Dreambox Guides, Tutorials, Tips and Hints

For whatever reason, there may be a pin code set on your dreambox. Sometimes this is done to keep nosey people changing settings and messing things up. It’s also used to block certain channels if you don’t want the kids accessing them (if you know that I mean).

If you forget that pin, usually you would flash an image that you know doesn’t have the pin code set.

Or…you can use the tuxbox commander plugin to get the pin. Most images have this plugin and it’s accessable via the plugins menu, usually yellow or blue button.

Go to /var/tuxbox/config/enigma…

There’s a file called config

View it and look for lines like…

i:/elitedvb/pins/parentallock=
i:/elitedvb/pins/setuplock=

These are hex numbers. Use your windows calculator in Scientific mode, click on Hex, enter the value in your file (last 4 numbers, not with the zeros in front of them), click Dec and that will be your pin.

There you go, that was easy!

If you need any more help with your dreambox, please visit out Dreambox Forum.

Good Luck!

You might want to connect your dreambox to your PC for a number of reasons; stream MP3s or movies from your PC to the dreambox, record from the dreambox to a shared folder on your PC, to update the image, services or bouquets, etc.

What is needed

If your dreambox is going to be connected straight to your PC then you will need a crossover ethernet cable. This is not the same as a standard patch ethernet cable that you get with your router or cable modem, the send and receive wires are crossed, hence the name. This cable is more commonly used to connect ethernet equipped PCs together without a hub or router. But we need it to connect to the dreambox as well.

Configuring your PC

One side of the crossover cable needs to be connected to your PC, obviously. Most PCs only have one ethernet connection and it’s usually used for the internet connection. It’s advisable to buy a second network card and keep it solely for the use of the dreambox, these are about £5 from your local computer shop. But this guide will show you how to connect it to you existing ethernet connection.

I’m using Windows XP Pro but the steps may be different for other operating systems.

Go to the Control Panel then Network Connections. Find the ethernet connection that you would use for your internet. Right click it and select Properties. Scroll down to ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)’ and select Properties. If you do use this connection for your internet then it should have the ‘Obtain an ip address automatically’ selected. Change the settings so that it looks like this…

Select OK and reboot your PC. Remember at this point you will not have any internet access so make sure you have a copy of all the guides and tools that you need. Or connect your modem via USB.

Configuring your Dreambox

I will use an enigma image in this example, neutrino can also be used and the same values should be used although the menus may look different and be in a different place.

Go to Menu > Setup > Expert Setup > Communication Setup

Change the settings to look like this…

Select Save and exit from the other menus.

Connecting to the Dreambox

To connect to the dreambox we are going to use an FTP Client. There are many programs available for this, FlashFXP, CuteFTP, Filezilla and SmartFTP are some examples. For this guide we are going to use FlashFXP.

Once you’ve downloaded it, run the flashfxp.exe file and the program will load.

In the left window is where the dreambox file system will appear after we connect. In the right window is your PC file system. Treat both windows like any other windows explorer window. To transfer files between the dreambx and PC, cimply drag the file from one window to the other and wait for it to transfer. The bottom left window shows a history of the files transferred and the progress of current files during transfer.

Near the top, on the toolbar, you should see an icon with a lightening strike on it, click it and choose ‘Quick connect’ (you can also press F8 on your keyboard). Configure the options to look like this…

Server or URL: 192.168.1.101

Username: root

Password: dreambox

Port: 21

Click Connect.

You should now see the file system of the dreambox on the left, i.e. /bin, /dev, /etc, /hdd, /sbin, /var, etc etc.

Congratulations - you are now connected to your dreambox.

If you need any help with this guide, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

Good Luck!

Thanks to FME_fta for this guide.

So that the program Dreamflash v0.1 DanMark works (tested personally) with jtag, the jtag can only have resistences and they can’t have more than 10cm.

The connections are:

LPT————–> Dreambox/Clone

2 –> 100 ohms –> 11 ( Halt)

3 –> 100 ohms –> 9 ( Tms )

4 –> 100 ohms –> 7 ( Tck )

5 –> 100 ohms –> 3 ( Tdi )

11 –> 100 ohms –> 1 ( Tdo )

25 —————— 16 ( Ground)

Th pins 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 e 25 of the port LPT must be shunted between themselves, like commercial jtags has.

Click here for JTAG pinout

Click here for JTAG locations

Now, The science of the thing (thanks to Matrix10 tip) is doing the connect and turn on the box at the same time.

With the tests done I’ve understood better how it works great:

The secret is in 1º do connect to the program and then turn on the clone, but with a certain delay. This delay depends on the speed of your CPU, the faster CPU’s, minor the time/delay (between 0 e 1 seconds).

Change the priority of the program jtag_windows.exe on the task manager for the real time which must turn more real the delay itself, once the program will give maximum priority of the use of the CPU.

