Xiaomi Box S 3rd Gen as a Dual-boot CE Box

Help & Support Hardware
245

Oh I’ll have a look at that then. Thanks for the pointer.

I’ve got a few devices so no big deal for me. Kodi on the ATV part is fine apart from the passthrough bug that they’ve recently fixed.

246

Hi everyone,

I hope I can get a helping hand here. I recently received my Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen) from AliExpress and I am struggling to boot CoreELEC. Despite following the common procedures, the device consistently boots into Google TV.

My Setup:

  • Device: Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen) / S905X5M (S7D)

  • Android Firmware: 250107.001.V816.0.25.7.22 (ADB Debugging enabled)

  • Images tested:

  • CoreELEC-Amlogic-no.aarch64-22.0-Piers_nightly_20260323-Generic.img.gz

  • CoreELEC-Amlogic-no.aarch64-22.0-Piers_nightly_20260318-Generic.img.gz

  • Installation Media: Two different USB 3.0 sticks (flashed via Rufus 4.6p).

  • DTB Configuration: Used s7d_s905x5m_xiaomi_3rd_gen.dtb, renamed to dtb.img in the root directory.

Steps Taken:

  1. Boot Command: Executed reboot update via Remote ADB.

  2. Power Cycle Trick: Tried the “2nd Mi Logo” power cycle process multiple times.

  3. USB Connection: Tested both direct connection and using a powered USB hub.

  4. Files: Confirmed dtb.img, aml_autoscript, and recovery.img are present in the root folder.

The Problem:

No matter which method I use, the box ignores the USB stick and boots straight into the Google TV UI. It seems the bootloader isn’t picking up the external media.

Since I only have USB 3.0 sticks available at the moment, could this be a hardware compatibility issue, or is there a specific trick for this firmware version that I might be missing?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

247

Several days ago, I used Sandisk USB 3,1 32GB flash drive to install CE on this box. Also on this box I installeed CE on an old TDK 16GB uSD card in uSDtoUSB adapter without any problems. Both times made the image with Balena Etcher, and started installation via “Reboot to CoreElec.app”

I think that size of used media is more an obstacle than USB 3.0/2.0 version…

1 Like
248

Try the Reboot to CoreELEC app

249

I have same exact issue

I tired multiple SanDisk Flash drives (16 & 32 gig)

My Firmware version is UKG3.250826.001.V816.0.7.0.UZFAABX

I have also used reboot to coreelec app other than adb command

250

i could try it with a sd card! didnt thought about that. thank you for that.

251

tried that. sadly the same result.

252

oh, balena gave me an error message every time i tried to write the images mentioned above. data was on the stick but i thought the error message doesnt make it worth trying.

253

The box I sucessfully installed CE_NO had “250107.001.V816.0.25.7.22” firmware version.

Perhaps the boxes with newer firmware versions need some changes

254

I am also thinking that updated firmware is the culprit that’s why I specifically mentioned the firmware version

Let’s wait till developers tackles this issues

258

Anyone:
Make boot stick (with correct dtb), boot device. If nothing appears on TV for 3 minutes this means that recovery image was booted.
Second test: copy kernel.img to recovery.img and boot. What happen on TV?

https://test.coreelec.org/vpeter/CoreELEC-Amlogic-no.aarch64-22.0-Piers_devel_vpeter-Generic-3min_autoscript.img.gz

This only applies for devices which for some reason doesn’t want to boot CE (with this new mentioned fw).

1 Like
260

first i tried it with the dtb.img that was already in the root folder because i was unsure about your wording. 2nd try was with the renamed s7d_s905x5m_xiaomi_3rd_gen.dtb and 3rd try was with the renamed dtb and copied kernel.img to recovery.img.
1st try stuck at mi logo

2nd try boot to google tv

3nd try stuck at mi logo later boot to google tv

did i do anything wrong?

261

The main question is how long was on mi logo? For exactly 180 seconds?

262

round about 180sec
out of curiosity i tried the newest nightly with copied recovery and the renamed dtb. the mi logo flashed ~3 times and then the box booted google tv

263

Can you try this image. After the test check on computer if first partition has folder named midebug. If it does upload it somewhere.

https://test.coreelec.org/vpeter/CoreELEC-Amlogic-no.aarch64-22.0-Piers_devel_vpeter-Generic-midebug-2.img.gz

264

Thank you very much for your help. Its very much appreciated!

265

Can you repeat with this image and upload midebug folder again.

https://test.coreelec.org/vpeter/CoreELEC-Amlogic-no.aarch64-22.0-Piers_devel_vpeter-Generic-midebug-3.img.gz

267
268

Now let’s do one stupid test: copy this 2 files on this test disk. I wonder what will happen :dotted_line_face:
No need to upload anything.

https://test.coreelec.org/vpeter/kernel.img
https://test.coreelec.org/vpeter/recovery.img

269

there was maybe a restart or something between the mi logos. one of the black screens between the mi logos was a little bit longer then the other times.