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Author Topic: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7  (Read 30980 times)

Nice Monkey

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Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« on: August 07, 2019, 11:12:29 AM »
Updated: 24-11-2020
Egreat kept their customers in the dark for a long period on the actual work/progress made on the promised upgrade from Android 5 to Android 7. The early Beta upgrades for some models had some serious flaws and development stopped totally after a while.
For the Chinese market Stable versions were released recently though and this time for all their current models! These Chinese versions includes English as a second language.

For the Chinese market there are multiple APP's included in the CN versions doing: IPTV, Online TV, Cinema On Demand etc. All in Chinese and some illegal to be distributed in Western Countries. Your shop may be shut down when selling these bundled so they will never come in western FW versions! These add-on APP's are all removed in the CFW versions referred to here.

Warning: The Upgrade/Downgrade of Android versions is extremely picky on the USB stick being used for it.
What I know is that the actual short initial process the emergency procedure starts with is using the extra 3 files. This process will swap the bootloader and reformat the flash storage of the player to be used by Android. This is obviously extremely critical but also essential to change Android generations. Next the new Egreat FW (=update.zip) is being flashed identical to a normal OTA/USB update.
The good news: It may be frustrating doing it but finally everybody could upgrade and I did not hear of a single player being bricked trying to do so.

This is what I saw to get it done following the emergency procedure with the Reset PIN pressed at power-on!
- Not good: When the flash disc led starts immediately constant flickering fast then the box is actually copying update.zip only. The red standby led will be flickering fast too and you will typically also see the Droid on the TV screen. This process will always crash at roughly 30% with a red triangle on the droid with ERROR written below. No use to repeat this as it will never work that way and you must get a different stick instead.
- The formula that works: Use the USB2 port for upgrading only (yes there is a difference). Use a stick (not all will work) that results in the USB led flashing without the front standby led starting to flicker fast immediately while the PIN is kept pressed. Using that drive you need to release the PIN being pressed fairly quick (a few seconds) after power-on. The flash drive will after a few seconds start to a constant quick flickering showing that update.zip is being copied (this may take many minutes). The front standby led will remain steady on all the time with nothing shown on the TV screen which is a kind of scary. Just let it go as it will reboot to Android 7 automatically.

Very neat Custom FW (CFW) EN version are provided for Egreat players by E_CS facilitating additional enhancements plus swapping bundled Chinese APP's for some popular legal Western APP's.
http://en.egreatworld.com/comunity/index.php?threads/cfw-egreat-a5-a8-a10-a11-a13-a5ii-a15-base-on-egreat-v3-0-6-9-update-zip-no-eta.19383/#post-31810
With some tweaks also KODI can be used using the Egreat Player.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2020, 12:37:03 PM by Nice Monkey »

trigeminus76

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2019, 09:07:06 AM »
There are unfortunately  again DTS HD sound dropouts in Android 7 FW for Egreat A5 ( 2.0.1 + 2.5.0.2).
All other audio formats i use are working properly.
Important: You do not notice this in a short test run, these dropouts occur approximately just every 15 - 30 minutes.
I have a USB 3.0 hard drive directly connected to the 3.0 port of the Egreat A5, these are ideal conditions; and in Android 5 I never ever had this problem.
Maybe the Egreat team did not realize that because you have to watch a whole movie and not just short test sequences to experience those little sound dropouts with DTS-HD.
This is a shame because the DTS-HD sound format is very common and contains more than 50% of my files.

Cheers Ben

trigeminus76

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2019, 09:17:40 AM »
Have maybe someone the Egreat Email address from technical support / software developers?

Charles01

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2019, 12:19:24 PM »
I have tried they never answer it is the same with facebook etc so there is no point trying contacting them

Nice Monkey

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2019, 01:03:52 PM »
There are unfortunately  again DTS HD sound dropouts in Android 7 FW for Egreat A5 ( 2.0.1 + 2.5.0.2).
All other audio formats i use are working properly.
Important: You do not notice this in a short test run, these dropouts occur approximately just every 15 - 30 minutes.
I have a USB 3.0 hard drive directly connected to the 3.0 port of the Egreat A5, these are ideal conditions; and in Android 5 I never ever had this problem.
Maybe the Egreat team did not realize that because you have to watch a whole movie and not just short test sequences to experience those little sound dropouts with DTS-HD.
This is a shame because the DTS-HD sound format is very common and contains more than 50% of my files.

