I wrote this a while ago based on a DM500 Gemini image

JUST GOT A DREAMBOX
Here is a few tips to get you up and running

WHAT WILL I NEED….?

First of all there are three pieces of software that you will need

DREAMUP
This software is an essential piece of software if ever you crash your box you will need this to get it up and running again with a NULL MODEM CABLE, the cable costs around £5 and can be purchased at any maplin store in the UK or any good sat store should sell them, they are also available on ebay.

FLASH WIZARD PRO
This software is used to install an image onto your dreambox, after you have installed your first image with dreamup, once you have installed the image you can also back the image up with this software, this is handy if any think goes wrong with your unit you have a back up image that you can put back on.

DCC
Dreambox Control Centre this software is used for putting cams & keys onto your unit and editing files etc.

HOW TO FOR BEGINNERS

Installing your first image

I always use dreamup for this connect the null modem cable to a com port on your pc then to the com port on the dreambox, untick the use network box at the top left of the page then click on connect, you will see the job status-progress bar fill up blue then it will ask you to turn the unit on saying connection prepared, at this stage plug the power cable into the unit.

Now you are ready to install your first image, but what I do is erase the firmware that’s already on the unit so click on erase, after about five minutes you will get a box come up on the screen with erased RESULT SUM =0

Now click on flash, you will get a browse option so tell this where the image is that you want to install i.e.: C:/mydocuments/ where ever the image is saved on your pc, select the image and press ok.

Now you will see the percentage bar start to fill on the job status progress, this takes about 15 minutes to complete. DO NOT remove the cable until you get a box come up with image installed RESULT SUM=0. after this you can unplug the mains and null cable from the unit.

Now your heart is racing to get it connected to the dish to see if it works.

Connect the lnb-scart-ethernet cable if you are using a router and the power cable last it may take a couple of minutes before you see any think on the screen.

The first thing you will see is a settings for your tv with PAL in it, press the green button on the remote to save this setting, now it will ask what language you want to set the box to, select your language then press ok, after this you will see starting common interface on the screen then the screen will change to satellite configuration with three options choose the option for what setup you have, once you have chosen your setup the screen will change if you have chosen a simple method you will see a bar with a satellite highlighted press ok on that and choose the satellite that your dish is point at and press ok, now you need automatic transponder scan, once you are on that select the satellite you want to scan press ok and it will find a valid transponder if it is a fixed dish, you will see a tick in the lock & sync and it will say a valid transponder as been found now press the green button on the remote to scan all the channels in.
If you have chosen the complex method you will see the next page saying many satellites via DISEqc rotor press the green button on the remote the next page you will see motor config untick the goto XX function then press the blue button on the remote this page is another motor config page on the left of the page you will see Mode: Satellite: Transponder: Direction: highlight the satellite bar then press ok on the remote, select a satellite for instance Hotbird and press ok then the transponder should already be highlighted press ok and select a strong transponder on Hotbird I use 11623/27500 V after you have selected the transponder press the down button on the remote to direction, now with the left & right arrow buttons on the remote you can nudge the dish east or west to that transponder, once you hit that transponder you will get an X in both lock & sync now press the green button on the remote to store that position in the motor settings, once you have pressed the green button you will come back to the same page again this time press the blue button on the remote transponder scan, select automatic transponder scan and press ok now you will see another page SNR AGC bars will be pretty full with a lock & sync and the top satellite will be highlighted scroll down to the satellite you have just had lock & sync on and press ok, it will say a valid transponder as been found now press the green button to scan in the channels.

The same procedure for other satellites.


HOW TO INSATLL A CAM

This is where the software DCC dreambox control centre comes in, the default name and password on a dreambox is Name = root Password = Dreambox open the software and select your language and choose the connection type for this I choose router, now you will see three pictures the PC – DREAMBOX –ROUTER with a thick line going to all of them, put your IP address of the router in the router for instance 192.168.1.1 if this is the correct IP the thick line will change green from the router to the pc, and it should put the pc IP in automatically leaving a red line to the dreambox, leave this software running, now go to menu on the remote and select setup then expert setup press ok on expert setup then ok again on communication setup, on the top right you will see a box with DHCP with the left or right arrow go up to this highlight it and press ok you now have a tick in the box also make sure the enable network box is ticked after this press the green button to save then exit back to a tv channel, when on a tv channel reboot your dreambox after its rebooted press setup then expert setup press ok on expert setup then ok again on communication setup and you will se the IP address of your dreambox, make a note of this and go back too DCC enter your dreambox IP in the dreambox part now you should have a thick green line to the PC-DREAMBOX-Router and exit DCC software.

For instance you have installed a Gemini Image, All the things you need to update your image are contained in the BLUE BUTTON. You can see this by pressing the BLUE button on the remote control & scroll down to addons, once you have selected addons press ok on the remote then scroll down to DOWNLOAD & INSTALL press ok again now you have all the downloads on the screen, the 1st one you see is CAM press ok then you will see all the cams that are available to download, scroll down to the cam you want to download then press ok on the remote, it should download very quick then you get a screen saying ready to install press the green button to save, and complete the same process to download further cams.

DM500 users like myself no more than 2 cams

The two I use are: - Camd & MGcamd

VAR FILE
By pressing the BLUE button on the remote control & scroll down to addons, once you have selected addons press ok on the remote the 1st addon you see is SETUP, press ok on setup this will show you how much free space and how much used space is in your var file.


AUDIO SETUP
By pressing the BLUE button on the remote control & scroll down to QUICK BUTTON SETTINGS, once you have selected quick button settings press ok on the remote then scroll down to audio and press ok, once you have pressed ok it will return back to quick button settings exit out of that now you should be on a channel, press the yellow button on the remote control and you will see what audio language is available for that channel select English * away you go.

I hope this little how to can help a few of you out .

Flashing a new firmware (image) by Browser

What you need to flash
You need the image file you want to flash. Image files have the extension *.nfi. You can't flash other
images like *.img files. Don't try it - it won't work.
You need either a DHCP server, a configured bootloader or a serial cable and a terminal program
like HyperTerm.
You need a browser, and a network cable. If you connect the Dreambox directly to the PC,
you need a cross cable, if you connect trough a switch/hub/router you need a normal
(non-cross) cable.
To flash a new image, you can use the second stage loader. It must be present and not broken.

The following steps assume you have a DHCP server. If you don't have one, you have to setup
an IP address in the bootloader's serial setup.

- Power down the Dreambox, either using "shutdown" and by removing the power connector.
Standby is not enough!

• 
  
  - (1.) Press and hold the power button. Replug the power connector into the Dreambox.
  - (3.) A text "*** STOP ***" should appear. Now you can release the button.
  The bootloader entered the "waiting" mode.
  - (4.) Above the "*** STOP ***" text, there should appear an IP-address
  (four decimal values with a dot in between). If there appears the string "dhcp" instead,
  the box still searches for a DHCP server. Wait a bit. If it doesn't change, something doesn't
  work with the DHCP server. Check wether network cable is plugged in etc. If it just doesn't
  work, set an IP using the serial terminal)
  

• - Now, open a browser on your PC.
  (1.) enter in the address line "http://ip/" (where ip must be replaced with the value in the LCD).
  - (2.) on the bottom of the page, there's a link called "firmware upgrade". Click it.
  

- On the next page, you can select the flash image you want to flash. be sure that it has the ".nfi" extension.
You can't flash other images (like .img)!
- Click on "FLASH!" and wait. It might take some time to upload and flash the image.
- Switch the box off again, and on again. The new image should be flashed and working.