My DBox finally arrived yesterday and I have managed to get it going
without too much hassle. Many thanks to all the members of this forum
for all the useful info. Without it, I am pretty sure the installation
would not have been so straight forward.
While it is still fresh in my mind and in case it would be of help to
others, who like myself, is a complete DBox newbie. Here is a log of
what I did in order to get the DBox up and running.
Stage 1
======
Get a working DBox from somewhere. I don't think they're available to
buy in the UK (as far as I know). I got mine from an online auction
site. The item was shipped to me from Germany. Delivery took roughly
three days. Here are some interesting points to note:
o I wanted a working Dbox that I can flash easily. So I made
sure I got one that is already in "DEBUG MODE".
o I also wanted one that had a perfect LCD display. Some of the
DBox'es I saw had black stripes on the LCD.
o My other criteria was that the seller must be reputable. I
specifically made sure I bought the DBox from a seller with
a high feedback score (99.8% and above).
o I don't mind if the DBox was used as long as I was confident
that it was in a good working order. I mailed the seller with
some questions prior to purchase.
o I ended up buying the DBox off an online German auction site.
Actually the same seller also auctioned the same items in an
online UK auction site but the cost was almost double what I
had paied! With a bit of research and patience, I ended up
paying 55 bucks for DBox + 20 bucks delivery. Total = 75 bucks.
I read a thread in the forum that you can also save a bit of
cash by using the online auction site in Ireland! Which auction
sites am I talking about? I will let you figure that one out.
o I also had to buy some extra coaxial cables and an "F" splitter
so that I can hook up the DBox. All of which can be obtained
from your local Maplin or if you are lazy, buy them from online
auction sites.
o Last thing to buy was a socket adapter for the DBox's power plug.
Stage 2
======
Much of the steps from hence-forth are from the various tutorials done
by members of this forum but I will reiterate anyway, as I had to do
some steps slightly differently.
01. Plug the DBox into your TV using a suitable SCART lead.
02. Do not plug in the cable connection yet.
03. Plug the DBox to your PC directly using a cross over ethernet
cable. Try not to use any switches, hubs, or wireless so as
to minimise any potential issues. These cross over cables are
sometimes coloured red, to make them easier to distinguish from
normal straight through ethernet cables.
04. Download a suitable UK JFFS2 image onto your PC. I used Sportster 1.73
2xI. make sure you use the correct image for your own DBox.
05. Now insert the DBox power plug into a power socket.
06. The DBox comes into life and I see the LCD screen light up. It tells
me it was running BMon v1.0. Nice, the fact that I see this information
indicates my hardware was indeed already in debug mode.
07. The LCD display shows the default kernel image is loaded and soon
after, the TV shows a caption indicating I was watching channel 13.
Of course, I see nothing as my cable connection has not been plugged
in yet.
08. It is time to find out the IP address of our DBox. Using the DBox
remote, press: dbox->service->network. I see my DBox was configured as
192.168.2.111. Take a note of this.
09. Change the IP address on your PC (which is currently connected to
the DBox). Essentially you need to change the last number but keep
the first three the same. So, I changed my PC's IP to 192.168.2.1.
Note do not choose a number less than 1 or larger than 254.
10. Open up a command prompt and check we can communicate with the DBox.
Enter the following command:
ping 192.168.2.111
If the command reports 0% loss then our link is good. If not, make
sure your cable is connected correctly and the IP address hasn't been
mis-typed.
11. Using your favorite FTP client, transfer the JFFS2 image to your
DBox. In my case, I used command prompt and typed in the following:
ftp 192.168.2.111 (Change this to match your own IP)
root (when prompted for username)
dbox2 (when prompted for password - actually mine was blank)
bin (transfer using binary mode)
cd /tmp (change directory)
put jffs2.img (transfer my image across)
Wait for the transfer to complete. This should only take a few
seconds. After it is done, type the following to exit the command
prompt:
quit
12. Now, using the dbox remote:
Press the "dbox" button->
Service (3rd option from bottom)->
Software Update (bottom option)->
Expert Functions->
Write one partition->
Flash Without bootloader (bottom option)
Choose "yes" to flash. Once complete, the DBox will shutdown. I
pressed the power key on the remote and the DBox sprung back
into life. Only problem was, it was still loading the original
image. Eh?
13. I repeated steps 11 & 12. This time, I unplugged the DBox from the
mains, waited a few seconds, and swithed it on again. Aha! This time,
the DBox is booting the Sportster image! The menus are now in English.
