AMIKO The Amiko A3 Acting Crazy Any Ideas Why?

Christopher Cromwell

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jun 9, 2014
632
169
Lexington, KY.
I've been experiencing some bizarre behavior with the Amiko A3 and not sure what to make of it all; so wanted to obtain your thoughts. I sent a message to Michael (ke4est) too. I know this is a long story, but I was up until 1:30AM getting it finally figured out and fixed.

I got home Friday night and turned on the TV to discover the A3 had crashed and not responsive after being left on NHK World channel 99W KU for the past week. No problem, I rebooted, and then noticed NHK World channel was coming in weaker than usual. The signal fluctuated between 0-45% Signal Quality, I thought maybe it was the weather, but other channels came in much better with clear skies; so I started to blame the uplinker for playing games again with the controls. I moved on with watching other channels on other satellites which I could do just fine. Later I went back to 99W KU and did a blind scan, which I also did on 97W KU. For both satellites doing a blind scan, it was picking up the other satellites 2 degrees away and scanning all those channels instead. I rebooted several times, unplugged the Amiko several times to reset, I tried to get the motor back to 0 reference multiple times and it was still doing all the same crazy things like a 2 year old having a tantrum. I did not know what much else to do other than to climb up on the roof to reset the motor which I haven't done yet, and wonder if my switch had gone bad already. Meanwhile, the Amiko would turn to the satellites correctly to watch TV but NHK World still wasn't coming in with any signal. Finally after running out of solutions, I turned back to my Manhattan reciever wondering if I had to go back to using that. The Manhattan has a Loop Out Cable Output, and I began to daydream as to what would happen if I hooked up the Amiko A3 to that Loop Out. I ran my satellite dish cable back to the Manhattan, ran an RG-6 cable from the Manhattan Loop Out to the Amiko, plugged in the Manhattan and switched it on as well as plugging back in the Amiko A3 to have that reset again. I went to the Manhattan reciever first to bring the dish back to 0 reference and verified that I could get NHK World on 99W KU which I did at 72% Signal Quality! That's pretty weird and that's what I thought it should be all along. I turned off the Manhattan and brought up the Amiko A3 to surprisingly find out that now I can get NHK World on 99W KU at 72% Signal Quality and it now blind scans in satellites correctly on the correct satellites! Isn't that crazy bizarre??! So now the Amiko A3 doesn't behave properly unless the older parent Manhattan is there to hold its hand with the help of the Loop Out cable. The A3 can still control the motor as long as the Manhattan is turned off but power supplied to it. The Signal Quality is now much better on alot of satellites on the A3, which makes me want to delete the TP's and do a fresh blind scan for everything. What are your thoughts for such crazy behavior? I have the most recent A3 software and I no longer suspect the cable, switch or motor going bad on me. I appreciate any explanations you might have, as I am still scratching my head over this one as to why. The A3 for the most part has been working fine, the signals have been a little lower than I would like, but I always figured it was the weather. Everything is working just fine now, as long as I have the A3 holding hands with the Manhattan for parental control. I shouldn't have to do that obviously, but I don't know why it's operating that way.........:-/ At least I can still use the A3.
 
Running USALS on both STBs? If so, are the Longitude and Latitude set the same on both?

Same problem running stable release firmware or only with the development ROM?

Running USALS on both, and verified multiple times that the long and Lat are the same on the Amiko. I am running the stable firmware release, I am not running any development ROM's, I know to stay away from those. The problems happened before having to pair the Amiko to the Manhattan reciever.
 
They are not one and the same.

If you want to be on stable release ROM, reinstall your back-up then install 36s. If you wish to participate in firmware development, install the development ROM and report development issues to Joe.

Be sure that you stay with the NA ROMs or else many functions will be different and apps not available from GooglePlay.

If you take the Manhattan out of line, does the motor shift (even a fraction of a degree)? Is there a voltage output difference between the two STBs? Signal still low if direct connect the A3 to the LNBF?
 
They are not one and the same.

If you want to be on stable release ROM, reinstall your back-up then install 36s. If you wish to participate in firmware development, install the development ROM and report development issues to Joe.

Be sure that you stay with the NA ROMs or else many functions will be different and apps not available from GooglePlay.

If you take the Manhattan out of line, does the motor shift (even a fraction of a degree)? Is there a voltage output difference between the two STBs? Signal still low if direct connect the A3 to the LNBF?

I haven't gone into further testing to see what would happen if I took the Amiko away from it's mother yet. I haven't thought of testing the voltage with both boxes but I could see what that looks like. :) I got pretty busy with other things and was enjoying the Amiko working properly again. I will see about trying those things pretty soon.
 
