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**thesawolf** · 10 July 2013, 06:11

Everybody definitely has different experiences and I feel your pain. I just got my MK908 recently and despite a heat issue that I already resolved (in another post), I've had bare minimum problems with my particular unit. Stock rom wasn't great, that's for sure, but nowhere near the experience it sounds like you are having (and I've installed finless 1.5 via Windows8 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit without much trouble.. and can only give the following advice regarding that if your problem is getting the flash tool into "Found RKAndroid Mass Storage USB". Make sure to follow the instructions and then make sure you have the USB cord in the OTG port only with NO SDcard in and then make sure you go into Settings -> Storage -> click the ... menu in the upper right corner and select "USB computer connection" and choose "Mass Storage" instead of "Media (MTP)". Might help you some (that's the only place I ran into trouble). Other than that, the stock rom experience is never really a good thing.. especially on these AMPs and there have already been 2 stock updates in the past 30 days (06/14 and 07/04). It is advised by many (including myself) to go with a Finless ROM for now. That will definitely change your experience to a slightly more favourable status. Regardless, sorry you had so many troubles. G'luck.

**marcelv** · 10 July 2013, 08:23

Originally posted by bcrawl View Post

Also, I have a Windows 8 with USB3, I couldnot get Finless Rom installed. No dice. So its like, Frustration on top of everything. So if u r in a position like me with no Windows 7 with USB2 ports, please avoid this device and everything like. Because the headache is not worth it.

These devices indeed can be a pain in the neck.
I had similar experience as you. What I found on my 2 laptops (1x win8, 1x win7) that only a single USB port was able to detect the unit, in all other USB ports it failed. Don't know why, I can only think of that this has to do with the power output level.

I think you could re-try to flash firmware with your device in the other USB ports.

**leolas** · 10 July 2013, 11:07

Your windows 8 unit doesn't have a 2.0 usb port? all of them are 3.0?

I am using windows 8 and ubuntu 13.04 and no mayor problems with them

But my desktop doesnt had USB3.0

**bcrawl** · 10 July 2013, 17:24

Hey guys,

Thanks for the kind words. I was maddd last night after wasting 3 hours on it so I went on rant mode.

I guess I will try again to install Finless as suggested by thesawolf.

My laptop recently died and I moved to a new place and I got rid of my desktop.

So I have a Dell XPS 12 which is is this touch screen tablety windows laptop. Sounded good at the time but has like one 3.0 USB and no ethernet or HDMI out. Maybe 2 USB ports but still both or 3.0.

Anyways, I will see if I can borrow someone else laptop and see if it works on it.

Anyhoo....Appreciate the kind words guys!

**hoabycsr** · 11 July 2013, 02:35

Originally posted by bcrawl View Post

Hey guys,

Thanks for the kind words. I was maddd last night after wasting 3 hours on it so I went on rant mode.

I guess I will try again to install Finless as suggested by thesawolf.

My laptop recently died and I moved to a new place and I got rid of my desktop.

So I have a Dell XPS 12 which is is this touch screen tablety windows laptop. Sounded good at the time but has like one 3.0 USB and no ethernet or HDMI out. Maybe 2 USB ports but still both or 3.0.

Anyways, I will see if I can borrow someone else laptop and see if it works on it.

Anyhoo....Appreciate the kind words guys!

Make sure to check the flash utility config file. There's an option in there that is listed as usb11 or something like that and you may have to change it to the opposite value..

**aakaash007** · 11 July 2013, 11:20

Hi there ..it's not all too bad !

Originally posted by bcrawl View Post

I really did not want to whine about this purchase but since no one really gave any caution on any website, before I made the purchase, my intent is to post this thread for public good.

My use case was to use youtube on this device. Thats it. No XMBC, No Netflix, No Games, No over the top demands. Just stream googles youtube on googles android on a device made to be working for that os. thats all.

Imagine, stock android app, with no additional drama what so ever and just use youtube. thats all i wanted.

Like you would on your phone / tablet.

I was unable to install finless rom. That is for another post.

Youtube on the stock rom given by tronsmart 4.2 sucks.

Now, I understand, it could be actually google problem because my phone / tablet has buffering issues, [who would have thought that google which owns youtube will stutter it for its own devices. wtf....just ridiculous, ] but this device is just useless.

