Here currently utilizing “old” S912 Octocore TV Boxes which work fine with Kodi 18.X.
I would like to update to something more current for use.
Purchasing TV Boxes from Amazon to try and then return if they do not work with CoreELEC.
Recently purchased:
1 - X96 Air with latest Q1000 firmware from Amazon. Box will not boot from SDCard and only goes to boot menu on a hard reset (depressing reset switch). (4Gb RAM, Gb NIC) Returning this one today.
2 - X96 Max Plus - Purchased and returned August, 2021 - same issue of not booting with SD card.
So have not returned my X96 Q1000 4Gb 1G NIC 64Gb TV Box to tinker some more.
I have been able to upload p3 firmware on it and it boots fine except that it is not booting from the SD card yet. Keep trying different firmware from this website.
It doesn’t boot to boot loader menu as before. It does run the reboot to sd google app.
When tinkering will upload orginal firmware to it.
If it will boot from the Google app and that means that you can load the CE once from SD card, then the best thing to do after testing is to load it into the emmc using the ceemmc tool. Once this is done it will always have CE.
It can always be a bit twitchy getting these boxes to boot from SD using the “toothpick” method, timing is critical and it can take multiple attempts to get it to work. I doubt these cheap boxes are been shipped with locked bootloaders (just not worth their effort to lock them), the issues you may encounter is none spec components not working with the available dtb’s
But yes the N2 or VIM’s will always be a more reliable and better hardware option.
I was able to boot from a new Samsung 64 Gb micro SD card with new
Amazon purchased X96Air Q1000 firmware 4Gb / 1Gb NIC / 32Gb eMMC.
This is what I did to get it to work.
1 - Wrote latest version of CoreElec 9.2.8 to micro sd card.
CoreELEC-Amlogic.arm-9.2.8-Generic.img.gz
using Windows Rufus image write.
Using Linux Balena Etcher it did write to the card but wouldn’t boot.
2 - copied DTB file sm1_s905x3_4g_1gbit to root as dtb.img file
3 - pressed down reset (via toothpick) while plugging power in then let go of toothpick and booted right up to Coreelec (NOTE: this did not work writing CoreELEC-Amlogic-ng.arm-19.2-Matrix_rc3 image to microSD card.
4 - noticed that WLAN was not working. Configured SSH anyhow.
5 - connected LAN interface to X96 Air Q1000 firmware 4Gb RAM / 1Gb NIC / 32Gb emmc
6 - SFTP’d to box and copied : CoreELEC-Amlogic-ng.arm-19.2-Matrix_rc3.tar to .update directory.
7 - rebooted box and watched it update.
8 - on reboot and update WLAN now works and connected it.
9 - now doing a side by side comparision to the S912 box to match it the repositories except for Matrix this time around.
I did send the 64Gb similiar x96Air box back to Amazon but it probably would have worked fine using same build as above and same methodology.
Testing ethernet port see:
ICS-CoreELEC:~ # ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Supported pause frame use: No
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Supported FEC modes: Not reported
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Advertised pause frame use: No
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
Speed: 10Mb/s
Duplex: Half
Port: MII
PHYAD: 0
Transceiver: external
Auto-negotiation: on
Supports Wake-on: ug
Wake-on: d
Current message level: 0x0000003f (63)
drv probe link timer ifdown ifup
Link detected: no
Thank you again for your suggestion of writing to the eMMC card. Understand that these new boxes are finnicky. What was interesting was that using legacy version 9.2.8.0 of CoreElec worked first time I tried it. (never thought of doing that). Updating that to current version worked and was easy peasey to do.
I have 4 S912’s running Kodi 18.X currently and replacing them with this X96Air 1Gb/4Gb RAM/32Gb devices mostly because I like Kodi Matrix.
You guys were the first to do this and I hope to continue using CoreElec.
I bought an X96 Air 4GB / 64 and an X96 Max plus2, the two junk boxes, terrible heat up and one did not start anymore. Very good hardware label but junk device material. I wonder is the Beelink king pro S922 better device, does it heat up too? or is it the same rubbish ?.
It was recommended to me on the official kodi forum. Good box for CE and it’s true but unfortunately so cheap manufactured that the components are 100x100 garbage.
I have a rare problem in the X96 Air, the cee hdmi control does not work in any way, changed Android version and CE versions, it DOES NOT work and when connecting it to the television it also deactivates the other devices connected to the television its hdmi control, incredible I do not know what happens.
I wouldn’t buy a Beelink, expensive and similar overheating issues. Just to small a case for the heat generated.
You “Might” get consistently better components but thats about all that its got going for it.
With all of these cheap generic bottom end of market devices if you want anything like reliability then you will have to be prepared to modify the case and heatsinking, but thats not a recommendation to go down this path. I have a X96Air which I got when they seemed to be consistent and reliable - but I had to get two as the first died fairly quickly, but the second one with a fan added has worked flawlessly for two years now. Seems that things have changed and I could not recommend having a punt on this brand. What seems to happen is a standard design board is produced by one manufacturer and it gets a reputation for been cheap, good and reliable so all the other manufacturers copy it with inferior components to trade off the good ones reputation. Its then a race to the bottom.
Best to stick with a good brand recommended by the CE team and that effectively boils down to Odroid and Khadas at this stage.
The X96 bought from Amazon same rubbish as bought from Ali but paying still more money. Does anyone know of a current device that is Amlogic S905 X3 that is worth it? I ask because I see more than garbage by Google in AML 905X3