AMIKO My A3 just did it again.

[Dee_Ann]

It's been flashing a message on screen for a few weeks that said something about an update, it was extremely poor grammar so obviously a non English speaking person had crafted the message.

I've just been ignoring it.

This morning I was trying to use a type up a grocery list on it and it was misbehaving in odd ways, menus weren't displaying properly things were overlapping, icons were massive, filling the screen like they were zoomed in to full screen.

So I used the remote to try and just do a reset but it didn't ask, it just powered down. As it powered down it kept flashing a message saying media had been removed, it flashed it on and off rapidly about 8-10 times. It took about a minute to power down, the LED display was off but the TV screen was still showing things on it.

When I powered it up it hung on the "boot" screen for about 10 minutes. I finally pulled the power cord because it was non-responsive. I waited 60 seconds and plugged it back in. Same thing again.

Pulled the power cord again. Waited. Plugged it back in. The TV went black for about 2 minutes then it started to show the boot screen and then it came up with the freaking setup screen.

Once again it has, all of it's own accord and without me doing ANYTHING to it, it has downloaded and installed the bloody European ROM update.

Now I am going to have to go back and do that whole complicated recovery process all over again.

The question I have now is this, how can I lock this stupid thing from self-updating and to NEVER, EVER go to the freaking European sites again?

What are the websites, server addresses, IP addresses, etc. that it contacts to get those European things?
If you can tell me what they are I can block them in my router so it can never contact those sites again.

This is extremely annoying. I've had quite a bit of rotten luck with the A3 and I'm growing quite weary of this.

 

[Titanium]

So much drama.... Why does the A3 black cloud follow you?

Now that you are running the current firmware, download and run the EuroTrash app from the Dev app. All firmware updates now come from the one Europe source then run the EuroTrash app to make it North American region friendly.

Reinstall your satellite/channel list if needed.

 

[fred555]

 

[Dee_Ann]

Seriously, this machine hates my guts. It's possessed and it hates me. It's plotting to kill me by making me have a heart attack from stress.
It sits around thinking REDRUM. REDRUM. REDRUM.. It wants to drive a sword through my skull and boil my heart in oil. It truly hates me.

I swear, I am not fiddling with this machine in any way, shape, form or fashion. A few weeks ago or so when I restored it after it was completely messed up, it worked fine. I thought it was all done and over with.
Then every time I would change channels or bring up a menu a box would flash up for a fraction of a second saying something about an update but I just ignored it.
Then over the past few days it's been acting odd, as if something wasn't right. I can't explain what was wrong but I could tell something was wrong.

All I tried to do was press the power button on the remote, I wanted to have it give me the three options to sleep, deep sleep or reboot. I wanted to just reboot it, I figured that maybe it was constipated and a reboot would fix it.
It did not give me any options at all, it simply powered down and from that point on it was fried.

This "eruotrash" thing you mentioned, I have no clue on earth what that is or how to go about that.

Back when the machine blew up you guys emailed instructions to me on how to restore (or was it recover?) it. I followed to instructions a few weeks ago and it put it back to working the way it was supposed to.
Should I go through that procedure again? Or is there a new, different way? I've pulled the power cord, pulled the disk out of it and the little SD card. I have a different SD card I can put the recovery file on.
What should I do now?

And then the question, is there a way to lock it down somehow so that it's impossible for it to check for updates or for it to self initiate any update procedures?

I've come to despise self/auto updates on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING over the years. I've disabled it on my Macs, my iPhones, tablets, TV and everything else I own because nothing good comes of it, ever.
It annoys me to no end that my Dish network receiver goes through an update EVERY DAY and that you can not disable it. Anyway, that's a whole different kettle of fish.

I really need to find a way to fix this thing then lock it down. This is extremely annoying. Surely I can't be the only person this is happening too, considering that it happens all by itself.
I swear it, I am not messing with ANYTHING on this tuner, I use to watch FTA and that's pretty much the only thing I do with it. I don't record anymore, I don't even operate the motor, I just leave it parked on 97w and it sits on RTN 24/7. I never even power it down, I just turn the TV off when I go to sleep, the tuner stays fully powered up. I watch TV on it everyday but I rarely even touch the remote control.

 

[N6BY]

... I just leave it parked on 97w and it sits on RTN 24/7. I never even power it down, I just turn the TV off when I go to sleep, the tuner stays fully powered up. ...

