Missing KODI after firmware flash

[PedroDePacus]

It's a V2 running beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizv2-20211010

The external USB got corrupted, an refused to start new recordings. When starting KODI it would show the splash screen then exit.

I ran the disk check, deleted most of the recordings, but it was still doing random crashes.

I swapped in a new USB, but it was still unstable. So I gave up and flashed it to the last production release.

It's now working as expected, but Kodi is missing.

For other plug-ins, I downloaded the IPK files EPGrefesh, series2folder, IMDB, yourTV ETC so was able to reinstall them.

I've swapped the feed to the NOT Beyonwiz listing as it's dead, and it shows some plug-ins (4?) but not Kodi.
So did anyone pull down the Kodi plug-in IPK file before the original site went off line, or is there another way to get it installed.

[MrQuade]

Can't help with getting the Kodi plugin for the Beyonwiz firmware, but you may want to consider installing the OpenATV firmware instead.
It is much more up to date, and includes a more modern version of Kodi too.

[PedroDePacus]

Thanks, I actually went through the forum trying to sort the problem and found that info about other firmware. I downloaded the firmware

https://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/ ... y_emmc.zip

, but put it at the end of the list of fixes incase it bricked the box. If it all turns pear shaped is the roll back just flash with the original beyonwiz firmware?

[MrQuade]

, but put it at the end of the list of fixes incase it bricked the box. If it all turns pear shaped is the roll back just flash with the original beyonwiz firmware?

Yep, you can just roll back at any time.

The bootloader and UI is significantly different on OpenATV, but you should have no trouble adapting to it.

[PedroDePacus]

OK, I'll give it a run, and post back here how it goes. As the beyonwiz support drops off this could be the way to keep functional hardware in use for a few more years.

[PedroDePacus]

It's taken a couple of hours, so here is a simple break down for anyone who wants to give it a try.

I used this image
https://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/ ... beyonwizv2
openatv-7.3-beyonwizv2-20240104_recovery_emmc.zip

The install from USB is about the same as the Beyonwiz, some steps are in a different order but basically the same.

Once up and running the biggest shock was it just sat at a launch screen with no menu / TV station displayed.
I thought the install was a failure, but after doing more setup in the menu it works correctly

This was because it wasn't starting a station in a bouquet.
Once you set up a bouquet with only the stations you want it will start there like any other PVR.
As always I couldn't work out the in the interface how to do bouquets and had to make one in the web management page. The web page is exactly like the beyonwiz.

How everything works under the covers is the same, it's the interface I had trouble with, once used for a while it's OK, but not as good as the Beyonwiz original.

I got most of the extensions/plug ins downloaded from the repository, including Kodi

PROS
It's works with the same principals
It seems to use less resources, but that may be compared to an old install with lots of junk build up
I found nearly all the extensions
You get the current version of KODI (20) instead of 17

CONS
The interface, either the default or the custom that ships with it and is not attractive (subjective) and I find it harder to use. After a few hours you adapt.

So if your Beyonwiz has a problem and you reset it and miss some functionality, or you want a newer version of the OS since 2021 it's worth giving this a try.

NOTE: I didn't test the roll back to the original Beyonwiz image because I didn't need to.

If I find anything interesting over the next week I'll put it here

[MrQuade]

That's a bit strange with the lack of interface on start. There should have been a setup wizard like the Beyonwiz default firmware has.

There is a separate part of the forum specifically for OpeanATV discussion that you can use for anything specifically relating to that if you like.

[PedroDePacus]

Sorry, I wasn't clear, it went through the usual setup, including network and channel scan, but when all those standard steps completed, it just sat at the background screen, as opposed to displaying a TV channel or the menu. I was stressing about bricking a box I can't replace. When the menu button is pressed it works, but I had to select a bouquet / channel for it to default to showing the TV. Now when it starts it defaults to the last viewed TV station as expected. I guess I'm just use to it always going to the TV or menu.

It's been a few days and I'm getting used to the new interface and I'm using the skin MetrixHD instead of the default.

The best thing I've found so far is the difference in back up, in the AUs beyonwiz menu there is a backup, but only backs up the settings, which didn't help me fix the problems. The openATV has the settings backup, but also a complete image backup. By checking the sizes it's capturing not just the base installation, but all the plugins / extensions.

The original image is 181MB and yesterdays full backup was 377MB, this could just be a different compression method for the files, or I'm hoping it's grabbing all the extra post install software / settings

When I'm comfortable enough, I'll do the full back up, then reload from USB with that backup and see if it actually grabs everything.

[PedroDePacus]

I've just looked back at all this and thought, "What a pain just to get Kodi back". The Beyonwiz firmware worked fine, and Kodi 17 was able do what I needed.
I'm going to copy some of this information to the openATV section, just incase some one else is looking for a fix later.