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OpenPli-Image Flashing without Flashdrive

bumperbee's Photo bumperbee 27 Nov 2018

Hi Everyone, my Et10k no longer able to flash an image by the normal method, using a flashdrive inserted to the Usb port. Any idea what is wrong with it?

Beside the above method mentioned, is there any other method such as, lan cable?

Thanks & Best Regards

 

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Trial's Photo Trial 27 Nov 2018

Hi,

on a lot of STBs the plugin automatic backup&restore can flash images which are stored somewhere at the STB.

 

ciao

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bumperbee's Photo bumperbee 27 Nov 2018

Hi Trial, thank you for the quick reply.

Is there any other method, such as installing a software to pc and work with lan cable?

Any idea what is wrong with the box?

Best Regards

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betacentauri's Photo betacentauri 27 Nov 2018

Use another usb stick. Is the stick fat32 formatted?

Trial already said that you can flash the box via the mentioned plugin. Or you can use online flash integrated in e2 if the installed image is not too old.
Or you can maybe flash with ofgwrite via the command line. Depends on whether ofgwrite is installed.

Which image is installed? Does it work? Can you login via Telnet?
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bumperbee's Photo bumperbee 28 Nov 2018

Hi Betacentauri, thank you for your reply.

The image is OpenPli and is working. I also can login to Telnet. Just wanted to try out other images and afraid that other images does not have the internal flashing feature in the built-in backup plugin. Could you tell me how can I do the Online flashing integrated in e2 please?

Is it possible to do a flashing through Telnet? If yes, please tell me how?

Best Regards

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littlesat's Photo littlesat 28 Nov 2018

Soon this is possible... Flashing from NAS... (but without autorestore/install). But then this only works when you have a UI... To completely 'repair' a box you still need to flash with USB.


Edited by littlesat, 28 November 2018 - 10:31.
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Pr2's Photo Pr2 28 Nov 2018

Hi,

 

I guess that when your box is running when you plug an USB stick nothing happens, the USB stick is not detected at all?

 

If it is the case I guess that your Xtrend ET10000 has dead (or dying) capacitors, so they are unable to provide enough power supply to the USB port.

So this also prevent you from being able to flash new images.

 

So have a look at the power supply capacitors and replace the defective ones.

 

Pr2

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erkman's Photo erkman 28 Nov 2018

You can try a activ usb hub, works for me on my et9200

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40H3X's Photo 40H3X 28 Nov 2018

As my predecessors already mentioned, when you are on 6.1 or higher you can flash from the GUI https://wiki.openpli.org/Installation

But are you absolutely sure that the general method, so using an USB stick, is not possible anymore. I have many USB sticks that don't work, because the timeframe in which the bootloader has to detect the medium (USB stick) is narrow, read about it in wiki the https://wiki.openpli..._working_or_not

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ColinB's Photo ColinB 28 Nov 2018

You can also flash from telnet if you have ofgwrite installed.

 

Type ofgwrite at the comand prompt and it will give you all the options.

 

ofgwrite -k -r "Directory containg rootfs.bin & kernel.bin"

 

For my et8000 it is

 

ofgwrite -k -r et8000

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betacentauri's Photo betacentauri 28 Nov 2018

You need to enter the whole path to the image files. What ColinB wrote is not wrong but maybe last example is not perfect. Maybe this is better example:
ofgwrite -r -k /media/usb/et8000
Or as you have a et10000:
ofgwrite -r -k /media/usb/et10000
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ColinB's Photo ColinB 28 Nov 2018

Thanks, I normally navigate to the backup or file location first.

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littlesat's Photo littlesat 28 Nov 2018

Just go into that dir and type ofgwrite . (With a dot)
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ColinB's Photo ColinB 28 Nov 2018

Just go into that dir and type ofgwrite . (With a dot)

Is there a space between ofgwrite & the dot ?

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ColinB's Photo ColinB 28 Nov 2018

 

Just go into that dir and type ofgwrite . (With a dot)

Is there a space between ofgwrite & the dot ?

 

Just tried it "ofgwrite ."

