[ROM] Mecool M8S PRO+ TVStock Nexus ROM (Android TV 7.1)

[mabocoglu]

Changelog (20170930):

• Updated to latest M8S Pro+ OEM firmware (20170919.150557.V0619)
• Reverted to stock OEM recovery, due to new Android Verified Boot checks
• Underlying OEM firmware fixed the Action Bar bug in Android TV
• Underlying OEM firmware fixed the More Settings crash in Android TV
• Underlying OEM firmware updated to Android TV 7.1.2r11 (NHG47L)
• Reverted to older Android TV Remote service that works with no Bluetooth
• The Terminal app now shows only when enabled in Developer Options
• Latest build from Open GApps (20170930)

Download:

• TVStock Variant: BURN PACKAGE (971MB), OTA UPDATE (513MB ZIP file)
• Flash burn package with Amlogic USB Burning Tool v2.0.8 or BootcardMaker v2.0.0.2

You are extra ordinary man! Thank you very much for your work

I hope no video on Google Movies will be fixed

The problem exists and I don't know why.

[DKAngel]

nice work, so defualt recovery can still be bootined into via terminal to install these images/ota's in the future?

Yes, the same "reboot recovery" command from Terminal will get you to stock recovery, then you just need to select "Apply update from EXT". Note that the original OTA update that I posted last night was signed with the wrong key, but that's been fixed now. It won't affect you in TWRP, but stock OEM recovery will verify the signature.

[P.X]

Hi,

There have been some negative opinions expressed of both Mecool and GearBest at times over the past few weeks.

My thoughts ...

Mecool make a great box in the M8S Pro+ @ ~$40 for 4K YouTube and HD Netflix, Widevine Level1, 2GB/16GB, etc.
Mecool appear to be about to add official support for 4K Netfix soon as well.
The nearest equivalent is the Mi TV @ ~$70+ (with Bluetooth but no Ethernet) 4K Netflix.
Magendanz ATV Rom makes the M8S Pro+ even better for many (and his Nexus.Stock/Nano)
Mecool produced a bad batch, but it was apparently the eMMC from a faulty batch made by SEC(Samsung) that was at the root of the issue.

My personal thoughts are that while GearBest may not have provided me with the latest OEM FW update to try to fix the problem, they did try their best given the information at the time - I seem to have been the first to report the issue to them - They also actually provided the best attempt to help available.
The issue can't actually be fixed.

Most issues that GearBest get are probably people sideloading a dodgy app, or setting something up wrongly, so a Default Factory Reset may help. Failing that a full reversion to a Stock FW is the usual next step.
No one knew at the time there was a faulty batch with dodgy Samsung eMMC units.
These faulty Mecool units were not only supplied by GearBest.
As soon as GearBest Customer Service saw they could not fix the issue they immediately offered me a full refund, or another box.

Finally a big thanks to Magendanz and Trebor for their assistance and work on this for the benefit of all of us, and to all the others who have provided tons of valuable information.

YMMV
Pete

[herg]

Hi all, I ordered on Gearbest a M8S Pro+ 2G/16G S905X and received it a couple of days ago. Surprisingly the sticker on the back of the box states S912...? The firmware is 20170822. While there is no reset button I succeeded to flash Magendaz ATV rom by shorting the pins on the pcb. However Netflix downloaded on Play store exhibits at opening an error ui-800-3....? Any idea ? Is it a different box ? Thanks for your help.

Congratulations! It sounds like you got "upgraded" a M8S Pro. Unfortunately, it doesn't have Widevine L1, which is why you received the Netflix error.

[mabocoglu]

Hi,

There have been some negative opinions expressed of both Mecool and GearBest at times over the past few weeks.

My thoughts ...

Mecool make a great box in the M8S Pro+ @ ~$40 for 4K YouTube and HD Netflix, Widevine Level1, 2GB/16GB, etc.
Mecool appear to be about to add official support for 4K Netfix soon as well.
The nearest equivalent is the Mi TV @ ~$70+ (with Bluetooth but no Ethernet) 4K Netflix.
Magendanz ATV Rom makes the M8S Pro+ even better for many (and his Nexus.Stock/Nano)
Mecool produced a bad batch, but it was apparently the eMMC from a faulty batch made by SEC(Samsung) that was at the root of the issue.

My personal thoughts are that while GearBest may not have provided me with the latest OEM FW update to try to fix the problem, they did try their best given the information at the time - I seem to have been the first to report the issue to them - They also actually provided the best attempt to help available.
The issue can't actually be fixed.

Most issues that GearBest get are probably people sideloading a dodgy app, or setting something up wrongly, so a Default Factory Reset may help. Failing that a full reversion to a Stock FW is the usual next step.
No one knew at the time there was a faulty batch with dodgy Samsung eMMC units.
These faulty Mecool units were not only supplied by GearBest.
As soon as GearBest Customer Service saw they could not fix the issue they immediately offered me a full refund, or another box.