Cheers Ben
Using SATA attachment for my playback and after listening to one of my favourite Concert BD's can confirm the problem. These are actually very short but annoying. Will add this problem to the list. Also do confirm this was not a problem with Android 5.1.1
« Last Edit: August 09, 2019, 01:59:22 PM by Nice Monkey »

trigeminus76

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2019, 02:40:15 PM »
Thank you for adding in list.
I hope Egreat can fix the DTS-HD dropout issue in the future.
The problem is maybe Egreat-Team did not watch a whole movie,  just short test sequences.

Nice Monkey

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2020, 11:27:11 AM »
Here you can find the most recent stable Chinese FW 3.0.xx for all Egreat models.
http://egreatworld.com/egreat-download-for-media-player-v2.html
These FW use Android 7 and are fully functional including a DTS fix and SACD ISO playback.

Warning: There is only English support (with occasional hardcoded Chinese pieces) and it boots up in Chinese. The first setup item (top) is language so easy to get really started.

Tried it myself with my A10. Works fine including Wireless. Does not like my AK87 BT remote though.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2020, 10:23:12 AM by Nice Monkey »

hcyap2005

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2020, 12:59:33 AM »
Dear Nice Monkey,

I am trying to install new Chinese Android 7 firmware many times and ways into existing English firmware 1.5.1.0, but failed. Kindly advise how to change from English firmware to Chinese firmware on A10.

Regards.

Nice Monkey

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2020, 10:17:44 AM »
It is easier to use the CFW version as it is modified to use English.
The creator and myself can help you then with any problems on the Egreat forum.
http://en.egreatworld.com/comunity/index.php?threads/cfw-egreat-a5-a10-a11-base-on-egreat-v3-0-6-5-update-zip-2020-04-10.19380/
Came myself from the beta Android 7 FW 2.0.1.2 which was difficult also to initially upgrade Android.

The problem is changing from Android 5 to Android 7 needs a change of bootloader/flash partitioning. Once there it is again easy to change FW versions being all Android 7 showing a Ring during updating instead of the Droid Robot shown by Android 5.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2020, 10:04:10 AM by Nice Monkey »

hcyap2005

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2020, 12:38:32 AM »
Dear Nice Monkey,

Due to upgrade installation CN3.0.6.5 Android 7 failed, I changed existing EN 1.5.1.0 to CN 1.3.1.6-->OK. Then install again CN 3.0.6.5 (download via Chrome) --> also failed.

Today I install your EN3.0.6.5 -- also failed. Reinstalled EN 1.5.1.0 from CN1.3.1.6-->OK, then install EN3.0.6.5-->Failed.

then tried CN3.0.6.5 (download via Microsoft Edge) again --> also failed.

Kindly advise.
Regards.

hcyap2005

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2020, 02:10:30 PM »
Dear Nice Monkey,

I used USB 2 for upgrading and USB 3 is used for mouse only.

Every upgrading is following instructions as per recommended. Pressed RST while turn ON the power supply. It reads half way and failed.

Regards.

hcyap2005

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2020, 02:16:31 PM »
Dear Nice Monkey,

Recently I had used USB 2 as my A10 audio output. I pulled out the USB cable and inserted Pen drive 16G with FAT 32 format when upgrading.

Regards.

hcyap2005

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2020, 12:55:49 PM »
Dear Nice Monkey,

I had triad not less than 30 times following the special method. And all A10 files from EC also failed. No luck for me.

TQSM & Regards.

Nice Monkey

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2020, 09:54:08 PM »
Trying more often does not help, trying a big bunch of different small sticks does.  :)
As soon as you get to immediately seeing the front standby led flickering fast and/or the Droid on the TV you know already it is wrong. Time for the next stick!  ;)

Don't ask me why it is so picky specifically about the stick being used for Upgrading/Downgrading Android. Having found one that works it can be repeated with a single try.

Not all media players do it this way. Zidoo emergency recovery for example uses the bootloader to flash a full ROM-image of a working/running player including Android. This in fact clones the total install in one step using mostly the initial factory FW version. There are Pro's and Con's to each method imposed by the SOC supplier being HiSillicon for Egreat and Realtek for Zidoo. 
« Last Edit: November 20, 2020, 10:31:18 AM by Nice Monkey »

hcyap2005

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Re: Upgrade A5, A8 Pro, A10, A11, A13 to Android 7
« Reply #14 on: October 21, 2020, 05:25:35 AM »
Noted with thanks,

 

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