About the timming, if it shows you only “ERROR:register test failded” then the jtag is ok, but you have turned on the box sooner then expected, if it shows you the 4 times “ERROR: communication with LPT/JTAG”, then you must turn on the box sooner, or the jtag isn’t ok.

Remmember that you must connect the box always after making connect on the program.

After you must warp/straight the pins on the adaptor switch of the box, so it fits faster on the electric switch.

By end, you must use an electric switch easy to fit, I have used one triple (from the bad ones), but I had to dismount it and press their electric pins to don’t make bad contact.

When doing “write” the program sends immediately the boot, that is the file “blimg”.

The file present in this attachment is the boot of a DM500 and tunner ALPS of CRC-32 9055B110, once again thanks Matrix10, because I’ve tested a boot that were supposed to be for the DM500 and ALPS and it didn’t worked, and this one in the attachment is guaranteed it works.

After sending the boot of 128KB by Jtag, you can turn on the box with dreamup and by rs232 send an image (with exception of Gemini 4.3.1 because some people say it kills clones… )

All programs and files are available on our Dreambox Forum.

How Do I Setup A Mount for Direct Recording?

This guide will outline how to setup mounts for direct recording.

We will assume that the dreambox is setup and you are able to connect via FTP/Telnet and can access the web interface.

Whether we are mounting to a PC or a NAS, we will need a shared folder to record to. For these examples we will use Recordings.

To share the folder…

• Right click the folder and select Sharing and Security
• Check the box that says Share this folder on a network
• Check the box that says Allow network users to change my files
• The Share name: should be the same as the name of the folder

Enable File and Printer Sharing on the PC hosting the shared folder.

• Open the Control Panel and select Network Connections
• Right click the network card and select properties
• Check the box next to File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
• Select OK and close Control Panel

Direct Recording to a PC

Using the remote select MENU > SETUP > EXPERT SETUP > COMMUNICATION SETUP > MOUNTS

IP: <ip.address.of.pc>
Select CIFS form the pulldown menu on the right hand side
Dir: <name of shared folder on pc><press yellow for capital letters>
LocalDir: /hdd/movie
Options: rw,soft,udp,nolock
Extra: nolock,rsize=8192,wsize=8192
User: <account on pc>
Password: <password on account, if no password leave blank>
Select Automount
Select Mount

A message should appear saying CIFS mount OK!

Save settings and exit from all the menus.

• To start direct recording, select Start Direct Recording from the Blue Button menu.

This may vary depending on what image you are using.

• To stop direct recording, select Stop Direct Recording from the Blue Button menu.

Check your shared folder on the PC and hopefully you should have a recording.

Direct Recording to a NAS Drive

Open your browser and enter the ip address of your dreambox into the address bar. This should bring up the web interface. To mount to a Samba share we have to use the web interface and not the remote menus.

Select CONFIG > MOUNT MANAGER > ADD

Fill in the settings to match your network

The User Name: will be the admin account on the NAS…usually admin.
The Password: will be the admin password on the NAS…usually admin.
(I would advise changing this in the NAS web interface to something other than admin)
If you have given the Recordings folder a password of it’s own, you will need to use this in the mount settings.

Select Save.

Click Mount and if all is correct a GREEN tick should appear. This can take about 10 seconds to mount.

• To start direct recording, select Start Direct Recording from the Blue Button menu.

This may vary depending on what image you are using.

• To stop direct recording, select Stop Direct Recording from the Blue Button menu.

Check your shared folder on the NAS and hopefully you should have a recording.

To Playback Your Recording

Using the remote select MENU > FILE MODE >RECORDED MOVIES

A list of your recordings should come up.
Highlight the recording and press OK to start.

Good Luck!

If you have any questions, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

To flash an image using Telnet

This method will only work with a .img image file.

• Rename the image file to backup.img
• FTP the image file to the /tmp folder on the dreambox
• Telnet to your box and paste the following command:

cd /tmp && eraseall /dev/mtd/3 && cp backup.img /dev/mtd/3 && reboot

To telnet, click START > RUN and type Telnet ip.address.of.dreambox A command window will appear, enter username root and password dreambox.

To backup an image using Telnet

• Telnet to the box and paste the following command:

cat /dev/mtd/3 > /tmp/backup.img

• FTP to the box and navigate to the /tmp
• Here you will find the backup.img file.

How to copy an image from your PC to the Dreambox via Telnet

First of all, you need to have a mounted directory from your PC. Make sure you have the image.img file in your mounted directory on your PC. Telnet to the dreambox and paste this command:

cp /hdd/movie/image.img /tmp/image.img

The img will be copied from your mounted directory to the /tmp folder on the dreambox ready to be flashed. Good Luck! If you have any questions, please visit our Dreambox Forum.