Finally a big thanks to Magendanz and Trebor for their assistance and work on this for the benefit of all of us, and to all the others who have provided tons of valuable information.

YMMV
Pete

Bu GearBest offered me partial refund. When I told about your full refund they asked me to ship item bak to them. They are not good to all customers. You were the lucky one. My ticket is still open. In addition they opened this ticket due to my negative feedback and it is still open. I don't know if you can access my ticket but here is the link. They offered me 19USD and it is still not refunded to my credit card.

http://support.gearbest.com/en/ticket/WT17092202389

[klaganowski]

Guest what if I've received a box with 20170815 build and after checking on PCB I have SEC 713 chip?

I would upgrade to the 20170919.150557.V0619 OEM firmware and then run some smoke tests to ensure it flashed okay and has no problems with freezing or crashing. When you're satisfied that everything is okay (and still haven't voided any warranty), then you can update to the custom ROM.

[P.X]

Bu GearBest offered me partial refund. When I told about your full refund they asked me to ship item bak to them. They are not good to all customers. You were the lucky one. My ticket is still open. In addition they opened this ticket due to my negative feedback and it is still open. I don't know if you can access my ticket but here is the link. They offered me 19USD and it is still not refunded to my credit card.

http://support.gearbest.com/en/ticket/WT17092202389

You are right, that is not good. I do not know what you should do except refuse offer and ask for review by senior support staff.
My refund was to GB Wallet as store credit.

Your handling may be different to mine because I identified a grave issue and was told to reflash my box by them. If you flashed the box before telling them then you have broken the warranty terms and may be getting a good deal at half refund.

Tickets can be viewed by going there but I can't see your tickets

https://support.gearbest.com/en

login click tickets/rma top right

GB Wallet is in the My Account area / My GB Wallet

Wallet may be where your refund is ?

[jack1142]

Bu GearBest offered me partial refund. When I told about your full refund they asked me to ship item bak to them. They are not good to all customers. You were the lucky one. My ticket is still open. In addition they opened this ticket due to my negative feedback and it is still open. I don't know if you can access my ticket but here is the link. They offered me 19USD and it is still not refunded to my credit card.

http://support.gearbest.com/en/ticket/WT17092202389

I have luck, cause when I bought it on GearBest Ichose Untracked Shipping Method (Tracked Shipping Method was free too, but I wanted to have easy refund, if something would go wrong), so it shouldn't be problem to get refund (I need to wait half a month, but it doesn't bother me that much, cause I wanted to buy it and that cash would go for it anyways).

[grimmie]

You are right, that is not good. I do not know what you should do except refuse offer and ask for review by senior support staff.
My refund was to GB Wallet as store credit.

Your handling may be different to mine because I identified a grave issue and was told to reflash my box by them. If you flashed the box before telling them then you have broken the warranty terms and may be getting a good deal at half refund.

Tickets can be viewed by going there but I can't see your tickets

https://support.gearbest.com/en

login click tickets/rma top right

GB Wallet is in the My Account area / My GB Wallet

Wallet may be where your refund is ?

I got a full refund from geekbuying. But it took a bit of talking.
heres my experience.
First I was offered replacement unit and keep the old one . I have to pay $12 for shipping. I said no.
second I was offered half refund of $20. Against my full refund of $37. I said no.
Finally I'm offered full $37 refund.
In case of geekbuying their blog shared a page for firmware upgrade once for 20170815 and second time 20170919. So the solution didn't work to repair the box.

Look the key to all the buying is you must check the retailer return policy before you buy them. I also mentioned in the earlier post. Try pay through PayPal because there are channels you can use to dispute and the retailer cannot abuse the return policy.

And in most cases you need to know that warranty includes the chance to let the retailer fix the problem. So you must always let them do that. If they want to have the box them let them know where to send and the cost is borne by them. In most cases because they eventually know there is a problem then they won't ask you to because more money is wasted in shipping.

[grimmie]

Hi,

There have been some negative opinions expressed of both Mecool and GearBest at times over the past few weeks.

My thoughts ...

Mecool make a great box in the M8S Pro+ @ ~$40 for 4K YouTube and HD Netflix, Widevine Level1, 2GB/16GB, etc.
Mecool appear to be about to add official support for 4K Netfix soon as well.
The nearest equivalent is the Mi TV @ ~$70+ (with Bluetooth but no Ethernet) 4K Netflix.
Magendanz ATV Rom makes the M8S Pro+ even better for many (and his Nexus.Stock/Nano)
Mecool produced a bad batch, but it was apparently the eMMC from a faulty batch made by SEC(Samsung) that was at the root of the issue.

My personal thoughts are that while GearBest may not have provided me with the latest OEM FW update to try to fix the problem, they did try their best given the information at the time - I seem to have been the first to report the issue to them - They also actually provided the best attempt to help available.
The issue can't actually be fixed.

Most issues that GearBest get are probably people sideloading a dodgy app, or setting something up wrongly, so a Default Factory Reset may help. Failing that a full reversion to a Stock FW is the usual next step.
No one knew at the time there was a faulty batch with dodgy Samsung eMMC units.
These faulty Mecool units were not only supplied by GearBest.
As soon as GearBest Customer Service saw they could not fix the issue they immediately offered me a full refund, or another box.

