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

[shazbot]

As soon as it powers on it goes straight to a fixed red light. Was working perfectly, flashed it with wrong firmware and now nada, no blue lights at all.

[goldorak]

hello. i need some help with my mx box, after flashing with matricom 1.1.6, i have no signal and red solid led light. i attached a picture of the pcu. anyone can tell me how to unbrick the box. i tried with mx bootrecovery but did not work. thanks for any suggestion

[kerikhaos]

As soon as it powers on it goes straight to a fixed red light. Was working perfectly, flashed it with wrong firmware and now nada, no blue lights at all.

im sure from just a wrong firmware you have not damaged the board, have you tried the magic sd ard technique first? if yes have you tried he boot cleaner files created by a user on this forum a few pages back? This attempts to scrub the NAND without the use of the UART connection.

if you have tried all the above with no results then im afraid you are only left for someone to revive your box with UART method. I can happily do this for you but you will need to ship me just the black box (recorded delivery for insurance)

[kerikhaos]

hello. i need some help with my mx box, after flashing with matricom 1.1.6, i have no signal and red solid led light. i attached a picture of the pcu. anyone can tell me how to unbrick the box. i tried with mx bootrecovery but did not work. thanks for any suggestion

a very old board version of the MX series but I can see it has also the UART connection located in the center of the board. As my statement above from last user - red means bad firmware sent the box does not even understand the remote commands to turn on. Its most likely it will need to be UARTed if you have already tried proposed easy methods I mentioned above

[kerikhaos]

UART - Alternative locations

ok it was my mission the other day to attempt locating an alternative set of areas which we could connect to UART if in case the original points of contact were either damaged or cut.

With careful examination the trace lines are extremely thin and seem to follow through directly to a specific set of contacts at the legs of the NAND chip (located below the heatsink).

The only way so far to recreate these contacts were to scrape carefully over the trace lines which follow to the NAND and with real careful soldering attach connectors off these traces to the UART serial connector.

Not an easy job and even I struggled to get a firm and correct connection on these rails as they are so thin. For obvious reasons regarding lack of time in my schedule - I was wondering if there are any electrical literate people in this forum who can also spend some time to find alternative points for these UART connections located on the board.

Basically we want to find out as many points on the board we can tap in to for recovery reasons for people who have had unfortunate electrical instances with their boxes causing some contacts to break or burn out completely.

Any help here will be deeply appreciated

the same research is being put into the bigger brother of the MX2 also the M8/M8N/M8S

Thanks in adance

https://www.vectordroid.com

[goldorak]

a very old board version of the MX series but I can see it has also the UART connection located in the center of the board. As my statement above from last user - red means bad firmware sent the box does not even understand the remote commands to turn on. Its most likely it will need to be UARTed if you have already tried proposed easy methods I mentioned above

kerikhaos I will try the nand scrub and let you know. I was trying to get Openelec installed on the box. I usually install 1.1.6 matricom > openelec. If by any chance i am able to recover the box, do you know which firmware should i use to get openelec installed on the this kind of board? thanks for all your help

[kerikhaos]

kerikhaos I will try the nand scrub and let you know. I was trying to get Openelec installed on the box. I usually install 1.1.6 matricom > openelec. If by any chance i am able to recover the box, do you know which firmware should i use to get openelec installed on the this kind of board? thanks for all your help

best route to take which i have found (and many hours went into this believe me) is to first establish what firmware the box had on it before. Was it original matricom or the chinese MBOX firmware. There could be other cheaper firmwares on this board such as Trend android etc). If you had a non official matricom fw (bennibenassi recovery matricom does not count) then your system must take the unofficial route to openelec.

This means you will need an older mbox firmware (use to be hosted on acemax website - links somewhere in previous pages) which was i think dated 201404. Use toothpic to recover to this first. The toothpic to upgrade to official matricom 1.1.5 (not benni files the original 3x fw files). toothpic method go into recovery and clear cache and then wipe data recovery - do this a few times. The place official matricom fw 1.1.6 on root od sd and toothpic recovery to this fw. Should be successful. Go into matricom fw and check storage....int settings.....if disk space shows 4/5GB used then the partitions are correct and you can proceed to next step.

