UGOOS AM6 S922X TV Box Android 9.0

[QT-Pro]

Yes, I have always used the Recovery button. I don't have a spare USB drive to practice with but I don't think I need to do that anyway. I'm completely familiar with the required procedure now, thanks to you guys, and I'm convinced the reason it didn't work is due to that unallocated '0' partition that refuses to be wiped clean. Therefore, if I go into town and buy a new card this afternoon, in theory all should go well tonight.

I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused. It's just that past experience has shown me that if a drive's storage space is unreadable it's because it needs formatting and the way to keep storage space separate from an operating system is to create a new partition. At least, I now know different.

As for the frustration I caused you yesterday with the diskpart page, I noted the instruction for when you have more than a single partition further down the page and it said to download the freeware version of Aomei's Partition Assistant. After you took me to task over that, I used diskpart but got the same result. Anyway, I hope you will forgive my newbieness and cross my fingers that the next card will work without any hiccups.

[DEcosse]

The card prep seems to look OK though and either of those methods should have suitably restored it.
The only other validation I perhaps should have added was that, after formatted using diskpart, insert in the Windows machine - did it show as a single storage drive with 32GB at that point? That would confirm that you have indeed restored it to a single formatted partition. And then when you flash the program it then would show the single 512MB drive.

Excuse if that suggestion on the recovery button seemed elementary, just thinking of other possibilities
Similarly basic, but just throwing it out there :
1. You are pushing the SD Card in all the way overcoming the spring till it clicks and locks, right? You should only barely see just the very edge of it when it is in and locked with none of it at all protruding outside the box , (then to release you have to push in further to release it, where it springs out again?)
2. Try using your card in your USB adapter in one of the USB slots (OTG one would be best) - this will for sure give us a good data point either way
- if it doesn't work there, then confirms indeed something wrong with the card prep
- if it does, then possibility of some damage to the TF Reader (or its just not being fully inserted)

[QT-Pro]

New card which after formatting and flashing with the CoreElec image looked identical to my other card, a '0' partition shows in USB Disk Ejector (but not in Safely Remove Hardware. All that happens is I get the Android Upgrading logo and zilch happens. I don't have a USB drive available so I can't go down that route. Other than the LAN and HDMI cables, there's nothing else connected to the box.

Would it be worth connecting the SD card reader to the OTG USB port instead of placing the card in the TF card socket?

[QT-Pro]

Our posts crossed.

The card prep seems to look OK though and either of those methods should have suitably restored it.
The only other validation I perhaps should have added was that, after formatted using diskpart, insert in the Windows machine - did it show as a single storage drive with 32GB at that point? That would confirm that you have indeed restored it to a single formatted partition. And then when you flash the program it then would show the single 512MB drive.

It did exactly the same as the brand new card I purchased this afternoon. As far as Windows is concerned, there's only a single partition but in USB Disk Ejector the unallocated space is shown as a '0' (read Zero) partition.

Excuse if that suggestion on the recovery button seemed elementary, just thinking of other possibilities
Similarly basic, but just throwing it out there :
1. You are pushing the SD Card in all the way overcoming the spring till it clicks and locks, right? You should only barely see just the very edge of it when it is in and locked with none of it at all protruding outside the box , (then to release you have to push in further to release it, where it springs out again?)
2. Try using your card in your USB adapter in one of the USB slots (OTG one would be best) - this will for sure give us a good data point either way
- if it doesn't work there, then confirms indeed something wrong with the card prep
- if it does, then possibility of some damage to the TF Reader (or its just not being fully inserted)

1. Yes.
2. I will try that now.

[DEcosse]

Would it be worth connecting the SD card reader to the OTG USB port instead of placing the card in the TF card socket?

This ...........

2. Try using your card in your USB adapter in one of the USB slots (OTG one would be best) - this will for sure give us a good data point either way
- if it doesn't work there, then confirms indeed something wrong with the card prep
- if it does, then possibility of some damage to the TF Reader (or its just not being fully inserted)

[QT-Pro]

Nope. It did exactly the same thing.
Could it be missing drivers?

Doubt it's card prep. I've done that with both Rufus and balenaEtcher and the results were identical. Plus, mo123 confirmed that the screenshot looked correct.

[DEcosse]

If it's not working on either slot, then something wrong with the prep
You have AM6 PLUS right?
I confirmed yesterday it worked with the (not revA) dtb tree (I have a PLUS) - go ahead and try the revA one instead and see if it changes

[QT-Pro]

Yes, AM6 Plus although I read that the CoreElec image is for all AM6 boxes.
Will try the revA option as you suggested.

[DEcosse]

The firmware is the same but the hardware is different - faster chip in the PLUS

[DEcosse]

Incidentally what rev is your Android firmware?

[QT-Pro]

Incidentally what rev is your Android firmware?

I can't remember but it is the latest release.

Good news and some not so good news...

That was the problem. CoreElec is now up and running. Tada!!!

I installed the rob weber Backup add-on and attempted to restore my backup. It threw a wobbler because the version of Kodi in CoreElec is older than the one I created the backup with (I can't see how to update Kodi either). I agreed to let it continue anyway and while my library seems to have been restored, most other settings were not. I used the Confluence skin and it hasn't taken plus, if I try downloading it, it isn't even in the repository. I suppose it isn't compatible with CoreElec?

The worst is that it does not respond to my Bose remote nor the default remote that came with the AM6. I use my Bose remote for everything so that's a major issue. I do have an air-mouse and thankfully, it responded to that.

I tried rebooting Kodi, then rebooting the box but the remote issue remained.

Any ideas?

[DEcosse]

Well I'm pleased you have it essentially running - not sure why that original DTB won't work, it certainly does with mine - can you confirm what rev of Android firmware is in there? Have you updated it at all?

Confluence - well that is very old skin, used with much older versions of Kodi - the std skin that loads with CoreELEC is Estuary, which is actually also the std with Kodi 18 (Estuary started with Kodi 17 I believe)
I think you should find Estuary much better for the current revs of Kodi - I actually use a third party skin myself. At some point you should bite the bullet and just move on from Confluence.

I did caution that it would warn that it was created on different medium, but to proceed anyway.
For the Bose remote, you may need to add a file for it - I don't use the AM6 remote, I use a Minix A2 Lite, which I find perfect - nothing needed there, just plug in the dongle and go.
I'll go try the supplied remote just to check on its functionality
Ask on the CoreELEC forum about using your particular remote

[QT-Pro]

Just posted over at CoreElec.

As you've probably noticed, I'm pretty much a newbie at all this which is why someone on the AV Forum recommended me to use Confluence as he claimed it was very simple to configure. I did try Estuary while in Android and it was blue, How come it's red in CoreElec and can it be changed?

[DEcosse]

the other big question - does sound remain alive now? or too early to tell?

[DEcosse]

Corelec version is red - just to add a bit of originality - otherwise very similar

Also - my AM6 remote does not work either - I had never tried it before.
Looks like you already got direction on your remote - hopefully that has the correct solution for your particular one.