Finally a big thanks to Magendanz and Trebor for their assistance and work on this for the benefit of all of us, and to all the others who have provided tons of valuable information.

YMMV
Pete

I bought mecool to use it for LE and Kodi. Not for Netflix for sure.
for Netflix buying a mitv won't be worth it because you're better off buying a Amazon Fire TV.
A new fire TV will come out next month.
There is no problem having 4k on Netflix and Amazon prime video or YouTube.
While other boxes as you mention mitv for example, works now but no telling when Netflix will clamp down.

So if $70 is your budget and Netflix is your purpose, get a fire TV.
Besides the ridiculously high standard of Amazon customer service, you can side load kodi and other apps as well to that box. (Unlike Roku!)

[grimmie]

Changelog (20170930):

• Updated to latest M8S Pro+ OEM firmware (20170919.150557.V0619)
• Reverted to stock OEM recovery, due to new Android Verified Boot checks
• Underlying OEM firmware is no longer pre-rooted, and so this isn't either
• Underlying OEM firmware fixed the Action Bar bug in Android TV
• Underlying OEM firmware fixed the More Settings crash in Android TV
• Reverted to older Android TV Remote service that works with no Bluetooth
• The Terminal app now shows only when enabled in Developer Options
• Latest build from Open GApps (20170930)

Download:

• TVStock Variant: BURN PACKAGE (971MB), OTA UPDATE (513MB ZIP file)
• Flash burn package with Amlogic USB Burning Tool v2.0.8 or BootcardMaker v2.0.0.2

Guest do you think my box have a chance not crashing with this change?

I think it has about the same chance as with the 20170919.150557.V0619 OEM firmware. It's the exact same bootloader, kernel, drivers and framework.

[superceleron]

Both superceleron and I are convinced that these problems stem from a bad batch of eMMC 5.1 chips, as evidenced by the fact that the problem only affects specific factory runs shipped in August which also fail on OEM firmware and even LibreELEC (although less frequently when run from the SD card). No firmware update is going to be able to solve that.

Note that I've also added a BIG RED WARNING to the OP on both my M8S Pro+ custom ROM topics.

Yes i confirm it, we got that conclusion after some tests and checking the chips on non working boxes!

[klaganowski]

superceleron what if I have box which came with 20170815 build and after opening it I saw B041 SEC 713 chip?

[silicon]

Changelog (20170930):

• Updated to latest M8S Pro+ OEM firmware (20170919.150557.V0619)
• Reverted to stock OEM recovery, due to new Android Verified Boot checks
• Underlying OEM firmware is no longer pre-rooted, and so this isn't either
• Underlying OEM firmware fixed the Action Bar bug in Android TV
• Underlying OEM firmware fixed the More Settings crash in Android TV
• Reverted to older Android TV Remote service that works with no Bluetooth
• The Terminal app now shows only when enabled in Developer Options
• Latest build from Open GApps (20170930)

Download:

• TVStock Variant: BURN PACKAGE (971MB), OTA UPDATE (513MB ZIP file)
• Flash burn package with Amlogic USB Burning Tool v2.0.8 or BootcardMaker v2.0.0.2

Thank you for the update. Have you tried installing Magisk to see if it will pass AVB and CTS and still allow root access? With everything going on with bad eMMC I'm guessing its on back burner but somewhere I recall you had plans to add support for USB Bluetooth dongle for USB support? Would it be possible for end user to manually install Bluetooth apk?

I've been unable to try either Magisk or SuperSU because I haven't been able to successfully install TWRP recovery. Whatever proprietary AVB trick they're doing, so far it's proven pretty effective.

[mabocoglu]

You are right, that is not good. I do not know what you should do except refuse offer and ask for review by senior support staff.
My refund was to GB Wallet as store credit.

Your handling may be different to mine because I identified a grave issue and was told to reflash my box by them. If you flashed the box before telling them then you have broken the warranty terms and may be getting a good deal at half refund.

Tickets can be viewed by going there but I can't see your tickets

https://support.gearbest.com/en

login click tickets/rma top right

GB Wallet is in the My Account area / My GB Wallet

Wallet may be where your refund is ?

I did not accept GB wallet then they accept to reunf to credit card. I dis not install any rom until they gave me this refund. After that I installed this ATV rom to have a enough device which worths half of the price. Because they don’t pay all the money. Every ATV had crash problems except the last one. At first this one had no problems I thought but they exist (netflix not opening, google movies has only sound, no screen, i cannot watch any movie, wireless is useless, sometimes connection drops usually and the last one device shuts itself down sometimes etc. )

Finally, I could not get full refund and I cannot use my device in stable.

THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE IS DEVICE HAS 1.5GHz CPU NOT 2.0GHz

This Lie on gearbest item description is enough to pay full refund!

Sorry I am very angry to them, not to you