soon but sometimes with these boxes the best thing to do is walk away for a day or two and then have another go at it! Not sure if i am gonna keep the R-Box until i mess with it some more....good luck to you if you bought one of these!

Thanks you made me proper lol I tend to end up hitting things before the idea of sending it back. Plus oversea posting scars me so I think it will go missing sending it back lol
My next box I'm going to buy from somewhere with a collecting service like Amazon. You seem to have a little better luck than me tho, Geekbuying would never return my emails even when I used paypal to send them a msg. Going to stick with what I trust next time and buy from Amazon with there grate return policy and live chat for after sales.

[idemo]

I have 2 of these now and have had no issues. I have also tried the T95U ad the T95X pro , but the Rbox is quicker and more responsive.... No issues that I have found at all so far except that I hate the launcher/home page.... I much prefer the one on the T95U which seems to be a takeoff of the old HPH launcher. I'd like to be able to put the T95U launcher on the Rbox, but firmware updating has not been an issue with the USB burning tool to me. I've been dealing with the factory on purchasing these, but want the firmware modified to change the launcher, boot video and add about a dozen apk files. Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge or ability to do this. Is there anyone who can be paid for this service? The Factory says they're too busy to do it although they've done it for me in the past. I won't order anymore until I can get the firmware modded. Any help or the name of someone who can do this would be greatly appreciated.

[resansid]

Hi idemo! I am in the same boat as you. Box works fine except for the passthrough issues in kodi. I hate the home screen and the default launcher.
So I changed the launcher settings to launcher 3, which is the vanilla android skin. If you do happen to modify the skin it then let us know too.

[trotter]

I have 2 of these now and have had no issues. I have also tried the T95U ad the T95X pro , but the Rbox is quicker and more responsive.... No issues that I have found at all so far except that I hate the launcher/home page.... I much prefer the one on the T95U which seems to be a takeoff of the old HPH launcher. I'd like to be able to put the T95U launcher on the Rbox, but firmware updating has not been an issue with the USB burning tool to me. I've been dealing with the factory on purchasing these, but want the firmware modified to change the launcher, boot video and add about a dozen apk files. Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge or ability to do this. Is there anyone who can be paid for this service? The Factory says they're too busy to do it although they've done it for me in the past. I won't order anymore until I can get the firmware modded. Any help or the name of someone who can do this would be greatly appreciated.

There is a tool for adding and removing stuff "amlogic customization tool". Not did any proper testing with it myself yet. But I still not found a working update to play about with. The launcher is just like an app comes in the form of an apk, so shouldn't be to hard to pull from there rom. I personally not found any launcher to work for my needs of being a tv entertament device. So me being mostly in Kodi, well SPMC really, I decided to use the Kodi/spmc launcher with the Titan skin. You can pimp the hell out of the Titan skin including android navagtion/links to apps. So maybe you could do the same sort of thing. I don't think people know how customizable Kodi can be. I been using it donky years and only now starting to pimp it lol

Hi idemo! I am in the same boat as you. Box works fine except for the passthrough issues in kodi. I hate the home screen and the default launcher.
So I changed the launcher settings to launcher 3, which is the vanilla android skin. If you do happen to modify the skin it then let us know too.

I have managed to get stutter free Dolby D over my lan, still none of the others tho and my Av receiver can decode DTS HD and True HD fine from PC. I have added to my build.prop

media.stagefright.enable-player=true
media.stagefright.enable-meta=true
media.stagefright.enable-scan=true
media.stagefright.enable-http=true
media.stagefright.enable-rtsp=true
media.stagefright.enable-record=false

setprop net.tcp.buffersize.default  4096,87380,110208,4096,16384,110208
setprop net.tcp.buffersize.wifi     524288,1048576,2097152,262144,524288,1048576
setprop net.tcp.buffersize.ethernet 524288,2097152,4194304,524288,2097152,4194304

The first part is to boost streaming and the second part is more raw network speeds via buffers. I don't fully understand them so google if you want more info on them.

In my advancedsettings.xml for SPMC I have added

  <network>
    <buffermode>1</buffermode>
    <cachemembuffersize>139460608</cachemembuffersize>
    <readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
  </network>
  <pvr>
    <minvideocachelevel>5</minvideocachelevel>
    <minaudiocachelevel>10</minaudiocachelevel>
    <cacheindvdplayer>true</cacheindvdplayer>
  </pvr>

To get Kodi to buffer a lot more, as we got plenty of ram to spare. More info on that over on the Kodi wiki.
Path to the file if using SPMC direct from android store.

