Solution for stuck in Android load AML8726-MX Dual Core TV Box Android 4.2.2

[folgersoldier]

Cant get to recovery

Hi all,

I seem to have bricked my MX, its a V2.22 ordered from ali express. I tried to flash the matricom 1.17 firmware to it from an SD Card. I think maybe the problem is I tried to flash over Linux, but im really not sure.

Now I have only a blue light and a blank screen. Ive tried multiple recovery SD but it seems like I never get into recovery ie never see droid icon or any activity, led or on screen.

Does shorting the nand pins work is that smoke and mirrors?

can someone point me in the right direction to begin figuring out how to flash this over a cable, I seem to have run into a brick wall. perhaps I am not using the right search terms. from what I have been reading it seems like maybe I can go through the usb port 1 by the av hole or soldering onto the uart connections inside but I can seem to find enough info on the process.

thx in advance,
Jason

[folgersoldier]

A little more information

A little more info, I had tried puertorikos downloads and bennis hd portal sd creator solution. I tried to download the acemax iptv 18 firmware but gave up due to the hijackers the download server tried to install on my browser, grrrr.

just got frustrated typing this all in as it seems somehow whenever the droid box is plugged in it destroys my wifi network, maybe its just in my head.

[folgersoldier]

usb cable

I dug out a USB male to male cable i had, should be able to hook that up later today. If there is anything specific i should be trying to find out with that please let me know. Also one other thing I have been making the SD card from windows 8 on my laptop. It doesnt give me any errors when it creates it but is there something its not doing correctly as I see some posts about windows XP but they are not clear as to what situation requires XP.

Thx in advance,
Jason

[paulschalkwijk]

can't get to recovery

Just like Jason, I can't reach recovery either. Last firmware I flashed was midnight 1.1.8, and it appeared to be working fine, except for not heaving xbmc installed. I then tried flashing 1.15 and up, and somewhere in the process everything went horribly wrong. I've tried almost every recovery method and flashing the stock firmware, Benny's super-fixer-firmware and all.

Are there any options left, or is the best I can do just order a new one.

Jason, has using an usb male-to-male done you any good? i read about flashing using adb shell somewhere, but don't have a male-to-male to try it.

could I use adb shell from a tablet? (i do have a lot of usb->mini connection cables )

Kind regards,

Paul Schalkwijk

[paulschalkwijk]

made it to recovery

Jason, using this thread:

http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/95977-howto-create-a-rescue-sd-card-for-pretty-much-every-amlogic-8726-mx-device/

I can now boot into recovery. installing anything has not yet worked.

I used the sdcardmaker.exe and u-boot.bin attached to make a bootable sd.

the dropdown-list is for the destination sd.
the browse button is for selection u-boot.bin.
selecting the middle box gives the option to format the sd.

[SuperNova]

New version MX2 box

New MX2 box flash problem Mark as best answer
Hello, I have just bought a new MX2 box from Ali-Express which seems significantly different to another 2013 MX2 box that I have.

The specific MX2 box has the following characteristics :

Model Nº: MBX ref board (g18ref)
Kernel version: 3.0.50 cafuc.computer@gmail#1 Wed Mar 1917:53:55 CST 2014
Build Nº: JDQ39.20140319

I tried to flash this new box with a ClockworkMod SD card with an A9 package that the older box is using.
Firstly with the SD card inserted using the toothpick method, the box will not boot to hidden menu, just a blank grey screen.

With the SD card removed and again with the toothpick method the hidden menu appears. I did the usual "Wipedata/factory reset" and then selected "Yes delete all user data", however the return menu did not have "Backup and restore". The only applicable option was to "Install update from SD card".
With the SD Card inserted it found ClockworkMod then Backup then the the file to be restored.
This is where it will go no further, just looping from backup to the restore name.

This backup/restore SD card works fine on the other 2013 MX2 box which has the same g18ref and 3.0.50 kernel.

If anyone is familiar with these new version MX2 boxes and can advise, I would be very grateful.

As an aside other differences are the remote control box is simpler, the AV and SPDIF have swapped places so the hidden button is accessed through the SPDIF port, and the ethernet socket is the upsidedown.

David.

[paulschalkwijk]

Got it working again!

Here's how I did it:

I created a bootable sd with this guide :

http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/95977-howto-create-a-rescue-sd-card-for-pretty-much-every-amlogic-8726-mx-device/

I used the u-boot.bin from the prometheus tronsmart firmware and SDcardMaker.exe (both attached to my previous post). EDIT: *here* a translated SDcardMaker.exe can be found.
It seems this tool can only be used in windows XP or XP mode (win 7). I'm not sure if this is entirely true. /EDIT
At this point i had an empty sd-card (made bootable for the box with SDcardMaker)

next I added the recovery.img from the tronsmart firmware to this sd-card.

I used the toothpick method to boot to recovery. this succeeded.

I took out the sd card and formatted it back to normal. (I used minitool partition wizard, most decent part. tools will suffice)
apparently firmware updates won't install from the bootable sd-card.

