AMIKO Amiko A3 Owners Thread

[mc6809e]

Michael,

Since you don't have any switches in your system you'll have your A3 connected directly to the Receiver port on the DiSEqC motor and your settings for DiSEqC 1.0 and DiSEqC 1.1 will be OFF.

In the Satellite List (under Advanced Installation Tuner 1 Configuration) choose the satellite you want to set up, here I've chosen 97W. The BLUE Move button is to move the satellite up or down in the satellite list, not to move the motor.

Use the >> Page right key on the remote to select Edit Satellite.

Make sure the settings are correct for your system. They won't be the same as my settings.

Cursor down to Motor and press the Right Arrow on the remote.

Select USALS and press OK. The next screen shows USALS settings. Enter your Longitude and Latitude. Select Save and press OK. Your Longitude and Latitude settings only need to be entered once. They are used for all USALS satellites.

If the dish/motor are properly connected, selecting Move from this menu and pressing OK should move your dish.

You'll have to choose the motor type, in this case USALS, on the Edit Satellite screen for each satellite you want the motor to move to.

Hope this helps.

Ernie

 

[Michael Nixon]

Excellent, I can't thank you enough for your help.., thanks

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee Ann,

OpenVPN Connect shows up in Play Store if running NA ROM's. There are only two reasons I can think of why it would not be available to you:

1. You installed the Europe/Spark2 software. Their versions can't get nearly as much from Google Play as North American A3 ROM's can.

2. You are trying to grab/search for it while already using a VPN gateway from outside USA or a foreign play account. I have no idea what the country location restrictions for that App are if any.

In regards to #2, I definitely am not going through a VPN or proxy of any kind with the A3. It's connected to my lan in exactly the same way that my Macs are plus all the other tablets and iPhones are.
I have a VPN app on most of my devices that I can toggle on and off at will. I don't have a common VPN device that everything goes through, each device has to have it installed otherwise it connects up normally.

I definitely have not installed anything other than the software from the Amiko site. I did not do a reset or anything else like I did the first time.
What I have done is to install what I believe is called the develop rom / beta version (??) there is an option to press the blue button for a beta version of the system update.
I did that a few weeks ago hoping that I would find a fix for the MeTV on 101 recording bug, which it did not. Now that MeTV is permanently gone that issue is moot.

Installing that beta software is the ONLY THING I have done to the device since I got it back from repair (after I so ingloriously broke it on day one)
I promise, I have not fiddled with it at all. I don't know anything about Android and I do not want to risk another round of break the shiny box.

I downgraded it to the 2.0.60 stable version and I still get shady results from the Play store. Searching for OpenVPN only gives me 4 results, none of which I want, and when I search for just VPN I get screen after screen of things I also do not want and many of them are Chinese gibberish which there is no way in the world I'm installing that stuff!

When I use the A3 browser and go to the Play store I can search for the app, it finds it, shows it to me but tells me it isn't compatible with my device, the A3 which Google calls "No carrier MBX MBX reference board (g18ref)"
I am logged in and google knows about my little tablet which it calls "No carrier U51GT_C4 U51GT_C4" It also informs me the app is installed on my tablet which is correct.

Anyway, I guess it really doesn't matter, something isn't right if you guys can install the app but I can't.
I have not tampered with the tuner in anyway since getting it back from repair except to do the upgrades via the official methods.
It is not going through any VPN or proxy services, accounts or devices.

I'm curious to see if anyone can actually install that specific app or if you're only able to see the app. When I try to install it through the browser I'm told it's not compatible.
When I search for it via the built in Play store app it doesn't appear at all.

At this point I'm probably going to just give up on this. I don't see there is any way possible to resolve the issue so I'm writing it off unless someone can point out to me some stupid thing I'm doing that's causing the problem.
I honestly do not believe that it's because of anything I have done unless this is related to the original disaster where I blew the thing up on DAY ONE and had to mail it back for repair.
Perhaps that caused the problem? Maybe it's not "right in the head" anymore after I put the whammy on it?

 

[bigg t]

I thought the last stable version was 2.0.59

 

[T134]

Dee Ann, the BETA you installed is Spark2 Europe version, not North America. That is why your Google Play don't work. You really should read the big guide in red, posted at http://www.amiko-a3.us/?page_id=69 Installing the Spark2 beta/dev is the cause of the entire problem.
[UPDATED 21 AUG 2014] READ BEFORE UPDATING YOUR AMIKO A3 SOFTWARE – UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS

 

[Dee_Ann]

So have I completely screwed up my A3 AGAIN??

 

[Dee_Ann]

I'm going to be sick.
I think it's time for me to sell this thing. I have no business messing with this device, it's too easy to break.

 

[Dee_Ann]

If my A3 is broken again it's because I read THIS http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=35190

AMIKO A3 ROM40D available for testing
A new Amiko development ROM (ROM40D/2.0.61) is available for testing. You'll need the Amiko DEV ROMs App in order to download and install it. See http://www.amiko-a3.us/?p=96

-Fix adding multiple APIDs
-1080i GUI improvements
-New standby/power off options in settings app, misc (decide if shuts down on power press or show the standby/reboot menu first)
-New device tab in settings app
-L/R arrow keys now do page +/- in satellite list
-delete bloatware
-general bugfixes

Needed from NORTH AMERICAN testers
-Check 101W MeTV PVR record/playback issue with this ROM. (It might be fixed).


Please report results specific to ROM40D in this thread or by the email in the DEV ROMs App.

THAT IS WHAT I DID.......

So if it's broken it's because I was trying to find test a supposed fix for the MeTV recording bug.

