Another Newbie Just Bought 500. Pls Help

[sparrow]

A little stuck with the Dreambox 500 and in desperate need of some help please.

Goal #1: Replace my existing digibox with DM500 and get it working with my current FTA card ... (or is it FTV ?)

i've achieved little so far;
1) Tuned Dm500 into transponders etc to 28deg Astra Sat.
2) Gained access to my DM500 using LAN connection (via router)
3) Can copy/move files to and from \tmp (and most other folders on the DM500 using both telnet and CuteFTP

Now i'm a little overwhelmed, I understand I need to update or install new firmware (image?) to get it to work?

a) which image would you suggest? and where can I get it? (N.B. I have read about Gemini's and some thing called Hydra Zeus and I am confused about which one is best/easiest - and what vers - )
( As the DM500 has no usb or hdd attachments, once I have obtained said image, can I simply copy it over using CuteFTP and rename the folder "root.cramfs" and manual update?

Once i've managed "a and b" I understand that I need to copy/edit some files in order for the FTA card to work and update etc,
(c) I have read several guides and i've seen two files referred to but can't find them "card....0916" or similar and "cardser..." what do I do here?

sorry to be a bore but I am really struggling with this. Very grateful if you could talk me through it.

Thanks heaps in advance

Sparrow

 

[mhku]

Welcome to the forum

You've read the Idoit's Guide (in the FAQ section)?

You use DreamUP and a null modem cable to flash a Dreambox; Gemini maxVar is good for a 500s as it gives you more var space than older Gemini images (you can get it from i-have-a-dreambox.com). This will delete all your current files.

Your $ky card (FTV) will work with newcamd (an emu). The current versions works out of the box (with the config file)- no need to do edit 0916 etc.

Hope that helps and don't forget to read the Guide. Allow at least a week or so to get it all working and expect it to go wrong a few times. ;)

 

[sparrow]

Thanks for the quick response mhku.

The website i-have-a-dreambox has been very helpful in locating the images etc. thanks for that. I have also revisted some of the guides.

Unfortunately I think I've killed my box.
Before I got your reply I attempted to manually update the firmware via the LAN, silly mistake really - copied a folder and the image and renamed the folder instead of the image file. of course the flash update hung.

I have since downloaded the latest version of DreamUp from the dreambox media website and dug out an old null modem cable.

I found DreamUP very straightforward to use and I was able to clear (erase) the Flash and load the latest original firmware (again from dream media) - Unforunately this has had no effect, and box won't even boot anymore.

I later tried to flashing with Gemini 3.2 maxVar - (following the steps carefully) again - dreamUp said the installaton worked fine and returned no errors

- however the box still won't boot ... I hope I will be able to get it replaced.

 

[mhku]

Are you following the instructions exatly as described for DreamUP? And it's the correct version of DreamUP?

 

[kitoog]

are you sure scart is connected properly as seems strange you are able to flash box and then it will not boot. does dreamup still connect atm. have guide below to help with boot problems but not sure if its use to you. try hyperterminal anyway and see if all boot info is correct .

try this below from skyshark at sat-industry,worked for my 5620 which would not boot.

Disconnect the Dreambox from the AC outlet for 2 minutes.
Connect the RS232 cable as if you wanted to flash with DreamUp.

On your PC start Hyperterminal with following parameters:
- Name = Dreambox
- COM port 1 or 2 (your physical COM port on which nullmodem cable is connected)
- Bits per second = 115200
- Data bits = 8
- Parity = None
- Stop bits = 1
- Flow control = Xon / Xoff

Now you should see a white window with a blinking cursor.

Switch Dreambox ON and pay attention immeditalely to the PC monitor. You have to be quick now. When whatever appears on the screen, hit Enter twice quickly: a menu has to be appear on the screen.
The menu shows if the flash memory is enabled for booting. If not, set it enabled. Set all media enabled for booting!
After that continue the boot process via Hyperterminal.

At this moment Dreambox may hang; don't worry yet. If so, disconnect it form the AC outlet again.
Close Hyperterminal.
Start DreamUp.
Switch the Dreambox on. The DreamUp must show "Waiting for acknowledge", then "Connection established".
1. It everything was happened like above, it's time to have a glass of beer. The rest steps needed you will find here .
2. If the Hyperterminal doesn't shows anything or later the DreamUp doesn't shows "Connection established" it's a pity: probably you will need to JTAG your box.

 

[sparrow]

mhku and kitoog,

Thankyou for replying and for your help. You were right to question my earlier conclusions.

I went back to basics and have set up a mini "test bench" to check each component one by one, (computer serial port, DreamUP versions, null modem cable, ensuring I had correct images etc)

Managed to Flash latest firmware from dream-multimedia site and successfully was able to connect using CuteFTP, this made it clear that the fault was probably not with the DM500 as the file structure was intact.

I then connected a composite video cable to the dreambox and TV - presto, I've got a picture - tested the scart lead with a control - faulty.

for what it's worth the null modem cable (I've had for years) has some very favourable review(s) it's a Belkin F3X171-10
Has been very handy for me - and obviously others

thought I'd share a link here http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F3X171-10-Serial-Transfer-Cable/dp/customer-reviews/B00000J1TZ

OK ... Now i've (after three attempts) finally got Gemini 3.20 MaxVar installed, and as I type it is scanning Eurobird... Now for the next step.

Getting the FTV card to work ... I will update on my progress but would appreciate any hints in the meantime.

Regards

Sparrow

 

[sparrow]

Had enough for today ... Downloaded Newcamd and some other stuff ... played wit the blue button... couldn't get channel 4 or 5 to work with the FTV card...

Very frustrating because readme's don't say where to place which file where in terms of folders/directorys etc ... don't know which file to edit to put in BOX_ID etc ,,, or even if it's required with latest NewCamd ...

idiot's guide mentions /var/bin and /var/tuxbox and /var/tuxbox/scce ....

A little confusing ... also not sure where to put the newcamd.ppc ... and what about the betad and radegast files?

Thanks again for your help and patience.

 

[sparrow]

Goal #1 achieved!
Finally figured it all out. Luckily my router is an adsl gateway and was able to download/install latest newcamd via blue button.

Then I just had to find the location of betad.cfg and put the BOXID in.

Sorry about the rant a 3am ... felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall.

I appreciate the the pointers, made me go that extra little bit to get it over the line

Cheers

Sparrow

 

[kitoog]

glad you got it sorted. gemini is an excellent image,very easy to use. best of luck with the 500s.

 

[mhku]

are you sure scart is connected properly

Post #5. What has this to do with flashing? Nothing.

> sparrow: good news