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DBOX2 - Lost Channels

Discussion in 'Digital TV - United States & Canada' started by fasteddy1, Jan 29, 2007.

  1. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Got sagem box about 2 months ago . Did channel scan and all fine until last night/this morning . Tuirned off box last night and when i turned on this morning I have lost all channels except freeview channels
    CAN ANY ONE HELP ? AM A NEWBIE AT THIS
    Have rescaned but no change
     
  2. flipofrog

    flipofrog Member

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    Yeah, ive had the same problem with my nokia box today... seems that some of my channels are just going black... :S
     
  3. zappp64

    zappp64 Regular member

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    looks like your ecm info for the softcam hasnt updated - what you need to do is go to sky sports 1 leave it on for a minute or two and hopefully the keys should get updated automatically.
     
  4. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Thanks M8
    Seen that idea on another thread and have tried that but still no channels ecxept freeview. The channels are still there but just getting a black screen and no sound
     
  5. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Zappp64
    What is an ECM
    sorry am a bit thick
    eddie
     
  6. zappp64

    zappp64 Regular member

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    here is how dbox decrypts channels

    ok so one day you come home sit down to watch Sky Sports but all you get is a blank screen with no video or audio - however the FTA (free to air) channels like BBC1 and Channel 4 are ok

    well lets start by explaining a bit about how the dbox descrambles the cable signal

    The DBOX descrambles the cable signal - The actual fundamentals of the image do not decode the channels - the image is simply a standard linux operating system.

    There are two types of stream sent out by the cable company:

    FTA - These channels are broadcast 'in the clear' and are not scrambled in any way. Typically this is BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Cbeebies (maybe a few others). In other words they are the freeview channels; and anybody can stick a box on the end and obtain them.

    Nagra Encrypted - These channels are broadcast as 'scrambled'. In other words, they need to be decoded before you will see a sound and picture. It needs to be decrypted first via use of a 'key' The cable system works similar to this.

    The 'keys' are sent down the video/audio stream, but the box needs to know what to do with them, how to recognise them, and how to process them. This is where a softcam comes in. The encrypted channels are the subscription ones that they want you to pay for - for example the Movies and Sports channels.

    In a standard/legitimate box, you have a digital smartcard which processes all the data and reacts to it. The smartcard is the one that looks for, receives, and processes these 'keys' which will decode the channel. But we don't use a card with the DBOX2 do we, so whats going on there then??

    On top of the image is a 3rd party program which we refer to as a 'softcam' - it emulates a smartcard. You would have heard of it as evocamd, newcamd, mgcamd, or maybe even gbox. This programs work by simulating an inserted card and processing commands in the stream. They were written by studying the smartcards and their processors, and working out what commands do what function. By doing this, a softcam is essentially a digital clone of a smartcard in an unphysical form.

    The 'softcam' grabs the keys from the stream and saves them into a file on the box [a real smartcard would store these in permanent memory]. Whenever you change channel, this file is then read, and the stream is decoded using these sets of keys or passwords.

    The cable company send 'commands' down the stream called ECMs which tell boxes that the key has changed, and that the systems need to be updated. The softcam receives this command and compares the two sets of keys - if the newer keys are different then it saves those instead. This is known as 'autoroll' or 'autoupdate'. If the softcam didnt recognize and save the newer keys then the encrypted channels would not be able to be displayed, because the 'key' to unlock them would not be correct and the stream would still be encoded. Therefore you see a blank screen.

    To view this ECM information, using FTP go to the tmp folder on the dBox
    and look for a file called ecm.info - this is a standard text file with the 'key' to descramble the channel.

    Therefore to update or autoroll the key - all you need to go to is go to a channel like Sky Sporst 1 - wait for a while (a minute at the most) and this ecm.info file will be updated with the new key.
     
  7. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Cheers for that, it make a bit of sense now,Have tried leaving on sky sports like you said but still nothing happens
    eddie
     
  8. zappp64

    zappp64 Regular member

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    if that doesnt work, make sure your ecm/softcam/evocamd is set to auto-update

    depending on what image you are running

    if you press blue on remote and go to the main menu, see if you can get to the ecm/softcam menu and make sure autoroll or update or something similiar is set to ON
     
  9. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Tried blue button thing and cant find what you asked me to look for .
    Am running cryo sporster pro 1.82 ultra Whatever that means Doesz this help
     
  10. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Sorry thats sporster Pro 1.02 and that is on Also have sporster 1.73 Ultra and that is off
     
  11. flipofrog

    flipofrog Member

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    Yeah i did the skysports thing.
    Went to that channel, left it on for about 5 minutes, then i rebooted the box from the remote, and hey presto the channels are back.
     
  12. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Your lucky ,I must be jinxed
     
  13. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    ZAPPP64
    Any idea what is causing update to keep restarting M8 ?

    and how do i fix ?
     
  14. Fekker

    Fekker Regular member

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    Close IFA or disconnect the cables from PC to DBox when flash completed or it will keep trying to flash when it reboots.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2007
  15. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    ZAPPP64
    Iggnore last message .

    Still cant get those channels ANYONE HELP
     
  16. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Was trying the blue button thing (above) could not find ecm/softcam menu so was not able to make sure it was set to on
     
  17. Fekker

    Fekker Regular member

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    Get rid of that crap image and try Commando 6.

    2X image:http://rapidshare.com/files/13295257/commando_6_2x.img


    1X image:http://rapidshare.com/files/13046599/commando_6_X1.img
     
  18. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    Sorry Fekker new to this and do not know how to do that
     
  19. jay001

    jay001 Member

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    Hi guys, I posted another thread about my nokia dbox going off and was looking at this posting and thought Id try the skysports method before trying to mess about with using FTP and flashing etc.

    Anyway I left it on Skysports 1 for 5 minutes, turned it off and then back on again. Nothing happened so I had a look at updating evocamd by Pressing the RADIO button, then pressed 6, and then SOFTWARE UPDATE - I think this was the sequence of events, and all this time I was still on Skysports 1.

    Anyway the channel came back on along with the rest of the channels.

    I dont know if it was cos i left it on skysports 1 but Im so happy that ive got all the channels back now.

    Thanks to everyones help on here, who's replied to my posting and this one and all the rest. It really works! :)
     
  20. fasteddy1

    fasteddy1 Guest

    STILL WASITING FOR SOME KIND PERSON TO TALK ME THROUGH DOING THIS FLASHING THING . STILL GOT CHANNEL NAMES BUT NO PITURE OR SOUND
     

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