It just buffers everytime, like useless variety, just buffering and when its not buffering it shuts down.

This is Tronsmart and Google together just pissing me off.... If Rockchip or whoever needs to release drivers, I dont know. Currently, I am guessing there is no support for video drivers. period. I have no idea why these tronsmart idiots picked this chip...and if its the only chip possible for them...why release? Oh wait...they just want to mint our money by making idiotic promises since we are so stupid.

So, I have no clue if you want to stream movies with just an android player or through XMBC or whatever, but be careful.

This device is useless. No one is asking for Apple quality products, but in this age, we expect frustration free stuff when Apple TV costs 100 bucks. Seriously...

Also, I have a Windows 8 with USB3, I couldnot get Finless Rom installed. No dice. So its like, Frustration on top of everything. So if u r in a position like me with no Windows 7 with USB2 ports, please avoid this device and everything like. Because the headache is not worth it.

I paid 90 bucks. For another 100 bucks, I could have gotten a used desktop and made my TV smarter which worked. or just build a uber powered rasppi.

/sorry for rant but its for everyone like me who is thinking for similar use case.

I have been there ....so i guess i know your frustration

Please try to install Finless 1.5 or 1.5A Rom. They are the best and most feature full Roms out there.

I had most of the same problems as mentioned in the different posts here.

I settled with Plex which is very good though.

All plex versions are not similar.The version i got from play store didnt work after all hard work .

So i had to go to Amazon app store to get there version which was fine up until yesterday.Now the new version is not working except in external display mode. I am using mx player with external display mode for that at the moment.

Also heat issue ,which caused system to crash,reboot ,stuck and frozen at times even with finless 1.5.
Now i am using resolution at 480p.I came down to 720p before which didnt help at many times .

Lastly bluetooth, my apple touch pad,magic mouse and keyboards will pair with the device but wont connect.so at present i am using wirelss mouse or wired mouse

tried to install finless 1.5a but didnt work for me .BUt i am happy with finless 1.5 at the moment which allows me install all most all apps without incompatibility warning (thanks to him again for such a wonderful work and sharing)

Hope this will help you feel better. I am a novice and just like new gadgets

NB: I installed finless using windows 8 ,64 bit os
some usb's wont recognise but go to device manager
find rockbus chip and install drivers
follow exactly as Read Me text file tells you .It will work

**ilan316** · 13 July 2013, 10:51

Im also Upset with the item,
Returning it back

Is there other item as alternative ?

**bobinh2otown** · 13 July 2013, 11:42

Lmao.

How can anyone be happy when it does not preform, It studders on videos,bluetooth does not work. And talking about features? There is no features in these roms what so ever. They are standard android operating system that has been modified to supposely work with these cheap chinese units.
I also hear people say oh they are great at the price, No you do not know what your talking about with components. alot of these so called issues are people making excuses that it half ass works.
Read the reviews, they are always trying to coverup the devices serious problems.
I contacted the attorney general on this because I feel douped and see how reviews and others are trying to sweeten whats wrong with most all rockchip android stick devices with quad cores.

plus 3 months or so now waiting for fixes that should have been corrected before they were even sold.
Everytime someone says something bad there is another that sticks up for these crap in a box. And to me they always have the same language ,lingo and wording ....Could they be within the same person trying to cover ass? Id say 50 percent of it is...How can anyone give the t428 five stars on review when it does not even do whats suppose too. and knowing my fair biased review that brings up the flaws has not been posted adds to the manipulation. Its too much of a coincidence !!!

**thesawolf** · 13 July 2013, 13:18

Each to his/her own. You are entitled to your opinion as much as I am to mine. If you feel that you've been cheated, then you should absolutely do something. I, however, knew what I was getting into with foreign mass-produced products. I got my MK908 for around 75$. For a quad-core, up to 1.8GHz unit with 2GB of RAM that (sadly) has the specs that could potentially output more than my old Acer Aspire 5720Z laptop that I use for development work or my Acer Iconia Tab A500 that I use for e-reading and school. I've been building computers for almost 20 years and for a price point on components and features, it is worth it and honestly I have no idea where you are coming from saying that "I also hear people say oh they are great at the price, No you do not know what your talking about with components". Especially when you break it down:

A Quad-core AMD Phenom X4 1.8GHz CPU can run for around 40$ USD,
an ATI Radeon of comparable GPU power can go for 30-40$ USD still,
a 2 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM can run about $15-20 still
and that's not including the mobo's incredibly small form-factor with 3 USB ports and HDMI-out.