 

root@et8000:/media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000# ls
kernel.bin  noforce     rootfs.bin
root@et8000:/media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000# ofgwrite .

ofgwrite Utility v4.1.7
Author: Betacentauri
Based upon: mtd-utils-native-1.5.1 and busybox 1.24.1
Use at your own risk! Make always a backup before use!
Don't use it if you use multiple ubi volumes in ubi layer!

Searching image files in . resolved to /media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000
Found rootfs file: /media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000/rootfs.bin
Found kernel file: /media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000/kernel.bin
Setting default parameter: Flashing kernel and rootfs
Found UBIFS rootfs
Found mounted /newroot

Found /proc/mtd entries:
Device:   Size:     Erasesize:  Name:                   Image:
mtd0:     20000000  00020000    "complete"
mtd1:     00600000  00020000    "kernel"            ->  /media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000/kernel.bin
mtd2:     1fa00000  00020000    "rootfs"            ->  /media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000/rootfs.bin
Using kernel mtd device: /dev/mtd1
Using rootfs mtd device: /dev/mtd2

killall: rpc.mountd: no process killed
killall: CCcam: no process killed
sh: pkill: not found
sh: pkill: not found
kill: you need to specify whom to kill
killall: kodi.bin: no process killed
killall: hddtemp: no process killed
killall: transmission-daemon: no process killed
killall: openvpn: no process killed
sh: /etc/init.d/sabnzbd: not found
sh: pkill: not found
sh: pkill: not found
sh: pkill: not found
sh: pkill: not found
sh: pkill: not found
sh: /etc/init.d/autofs: not found
Syncing filesystem
daemonize
root@et8000:/media/usb/fullbackup_et8000/20181128_1734/et8000#  successful
start umount_rootfs
cp: can't stat '/usr/sbin/autom*': No such file or directory
cp: can't stat '/etc/auto*': No such file or directory
cp: can't stat '/usr/lib/autofs/*': No such file or directory
Switching to user mode 2
Checking E2 is running...
Execute: ps
E2 still running
Execute: ps
E2 still running
Execute: ps
E2 still running
Execute: ps
E2 still running
Execute: ps
E2 still running
Execute: ps
E2 is stopped
sh: /bin/automount: not found
Error starting autofs
Execute: fuser -k -m /oldroot/


Connection to host lost.


Edited by ColinB, 28 November 2018 - 18:45.
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betacentauri's Photo betacentauri 28 Nov 2018

Yes, it works. But you need to be in the right directory which was not clear in one of the posts above.

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bumperbee's Photo bumperbee 29 Nov 2018

Thanks very much to all Masters for the advice!

@ Littlesat - That’s great news

@ Pr2 - In my case is it is able to detect the flashdrive and show the word flashing on the Lcd display. But it never ends and after you stop by switching off the electric supply, the old image is still working. Please tell me what you think might be the problem?  

@ Erkman - Noted, but it is able to read the flashdrive.

@ 40H3X- Yes, the flashdrive I use is good because I did try on other stb.

@ ColinB – Great news, so if the image I am testing does not have a built-in option for local flashing, I could use this method. Please tell me how to find out whether I have “ofgwrite” installed? 

@ Betacentauri – Thanks again for the precise instruction.

@ ColinB – I will try doing this first.

@ Littlesat – Thanks again for the much easier instruction.

@ ColinB – Thanks for the confirmation on the instruction and the appended process sample.

@ Betacentauri – Thanks again for the advice.

Best Regards to All

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betacentauri's Photo betacentauri 29 Nov 2018

Just login via Telnet and execute ofgwrite without parameters.
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Pr2's Photo Pr2 29 Nov 2018

...
@ Pr2 - In my case is it is able to detect the flashdrive and show the word flashing on the Lcd display. But it never ends and after you stop by switching off the electric supply, the old image is still working. Please tell me what you think might be the problem?  
...


Capacitors, not enough power to properly flash. Flashing is power consuming.
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bumperbee's Photo bumperbee 30 Nov 2018

@ Betacentauri – Thanks for the advice

 

@ Pr2 – If you have any guess which are the capacitors could be the fault, or the capacitors around a certain area, please let me know. Thanks again

 

Best Regards to All

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