newbies guide to setting up your openbox s9 for cardsharing with pictures

Sorry double post, delete please.

 

sorry i cant help you with your indonesian card ,you will need to find someone closer to where you live that can advise you on that .

i dont know why you dont have the usb upgrade option ,i suggest you try a newer version of the firmware . you can upgrade the firmware with a null modem cable via the 9 pin serial port at the rear of the box ,if you have a usb to serial adaptor that will work . i think i explained in the tutorial how to upgrade the firmware via null modem cable .

 

Thanks Piopat
I was actually pretty sure a USB to serial cable should work, just buy one tomorrow cheaply here.
Odd that I don't have the USB upgrade option, would have been much easier, should have looked better at the shop for this option.
The USB gets recognized so I guess it's just old firmware or disabled it so people can't mess up.

Edit: I am on Indovision which uses Videoguard/NDS/Nagravision(They are the same), buying a CI cam just to try out is just too expensive($60 on ebay), others in Europe, Sky I think use the same system and the card reader should work.
I also found out that some crashes are common on certain channels but with newer firmware it is solved, also due to different versions of CCcam(what I read).


Thanks again.

 

when you install the new firmware it should come with cccam ,so if your card can be indeed be read by cccam you should only need to place your card in the card slot on the box and cccma should open channels . however as i say i dont know anything about indonesian channels or cards so i cant say for definite that cccam will open channels on your card .

 

Thanks Piopat
It works on a dreambox, confirmed, so it should work on this one as well.

On a side note, in Europe you can get old PC's for free, here even very old shitty hardware will cost me $50-100, otherwise I would just get an old PC for doing things like this.
Ah well, I figure it out.

Cheers Perry

 

if your card opens on a dreambox with cccam then it wil open on an openbox ,however an openbox may not work as a server so i cant advise you to use that box as a server . any dreambox will work as a server ,you can even use a dm500s as a server with a hd card . a dm500s will not open hd channels but it will work as a server .

 

I am more and more convinced that the Sat shop actually configured this box and disabled the USB option.
The reason I think this is that when He got it out of the box and connected to his LCD Tv he already had many channels on it without configuring the box, he had like > 5 dishes on the roof!
Also, on the box it says: Upgrade software & update channel database through USB 2.0 port.

Tried different USB sticks and Format on the box, nothing seems to help, before I formated it on an Apple and it was not MBR but GUID Partition Table, so I tried formating on Openbox, didn't make much difference except that the disk info on openbox was right, not so when I formated on my Apple.
In the end I will have to go to an internet café to upgrade.
One question remains, how do I get the original firmware of the box, lets say I use EromUpgrade will it automatically dump the old version?
EDIT: forget the last question, I already found that option in EromUpgrade, use a Virtual Machine, slooooow
What about the openbox s9 ssh login and password?

Cheers Perry

 

therer should be an option in the menu to return to default factory settings ,choosing that will erase the current firmware .it may be worth doing that and then trying to uprade via usb again ,because if you return the box to its default settings the upgrade by usb option may be working .

but if not just reset the box to factory settings and then use the null modem cable .

 

That's the first thing I always do if there are problems, did not make any difference.

Odd though is that if I reset it, it will reboot and crashes, more or less the same as when I insert the card, get two dashes on the display, have to use the switch on the back to get it to start again but it seems to be reset.
Just shitty software, someone told me there where lots of trouble with early firmware.

Cheers

Wanted to go out today to fix it, got a bad flu instead

 

well not to worry you can upgrade the firmware vis a null modem cable ,so hopefully that will fix your box problems .theres a good side to these boxes and a bad side ,good side is its fun learning what they can do and getting them to open channels etc .the bad side is they can lead to a lot of hair pulling ,but ive found that when it comes to these boxes patience is your best friend . hope you feel better soon.

 

Thanks for the better soon comment.

I still didn't go out, probably tomorrow if I feel better, it's not that far from here but the wife is more of a problem
Will return as soon as the problem is solved.
EDIT: Got the wrong satellite
Now, an odd question, I have Indovision on SES 7 Satellite 108.2, I am on these coordinates: -6.8 -107.5 and thus my Satellite dish is pointing north.
My neighbor which is in front of me has the same provider but his dish point south on the same axel as mine, what I mean by this is mine point north and about 1 degree of (108.2-107.5) and his is probably of by 1 degree as well to the south.

Now, I thought ALL Tv satellites are on the equator aren't they?????
Very very VERY odd and I am very confused about this.

