AZBOX AZBox Recovery Procedure for a box locked up in booting/checking/loading

[AcWxRadar]

This is a very long and tedious procedure, but it works if your AZBox is not too badly damaged.

Do not attempt this if your are squeamish about programming and networking. You need a very good background in electronics and computer technology to apply this procedure. I feel that I know what I am doing and yet I felt quite hammered through this procedure. At every step, there was some error, some mistake.

The original authors left out some key items that were absolutely necessary. I found the answers on my own and inserted them in my own version of the instructions.
I rewrote the instructions to correct the errors as I went along to make it right.

If you want to try my procedure with your locked up AZBox you are welcome to try, however, I take no responsibility for the outcome unless it is positive!

Good luck, be patient and read it thoroughly and let us hope that your AZBox is not too badly damaged to repair via this procedure.

I cannot upload the necessary files due to SatelliteGuys site restrictions. You will have to go here to get the files: forum.azbox-enigma.eu • View topic - [TUTO] How to recover a blocked Azbox in Booting

Sorry about that.

RADAR

 

[comfrey]

Thanks Radar, that is a useful procedure to know when your AZBox is out of warranty.

 

[mr3p]

Big thank you Radar! I purchased one of those cables a while back and fortunately haven't had to use but now if !@#$ does hit the fan I know what to do.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Everyone, heads up!

Since I couldn't upload all the supporting files here on the forum, I had to take a different approach. StarGaze didn't know about this dilemna, but he called me today out of the blue to discuss other subjects. What a godsend that was. He allowed me to use his uplink site to put the necessary files there. Now we have access to that site and to the files that you will require for the recovery of your AZBox.

Here is the link to the specific file on StarGaze's site: https://sites.google.com/site/azboxtools/manuals

I personally tested the procedure with my good working AZBox and made it through just fine. I did this to satisfy my own curiousity and to be able to provide you with accurate instructions.
I took a chance that I might screw up my good AZBox, but I gambled for your benefit and I won. It Works!

RADAR...
Thank you StarGaze!

 

[stargaze]

Not a problem Radar. Glad to be of some assistance.
What good is a hobby if you don't help out once in awhile.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Not a problem Radar. Glad to be of some assistance.
What good is a hobby if you don't help out once in awhile.

We make a good team, you and I! One of us is always working on something and we come together when it is neccessary. I think we are doing good!

You always wake me up in the middle of the day when I have spent all night researching something for you! And then you want me to go back and do some more! ROTFLMAO!

Haa haaa haa Haa ha haaa! I knew that you would like that.

The rest of you, especially the newbies and greenhorns, follow our posts. We are going to make FTA not only accessible to you, but lots of fun, too!

If you just tuned in, stay here. It's really crazy, but you will learn that it is so much fun and informative!

RADAR

 

[JAS]

Thanks Radar. Don't need it yet but you never know. Got it now because with my luck, my INTERNET connection would disappear the moment I need it.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Thanks Radar. Don't need it yet but you never know. Got it now because with my luck, my INTERNET connection would disappear the moment I need it.

Jas,

Don't wait for the last minute. At least learn about this stuff ahead of time. Be a boy-scout and be PREPARED! You will be grateful that you were prepared ahead of time. The process isn't all that menacing once you understand it The biggest problem is that it is just takes so dang long to explain it. I am a long-winded tutor by my own rites, but this procedure had me looking for shortcuts! There isn't an easy or short version to describe it all, even if the actual process isn't that lengthy. Trying to tell someone about it all properly runs in to a Novel.

RADAR

 

[pback]

Thanks for the fine, fine efforts again Radar and Stargaze. Always good to learn new tricks in advance, good work.

 

[Magic Static]

Thanks for the fine, fine efforts again Radar and Stargaze. Always good to learn new tricks in advance, good work.

I totally agree

 

[Babadem]

Excellent Job, RADAR!!

 

[Magic Static]

This is so involved, Is this Legal? LOL

 

[sony1]

Excellent Job, RADAR!!

Agree. How about a JTAG procedure?

 

[mr3p]

Agree. How about a JTAG procedure?

Could you explain what you are talking about by this question or did you look at the document RADAR posted?