I copied the matricom 1.1.5 update to the fresh sd-card (factory_update_param.aml, mx2update.zip and recovery.img).

I changed factory_update_param.aml from

--update_package=/sdcard/mx2update.zip
--wipe_cache

to

--set_efuse_version="version=1,mach_id=0xb8e"--set_efuse_ethernet_mac
--wipe_data
--wipe_cache
--wipe_media
--update_package=/sdcard/mx2update.zip

as done by Benni

again use the toothpick method to boot, and the install starts.
wait for it to finish (with 2 errors, no harm done).
next I rebooted without the sd-card and voila! works like a charm.
I then used OTA update to update to 1.1.6, 1.1.7, and 1.1.8.
currently am rocking the new xbmc 13 beta4!

hope anyone can use this

[folgersoldier]

I will try your solutions and post back. I have ordered a uart cable and was waiting for that to come in before i Messed with it further but seeing as you have had success and have a similar board to mine (from aliexpress last month) ill give it a go

[servo386]

So is the consensus that the best rom for these generic MX2 box's is to simply use the latest Matricon FW?

Is there a thread/guide specifically about using matricom FW's on generic mx2s? I heard there is some kind of hw bypass that must be done.

[steliosg13]

hey guys..just flashed the matricom firmware using the img boot sd card method. all went well. i then updated to version 1.1.6 using the OTA updater.. went well.. i later turned off my device and turned it back on and i see nothing.. the device turns on and off with the remote.. but i see nothing on the tv! i cant get to recovery!any help is appreciated. i have an mx g18ref box by the way

[paulschalkwijk]

Re: Solution for stuck in Android load AML8726-MX Dual Core TV Box Android 4.2.2

hey guys..just flashed the matricom firmware using the img boot sd card method. all went well. i then updated to version 1.1.6 using the OTA updater.. went well.. i later turned off my device and turned it back on and i see nothing.. the device turns on and off with the remote.. but i see nothing on the tv! i cant get to recovery!any help is appreciated. i have an mx g18ref box by the way

The matricom site states the following.

There is a bug with the 1.1.5 -> 1.1.6 firmware migration where the display will turn off. In order to recover, you will have to reflash the box (sometimes the display does not come back up). Follow the reflashing procedure above, but when you turn the box on leave the toothpick in the A/V port for 60 seconds. If you still do not have a display, wait 10 minutes (as the box may be reflashing) and once it resets you should see the screen again.

Instead of reflashing 1.1.6, manually installing 1.1.7 should solve the problem as well.
Since the display may or may not come on, I advise waiting for resp. 60s and 10 minutes if the screen doesn't come on, as the box may be flashing.

Good luck!

Sent from my IfiveMini3 using Tapatalk

[steliosg13]

The matricom site states the following.

There is a bug with the 1.1.5 -> 1.1.6 firmware migration where the display will turn off. In order to recover, you will have to reflash the box (sometimes the display does not come back up). Follow the reflashing procedure above, but when you turn the box on leave the toothpick in the A/V port for 60 seconds. If you still do not have a display, wait 10 minutes (as the box may be reflashing) and once it resets you should see the screen again.

Instead of reflashing 1.1.6, manually installing 1.1.7 should solve the problem as well.
Since the display may or may not come on, I advise waiting for resp. 60s and 10 minutes if the screen doesn't come on, as the box may be flashing.

Good luck!

Sent from my IfiveMini3 using Tapatalk

thank you so much. i have connected the tv onto my AV receiver-amp and I could see it finally.i have reflashed and will update to 1.7 manually

[steliosg13]

The matricom site states the following.

There is a bug with the 1.1.5 -> 1.1.6 firmware migration where the display will turn off. In order to recover, you will have to reflash the box (sometimes the display does not come back up). Follow the reflashing procedure above, but when you turn the box on leave the toothpick in the A/V port for 60 seconds. If you still do not have a display, wait 10 minutes (as the box may be reflashing) and once it resets you should see the screen again.

Instead of reflashing 1.1.6, manually installing 1.1.7 should solve the problem as well.
Since the display may or may not come on, I advise waiting for resp. 60s and 10 minutes if the screen doesn't come on, as the box may be flashing.

Good luck!

Sent from my IfiveMini3 using Tapatalk

It seems that everything is working as it should but when I turn off and on the device there is no display..maybe its because it is not the gbox but just a g18ref MX device?

[krisbliz]

The same problem

It seems that everything is working as it should but when I turn off and on the device there is no display..maybe its because it is not the gbox but just a g18ref MX device?

Hi i have the same problem, i tried everything. When i flash the image from bennibenasi with matricom 1.1.5+ fw, everything is working ok, restart and so on. When i try ota update it downloads the image on my usb drive, but when it restarts says that installation is aborted. The next step i download original image from matricom site and i flash it on my g18ref device, everything works ok, but on next restart there is no picture. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[steliosg13]

+1 to the above.. everything is ok with the 1.1.5 image but not when I update it.. on next restart there is no display..