AMIKO Amiko A3 Owners Thread

[fred555]

Those who are having repeated issues, You are running at factory defaults and not loading up on apps are you? Once you load the first new app, all bets are off, no app is guaranteed not to screw something up. Just curious.

fred555, Sep 10, 2015

 

[Jim S.]

Anybody know what the process "aml_nftld" is supposed to do?

Twice this week, I've found my A3 in a mostly-unresponsive state after leaving it in standby for a few days. The video output is off, it won't wake up for the remote control, and trying to load the web interface only loads a few elements of the page. But it's not totally locked up -- the clock is still running, and I can log in via telnet. When I do so, I find that a process named "aml_nftld" is taking up 49.5% of the CPU time. Normally, this process isn't even on the first page of the list by CPU time -- but I have no idea what part of the system it is, and Googling doesn't help. Attempting to kill -9 it does nothing. Issuing the reboot command also does nothing, although the telnet session continues to function in both cases.

 

[. Raine]

The aml part probably stands for AMlogic, so probably something to do with the SOC. Maybe nft loader, some problem with the graphics, rendering, etc? Is it running hot?

 

[Jim S.]

Nope, not running very hot this time, unlike the previous round of semi-regular lockups I was having.

 

[Babadem]

I noticed the "Scroll" Button (circular wheel) on the A3 remote doesn't respond to volume increase/decrease control anymore. Also the clicking sounds the remote makes when you roll your thumb on the wheel is also gone. I already posted this over at Fridgefta, but only got a suggestion which didn't solve the problem. Anyone else having this problem?


FYI:
On latest stable version 2.0.77, performing a blindscan wipes out manually edited Channel names.

 

[Jim S.]

On latest stable version 2.0.77, performing a blindscan wipes out manually edited Channel names.

Damn, I may have to skip upgrading... Why would they get rid of that feature?

 

[Cham]

Is there a way to re-boot the A3 without disconnecting the P/S? I have a 1TB drive mounted and don't want to keep spinning it up every time the A3 misbehaves...

 

[Jim S.]

Depends on how badly it's stuck. If you can get to the web interface, you can do it from there (although it doesn't always work if it's flaking out.) If you can't get to the web interface, you may still be able to log in with telnet and do it (although it doesn't always work if it's flaking out...)

 

[Cham]

Yes I have done that, like you say, works if the network adapter is still running. Often the network adapter dies (software-wise) along with other critical processes and it just hangs. Not sure if it runs out of memory swap or a glitch in one of the apps somehow. Did a full reset on the device about a week ago and it worked ok for a few days with the factory load and all updates off (as far as I know, all the updating was turned off). Seems stable until exposed to the network. Then after a day or so it starts to hang.
Guess I'll have to do a reset/reload again and not use any network connectivity. Too bad, would a great unit if just a bit more stable.

 

[Comptech]

So why did the A3's start out as a good STB and now people including myself are having major problems with them? Is it hardware failing already? Is it the updates? Mine was fine for almost a year, now it just decides to lose it's mind whenever it wants. I do not add apps and after a fresh restore it works good for a few days with no problem , then I shut it off and when I turn it on again I have a fresh brand new Europian edition of a A3.

 

[Titanium]

I quit updating on 72 and not having any problems. I am certain that the updates are causing many of the problems. Seems that recently the updates have been introducing more issues than there were problems to start with.

 

[KE4EST]

I have a couple that run daily and get used heavily(kids) and I have only had it go lose its mind once and had to do a restore. I know the people that have issues get tired of hearing that.
...but having said that I stopped at .72 or .73 on firmware. I always like to keep up with the latest and am an early adopter on things(running the latest beta of Win 10 right now, the one that was just released).
However, with the family using these devices so heavy it is not a good idea to be an early adopter. If they break it is more heart ache, and aggravation to get them going again to make every one happy.
Also have been hearing reports that the newest firmware is causing issues.

Ha I see Brian got a post in before I even finished my post.

So I see we are both in agreement!
Anyway besides latest firmware, the issues I saw when I was selling them were people that didn't have a good back-up and loading them up with all kinds of apps from the app store. This receiver is running android at its core, but remember 99.9% of the apps were written with phone users in mind. Personally mine has what it came with and has the latest Kodi installed and The YouTube app. I have tried several apps on the A3 but after the newness wore off, I just use it for FTA and a media player.

 

[Comptech]

I only run apps that came with it and I still have problems. I don't even run the epg app. I guess another restore with the original firmware is my next step. It seems that Joe has stepped away from the plate with these issues and is not working with the developers anymore. I saw the same with my A2 that has zero support anymore and now with him looking at a new android box I imagine the same fate will come to the A3.

