HEre are teh side by side photographs of the X96 Max+ motherboards. The first photo with the component mounted on a dodgy loooking daugter board is from the 4/32GB box that will not boot and the second one is from my own perfectly normal 4/64GB box that works very well with CoreELEC 9.2.4.2 -ng. So clearly there are wqay too many difference to be simmply a later upgrade to the mobo and that kludgy lookign duaghter board !!! So it seems the rogue boxes with my two friends are indeed clones and my Chinese supplier has agreed to replace them hopefully with the new Tanix TX5 Plus box which I am having difficutly locating online anywhere other than Amazon in Canada ?? The rogue box shows it is a newer board version but that would be what a clone producer would do anyway and by the time he starts making the clone some similar freely available components would have newer production series codes too. Strangely though the rogue boxes came with a much earlier Android version that did not even have the FOTO Update app installed as clearly genuine OTA updates would not be able to be linked to and certified.
SO if your X96 Max+ box will not boot carefully open the base of the box (use a thin knife blade to snap it open but take care not to tear the little warranty seal) and check yours to these photos. If it is a clone then deand it is replaced by your supplier. These deplorable clone producers must not be allowed to get away with it, though that is sadly a big ask.
