First, let me start by saying this is my first post and I'm only posting because I did not find this information ANYWHERE and I feel like it could help someone since this problem seems to be common on new revisions of Android-based TV Boxes.
So about a month ago, i bought a Nexbox A95X 1Gb ram/ 8Gb Storage. I liked it but it has some flaws, so I figured I'd just reflash it and get a new firmware that didn't have all the issues I was annoyed with. so I figured my methods are either Install TWRP, or just use a USB to USB cable and the Amlogic burn tool to flash the new firmware. I settled on the Latter, found a couple of Different roms on here that users said were compatible with my device and decided to give it a shot.
Here is a picture of the Back of my unit, there is a circle with R4 in it. if you have this on your box you might have this issue.
The first thing I got when flashing was that it would try and flash but fail at 2% then with the error message "[0x10105002]Romcode/Initialize DDR/Read initialize status/USB Control" reboot the box out of USB mode.
so I did the stupid thing and deselected "Erase BootLoader" and with that done it did flash the new firmware on the device but then after it was bricked, there was no way to turn it on and it wouldn't get into USB mode so I couldn't reuse the flashing tool to redo a stock image.
now if you look at people who get into this bricked mode with this box or similar boxes have been able to fix it by bridging pins 7 & 8 on the flash chip to let you re-enable and get another flash to flash a good firmware. SEE here, (sorry It's a shitty video but it's all I could find) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eUJBYyH2RM
the problem is the newly manufactured boxes like mine that has a date code of early 2017 is that they did something to prevent custom firmware from being installed. plus they changed the flash chip to a surface mounted BGA package meaning that you cannot bridge pins 7 & 8 to get it to re-enable. most threads i looked at are full of people saying to return it to amazon and let them deal with it, or buy a Jtag cable and solder it up to the box to fix it.
Here is the link for how to short those pins in case yours DOES NOT have a samsung flash.
now if you're with me this far it turns out that it is possible to re-enable it without a jtag cable.
If you look at this picture, i marked 2 sets of pins, on the underside of the board.
http://i.imgur.com/fTjFtyK.jpg (sorry but it won't let me embed them here since they're too high resolution)
there's the Red and Purple sets of pins, while the box is plugged into your machine via usb and the usb tool is running, start by trying to bridge the red set of pins, if nothing happens try then bridging the purple set, if all goes right you should hear windows sound off like a device was connected and from here you can click refresh on the tool and it should find it and at this point you will be ready to flash a new image.
For my box the A95X and the A95X Pro (that has Bluetooth) you can find the images here.to download.
if your board is different or this method does not work for you, you can try this one another user found.
once you have the package in the firmware burning tool, you'll have to select the "aml_upgrade_package.img" (at least in my case there was also files other files in there that we're not necessary in this case)
now if all goes well the"burning" should finish successfully from here you can connect it back to your tv and remove the USB cable. it might take some time on first boot but it should take you back to the first time setup screen.
I don't know why exactly these new ones have issues but im tempted to bridge the solder on those pins to see if it will let the bootloader be re-written, but im not sure. if you know and can suggest a good firmware for me or point me in the right direction please leave a comment and let me know.
So about a month ago, i bought a Nexbox A95X 1Gb ram/ 8Gb Storage. I liked it but it has some flaws, so I figured I'd just reflash it and get a new firmware that didn't have all the issues I was annoyed with. so I figured my methods are either Install TWRP, or just use a USB to USB cable and the Amlogic burn tool to flash the new firmware. I settled on the Latter, found a couple of Different roms on here that users said were compatible with my device and decided to give it a shot.
Here is a picture of the Back of my unit, there is a circle with R4 in it. if you have this on your box you might have this issue.
The first thing I got when flashing was that it would try and flash but fail at 2% then with the error message "[0x10105002]Romcode/Initialize DDR/Read initialize status/USB Control" reboot the box out of USB mode.
so I did the stupid thing and deselected "Erase BootLoader" and with that done it did flash the new firmware on the device but then after it was bricked, there was no way to turn it on and it wouldn't get into USB mode so I couldn't reuse the flashing tool to redo a stock image.
now if you look at people who get into this bricked mode with this box or similar boxes have been able to fix it by bridging pins 7 & 8 on the flash chip to let you re-enable and get another flash to flash a good firmware. SEE here, (sorry It's a shitty video but it's all I could find) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eUJBYyH2RM
the problem is the newly manufactured boxes like mine that has a date code of early 2017 is that they did something to prevent custom firmware from being installed. plus they changed the flash chip to a surface mounted BGA package meaning that you cannot bridge pins 7 & 8 to get it to re-enable. most threads i looked at are full of people saying to return it to amazon and let them deal with it, or buy a Jtag cable and solder it up to the box to fix it.
Here is the link for how to short those pins in case yours DOES NOT have a samsung flash.
now if you're with me this far it turns out that it is possible to re-enable it without a jtag cable.
If you look at this picture, i marked 2 sets of pins, on the underside of the board.
http://i.imgur.com/fTjFtyK.jpg (sorry but it won't let me embed them here since they're too high resolution)
there's the Red and Purple sets of pins, while the box is plugged into your machine via usb and the usb tool is running, start by trying to bridge the red set of pins, if nothing happens try then bridging the purple set, if all goes right you should hear windows sound off like a device was connected and from here you can click refresh on the tool and it should find it and at this point you will be ready to flash a new image.
For my box the A95X and the A95X Pro (that has Bluetooth) you can find the images here.to download.
if your board is different or this method does not work for you, you can try this one another user found.
once you have the package in the firmware burning tool, you'll have to select the "aml_upgrade_package.img" (at least in my case there was also files other files in there that we're not necessary in this case)
now if all goes well the"burning" should finish successfully from here you can connect it back to your tv and remove the USB cable. it might take some time on first boot but it should take you back to the first time setup screen.
I don't know why exactly these new ones have issues but im tempted to bridge the solder on those pins to see if it will let the bootloader be re-written, but im not sure. if you know and can suggest a good firmware for me or point me in the right direction please leave a comment and let me know.
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