Posts by Nis

  • When a box gets bricked?

    We have two iBox 3. We bought them when they came on the market so they are pretty old now. Booth we had to JTAG and put in a better bootloader and we made a special contact on the motherboards to make it easier to JTAG. We made JTAG working on both Windows XP, Vista and Win7.


    It happens that a box crashes sometimes but 100 times a day as KiddaC says seems to be too much. If it does, it is only to restart it again, it always works. If it gets stuck during the boot procedure then it might be a difficult problem, it might be bricked but it does not have to be.


    Yesterday when I tried to start an iBox I hadn't used for a long time this happened. No led was on, no boot and no load showed up on the iBox screen. After a while I switch it off and tried again with the same result. I tried to flash a new image from USB with only one usb connection on. It flashed and after restarting it got stuck during boot process. On the led screen I could see BOOT but it never went to Load. It was stuck and the solution was probably to JTAG. But this time I was wrong!


    I had a hub with a WiFi stick and a 64 gigabyte USB stick as HDD connected to the USB port on the back. The hub also had its own power supply. It was the same hub I had used before to another iBox3. For some reason, I don't know why, this was a too heavy load for the USB port on this iBox3 and probably lowered the voltage so much that the box could not load the image and stopped during the boot process.


    I disconnected the hub and inserted the USB-HDD stick into the USB port on the backside and the WiFi stick on the right side USB port. After restarting it all worked nicely.

    Later I connected both the WiFi and the USB memory stick to a new hub connected to the backside USB port. It works. For one of the two iBoxes the old hub was a too heavy load, maybe that box is not reliable any more. It is not only people that get old and weak, it probably goes for STB too.


    The reason I started to thread was to know if someone had the knowledge of how to JTAG newer versions of boxes and if it was necessary. Are they safer than the older ones? Of course they should never be switched off during boot procedure but sometime an accident happens. It is the easiest way to brick them. On some boxes (octagon sf8008) they say there is a knob for factory reset, I am still wondering what that is good for and what it does do?

    If any else has any experience of the new boxes and what to do if they get bricked, please enlighten me.


    Thanks for all good advices!

  • When a box gets bricked?

    Sometimes it happens that a box gets bricked. It happened to me when I had a Cloud iBox 3 and I had to JTAG it and put in a new Bootloader and a new image again. It got bricked when a power failure occurred during the boot process.


    Can the same happen to the new modern boxes with Broadcom or Hisilicon chips and ARM processors? Are they fool proof or do they get bricked as well? I mean, are they safe for all newbies like most of us? If it does happen, what do we do? Do we have to JTAG them as we did with the Cloud iBox, and how is that done today? The Cloud iBox had a conventional RS232 port and the box had to be opened in order to reach the mother board to JTAG it. I can’t see any conventional RS232 ports on the new boxes and do not know if they are possible to JTAG. How knows?


    I have seen the specifications for one box (the Octagonsf8008) with something they call RS232 but it does not look like the older more normal nine pin RS232 ports so I’m not sure how to use it. It shall to be used for maintenance (wartung) and service whatever that means. I looked for the cable to fit it and it is almost impossible to find with USB in the other end.


    I found a USB to TTL Serial Adapter Converter Cable on amazon with 3.3 volt which could be the right one? Does anyone know what can be done with that port for maintenance and service and how it is done, not only seen from the outside but also from inside the box?

    Some people say they can make a cable by themselves by taking the signal (3 wires) from a conventional RS232 port and connect them to the plug, but I think that can become a serious problem if the voltage is wrong. It all depends on what the port is to be used for and how it is connected inside the box USART or RS232.


    I sincerely hope there is someone out there on the forum that can enlighten me.

  • The debate about what box is good or not so good

    Hello!

    Way back I remember you had some problems with Cloud iBox2, cable did not work as wanted but for me it all worked like a charm. I know you use cable a lot and I personally use everything (S/T/C ) depending on location. My dad uses Cloud ibox3, so maybe zgemma H5 would do just fine for him? Did zgemma manage to resolve some problems that Ibox2 and 3 had? Your opinion would be so interesting.


    I see you like both zgemma H7 and Octagon SF8008. Octagon is in some way a newer/later one, why did you buy this if you like H7 better? Of cause zgemma H7 is a more mature product with all that comes with that.


    Do they behave different when running the same image like pure2 or whatever you are using? Can you do the same stuff that Gorski has helped zgemma with? I have seen SF8008 with ac WIFI sticks, but most commonly with two WIFI antennas at the back.