That's a total of about $85-100 for basic components alone. I've built HTPC's before and the average cost of one with comparable performance usually would run around 150-200$. I don't know about you, but math-wise, I still see savings.

Now I mentioned that it could potentially output more than my other devices. It has some severe issues with unoptimized software; I agree wholeheartedly. That's really in part due to Rockchip's non-compliance to the open source licenses. Alot of their stuff could be optimized with some community support. In the meantime, pretty crappy OEM roms get put out. Finless has done an excellent job remastering those OEM roms with his fixes and extra things. And others have been working on better kernels and ROM's with recently leaked sources. But things are unfortunately going to be slow to release due to having to work with what we are dealt with.

Now, for the average consumer, things should just work is a very understandable motto. But the AMP market really isn't something the average consumer delves in. Otherwise, you'd be walking up to your local Best Buy or Wal-mart and buying them in-store. Chances are you bought it via a foreign online presence, most likely based out of China, or through an online reseller that bought it in bulk and resold the hell out of them. You are not the average consumer. I know I'm not the average consumer. I researched these things and knew that there were issues with them. I like to tinker, with both hardware and software.

Thankfully, I have only experienced a few of the issues that people have reported with some of their devices. Finless' current ROM helped alot with my problems out of the gate and I'm sure if he were able to make another ROM with one of the current Tronsmart ROM's that it would help some folks with some bluetooth issue that people are reporting. I experienced a little bit of bluetooth issues. I personally noticed that if I had WiFi up and turned on Bluetooth, WiFi would drop or degrade in performance, but eventually would reconnect. This is most likely due to the dual wifi/bt on one chip and poorly worked interrupt polling code. Supposedly the latest Tronsmart ROM fixes that for my unit. /shrug. I worked around it for now.

I experienced issues with WiFi at one point where connection speed degraded dramatically and was able to isolate it to my wireless keyboard/mouse combo that was overzealously hogging 2.4GHz frequencies. I found that putting that device on a USB hub that stood a little a way from my MK908 helped that since plugging it up directly with the USB ports put it into too close a proximity.

I ran into overheating issues when running 720p/1080p content. I knew this was going to happen because of the passive cooling nature of the AMPs. I modded my unit with heatsink and cooling fans and have absolutely NO heating issues. Currently I've been working on some kernels for my MK908 and have been having favourable results.

I have had experience working with phones and tablets in the past (Motorola Backflip, Samsung Epic 4G, Skytex Skypad Alpha 2, Acer Iconia Tab A500) and usually work with CyanogenMod and AOKP and am currently working on a build for MK908's. Regardless of that, I still use Finless's 1.5 ROM on my MK908 running XBMC (XAF android version using MX Player and Archos player as external players) connected to a CIFS mounted 4TB media library over my Wireless-N network on the other side of the house playing on my 50" Vizio TV via the 720p kernel (for performance). I've played both 720p and 1080p content with minimal issues. I say MINIMAL because they are just that. If I wanted flawless video streaming, I'd stick with my HTPC. I see the potential for flawless streaming with these powerless little suckers once things can get properly optimized (which I'm hoping to make happen via my own coding work and the help of others working in the open source community).

Everybody's experience with these devices are different for different reasons. Sorry to hear that the last 2 posters (and others) had bad experiences. "Everytime someone says something bad there is another that sticks up for these crap in a box." That would be like Newton's third law in that there is an equal and opposite reaction. Consider this the positive reaction to your negative reaction. I like these AMP's. No.. they aren't perfect, I was an informed consumer before stepping into this world. Thanks to freaktab.com, arctablets.com, Finless, SomecoolTech (Rivers) on Youtube for helping me be that way. And reviews on Aliexpress and Geekbuying are a bit biased for certain, that's why I was looking at reviews from folks on Amazon for a better insight. Putting aside the ignorant reviews from some folks, I was able to ascertain the viability of the various devices. I had originally wanted the T428 (mainly for the dual wifi bands) but decided against it due to the fact that it was just too damn new. The MK808's used to work like utter crap until the software has finally been fine-tuned to be nice little workhorses capable of easily handling 720p/1080p content. From a hardware standard, these new quad-core units are twice the machine as the MK808's but in the same state as the MK808's when they first came out. These units are the new MK808's. They just need some software love and they'll grow to be awesome beasts. Looking at the current hardware track, we probably won't see anything faster or more robust spec-wise for awhile. Maybe some faster CPU speeds or alternative GPU.. maybe more than 2GB ram. Other than that.. not much else on the horizon with SoC devices and by then, we'll probably start seeing devices with beefier heatsinks and/or cooling fans or a market shift towards more set-top boxes with these SoC's (like the G-Box Midnight 2, etc.) since the AMP form-factor isn't going to cut it with passive cooling and higher performance content and components.