 

[Mr_Rothberg]

Hi Guys.
Well, i'm stuck as well. Tried upgrading the FW, but something went wrong and screwed up the channels, so I decided to downgrade again.
Turned out to be a bad decision, as it now freezes during boot-up.
BUT I found out that I was abel to acces the upgrade-menu when I triede starting up with old FW on the USB-stick.
At least up until ver. 4749, any newer than that and it won't reg. the FW.
So, is there any recovery-files I can upload through the USB or do I need to experiment with the procedure that Radar has provided?
Note that I'm moving into uncharted terratory here, but on the other hand, the box does not work. It can't get any worse!

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanx from Denmark

 

[AcWxRadar]

Hi Guys.
Well, i'm stuck as well. Tried upgrading the FW, but something went wrong and screwed up the channels, so I decided to downgrade again.
Turned out to be a bad decision, as it now freezes during boot-up.
BUT I found out that I was abel to acces the upgrade-menu when I triede starting up with old FW on the USB-stick.
At least up until ver. 4749, any newer than that and it won't reg. the FW.
So, is there any recovery-files I can upload through the USB or do I need to experiment with the procedure that Radar has provided?
Note that I'm moving into uncharted terratory here, but on the other hand, the box does not work. It can't get any worse!

Mr.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanx from Denmark

Mr_Rothberg,

Hi. If you are able to get some upgrades to be identified on your USB stick, then you won't need to even refer to my procedure (please note that it is not my procedure exactly, I just took liberties at copying someone else's procedures and rewrote them to suit North American style wording and equipment, etc.) It's no major change but sometimes there is a translation problem (the original procedure for recovery doesn't read well for North American users so I tried my best to translate it best I could).

If I understand you correctly, your AZBox recognizes some of the older firmware images on your USB stick drive, is this right?

What I recommend is that you pick an older version of the AZBox firmware (one that your AZBox will identify with) and preferrably an "official" OpenSat version and not one of the beta versions.

Load that and reset all your satellite data from scratch. Don't try to reload old channnel lists because you might just be sending corrupt data back to the box and putting yourself back to square one with a hosed up AZBox once again. Hope you understand that the AZBox can be very finicky. Follow the procedures in the sticky manual that StarGaze compiled. Adhere to those procedures explicitly and you should have very few troubles. The overall procedure is not really new, the AZBox (the way it is) just restricts you to NOT being able to use the remote control to do all the editing we normally expect out of any STB. There is something amiss here in the firmware, but don't let that disappoint you in the AZBox, just follow the procedures in the A-Z Guide and you should have few worries. We all know it (the AZBox) is strange and not what we expect out of a high dollar (or high Euro) priced unit, but if you follow our "doctrine" you can make it work very well.

Since you are in Europe (Denmark) you won't want to "North Americanize" your satellite list, but the procedure would be the same to "Europeanize" your list. You don't need all the N.A. satellites in your list just the same as we don't want all the Euro sats in ours. That should make sense to you, it is just logical.

Now, there are a few things that you should remember and do or not do. First thing is DO NOT use the hardware accelerator (unless you already have and it is working fine)... The hardware accelerator is just overclocking utility for the processor. If it works, that's fine but you gain very little if anything. If it doesn't work it usually hoses up the AZBox so bad that you may have to return it for repair. I recommend that you leave this option set to OFF.

I can say this with authority becuase I tested it myself. Three AZBoxes didn't mind that setting but it didn't do anything beneficial for me.
The fourth AZBox was sent to its grave by using that setting and isn't repairable by me, I MUST send it back to OpenBox as I don't have the means to repair that one.

I might have more to add, but I will send this now and come back a little later.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Mr_Rothberg,

In your case you definitely must utilize the "FORMAT APPLICAITION AREA" when you do your firmware upgrade. Personally, I do this ALL the time (at every firmware upgrade). This procedure is not ALWAYS necessary but it is required if there are major differences in the capabilities of the firmware images that you are switching between. If you are going "backwards" or retrograding in your firmware, you definitely want to utilize the "FORMAT APP AREA" procedure. You will lose your current channel and sat data in the AZBox when you do this, but if your list is corrupted anyway, I would not recommed trying to reload it.

I know it will be extra work to start over, but you will be better off if you do. Please take that advice to heart.

Once you get a valid working sat and channel list that you can trust, then you can save that list to a safe location on your PC or a disk or a thumb drive and have it as a backup.
If you have that sat/channel backup you may use it over and over again. Since you are having problems currently, I would not recommend saving or reloading your current sat and channel list because it could be corrupt. You are best off starting from scratch in this case since this is an unknown. Basically, it isn't that much work to redo your list and if you do it properly from the start you wil avoid a lot of headaches down the road.

