Archive for category Dreambox

Dreambox Second Stage Bootloader update

Posted by Sébastien Stormacq in Dreambox on 12/03/2012

You might have notice issues when upgrading to recent Dreambox firmware since last September.  This is because Dream Multimedia GmBH released a new Second Stage Boot Loader and new firmware are relying on it for their boot sequence.  Without going into all the glory details, you have to know that most computers (yes your Dreambox is a computer) use a two stages boot system.  First an initial boot loader is executed from internal memory at startup time.  This boot loader usually executes some low level hardware sanity checks then look for a piece of software at a designated place, such as sector 0 of your primary hard drive or sector zero of your flash memory disk.  This piece of software might be a full blown OS or a “second stage boot loader” which will allow you to select which OS to boot or to perform additional kernel tuning.At the time of this writing, latest Second Stage Boot Loader for Dreambox family is SSL 84 (and hacked version 84a and 84b have been created for Dreambox clones)

How to check which second stage boot loader is installer ?

Telnet to your dreambox (username is root, default password is dreambox – unless you changed it) and issue the following commands :

Sebastiens-MacBook-Pro:~ sst$ telnet 192.168.0.96
Trying 192.168.0.96...
Connected to dreambox800.
Escape character is '^]'.
OpenEmbedded Linux dm800
openpli 2.1 dm800
dm800 login: root
Password:
root@dm800:~# opkg list | grep secondstage
dreambox-secondstage - 84-r0 - Dreambox second stage bootloader
dreambox-secondstage-dev - 84-r0 - Dreambox second stage bootloader

Then you know for sure your second stage boot loader version

How to install a second stage boot loader ?

Download the right second stage boot loader NFI file from http://www.dreamboxupdate.com (be sure to select the right file, depending on your dream box model)

Links are within the Blue Rectangle text, starting with “05 September 2011 – Improved flash error correction”

Once the NFI file is downloaded on your PC :

  • Boot your dreambox while pressing the front button
  • Wait for the LCD to display **stop** and an IP address
  • Use Firefox to connect from your PC to that IP address
  • Follow on screen instructions

Disclaimer : these instructions are specific to original Dreamboxes, other methods are available for VU+ family of receivers.

Enjoy !

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