Good luck in your endeavours. The grass IS greener on the other side, sometimes. I'm happy in my pasture, atm.

**bobinh2otown** · 13 July 2013, 14:28

Ouya.

quad core jelly bean 4.2 almost/around same specs and everything works.
Bluetooth 3.0 and controller at that.
Same price what I paid for the t428
mmmmk

**thesawolf** · 13 July 2013, 15:08

I have the Ouya (kickstarter supporter here) and it is designed more as a set-top box/gaming unit. AND It has it's fair share of issues too. Thankfully the open nature of it has been making it easier to work with. It's definitely needing more work in the media player side of things (external player version of XBMC works well enough and libstagefright version is coming along slowly but surely). But it works well enough out of the box as a gaming unit and thats probably why Best Buy carries it. The open nature of it too means development is rolling along with community support. But first and foremost, Ouya was designed as a gaming console. Media playing and the other features you can tap into because of android was an afterthought. Graphics performance isn't all that great especially with the Tegra3 in it (still needs more tinkering with, it seems) The controller is fairly cheaply made and I barely use it. It has LOTS of potential too.. (hence why I kickstarter supported it) And yes, it's around 100 USD.. where did you get your T428? It's still around 20 USD less most places and it's market niche is an AMP (Android Mini-PC).. It's supposed to be all-around functional.. and in some ways, it is. I enjoy my Ouya and I'm sure you are too.. but at the same time.. I'm enjoying my MK908.. sorry you don't like your T428. They each have there pro's and con's. You found more con's to your particular needs and styles with your T428. Let's leave it at that, shall we?

**peety** · 13 July 2013, 20:18

Leaving it here.

Thank you bobinh20town. I can not agree with everything you said. However the comment about some of the reviews is absolute truth. These devices are being sold at the largest on-line retailer in the world. Avarage consumers are purchasing them.
The same farce is happening there.

**bobinh2otown** · 13 July 2013, 23:09

I am a kickstart backer also and developer. What type of issues are they having with ouya? I think its preformance is 10 fold of the this stick or the t428. Who really cares about stats and whatever numbers when it cannot deliver. Everything thats going on with ouya is nothing really hardware related.

I gave ouya as a example as being 100 dollars what the t428 was and I paided for and around the same sorta hardware with a controller. . Also you can put google store on it, download almost any program and run it to a extent without studders and video preformance issues..

And tronsmart is a company that supposely made already how many diffrent models and makes before ouya.

Anyways 100 dollars for each a ouya and a t428 when it was 99 dollars but now they been jacked down 20 bucks or so....I will never give rockchip thumbs up no excuses when it should play a simple avi video without studders who cares the numbers mean crap. . I laugh when you guys say hey I got this benchmark or that with antutu ... Its like Are your serious.....does it rreally matter when there is major flaws in the software/hardware integration. I mean common it cannot even play a netflix sd movie or run bluetooth and wifi at the same time.... sorry thats the truth and it suxs saying it, If I would have found this site before my purchase I wouldnt have even be ranting, but since I have a 100 dollar paperweight I will continue my visits once inwhile and complain cause its still flawed when it wasnt even mentioned in any reviews or by the so called seller who knew and tried to find ways of delaying refunds and excuses for. 4 times I was told wait for the software update and then it was too late...your stuck with a device that might never get fixed... anyways ...I feel douped and know I was on this purchased. I never worked with chinese devices in the past and probably wont in the future if this is how its done, i HEAR so many say oh cause its new your gonna have problems...no you shouldnt to this extent..
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