If I were in your situation I would just get a simple FTA receiver without auto-update. Many are available ranging from $39 to $90.

 

[KE4EST]

If I were in your situation I would just get a simple FTA receiver without auto-update. Many are available ranging from $39 to $90.

The A3 does not auto update firmware.
Apps may auto update but you can turn that off, just like any other Android Device.

 

[Titanium]

EuroTrash version V0.4: http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=36101#axzz3YpPaaDMb

Many SatelliteGuys and FridgeFTA members like myself, own an A3. My my support email inbox would be full, Ebay and Amazon ratings destroyed and there would be a firestorm of forum posts if other A3 customers were having this reoccurring problem. I run two A3 24/7 and never have experienced an unapproved update. Not saying it doesn't happen, but we are not hearing of a reoccurring unapproved update issue from other owners. Maybe contact Amiko Americas for advice on setting-up your A3 in a unique way to ignore factory notices or disable the ability to IP update?

As mentioned to you several times before, if you feel that the unit has issues, RMA the unit to Amiko Americas. If you are frustrated with your A3 and don't want to deal with it, sell it. From the pages of complaints that you have written about your experiences, I would suggest that you should consider admitting defeat in trying to tame your A3, cut bait and run!

 

[KE4EST]

From the pages of complaints

Aww come on Dee-Ann has pages of complaints about every thing.

 

[N6BY]

It's been flashing a message on screen for a few weeks that said something about an update, ..

The A3 does not auto update firmware.
Apps may auto update but you can turn that off, just like any other Android Device.

I guess I misread Dee Ann's post. I don't have an A3. But based on her experience with it, I still think she would be better off with something simpler.

 

[mmewrench]

I guess I have been pretty lucky. The worst thing that happens to me is that I may not have sound when I boot up. A quick reboot takes care of this. Although I usually scribble my grocery list on the back of a piece of junk mail while I am watching tv (don't have a keyboard for the A3).

 

[Dee_Ann]

I'm going to just stop for a few days and back off. I'm aggravated not only with this but my whole day has been toxic.
I've pulled the power cord and it can sit until Saturday. I'll get up early, have coffee and see if I can fix it.
In the meantime I'll print out and read this "eurotrash" stuff and see if I can make sense of it.

I know nothing about android and I'm completely uncomfortable with android, it's completely alien to me. If this thing were based on iOS or OS X I could cope with it.
I'm not a computer guru or a programmer and I don't want to be. I have no idea why something that works fine for other people gives me such grief.

I'll try one more time with it. I won't be posting anymore about it because I don't need the hostility that I'm receiving.
I'm not the brightest bulb on the string but I'm not completely stupid despite what you may think.

This thread serves no further purpose, please just delete it.

This is the end of my posts about the A3.

 

[. Raine]

You have to cut Dee Ann a little slack here. I wouldn't expect to have to load a European Rom into a North American receiver and then download a app to change it to a NA Rom. Maybe if it was some project I made at home, yes. It sounds like sloppy work or someone being lazy in the development for NA, to me. And it wasn't too long ago that people were told to make sure they didn't load the European Rom, if I remember correctly.

 

[Titanium]

If you own an A3 you know that originally it had customized firmware for North America. This customized firmware enabled many things that the rest of the world didn't use, got rid of stuff we don't use and made it much more user friendly to North American users. But.... It was a PITA if users didn't make back-ups or follow directions. Most STBs distributed in North America have customized regional firmware.

Now all North American cool stuff has been incorporated into the single worldwide release and EuroTrash is an app that cleans out the stuff that is not used in North America and sets the Google permissions for NA. No one has to run this "cleaner" app, but it is nice to have a system that runs faster without Euro bloatware and works great with NA Google Play regional. Don't need any computer or OS skills to click an app. Serious! It is that easy.

Firmware updates don't erase user settings such as satellites, channels, switch, motor and other custom settings. I just mentioned that to DeeAnn in case something happened during the unapproved update.

Read past posts and you will see that slack has been cut many times...

Sorry DeeAnn, but you draw, shoot then occasionally apologize. You know the extreme level of support that I and others have provided to you on many of your projects. You are occasionally a fire breathing redhead... This is not always bad, but you don't always need to be on the attack and talking smack. We are here to help as always!

 

[KE4EST]

Very good explanation Brian. I know it is hard for guys that have never owned an A3 to read between the lines sometimes.

 

[Dee_Ann]

My apologies. I'm a stupid woman and I have no business messing with man things like electronics.
I have nothing but troubles and all I do is complain.