 

[mc6809e]

I've got two A3s, the older one from the first shipment last year (now with v2.0.77 installed on it) and the newer one from March or April of this year running v2.0.72. I've had lockups, especially after doing several blindscans in a row, that required pulling the power plug to reset the receiver. Though they don't stay on 24/7, my receivers are used every day for satellite reception and sometimes as media players on my network. I do some recording with them but very seldom schedule timers for recording. I haven't loaded very many apps on them. In fact, the newer one only has three or four more than it came with.

I treat the A3s just like I do my computers, making backups both before and after making changes. All my network devices here, except for the phones and tablets, are connected by ethernet cable and have static IP addresses assigned. The only DHCP addresses assigned by the router are for the phones and tablets we have.

I've only had to perform factory restores on the A3s here twice, once on the older one when I screwed up an update, and once on the newer one after I upgraded XBMC to Kodi. It was totally unreliable with Kodi installed, locking up every time I tried a blindscan. The factory restore and reloading my original backup fixed everything and blindscan started working reliably again. That box is still running XBMC. Surprisingly, the older A3 (with .77 now) is running Kodi fine.

I don't know why I'm not having all the problems reported by so many others but I'm glad I don't.

 

[Cham]

Funny, I have never had a problem with my A3 doing a blind scan (or several in a row, same or different satellite). The blind scan function on this receiver is better than any receiver I have had. I did do the FW updates and am running the latest .77. I thought the updates were NA updates to fix issues we are having. Mine came with .72 .

Mine seems to have lockups after/during scheduled recordings. It just becomes unresponsive. It's using a 1TB HD with two partitions, one fat32 and the other cifs. Maybe the partition/format is part of my issue? The A3 seems to work fine recording or playing back recorded files as long as it is not connected to the network. When connected, after a day or two it will often fail during a scheduled recording (lock up or crash). Playing back the recording (that failed) will also cause it to freeze or crash, so I delete it. Unplugging and plugging in a few minutes later fixes it... back to my original request... a re-boot button.

DHCP on the main router serves a static IP to the A3 mac. Not sure what the network has to do with it, unless it tries to update something... I think I have all the updates turned off though. Next step could be to block all ports to the outside (WAN) to the A3 and try that...

.

 

[pacificrim]

I stopped using mine as a STB and went back to my A2.
I was getting frustrated that it wasn't (consistently) talking to the ASC1 to move the dish. I moved back to the A2 and have not had that problem since. We just use the A3 as a media player. It is using version .73

 

[Jim S.]

I quit updating on 72 and not having any problems. I am certain that the updates are causing many of the problems. Seems that recently the updates have been introducing more issues than there were problems to start with.

Sometimes the updates DO fix my problems for a while, mainly (I suspect) by wiping the memory! But on the other hand, there have been times when even pulling the plug doesn't seem to wipe the memory -- for example, the times when I've had to reboot two or more times to get it to come up in a fully-functional state! (Luckily, that seems to have stopped sometime in the past few versions.)

 

[Jim S.]

It seems that Joe has stepped away from the plate with these issues and is not working with the developers anymore. I saw the same with my A2 that has zero support anymore and now with him looking at a new android box I imagine the same fate will come to the A3.

Although I haven't seen Joe say much about the A3 anymore, I suspect that it'll still be supported by the developers because the new box is running the same software. There was just an A3 update a week or so ago, in fact -- unfortunately, it's said to have removed the persistence of manually-entered channel names for no apparent reason. I wish there was some way we could contact the developers to complain about that!

I stopped using mine as a STB and went back to my A2.
I was getting frustrated that it wasn't (consistently) talking to the ASC1 to move the dish. I moved back to the A2 and have not had that problem since. We just use the A3 as a media player. It is using version .73

I'd never go back to my A2 (I still have it, I doubt anyone would want to buy it...) because it crashed a lot more than the A3 does (most of the time), plus I use the web interface frequently and the A2's web interface pales in comparison to the A3's.

Using the A3 solely as a media player is one hell of an expensive media player. You can get generic android boxes cheap, or roll your own XBMC box with cheap PC hardware for about the price of an A3 and still have the ability to expand on both the hardware and software fronts whenever you wish.

 

[pacificrim]

Deciding to switch back to the A2 was not a super easy one, but whatcha gunna do.
I currently have a MicroHD, Openbox S10, Vigica C90 and A2.
MicroHD remote conflicts with Toshiba TV
S10 has sync issues on certain channels
C90 has Diseqc motor issues
A2 = none of the above and no problems with newest firmware

At least the A3 is still a good Android box with a good airmouse remote so I use it everyday but not for FTA

 

[mc6809e]

As a test I made a thirty-minute recording of MeTV HD (3726 V 10000) on SES 1 at 101W. The test recording was made on my original A3 (v2.0.77), and was recorded to the internal NTFS-formatted drive. The recording played back without any of the previously reported problems associated with MeTV SD recordings, even though the quality on that TP varied between 65 and 70.