Help installing CoreELEC 9.2.2 on T95Z Plus (Amlogic S912)

[phatbastard]

Hello everyone,

I followed the installation instructions from the site and downloaded the Amlogic generic file (CoreELEC-Amlogic.arm-9.2.2-Generic.img.gz), flashed the image file onto a SD card, moved the “gxm_q200_2g” from the SD card’s “device_trees” directory to the root of the SD card and rename it “dtb.img”. After inserting the SD card to the device and rebooting, the device boots back again to its internal OEM Android.

Did I miss a step here or I am selecting the incorrect dtb image file from the device_trees directory? Please advise.

This is a generic (no brandname) T95Z Plus Amlogic S912 Octa Core with 2G + 16G device.

Thanks

[Compent]

You can usually use the method of using the reset button on powering up to force boot to sd card (assuming that it is supported on your box) or if you are using Android you can also install this to do so straight from Android.

[phatbastard]

Thanks for your response. I looked everywhere for a reset hole or button, but nowhere to be found, unless its on its board. I’ll give the APK a shot.

By the way, I found out in the /proc/device-tree/amlogic-dt-id file that it should use the “gxm_q201_2g” image instead.

[Compent]

More often than not the reset button is located in the AV audio port you can feel it click in and out with a toothpick or similar.

[phatbastard]

Thank you! I’ll try next time if ever! Now I need to make its remote control to work and try it for about a week and then make it permanent to its internal storage.

[phatbastard]

Thank you! that did the trick!

[Compent]

Good stuff.

You will find a couple of guides regarding remote controls here.

[kshi]

I have the same box. Here’s the remote.conf from Android.
T95Zplus_remote.zip (1.5 KB)

Extract it and drop the remote.conf file in /storage/.config

[phatbastard]

Thank you, guys! Very much appreciate your help and time. I’ll give it a shot.

[phatbastard]

Ok, so, the remote.conf file did not work for me. I’ll keep looking and testing and see it I get it going.

I went ahead I wrote it to its internal storage on the T95Z Plus and no matter what I try, “reboot update”, “Start from eMMC” option it boots back to the SD card. Can someone advise please? Many thanks!

[Compent]

Take the SD card out and then boot.

If install to internal worked then it will boot from the eMMC.

[phatbastard]

Hello everyone, I think I got it all done and this T95Z Plus generic device running on CoreELEC 9.2.2.

Here I’m sharing all the steps. I hope this helps someone down the road and have some entertainment with family.

There are some technical skills required.

INSTALLING CoreELEC TO SD CARD

1. Download CoreELEC-Amlogic.arm-9.2.2-Generic.img.gz locally to your computer.
2. Flash the CoreELEC-Amlogic.arm-9.2.2-Generic.img.gz image file to the SD card. I used BalenaEtcher from my computer.
3. Once the image is flashed onto the SD card, move the “gxm_q201_2g_1gbit.dtb” file from the SD card’s “device_trees” directory to the root (top level) of the SD card and rename it “dtb.img”.
4. If you cannot find a reset button in your device, download the “Reboot to LibreELEC” APK file, install it and run it on your device to switch boot from Android to CoreELEC.
   https://apkpure.com/reboot-to-libreelec/me.thomastv.rebootupdate
5. Insert the SD card in the device.

INSTALLING CoreELEC TO DEVICE’S INTERNAL STORAGE

1. Connect the device to your router or switch and connect over ssh.
   # ssh root@device_ip
2. Install CoreELEC to the device’s internal storage by issuing the command below. Follow the instructions and confirm when prompted. You may need to run this command twice (2 times), one after the other before continuing to step 3.
   # installtointernal
3. Power off the device and remove the SD card from device.
   # poweroff
4. Restart or reapply power to the device and this time it should take a few minutes to boot from its internal storage.

NOTE: In my case, my device did not boot from its internal storage and got stuck in the T95Z Plus splash-screen, so I reinserted the SD card and issued the following commands:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/dtb bs=256k count=1
# dd if=/flash/dtb.img of=/dev/dtb bs=256k

Once this is done, issue poweroff and remove the SD card and restart your device.
# poweroff

SETTING UP REMOTE CONTROL

There is a good reference on how to setup the remote control here.

How to configure IR remote control

IR remote controls can be configured in 1 of 2 ways in CoreELEC, both are detailed in this guide below. meson-ir meson-ir allows you to use almost any IR remote controller to control your device. CoreELEC uses meson-ir by default and our builds come with a limited selection of IR remote configurations for devices built in. If your remote does not work then you will need to follow the below instructions to create a config and get it working. Firstly you must SSH into your device and then Kod…

1. I followed the amremote configuration method and downloaded the T95Z PLUS conf.7z from the Dropbox link below.
   Dropbox - CoreELEC 9.0 Remote Files - Simplify your life
2. Uncompress the T95Z PLUS conf.7z file and move the remote.conf file to the /storage/.config/ directory.
   # scp remote.conf root@device_ip:/storage/.config/
3. Restart your device.

Enjoy!

[Compent]

The reason that installtointernal didn’t work the first time is that you have to run it twice.and then reboot.

[phatbastard]

Thanks for the info. I did take a note of that and updated above.