I have nothing to offer, nothing to contribute here..

My place is better served barefoot in the kitchen.

I'm going to go sign up for cable TV in the morning.

Please feel free to purge me from. The system.

Thanks.


Sent from my ancient Jurasic iPad using Jurasic Tapatalk 2.5.2

 

[. Raine]

I actually did read all of the posts above before I posted, I am planning on buying a A3 and have been following the different things going on with the A3 rather closely.

I totally agree, the way the firmware was before, having to back up to insure against some problem and if said problem occurred with no back up, having to RMA the A3 because the correct firmware couldn't be downloaded, was just plain retarded. Loading a European rom and running a cleaning app is far better than that but having a NA firmware available would be even better. Maybe in the future? As you said, most NA receivers have custom firmware, available for download somewhere too. Having to RMA the thing if you messed it up is the primary reason why I haven't yet bought one, that problem in now fixed.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not bashing the A3, but statements like no one has to run the Eurotrash app is silly, really, I'd say that they do if they're in NA, unless they want a European receiver. Single worldwide release simply means simple for the developers, not the users in NA. It's not very often that I have to run a app to mod my firmware on retail devices. For you and me, installing a European firmware onto a NA receiver after you've been told not to do that and then running the app is no problem. For others, maybe not so easy, especially when they don't flash firmware or write code, like we do on a almost daily basis. You really can't do a 360 on instructions and expect everyone to just flow right along with it. Yeah, just load the European firmware on your NA receiver, forget what we told you before...not confusing at all...to us who constantly fiddle with things!

As I said above, I've been following the A3 pretty closely and this thread is the first I heard of loading the European rom and running Eurotrash app. Maybe A3 owners have been sent notifications of this change?

 

[Titanium]

It has been talked about in several threads, but you are right, there is no one thread on SatelliteGuys specifically stating that A3 firmware updates are now from one source. It had been suggested to DeeAnn in another thread that she upgrade to latest Euro firmware and she had indicated that she was going to do so.

Since SatelliteGuys is not the official support forum, we tend to just discuss operating questions or new releases. FridgeFTA is the official support forum and that is where owners find/share most A3 information. Only a fraction of the A3 stuff gets double posted to SatelliteGuys.

Here are a few SatelliteGuys threads that discussed the transition to using the European download and EuroTrash:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/ind....0.68-"Europe-Version"-Testing-Thread.345372/

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/index.php?threads/Eurotrash-v0.3-BETA-(Google-Play-Fix).346511/

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/index.php?threads/Amiko-A3-ROM-2.0.69-Beta-Testing-Thread.346474/

I'll chat with KE4EST and T134 about posting a dedicated SatelliteGuys thread about the A3 updates and EuroTrash.

 

[Titanium]

Dee Ann,

No one ever said any of these things about your abilities or perceived weaknesses. I believe that collectively, we have been extremely supportive and admire your tenacity and ability to pull off big projects. You have more technical and mechanical abilities than most members regardless of gender...

Sorry that you are self-deprecating instead of focusing on solutions. You are wise to step back from the project and re-evaluate if the FTA is a good hobby for you or just a source of aggravation. I agree, subscription TV could be the easiest path for you to enjoy to frustration-free TV viewing.

BTW... I was just barefoot in my kitchen.... Making the morning coffee....

 

[Jim S.]

While I haven't had anything as spectacular as the problems Dee is having happen, I have occasionally (and in earlier ROM releases, sometimes frequently) had my A3 lock up or otherwise misbehave during routine use. And sometimes, upon reboot, it would further misbehave instead of correcting the problem. This says to me that there actually is something wrong with Amiko's coding practices (since my previous Alien2 would occasionally do similar things) and/or with Android's suitability as an OS for full-time use.

BTW, problems extant as of the current public release:
* Occasionally hangs when initiating a blind scan, especially when not rebooted lately. (A real OS should never need rebooted, other than for kernel upgrades. [But don't mention that in the Dish forum.])
* Occasionally starts downconverting Dolby to PCM unbidden.

 

[mmewrench]

I would blame android (and google) before I would blame Amiko. Just look at the issues people have with their phones. As I stated before I have been lucky, but I don't push my luck either. I used to use an Azbox back in the day. I cant tell you how many times I had to wipe it and start over. Lets not forget the Micro HD ( the best satellite receiver since sliced bread). How many here have boot looped them?