They are not one and the same.

If you want to be on stable release ROM, reinstall your back-up then install 36s. If you wish to participate in firmware development, install the development ROM and report development issues to Joe.

Be sure that you stay with the NA ROMs or else many functions will be different and apps not available from GooglePlay.

If you take the Manhattan out of line, does the motor shift (even a fraction of a degree)? Is there a voltage output difference between the two STBs? Signal still low if direct connect the A3 to the LNBF?

Brian, the Amiko shows 19V on Horizontal and 14V on Vertical. I verified in settings that I have it set for 13/18, so it is 1 volt more than it should be, which might be why it's acting so erratic. The Manhattan shows 18V on Horizontal and 14V Vertical, which is one volt more than needed on that polarity. There's no way to verify what voltage the Manhattan is set to in the menus. On the Loop Out from the Manhattan that would go back to the Amiko I get .965V on Vertical and 1.14V on Horizontal. When I hook the dish cable back to the Amiko directly (no Loop Out) and try to do a blind scan on 97W, the Amiko appears to now turn to the correct satellite and blind scan the correct chamnels instead of going to the other satellite 2 degrees east. The signal is greatly improved as well. I wonder if I should just leave the Amiko connected to the Manhattan Loop Out to make sure it stays balanced? Nothing more exasperating than to have a reciever tell you there's no signal when there's actually plenty of it.
 
Oh, ok. So I go to the Development ROM App and download the 2.0.59?

Brian, I spent the past few hours or more figuring out how to create a new HD on the A3 using a USB Flash Drive. I created a backup and finally found the stable ROM you were talking about. I downloaded the ROM 4 or 5 different ways, copied it to the Flash Drive, and the best it can do is give me a bunch of BS crap lie about having some kind of Software Package Error and won't update. I followed all the directions on the Amiko site to update the ROM, there's nothing wrong with the file, but I get automatic failure anyway. I'm tired of messing with it and have to get on with other things. I'm forced beyond my will to go without updating the ROM. I will keep the A3 connected to the Manhattan to keep it balanced and working. :)
 
The voltage is well within the normal 10% variation.

The original motor position problem may have actually been a motor zero position reference that was corrected when the power was removed and then restarted.

Why are you copying the update files to a HD? The update process automatically downloads to the onboard memory then deletes after installing. Are you following the NA ROM upgrade PDF?

Restore to your back-up ROM that you made when you received your receiver then follow the NA A3 ROM update PDF.
http://www.amiko-a3.us/guides/AMIKO ROM [SOFTWARE] UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS.pdf
 
Why are you copying the update files to a HD? The update process automatically downloads to the onboard memory then deletes after installing. Are you following the NA ROM upgrade PDF?

Restore to your back-up ROM that you made when you received your receiver then follow the NA A3 ROM update PDF.

That's what the directions or guides tell me to do on the A3 website, which are actually pretty pitiful at best. It says that if I want to update the ROM to a stable one, not the A3 software or firmware, then I have to create a new folder using a USB Flash Drive which then requires me to copy and paste the file over from the downloads file to the USB drive so the updater app can find it and install. Otherwise, if I don't, there's no file to choose from and there's nothing automatic about the process. Only the software or firmware is automatic, unless maybe I already have the latest ROM, but no way to know for sure. :-\
 
Are you using the NA A3 website www. amiko-a3.us? The PDF that I just linked is far from pitiful.... It has screenshots and the exact steps that we all see and follow to update the A3.

That's the website I have been using all this time. The screen shots show a C: Drive with no mention of how that was created or got there and another folder called downloads. When I follow those directions as they are laid out, I press the green button for local updates and nothing appears at all. I do not see a C: Drive folder, I do not see the downloads folder, nothing shows except blank space on my screen. There is nothing said as to why I am seeing this blank space with nothing to choose from. I am given no other option except to exit out. I am then forced to figure out how to replicate the screen shots in the directions which involved copy and pasting files around, otherwise nothing else wants to work. I managed to move the file to a place that the uodater app can see, but it wants to fail on me with no reasons why. The website directions say nothing at all as to what to do next in that instance. It's as though I am locked out from doing the simplest tasks everyone else can do with ease.
 
It's possible the previous owner of my A3 may have changed or deleted some things that he shouldn't or maybe the ROM in my A3 is so old I can't update it, or maybe the factory left something out. All I know is, the directions on that NA website and ROM I downloaded won't work and it won't explain why.
 
No the box was a perfect restored image when it was shipped. ;) So everything was there. :)
 

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