Many people will tell you NOT to do the format the application area, but I have it straight from the OpenSat techs that it is the recommended procedure to follow. It may not ALWAYS be that necessary, but I do it each time because then I am following the manufacturers procedures. I have done it both ways and I don't think that you will be troubled by doing it either way, But I still recommend following the guidelines from OpenSat.

If I can help you further, I will if you need it, but the A-Z Guide should help you the most. I might be able to fill in the blanks or discuss specifics with you if needed. I'll do my best. We can discus anything you desire. I am around here often (up until the end of May). After that I move to my other hobbies for the summer season.

RADAR

 

[Mr_Rothberg]

Hi Radar.
Quick respons, very nice!
I'm using cable and not satelites, just as you know.
Loosing the channel list is not a big deal, I'll do a new search when it's up and running.
I've downloaded the "Bible" you and StarGaze wrote and will read through that.
One question though, you suggest reloading old FW and resetting the satelite data.
Is that through FTP (I just got FileZilla working when it chrashed)?
Allthough it downloads the FW, the box still won't start up, so resetting anything through there is out of the question.
I've read about connecting the DOM directly at the PC Motherboard in order to change/delete files.
Would that be a solution?
Anyway, I'll read through the material and try out whatever option it offers that I haven't tried yet.
I will let you know what happend during the weekend.

Thankx again

Jesper

 

[AcWxRadar]

Hi Radar.

One question though, you suggest reloading old FW and resetting the satelite data.
Is that through FTP (I just got FileZilla working when it chrashed)?

Jesper, if you had saved a back-up file of your satellite data (in your case that would be your cable data) you could FTP it back to your AZBox using AZBox Control Center (ACC) version 1.1 or higher. However, since you are experiencing some odd problems here, I would not opt to use any previous files as they may have some error that is troubling the AZBox. I would opt to reset all your cable setup parameters and rescan for channels. You would do this via the SETTINGS menu when you get the box back up of course.

Allthough it downloads the FW, the box still won't start up, so resetting anything through there is out of the question.

Since the AZBox accepts the firmware update you at least have a good sign that the box is not severly crippled. You should be uploading the firmware by installing
the patch file on a USB memory stick (this is the most recommended method). Once the firmware patch has finished loading, you should select the option to:
FORMAT APPLICATION AREA. This ensures that any remnants from the previous patch has been cleared out and the new patch is fully installed. Then, select REBOOT
WITHOUT UPDATE.

Ensure that you are using one of these OFFICIAL OPENSAT firmwares: 0.9.2372, 0.9.2880, 0.9.3661, 0.9.3686 or 0.9.3877. You may try several or all of these if the
first one does not help. I may have missed some official firmwares, so you can use others, but ensure that you don't use the daily snapshots (beta versions). They will
not be harmful, but they may not get the job done for you as well as the official firmware versions will. The older official firmwares won't have the HARDWARE ACCELERATOR
feature available and that may be key. You don't want that feature.

If it will not reboot to full use from this point, then you will have to use the RECOVERY PROCEDURE that I posted.

I've read about connecting the DOM directly at the PC Motherboard in order to change/delete files.
Would that be a solution?

That may be a possibility, but it is unchartered teritory for me. You will have to dig up the procedure for that from the other sources.
AZBox guru Pr2 has something posted about this procedure on one or more of the AZBox forums there in Europe. You can trust any
procedures that he has written or endorsed.

Anyway, I'll read through the material and try out whatever option it offers that I haven't tried yet.
I will let you know what happend during the weekend.

Thankx again

Jesper

I wish you good luck. Don't get discouraged and prepare to be very patient. I had to wait quite a while to get all the parts and devices and programs acquired and set up properly just to accomplish the recovery task. And in my case, the AZBox was actually so severely damaged that I had to send it to OpenBox for repair anyway as the recovery procedure was insufficient. An actual hardware fault cannot be corrected with the recovery procedure.

RADAR

 

[Mr_Rothberg]

SUCCESS
Using the 0.9.3877 FW did the job.
I'm setting up the box again right now, but so far it looks good.
Thank's for your help a quick response.
I apriciate it a lot.

Jesper aka Mr_Rothberg