Flash ATV via command line from the creators GrogBuild FreeRange - Leading the way to simplicity

[Paul A]

Yes, @Willo3092 clicked like on your post to signify you had the correct info and procedure

Hi Pablo / Willo, I didn't get around to doing this until now..and I just did step one by first taking the latest 2409 bare version from here (openATV Nightly Downloads) and when I came to flashing my zGemma h2s with the folder on the USB, once the box was powered on it came up with the 'Update' message on the front of the box before booting up. Not FLSH. Is this to be expected when you are loading this?

I am guessing it's not expected because when it was booting up, it still showed me it is openATV 6.1 with the iPab logo. Plus it showed version 1.3.6 in the bottom right corner. Once its on the TV channel, when I go to check auto timers, I can still see all of the series link timers I had applied before any of this process - and the box set up looks the same as before. I'm guessing something went wrong here but please can you confirm? And if so, any idea on what the cause might have been?

Note I only copied over the 'zgemma' folder itself (not the Zip file) - and within this folder I can see the next folder is named 'h3'. It's the same 16GB (FAT32) formatted USB stick I have used for flashing the box quite a few times and never had any issue flashing boxes before. Please can you open all 3 of the photos I have taken to show what it is I am seeing?

Thank you

 

[Willo3092]

Press and hold the front power button when you power on and release it when UPDT changes to FLSH

 

[urie]

Also in the h3 folder is file called noforce rename it to force

 

[Paul A]

Press and hold the front power button when you power on and release it when UPDT changes to FLSH

Thanks Willo. There isn't a front power button on the zGemma h2s but there's one on the back. This is the one I use: I power it off using this. Then insert the USB to flash the box. Then Power it on. Once flashed, I then power it off again at the back, remove the USB stick and power it back up (with my larger HDD connected for recordings, the EPG and the SWAP file) That's the steps I usually follow and it usually works. I just read Urie's comment below and I think this might be related to the issue - going to reply to that comment now and retry flashing afterwards - I'll let you know if it works out this time. Thanks again for your help.

 

[Paul A]

Also in the h3 folder is file called noforce rename it to force

Hi Urie. Yes I see what you mean here - I can see that all previous h3 folders I have to use for flashing my zGemma h2s have that file set to 'force'. So I have just renamed that file on my USB and will give it a go again. Will see what happens and will post an update here as per my above comments to Willo. Thanks for your help.

 

[bigwig21]

There is a power button on the front of a h2s.
What model are you trying to flash?

 

[Willo3092]

Thanks Willo. There isn't a front power button on the zGemma h2s

Yes there is!

 

[Paul A]

Yes there is!

View attachment 54708

Sorry! Of course there is..Although I've never used it, let's just say I slept badly last night!! Only thing is I just saw the above after flashing the box in the way I described above (how I have always done it) - and it has definitely flashed the box to the bare openATV image this time. The bad news is after going through the on-screen set up wizard, it's not set up properly (no channels / EPG etc) and it's crashed on me a couple of times...but - because this was only meant to be step to wipe off my old iPab image and I am next going to try to install Grogbuild - would you agree that I'd only be wasting my time setting up ANYTHING with this? i.e. The Grogbuild should completely wipe all of this set up anyway, right? Please see attached images of what I am seeing this time - and please confirm if you think this now means I do not have to re-flash the bare openATV image using the front button, in the way you mentioned above? (Aside from it having crashed twice, it looks like it has flashed to this new image ok). Thanks

 

[dsayers2014]

I think the 21st of September image had a bug causing crash.

 

[Paul A]

I think the 21st of September image had a bug causing crash.

Hi. Do you mean the 24th Sep image had the bug? It was the 2409 bare version that I used, not 21st (and I'm sure I only saw versions dated 23rd & 24th on this page when I downloaded it last night (openATV Nightly Downloads).

Either way, as all I'm wanting to end up with is the Grogbuild image (and as discussed with Willo and Pablo, I only installed the bare version of openATV to wipe off all parts of my old iPab image) - I don't really need to bother with installing a different version of bare openATV, do I? (e.g. the 2509 version is available to download now).

In other words, can I just move on to installing Grogbuild now, or is it better that I flash again with the 2509 version of bare openATV?

Thanks

 

[dsayers2014]

About screen shows last enigma2 update 21st of September. I don't use openatv so I'm not sure on there about information.

Try grogbuild command line if it fails flash latest image.

 

[Willo3092]

If the base image isn't stable I don't think it's worth adding a build to it.

