Herobox EX4 bricked.

Discussion in 'Other satellite receivers.' started by expanding man, Apr 21, 2022.

  1. expanding man

    expanding man New Member

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    Hello to Everybody ,
    I 'm just sigh on to your forum .
    I have a problem with this box that I can't solve, first I immediately say that I have already written in another forum, I would not like to do something forbidden but I would like to repair the box and I have seen that in your forum there are similar threads with solutions competent I decided to write to you.
    I have Herobox EX4 , that is like a Miraclebox premium miniplus ; now is bricked,
    don’t boot and screen show only “miraclebox”.
    I try to flash many images but now remain at same status.
    Before works well with the images for miniplus .
    at a certain moment after I switch off the box , it don’t restart and to make it restart I disconnect and reconnect the power supply sometimes and after this works.
    But after 2 or 3 times ,it don’t restart anymore.
    Now ,to try to get my box working again,
    I bought a board IEZ-USB FX2LP CY7C68013A , and I have a pc win XP, but I don't know how to proceed to restore the boot.
    Thank you
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2022
  2. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Sorry to say but I've never had the Herobox EX4 or the miraclebox but as for the jtag pins are often be find with four pins, with two 103 (10k) resistors to pin 2-3, pin 1 is normally 3.3vdc, pin four the ground.
    That's the easy part, finding the bbs software for the type cpu is has, and finding the nand chip script may more difficult, as also finding the correct boot loader.

    This all you must have to do the bbs jtag attempt, and I have some doubt it will helps since you also noticed that it by reconnecting the power supply it sometimes works.
    By reading this, it may be related to some bad caps, or a bad dc/dc converter, or worser, the cpu, bad/outdated solders balls.
    Or it's just the power supply self, when it gets older, the amps delivery may become weak.
    Testing it with another power supply, one with the correct dc voltage/polarization and amps, (or a few higher 3 to 4 amps may also) may maybe solve the startup issue.

    When not then, I think, inspect the motherboard for bad caps, or maybe when you give a good picture of the motherboard I, or someone else may see some issue on it.
     
  3. expanding man

    expanding man New Member

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    Johnny B. Many thanks for your reply ,
    this the pic of the EX4, I don't know I get well , usually my wife says I get all the photos wrong,
    if you need more ask me ; on the pins ,5 emply under DTT tuner ,one it's -9,9 V , other -0,3 v ,other zero V.
    thank you
    best regards IMG_20220423_120738.jpg IMG_20220423_120738.jpg
    edit : I have to looking for another supply 12V 3A to try , like you say .
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2022
  4. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Pictures are good enough to see if there's something to see as bad caps etc., but as far I can see it there is no hardware issue to see.
    As for the jtag, no this J5 connector seems to me not the connector for it, and also I can't find any spot on the board that might be for the jtag.

    Maybe there is a four pins connector under the tuner but It's also possible that it's on the other side of the pcb, as the cloud ibox4 has.
    In any case, the scl/sda 2/3 pins are as far my experience always goes to 103 (10k) resistors.

    As for the measurements related to the tuner, they could be low because since the box not starting up, the tuner is inactive.
    And to do the main voltage measurements check, it's better to measure them on the outputs of the dc\dc converters as the 4R7/220 coils, both sides, because it could happen that you measure one side for example 3.3v, and other side lower.
    When that happens, it could be a damaged/burned coil.

    But still, it could be the power supply, that's the first thing to try.
    Or do some 12vdc measurement, see if the 12vdc voltage collapse when the box is starting up.
     
  5. expanding man

    expanding man New Member

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    This is other side of the pcb.
     

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  6. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Unfortunately, nothing can be seen on the underside regarding the jtag.
    I have the idea that the J5 plug can be a serial rs232 port because of the max232 ic that is connected to it.
    So maybe the board can be reached with an rs232 serial connection.
    whether you can do anything with it is unknown to me.

    Also strange to see, searching for,
    miracle box bricked
    on the internet, I see,
    How to Flash (Unbrick) MTK Android Devices Using Miracle Box which is related to phones/tablets

    Maybe it can be brought back to life with a tool when it is not a hardware problem, but again this is unknown terrain to me.
     
  7. expanding man

    expanding man New Member

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    Many thanks Johnny B. for the help,
    maybe it was the power supply as you suggested; more than a month ago I had already tried another but without results. Now I put a 2A one, the original is 3A, it didn't work right away but I tried reflashing with the new power supply and the box works again.
    Every now and then it does not start and remains with a blue screen, but turning it on and off several times then it starts well.
    The link you found, I had already seen it too; I think it's a software to modding phones, flash like to change image, it's called rom; in the past I have also done it with my phones.
    thanks again for listening
    see you
    ciao
     
  8. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Yes, the amp supply of the psu is important enough to use it a bit higher than standard.

    I myself use 5 amps with overload protection psu's for my satellite receivers, which is quite exaggerated, because most receivers hardly ever reach higher peaks than 2 amps, or there must be a component on the motherboard that is defective, or the satt cable, or has an lnb head. problems causing the ampere to exceed the psu can deliver.