14. At this point, check the IP address of your DBox. It is most likely
changed. If that is the case, update the PC's IP address to match
the DBOx's IP address. This is the same as steps 8 & 9 above.
15. After updating the PC's IP address, I transfered a services file as
well as a bouquets file onto the DBox. Again, I did all this using
the command prompt ftp client. Note these files should be placed in
the direcotry "/var/tuxbox/configs/zapit" on the DBox.
16. Once the transfer of the files was complete. I unplugged the DBox
from the mains for a few seconds. Plugged it back in again. I see
blank screens. The channels seems to be correct though but no moving
pictures. Um........
Tried the following on the remote:
Press the "dbox" button->
service->
Refresh Channel List
Still see nothing......
17. "Bugger" comes to mind but let's not panic. Here is what I did:
Press the "dbox" button on the remote->
service->
Scan For Services Tv&Radio
Bouquet Keep Existing
Cable Provider CableUK Sym6952
Fast Scan Off
Start Scan
After starting a scan, it will take about an hour or more to gather
all the channels from all the available transponders. YES, it will
take at least ONE hour to do a full (slow but thorough) scan!!!! At
this point, I left it scanning and went to bed.
Woke up the next day. Turned on the tv and hey, I can see moving
pictures on my TV!
Notes to myself and others
===================
o I thought I can use someone else's services file (as it matched
my region area). If it had worked, then I would not have had to do
a full channel scan.
o I kept the bouquets file which I had obtained from the forum's
download area. The reason was, all the channels in that file
had been neatly sorted and categorised. If I had deleted this
as part of the channel scan, then the new bouquets file would be
unsorted and uncategorised. No point in undoing some other
person's good efforts.
o To check that I am receiving channels similar to other people,
compare the channels stored in the bouquets file and the channels
stored in the newly created services file. They should be fairly
similar (apart from the ordering).
o The Sportster 1.73 image I used seems to have audio/picture
synch issues on my particular DBox.
Follow-up Information
================
I mentioned above that I was having issues with audio/picture
sync issues. Well, several days have passed and I have switched
to using Cryogenics Sportser 1.7 uk04 image instead. With
this new image, the audio/picture synch issue seems to have
sorted itself out. Thanks goes to fatblerk for pointing this
out. Cheers m8.
without too much hassle. Many thanks to all the members of this forum
for all the useful info. Without it, I am pretty sure the installation
would not have been so straight forward.
While it is still fresh in my mind and in case it would be of help to
others, who like myself, is a complete DBox newbie. Here is a log of
what I did in order to get the DBox up and running.
Stage 1
======
Get a working DBox from somewhere. I don't think they're available to
buy in the UK (as far as I know). I got mine from an online auction
site. The item was shipped to me from Germany. Delivery took roughly
three days. Here are some interesting points to note:
o I wanted a working Dbox that I can flash easily. So I made
sure I got one that is already in "DEBUG MODE".
o I also wanted one that had a perfect LCD display. Some of the
DBox'es I saw had black stripes on the LCD.
o My other criteria was that the seller must be reputable. I
specifically made sure I bought the DBox from a seller with
a high feedback score (99.8% and above).
o I don't mind if the DBox was used as long as I was confident
that it was in a good working order. I mailed the seller with
some questions prior to purchase.
o I ended up buying the DBox off an online German auction site.
Actually the same seller also auctioned the same items in an
online UK auction site but the cost was almost double what I
had paied! With a bit of research and patience, I ended up
paying 55 bucks for DBox + 20 bucks delivery. Total = 75 bucks.
I read a thread in the forum that you can also save a bit of
cash by using the online auction site in Ireland! Which auction
sites am I talking about? I will let you figure that one out.
o I also had to buy some extra coaxial cables and an "F" splitter
so that I can hook up the DBox. All of which can be obtained
from your local Maplin or if you are lazy, buy them from online
auction sites.
o Last thing to buy was a socket adapter for the DBox's power plug.
Stage 2
======
Much of the steps from hence-forth are from the various tutorials done
by members of this forum but I will reiterate anyway, as I had to do
some steps slightly differently.
01. Plug the DBox into your TV using a suitable SCART lead.
02. Do not plug in the cable connection yet.
03. Plug the DBox to your PC directly using a cross over ethernet
cable. Try not to use any switches, hubs, or wireless so as
to minimise any potential issues. These cross over cables are
sometimes coloured red, to make them easier to distinguish from
normal straight through ethernet cables.