 

[urie]

Abu Baniaz, posted in other thread

Just for info:
The error was an extra comma in About.py. It has been fixed and 22 Sept OpenATV image will be fine.

 

[Paul A]

About screen shows last enigma2 update 21st of September. I don't use openatv so I'm not sure on there about information.

Try grogbuild command line if it fails flash latest image.

Yeah I just noticed that - it also shows it was installed on 24th for some reason, even though I did the install today.

 

[Paul A]

Abu Baniaz, posted in other thread

Thanks Abu and Willo. I will just try the latest one that I see then (20200925_usb.zip) because, as mentioned above, before I downloaded the one showing with the date of 24th but when I looked on screen after flashing my box, it was showing the update was as of 21st of September.

Going to try give this a go very shortly. And as this is just part of the process before I go ahead and try to install Grogbuild - once I have re-flashed with this newer base image, I won't bother with setting up anything this time. Thanks

 

[Paul A]

FYI, As per my attached screen shot, now I have re-flashed I can see from the info screen the latest version is the same number (6.4) but it now shows 25 Sep after it (instead of 24 Sep) and the last Enigma2 update is still showing as 21 Sep. Going to try to move on to the install of Grogbuild now anyway using the Openwebif interface.

 

[Paul A]

Abu Baniaz, posted in other thread

Hi Urie / Will / Grog - Just before I try to install the Grogbuild using these instructions (GrogBuild - Grogbuild FreeRange for all enigma2 boxes) - I noted near the start of them, it mentioned " Assuming that you have your USB/HDD connected to the box (used for recordings etc) then you can use this method. "

...But as I have effectively wiped my zGemma h2s box from having the iPab image which previously had my HDD mounted for recording etc - to now having a bare openATV image (without having any HDD connected at any time), I think this means my HDD is not currently mounted, which makes me think it's probably best I just insert my (now blank) 16GB USB stick in the back of the box when I'm about to start the Grogbuild install process via OpenWebif.

So while it has been said you can use these instructions to install Grogbuild 'assuming your USB/HDD used for recordings connected' - please can somebody confirm: Will it be ok if I simply use my USB stick at 1st before later connecting and mounting my HDD, once I have Grogbuild up and running? I just don't want to take any chances with my existing recordings on the HDD when the HDD is not currently connected / mounted to my box.
Thanks again,
Paul

 

[Willo3092]

Flashing will not wipe anything from your hdd.
You need to have the hdd mounted as /media/hdd to flash grogbuild because thats where it downloads the setup files to.
Easiest way would be to switch off the box, insert hdd and power on.
It should automatically mount it as /media/hdd

 

[Abu Baniaz]

Last commit to Enigma2, when the image was created and when the box was flashed are different items. Last commit to ATV's Enigma2 was on 21/9. This would have made it into images built on 22/9.

openatv/enigma2

 

[Paul A]

Flashing will not wipe anything from your hdd.
You need to have the hdd mounted as /media/hdd to flash grogbuild because thats where it downloads the setup files to.
Easiest way would be to switch off the box, insert hdd and power on.
It should automatically mount it as /media/hdd

Thanks for the above comments, Willo. I got around to sorting this out on Sunday night in the end. All looks good with Grogbuild, very similar look to the iPab image I had before, which I really like (I chose the Slyq option - I think that's what it's called).

Only isues I can remember having with the install of this build / image - and what I experienced afterwards were:

1) Some of the steps in the instructions while running the script via the terminal when using Openwebif did not quite match up with what I saw (probably to be expected as things change over time) - and I got some "swithcing to user mode 2" message, (on the openwebif terminal) as per attached screen shot . I also had to manually sort out the channel bouquets (they did not install automatically). All easy enough to do though.

2) The list of programs shown as my recordings were in a very tiny format to begin with, all overlapping each other - but I managed to sort this out easily enough in the settings.

3) This one is probably not related to the Grogbuild image but I was hoping to see 1 = BBC1 (SD) / 2 = BBC2 (SD), 3 = ITV1 (SD) etc but I found both BBC2 & C5 at the top of the list were both the HD versions. In the end I just scanned for extra bouquets by adding the Sky UK EPG to the Freesat one I downloaded in the beginning and the Sky EPG has them in the right order. I then just hid certain bouquets that were duplicated or not needed. As I say its probably not related to the build but I don't know why the EPG download worked this way this time when it did something different on ther iPab image I had before, e.g. ITV1 was channel number 178 (where the EPG is set up using a different process). All good in the end anyway!

Thanks for your help (everyone).

Paul