Cheers

 

I went out today to buy a cable.
Boy, what a job, I bought a USB to Serial Cable, went up in an electronic Shopping Mall and sat down to try there, disgusted it was a cable with a Male Serial Connector same as on Openbox, wanted to buy a Gender changer, they didn't have, its in a big Electronic centre but they didn't have one there.
Ended up to a different one, no have and then another one where I found one fast.
It all took Me 4 hours to get it.
Arrived back home, all sweaty (Hot here) and installed a Prolific PL2303 Driver on My mac, tried a few Programs (Zterm and Porterm) but got no output from box, you get an output (On startup) on most Linux devices so I guess here to.
In Porterm there are lights so I can see if it works, only the Tx seems to light up.
Started up windows in a virtual machine with a com port set to the mac, it sees the serial but nothing happens in EromUpgrade.exe.
Then I just got the USB port directly to the virtual machine and installed PL2303 there, after a restart I used a small program by Prolific that reads the chip and it was on COM 3.
But still nothing.
I ended up switching dual Protocol setup on on the Openbox, was off after a Factory Default reset( There is no Factory RESET there), and set it to 115.200 date bits 8 Stop bits 1 Parity Even but still nothing shows up.

Question, is there a Twin Protocol setup in your Openbox, and what does it actually do.
The reason I ask this is because of the TWIN word, what is that, is there another port or what, is the serial port automatically on if you switch on the openbox or do I have to set it in this setting, confused.
So, after all these troubles I still can not update, I will try more today and tomorrow, if I don't succeed I will go to an internet café tomorrow and try there on a REAL windows machine instead of running it in an VM.
Just Googled it and it seems there are serial dongles for it to share over that port and then it needs to be on, so I guess I just leave it of.
Until now, what a joke this box is, nothing but trouble, should have waited 4 weeks more and buy a Dreambox when in Malaysia for visa renewal.
I give it another few days and let My girl phone the shop I bought it.

Cheers, I will be back.

Update:
I could be wrong but it seems My gender changer is the problem, I downloaded AccessPort and tested the cable by short circuiting pins 2 and 3(Rx Tx) and got a reply back, then I connected to the gender changer and short circuited 2 and three again by inserting a wire in the holes, half the time it ended up with garbled text, inserted the wires too deep maybe.
I tested the pins from 1-9 on one side to the other one, Ok.
When I connect it to the box nothing happens at all, the light on the VM machine is yellow which means write but no green light for receiving.
Nothing shows in EromUpgrade until I fiddle with the Cable, then it says:
Synchronizing STBs Done
Please reset target

Initialize STB sdram is failed ( Yes it says IS failed, not Initialize STB sdram failed ???)
Click "back" to try again

Just go and try on a PC tomorrow.

 

newer computers have compatability issues with usb drivers especially windows vista machines ,id have to assume mac would also have simillar issues . as your computer is a mac im wondering did you install a driver suitable for use on a mac computer ? ,but really if you cant find a driver to get the adaptor to work using a desktop computer is your only option .most desktop computers have the same 9 pin conection as you have on the back of your box ,all you would need then is a null modem cable and no need for the adaptor.

 

I updated the message above, the cable seems to work but the gender changer may be a problem.
Tomorrow is "THE" day, if I can't do it on a PC I might give up.
Yeah, buying another cable, USB to Serial should work.
In Holland it would be easy for me since I work in industrial automation and see many programmers which have plenty of them.

Cheers

 

Update

I went to an internet café yesterday but it didn't work there either.
So, I wrote an email to the seller, got a reply back today, said he is
aware of the problem and looks into it.
He asked for a few days so he can find a solution.

AWARE of the problem, then why didn't he tell me, WTF.
So, now I just wait, I wrote him I would like a Skybox F3 instead which he has
or My preference is a Dreambox, which I actually asked for when I was
there, hopefully he can get one and I will pay more but at least it's
know to be working with the Indovision CAM card.

 

well hopefully you will get a new box and your problems will be gone .

 

Hopefully, when everything is fixed I will be back.

Cheers Perry

 

Great info thanks a lot

 

Update, it won't work with Indovision card, even a Skybox S12 does not work.
I contacted the seller, He tried it on the Skybox and it won't work.
So, he offered Me to send it back, get My money back less $5 dollars which
is fine with me.
Lesson learned, never buy anything a bit further away instead of buying in a
local store by saving just a few quit($25).
Now, I am 100% sure a dreambox will work, cost a bit more but it seems so
much better, better firmware, card reader,images and support.
Openbox S9 PVR 875.000 Rp = 80 Euro
Dreambox 800HDPro 1.400.000 Rp = 130 Euro
I am looking forward buying a dreambox.

Cheers Perry

 

excellent informative guide..thanks.

i used to have cable boxes and wanted to cross over to sat. it seemed daunting but after reading your tutorial piopat, it seems very achievable,especially about cccam.

(could someone recommend me reliable source for services other than gumtree/ebay by pm.)