I have not been able to just directly to openelec 5.0.3 i first need to jump to the previous stable version of openelec via toothpic method then access openelec from samba (network) and place the upgrade fw of openelec 5.0.3.tar in the upgrade folder of MX2 openelelec and then reboot. The box should auto upgrade to the newest openelec and be ready for your customisations

there is a more detailed thread about 8-12 pages back where i describe the downgrade then upgrade process to openelec if the above is too vague

good luck

[node]

UART - Alternative locations

ok it was my mission the other day to attempt locating an alternative set of areas which we could connect to UART if in case the original points of contact were either damaged or cut.

With careful examination the trace lines are extremely thin and seem to follow through directly to a specific set of contacts at the legs of the NAND chip (located below the heatsink).

The only way so far to recreate these contacts were to scrape carefully over the trace lines which follow to the NAND and with real careful soldering attach connectors off these traces to the UART serial connector.

Not an easy job and even I struggled to get a firm and correct connection on these rails as they are so thin. For obvious reasons regarding lack of time in my schedule - I was wondering if there are any electrical literate people in this forum who can also spend some time to find alternative points for these UART connections located on the board.

Basically we want to find out as many points on the board we can tap in to for recovery reasons for people who have had unfortunate electrical instances with their boxes causing some contacts to break or burn out completely.

Any help here will be deeply appreciated

the same research is being put into the bigger brother of the MX2 also the M8/M8N/M8S

Thanks in adance

https://www.vectordroid.com

Hey Kerikhaos; I am with you on this one. I too damage the tracing on the UART TX line on the MX box and I have no way of making a good contact to attached the TX line too. Any luck on finding the alternative point to tap off from for the TX?

If I find it will post, in the mean time I keep looking.

[kerikhaos]

this is what i have found so far........

on the board facing UART Connections at the bottom side......

O O O []
________

from left to right

RXD - TXD - O - GND

I have found a few things but it will be almost impossible to solder directly because the end points are traced directly to the NAND CHIP under the heatsink

these are pins 6 and pins 1 are connected to the RX and TX........i tried scraping the trace lines but again we are talking micro size soldering jobs which needs a very steady hand and a lot of soldering experience from someone who works on micro PCB boards regularly.

I am still looking for alternative areas but i dont think we will find them since the traces go directly the the nand chip

[node]

I have found a Rx point, as it is just in front of the GRD connection on one side of a cap or resistor. Again as you said it is a very dedicate job, I think paste than solder is best. The Tx is really hard if I had another board I might be able to find that point, but since mines is gone, it is very difficult. If someone has this board would appreciate if they can tell us where we can tap off for the Tx line. Will keep searching.

[kerikhaos]

I have found a Rx point, as it is just in front of the GRD connection on one side of a cap or resistor. Again as you said it is a very dedicate job, I think paste than solder is best. The Tx is really hard if I had another board I might be able to find that point, but since mines is gone, it is very difficult. If someone has this board would appreciate if they can tell us where we can tap off for the Tx line. Will keep searching.

likewise, I will keep looking also and hope there is another point for that contact even though from what I have analyzed so far its very unlikely

[kerikhaos]

In the next week www.vectordroid.com will begin sharing fully loaded - pre programmed IPTV kodi config packages for your viewing pleasure. These updates will mean manual copy pasting in to the specific android directory before using but once complete the kodi platform will be transformed into a super hub for entertainment.

These updates will be free and compatible for most android boxes with a good spec.

once ready I will post links on the forum where to gain access for the download

:-)

[node]

In the next week www.vectordroid.com will begin sharing fully loaded - pre programmed IPTV kodi config packages for your viewing pleasure. These updates will mean manual copy pasting in to the specific android directory before using but once complete the kodi platform will be transformed into a super hub for entertainment.

These updates will be free and compatible for most android boxes with a good spec.

once ready I will post links on the forum where to gain access for the download

:-)

Will it work on boxes loaded with "OpenELEC" Kerikhaos?

[kerikhaos]

Will it work on boxes loaded with "OpenELEC" Kerikhaos?

it will also work for openelec systems because there will be custom packs created for this platform also - onbviously these will be open for imporivement once the vectordroid forums begin filling up with MX2 and M8 enthusiasts suggesting how to make these updates better

[kerikhaos]

VECTORDROID FORUMS NOW OPEN

Ok guys just a quick message to inform you all that our official forum has now opened and ready to sign new users into its database. Remember to gain access to the various MX2 /M8 firmware and fully loaded pre-configured kodi pack you must register first.

In the next day the first fully loaded kodi package for android usser will be loaded up as well as the extra components needed to gain access to the p2p addon.

http://www.vectordroid.com/vectordroidforums/

please register introduce yourselves and lets start sharing all the developement for these amazing boxes - see you there