/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

Also in the SPMC settings>system>Audio output, I'm using RAW Passthrough as the device.

I'm using the plexconnct to serve the media. With that there is an option to have direct paths to Samba shares(windows) and NFS(linux/mac) or the normal plex way of http.
I tested all options due to having both setup on my server. http was the best oddly and samba after that :O NFS to just chocked.
That was using SPMCs own network browser so might have better luck with NFS if mounted within androids filesystem.


Edit and now I have updated it. see here

[idemo]

What I have used on all of my units is the plain Jane HPH launcher which is also used by RikoMagic in a more colorful presentation that I like a lot and the new T95U in a looser form. I can easily install it on any unit and mark it as the default launcher, but would prefer to be able to have it in the firmware and remove the junky launcher it now has. As to my boot image and video.. I have them on other devices in my firmware, but the factory did it for me. I can easily add all of this to one unit, but would like to be able then to save it as firmware and then load it to as many units as I want to as I now do with my X96's and I68's. This time though the factory reps are saying that they are so busy with new orders and ramping up their production lines that they don't have time for a "small timer" like me who only orders 20-50 units at a time. They'll do it for Tronsmart as well as give them their own case, but they're also ordering thousands of units at a time. I'm a little guy who designed and built satellite programmers years ago and although I understood them fine I'm a hardware person and not nearly as good with software programming. I will definitely check out that Amlogic Customization tool though. Thank you for the suggestion. In the meantime if anyone can do some mild firmware mods and save them as an update I would certainly be happy to donate to their favorite charity...namely themselves!lol The factories that are willing to do the firmware mods are not those of the units that I particularly want. I like the performance of the Sunvell hex shaped unit and even it's launcher is OK, but I simply don't like the shape of it! To me it looks cheap. I prefer a simple clean design.. The I68 was perfect for that and although the I68II is going to be the same as these other S912 units they're the ones too busy to for the firmware mods for me. They own Beelink and supply Tronsmart and Riko... They're simply too busy making big money from others. If a name comes to mind from anyone please post or message me!

[trotter]

What I have used on all of my units is the plain Jane HPH launcher which is also used by RikoMagic in a more colorful presentation that I like a lot and the new T95U in a looser form. I can easily install it on any unit and mark it as the default launcher, but would prefer to be able to have it in the firmware and remove the junky launcher it now has. As to my boot image and video.. I have them on other devices in my firmware, but the factory did it for me. I can easily add all of this to one unit, but would like to be able then to save it as firmware and then load it to as many units as I want to as I now do with my X96's and I68's. This time though the factory reps are saying that they are so busy with new orders and ramping up their production lines that they don't have time for a "small timer" like me who only orders 20-50 units at a time. They'll do it for Tronsmart as well as give them their own case, but they're also ordering thousands of units at a time. I'm a little guy who designed and built satellite programmers years ago and although I understood them fine I'm a hardware person and not nearly as good with software programming. I will definitely check out that Amlogic Customization tool though. Thank you for the suggestion. In the meantime if anyone can do some mild firmware mods and save them as an update I would certainly be happy to donate to their favorite charity...namely themselves!lol The factories that are willing to do the firmware mods are not those of the units that I particularly want. I like the performance of the Sunvell hex shaped unit and even it's launcher is OK, but I simply don't like the shape of it! To me it looks cheap. I prefer a simple clean design.. The I68 was perfect for that and although the I68II is going to be the same as these other S912 units they're the ones too busy to for the firmware mods for me. They own Beelink and supply Tronsmart and Riko... They're simply too busy making big money from others. If a name comes to mind from anyone please post or message me!

Drop me a link to firmware you say is best. I'll make the changes so that it works on this box, well try lol

I need to flash some thing else and you seemed to have done some testing. I've looked at the tool some more now and it seems quite easy, just not got an idea of what firmware to try.

I'm looking at ubuntu core as well, but I get side tracked easy.

[trotter]

My first go lol

Added xspossed to the latest update, made some changes to build.prop and added/removed some apks. Going to add proper supersu and maybe go systemless for both xspossed and supersu in next update.
If any one wants to test unpack and install with the tool.

Edit fixed access so that any one can grab with out the need to login. Thought i did it right

netflix still no work with the version I added and 3c toolbox xspossed module crashes boo. But did pimp and add nav bar using the Xstana mod and added full date/day to the status bar using the status bar [text] mod.