Dreambox 500s (Alps Tuner) problems yet again...

[exe-gr]

After my previous thread (http://sat-industry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23553) and my discovery that my dreambox 500s is the one with the newer tuner (Alps) i was relieved to find out that only Gemini 2.20 image would work, because that was the only one currently supporting the new tuner.

However..

My friend got his box today, the same model (with the new tuner). He had found a few days ago a hydra image that supposedly worked with the new tuner, but i was hesitant to install it. He went through the original firmware, then we both agreed on installing gemini to try it out. Everything went fine for both of us (i had it already installed and running) and everything was dandy. Then he suggested installing the new hydra version, which he did through flashwizard pro 5.0. Apparently it worked fine and was much better than Gemini, so he urged me to try it too. I guessed at that point that since it was working for him it should work for me too, same tuner, same box, everything the same.

So i fire up flashwizard and i install it. Everything fine, i boot up my dreambox, and i was relieved to see the initial menu ( Select mode [PAL], select firmware language [ENGLISH], select timezone). After configuring my timezone, the box seemed to reboot, and a few moments later the screen was flashing pretty much the exact way i described in my previous post:

After the reboot, the screen was black(naturally) and as the dreambox powered up again it became a more bright version of black (i hope you know what i mean by this). After a few seconds later, the screen was flashing between the darker version of black and the lighter one.

I've tried flashing the image through serial a few times, and so far, everything goes as above, after the few settings in the beggining dreambox refuses to boot.

I took a dump file again.. cant understand what is wrong with it.. it is attached so please take a look.. pretty please.. The dump ends with a different error code than last time:

[ENIGMA] loading default keymaps...                                    
couldn't load key bindings for device d-box Buttons                                                    
couldn't load key bindings for device neue d-box Fernbedienung                                                               
couldn't load key bindings for device Dreambox IR Keyboard                                                           
mkswap: error: Nowhere to set up swap on?                                          
BusyBox v1.00 (2005.02.12-02:41+0000) multi-call binary                                                        

Usage: mkswap [-c] [-v0|-v1] device [block-count]                                                  

BusyBox v1.00 (2005.02.12-02:41+0000) multi-call binary                                                        

Usage: swapon [OPTION] [DEVICE]                                

[eDVB] use DHCP                
killall: udhcpc: no process killed                                   
poll made error                
/var/tuxbox/config/enigma/mount.conf: No such file or directory                                                                
lcdMain created: 0x1038cda0                            
[eZapMain]wasSleeping is 0, wasDeepStandby is 0                                                
skin has undefined element: button_green_enabled                                                 
skin has undefined element: button_yellow_enabled                                                  
skin has undefined element: button_blue_enabled                                                
skin has undefined element: button_green_disabled                                                  
skin has undefined element: button_yellow_disabled                                                   
skin has undefined element: button_blue_disabled                                                 
enigma: tzfile.c:316: __tzfile_read: Assertion `num_types == 1'                                                                 
Aborted        
enigma returned with 134                         
Restart

I dont care about having the firmware, but why does the firmware work only in one of two identical boxes?

Im seriously going to go mad over this, i dont know what i can do to find out what's wrong with my box..

Any help would be very much appreciated..

[welshman]

Hi there,
I don't have a DM500s myself, but I have updated the Firmware on a DM500s for a friend of mine, the first thing I noticed compared to my DM7000s is there is no hardware flash erase, I had a similar problem to what you describe I found it to be that the box was running short of memory, the only way I could find to do a flash erase was to run the Dreamup program after the installation and select Erase from the menu, this sorted out the problem for him and all is working well after two weeks time.

Regards, Welshman..

[exe-gr]

Originally Posted by welshman

Hi there,
I don't have a DM500s myself, but I have updated the Firmware on a DM500s for a friend of mine, the first thing I noticed compared to my DM7000s is there is no hardware flash erase, I had a similar problem to what you describe I found it to be that the box was running short of memory, the only way I could find to do a flash erase was to run the Dreamup program after the installation and select Erase from the menu, this sorted out the problem for him and all is working well after two weeks time.

Regards, Welshman..

Help me understand if i am a complete tosser..

Doesn't "Erase" or "Erase Flash" (in the newer version) of DreamUp actually erase the (uncompressed) Image ?

When i upload an image to the box, where does it gets stored and in what form? Will it not uncompress itself in the flash in the form of directories and such? So what the point in "Erase" after installing the image only to erase it shortly thereafter?

(I am most certain i am wrong but please explain to me how the process works).

[welshman]

Hi there, It just did flash erase for me, so give it a try.

Rgds, Welshman..

[welshman]

Originally Posted by exe-gr

Help me understand if i am a complete tosser..

Doesn't "Erase" or "Erase Flash" (in the newer version) of DreamUp actually erase the (uncompressed) Image ?

(I am most certain i am wrong but please explain to me how the process works).

Hi, sorry for the short answer before, I had a phone call in the middle of my reply to you.

Erase flash does not remove the image that you last loaded, it erases the area that the DM500 uses for workspace only, we have to do this on the DM7000 when we instal a new image into the flash otherwise remnants of the old image are left behind and cause the new image to malfunction..

Rgds, Welshman..

[exe-gr]

Originally Posted by welshman

Hi, sorry for the short answer before, I had a phone call in the middle of my reply to you.

Erase flash does not remove the image that you last loaded, it erases the area that the DM500 uses for workspace only, we have to do this on the DM7000 when we instal a new image into the flash otherwise remnants of the old image are left behind and cause the new image to malfunction..

Rgds, Welshman..

So.. (pardon me for being daft)..

I fire dreamup and upload a blank image. Then i flash erase. Then i upload the image i want. Then i flash erase again, and then i boot?

Where in between those would i be getting reboots (power off -> power on) ?

...

[welshman]

Originally Posted by exe-gr

So.. (pardon me for being daft)..

I fire dreamup and upload a blank image. Then i flash erase. Then i upload the image i want. Then i flash erase again, and then i boot?

Where in between those would i be getting reboots (power off -> power on) ?

...

Hi, no you don't upload a blank image, you just upload the image you want to use (I recomend the latest Gemini for the Alps tuner) then click the erase button in Dreamup, power the box off and then on and set up the LAN etc and off you go.

Rgds, Welshman.

[exe-gr]

Originally Posted by welshman

Hi, no you don't upload a blank image, you just upload the image you want to use (I recomend the latest Gemini for the Alps tuner) then click the erase button in Dreamup, power the box off and then on and set up the LAN etc and off you go.

Rgds, Welshman.

The erase during install option (Yes/No) or i do an additional erase as soon as i get a successful install message?

[abcmississauga]

I am in canada, what do you think is going to be the best img for the new db500?, pi2 image? any idea,s.

Thanks

ABC

[MartiniB]

Pi2 hasn't relised image whith Alpha tuner support
i have moved to Gemini2.20