If it's broken again and I have to mail it back again, I'm done with it.
I'll put it up for sale because I'm not going to keep playing this game.

It's too bloody easy to F*** this thing up. All I did was FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

 

[Dee_Ann]

The mood I'm in today, I might just take a hammer to it.

 

[Dee_Ann]

You know what? I'm not taking the blame for this.

 

[KE4EST]

Not broke Dee. No need for all the flaming and drama, just install the proper one. If all else fails restore it from one of your back-ups and start over.

 

[Jim S.]

I downloaded the Americas 2.0.61 beta ROM without any trouble. I think she must have missed the part where you have to install the DEV ROM Downloader app, and downloaded from the European server.

http://www.amiko-a3.us/?p=96

To avoid confusion and mistakes we have a separate App for downloading DEV versions, AMIKO DEV ROMs. This is available in A3 Appstore if you want it. It is basically a clone of the Amiko Software Downloader and the instructions are the same.

 

[KE4EST]

I thought so too, but a quick restore and she can start over, not broke and no need to mail it in.

 

[mc6809e]

As others have said, it's not broken and can be restored.

One of the most important steps in the Update Instructions for the A3 that T134 mentioned is step 5:

5. Press GREEN key for Local Update. Ignore everything else in this App since it currently contains
Spark2 downloads only.

As T134 said, pressing the BLUE key installed the European beta and you lost the customizations done for the American receivers.

Ernie

 

[Dee_Ann]

First off, why don't they flippin disable the bloody european crap so people can't accidentally install it?
It's CONFUSING to have multiple installation methods that look and act the same way but one is good and one is VERY BAD. DISABLE IT!!!!!!!!

Second. The very first thing I did when I got it back from being fixed was to make a complete and full backup of everything.

So I went to the backup and told it to do a restore. It did not appear to revert the ROM back to the previous version.

BUT, I can still see Amiko things in the menus.

Screenshots attached.

I do not know what to make of this. I did, just a few minutes ago, install the A3 DEV ROM installer as someone previously mentioned.
It gave me the option to download a DVE ROM which I did. I did not install it because now I am afraid to do ANYTHING with this freaking walk on eggshells system!

Is this thing broken? Working? Sort of broken? That post about me installing the European stuff causing me to get bogus google play results has me completely lost.
I have no bloody idea WTF I've done or WTF is going on with this thing. I'm having an extremely BAD day and I'm so pissed off I can't see straight.

What should I do with this thing? Smash it? Sell it? Or click on everything?

 

[Babadem]

As others have said, it's not broken and can be restored.

One of the most important steps in the Update Instructions for the A3 that T134 mentioned is step 5:

5. Press GREEN key for Local Update. Ignore everything else in this App since it currently contains
Spark2 downloads only.

As T134 said, pressing the BLUE key installed the European beta and you lost the customizations done for the American receivers.

Ernie

You hit the nail on the head. Press GREEN key for Local Update.

 

[primestar31]

I don't think it's a good thing to admit to anybody that you've been so upset at times, that you have actually picked up a gun and shot "things". Much less doing so on a public forum, where it stays embedded in rock FOREVER, and could get the cops and/or the feds involved in your life.

People are trying to help you, but it's your device, do as you will either way. Maybe for now just let it all sit for a few days without doing anything. It'll wait.

 

[Titanium]

Dee Ann,

Agreed... Reinstall your back-up and then update to current NA ROM.

If you want to update your ROM, it is very easy. The A3 is not easy to break if you follow the posted update PDF document. Following the simple step by step update process takes only a few minutes compared to the hours of troubleshooting you keep doing after not following the guide...

 

[Dee_Ann]

So, I do this.




I click the download icon and it tells me it's started to download the ROM.



But, it never asks me where to download it to.

In my A3 I have a 500gb disk and it's very, very empty.



On it I have created four folders,



But when I try to select the downloaded file from the C: disk like the PDF instructions says to, the folder is empty.

When I browse the file system of the A3 through FTP, I find the downloaded file, it's been downloaded to the A3's internal memory, not the 500gb disk I installed.



The updater app won't allow me to look on the internal memory for the file, it will only allow me to browse the 500gb disk.



I tried to move the file from the internet memory to the 500gb disk using the FTP but it refuses to allow me to put anything on that disk via FTP.

I can not find any means or method to move this file from the STB memory to the disk drive. I also can not find anywhere in the A3 where I can configure it to force downloads to go to the disk and not the STB memory.
The updater app seems to look for the disk when it is told to load a file but when it saves a file it doesn't know the disk is even in there.

So basically, I'm stuck.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Alrighty then ! I've fixed it !!

I used the file viewer of the A3 and found the file on the STB Memory. I highlighted it and pressed MENU. Then there were options like copy, paste, delete, rename, etc..
I pressed COPY.. Why not? I tried everything else! Then I navigated to the disk, highlighted the Downloads folder and pressed PASTE. It sat there a bit doing it's thing then it said it was done.
I could see the file in the disk folder now.
I went to the updater app and pressed the green key and NOW it found the DEV ROM and began the update process.
After several warnings and messages it did some stuff and rebooted. I found some new things in the menu that I don't know what they are for so I'm leaving them alone.

But when I went to the Play store, THERE IT IS!



So now it appears that all is well with this thing, at long last.

However, there is a problem with the updater app, how can I fix it so it will default to downloading to the actual 500gb disk I put in there and not the STB memory every time? That was quite annoying and tedious trying to figure out and fix that. Certainly there must be an easier way?

Oh and yes, I just backed it up, again. I have been backing it up weekly since day one.

Also, I apologize for my rage posts earlier. I've been under a lot of stress lately and I'm on the razor's edge of losing my mind.