    What about high temperatures, H7 has room for internal drive and octagon can be used with external usb3.0 drive. Old Cloud iBoxes got hot and some put fan in to these. But how about H7 and 8008? H7 should get hotter than 8008 and also be noisier because of internal spinning drive?


    Do you really use the usb3.0 and 1000Mbit Ethernet for anything, if so when do you need their speed?

  • NEW 🔴 ZGEMMA H9 TWIN / ZGEMMA H9 COMBO

    Quote from TheUltimate007

    Spec wise the receiver is very similar to the Octagon 8008 with exception to the internal HDD bracket. The lack of Gigabit LAN and USB 3.0 ports on this box remain major drawbacks. I've been notified by the company that the boxes will be available on March.

    Yes, as Gorski and I mention earlier they do have some in common but Octagon 8008 has USB3.0 and 1000mbit Ethernet. About 16 different providers of images for Octagon 8008, but no OpenPli. When it comes to pricing I think Zgemma H9 COMBO and TWIN versions will be more expensive than 109£ and these boxes were released last spring according to Zgemma. We will see if the WOS will have them next month. :)

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Quote from gorski

    Nis, I think if you compare the sponsor's great deal on H7 - there will be nothing to compare with. OEM boxes (copies of H7) are the 2 other 51 models I mentioned above.

    I guess you might be right.. :suprised:;)

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Quote from gorski

    Can't miss, really, not to worry, just listen to your needs...

    Hi again,

    Talking about new Zgemma boxes I find the new H9-combo at zgemma.org being a box which seems to combine the good facilities from both H7S and H9H but I think it might have a good competitive box namely the Octagon sf8008 4K UHD Combo. What do you think? Is the Octagon sf8008 a good choice? It is very new from late 2018 and seems to be very much alike the H9-Combo. Who knows about the Octagon?

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Quote from jenseneverest

    With regards to the 2 boxes in question i would deffo choose the h7, it is only an extra 30 quid from the site sponsor but gives you an extra dvb/c/t tuner, bigger flash size, internal hdd, usb3 and sata connection. Gigabyte Ethernet too....

    jenseneverest I know you a little, we talked a lot regarding Cloud iBox boxes at a forum that died years ago.. I was one of two who came from Sweden.

    Yes I know Gorski is a fan of H7 and I really respect that. He has worked a lot with this box as far as I understand. Your input is always appreciated too as everybody else’s. Suddenly I just now started to think of any competitors to the H7.. are there any as cheap as H7.. maybe that is for another tread?

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Hello again!

    Do you find the box slower when running 8GB Class 10 SD Card?

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Quote from jokosat

    ok if u have single feed dish go for h9s fast easy good support stalker iptv in plugins and mores

    Hello!


    When I want to I use dishes of 1 or 4 LNB’s or even a motorized dish. I probably need more than one box at different locations. ;-)

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Quote from world-of-satellite.co.uk

    H7 and H9 both fast boxes.


    New feature coming for the H9 series in OpenViX soon allowing image to boot from Micro SD card instead of nand. Add a £3.00 8GB Class 10 SD card and you'll have 8GB eMMC flash. Should be in next OpenViX release, credits go to Twol from OpenViX team.

    Thanks for the fantastic information!


    Will the OpenViX team integrate the flash expander in their image? If so, what benefits will there be compared to manually install the flash expander and then choosing the microSD?


    If I buy from you will there be an EU plug too?


    You don’t have any opinion on what box that boots faster, any guess?

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    H7S flash has 4GB and that is a lot.

    Is it enough with 256MB flash in H9.2H? I think Openpli 7 firmware takes about 95MB today and then other things add to that.

  • Zgemma H9.2H or H7S?

    Hello everybody!


    I’m considering buying a new satellite box and would like to know better what to choose between. At the moment I’m running an old iBox3 with Egami and bootloader from Jacek. What would be my next box and why? I have read about zgemma H9.2H and H7S but really have not seen a comparison between these two. It would be fun to try IPTV, but it seems to be costly in the long term if you ask for quality and personal security. I do need a box that can handle both satellite and a terrestrial to fulfill my needs.


    I don’t think I need a box with 2 S2X tuners, but if I had one how would I practically use these tuners? Do I need two separate dishes and LNB’s for each tuner to be able to use these at the same time for watching and recording different channels at the same time? Where do I find this information?


    What is multistream, do I really need that, I guess it has nothing to do with watching many channels at the same time?


    As I understand I need to run Oscam instead of mgcamd for my C and N-lines?


    Are there any differences between these boxes of zgemma H9.2H and H7S to take in consideration before buying? Do they boot as fast?


    If you were about to choose, why and what box would you fancy?


    /NI