04. Download a suitable UK JFFS2 image onto your PC. I used Sportster 1.73
2xI. make sure you use the correct image for your own DBox.
05. Now insert the DBox power plug into a power socket.
06. The DBox comes into life and I see the LCD screen light up. It tells
me it was running BMon v1.0. Nice, the fact that I see this information
indicates my hardware was indeed already in debug mode.
07. The LCD display shows the default kernel image is loaded and soon
after, the TV shows a caption indicating I was watching channel 13.
Of course, I see nothing as my cable connection has not been plugged
in yet.
08. It is time to find out the IP address of our DBox. Using the DBox
remote, press: dbox->service->network. I see my DBox was configured as
192.168.2.111. Take a note of this.
09. Change the IP address on your PC (which is currently connected to
the DBox). Essentially you need to change the last number but keep
the first three the same. So, I changed my PC's IP to 192.168.2.1.
Note do not choose a number less than 1 or larger than 254.
10. Open up a command prompt and check we can communicate with the DBox.
Enter the following command:
ping 192.168.2.111
If the command reports 0% loss then our link is good. If not, make
sure your cable is connected correctly and the IP address hasn't been
mis-typed.
11. Using your favorite FTP client, transfer the JFFS2 image to your
DBox. In my case, I used command prompt and typed in the following:
ftp 192.168.2.111 (Change this to match your own IP)
root (when prompted for username)
dbox2 (when prompted for password - actually mine was blank)
bin (transfer using binary mode)
cd /tmp (change directory)
put jffs2.img (transfer my image across)
Wait for the transfer to complete. This should only take a few
seconds. After it is done, type the following to exit the command
prompt:
quit
12. Now, using the dbox remote:
Press the "dbox" button->
Service (3rd option from bottom)->
Software Update (bottom option)->
Expert Functions->
Write one partition->
Flash Without bootloader (bottom option)
Choose "yes" to flash. Once complete, the DBox will shutdown. I
pressed the power key on the remote and the DBox sprung back
into life. Only problem was, it was still loading the original
image. Eh?
13. I repeated steps 11 & 12. This time, I unplugged the DBox from the
mains, waited a few seconds, and swithed it on again. Aha! This time,
the DBox is booting the Sportster image! The menus are now in English.
14. At this point, check the IP address of your DBox. It is most likely
changed. If that is the case, update the PC's IP address to match
the DBOx's IP address. This is the same as steps 8 & 9 above.
15. After updating the PC's IP address, I transfered a services file as
well as a bouquets file onto the DBox. Again, I did all this using
the command prompt ftp client. Note these files should be placed in
the direcotry "/var/tuxbox/configs/zapit" on the DBox.
16. Once the transfer of the files was complete. I unplugged the DBox
from the mains for a few seconds. Plugged it back in again. I see
blank screens. The channels seems to be correct though but no moving
pictures. Um........
Tried the following on the remote:
Press the "dbox" button->
service->
Refresh Channel List
Still see nothing......
17. "Bugger" comes to mind but let's not panic. Here is what I did:
Press the "dbox" button on the remote->
service->
Scan For Services Tv&Radio
Bouquet Keep Existing
Cable Provider CableUK Sym6952
Fast Scan Off
Start Scan
After starting a scan, it will take about an hour or more to gather
all the channels from all the available transponders. YES, it will
take at least ONE hour to do a full (slow but thorough) scan!!!! At
this point, I left it scanning and went to bed.
Woke up the next day. Turned on the tv and hey, I can see moving
pictures on my TV!
Notes to myself and others
===================
o I thought I can use someone else's services file (as it matched
my region area). If it had worked, then I would not have had to do
a full channel scan.
o I kept the bouquets file which I had obtained from the forum's
download area. The reason was, all the channels in that file
had been neatly sorted and categorised. If I had deleted this
as part of the channel scan, then the new bouquets file would be
unsorted and uncategorised. No point in undoing some other
person's good efforts.
o To check that I am receiving channels similar to other people,
compare the channels stored in the bouquets file and the channels
stored in the newly created services file. They should be fairly
similar (apart from the ordering).
o The Sportster 1.73 image I used seems to have audio/picture
synch issues on my particular DBox.
Follow-up Information
================
I mentioned above that I was having issues with audio/picture
sync issues. Well, several days have passed and I have switched
to using Cryogenics Sportser 1.7 uk04 image instead. With
this new image, the audio/picture synch issue seems to have
sorted itself out. Thanks goes to fatblerk for pointing this
out. Cheers m8.
