Am I bricked with no hope? - Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Fire TV (not stick) v2... I was following along with instructions for a 3rd party app and it told me to turn on all three ADB debugging options. Previously I had only "ADB Debugging" and "Apps from unknown sources" on. I didn't think this would be a problem because Amazon's description for the option is "Turn on to enable ADB connections over USB for this power cycle." Notice the for this power cycle part.
I did and when I did I lost use of my remote control. Not sure why, but this happened before (long time ago, I don't remember all the details now but a factory reset cured it). After some playing around, I determined my wifi is no longer working, hence the remove not working either. I grabbed a USB keyboard (which worked before) and plugged it in but nothing. Then I remembered the power cycle thing, so I power cycled the box, and... still nothing! I then power cycled 5 or 6 more times, still nothing! Is this an error on Amazon's part? Or am I not understanding what a power cycle is here?
I then thought I would ADB into it, but when I gave the connect command, the Fire TV asks if it's okay to authorize the connection. I can see (via HDMI) that it's waiting for input of OK or Cancel (there is also a check box to always remember my laptop's MAC address for future connections). However, I have no way to give it permission. Anyone know a way?
I have tried re-pairing the remote (home button) numerous times, and for minutes at a time, but without wifi operational it's of no use. I then thought about the Fire TV app, so I installed that and connected the Fire TV to an Ethernet port on my router and my cell phone to wifi of the same router and they segments are bridged. The app correctly sees the Fire TV box (displays its name and all), but when I ask it to connect it just times out and says "unable to connect."
I then found an article on AFTVNews about holding down the Alt-PrntScrn-i buttons (simultaneously) as it's first booting to get to a recovery menu. Tried that too, but no luck either. Can anyone confirm this is because USB debugging is on and not that my timing isn't correct?
So to all the Fire TV experts, and gurus, is my unit bricked with no hope of ever recovering???

Related

FireTV Stick no wifi, tried reset

Hi Guys,
I have a few modified firetv sticks and this one has been the strangest one so far.
Everything worked well, Kodi, settings.apk loaded. Then today the wifi menu was blank, no connections present.
I checked settings.apk and wifi was set to OFF and no way to get it to slide to ON. Bluetooth showed on.
I tried doing a factory reset but now the firetv is stuck at the "Scanning for networks" page.
It seems to be semi bricked, but i thought that was impossible without root access.
Does anyone have any idea how to get out of this stage or how to enable wifi somehow? The unit seems to be working otherwise, remote responds but no wifi and thus no ADB either. The unit seems to also get very hot after a few minutes of this "Scanning for networks" menu. A lot hotter than my other units for sure.
Your help would be awesome.
Has anyone run into this issue in the past ?
I called amazon customer support today and they offered to replace the unit if the DSN is within a year old. I'm pretty sure it is but I dont know what the DSN is on this specific unit.
Does anyone know how to find out the DSN directly from the device ? I have 9 of these sticks among family members etc, so I cant exactly rule out which one this one is just from looking at my account devices.
Is there a way to obtain the serial from the device through USB ?
I tried connecting it to a pc and mac and no real progress.
- PC says its an unknown device
- MAC does not show up at all
Thanks
Same issue. Stuck on "Scanning for networks". Help!

can't complete initial setup without updating guide,can't get to registration screen

hello
i have just bought my 1st amazon fire tv device,a fire stick manufacture date march 16 2016
and i am trying to follow a (probably outdated) guide from 2014 from AFTVnews
for avoiding update during initial setup
also i am using open DNS ,outside blocking
but the guide does not work
i see that this guide keeps on being suggested for people to use recently but has anyone ever confirmed if this guide is even still working on new fire tv sticks?
because i can not get to the registration screen no matter what i do
i have followed the guide to the letter about 100 times now, all it does is hang on the checking for updates screen and then it goes back to the error message screen every single time
it hangs at checking for updates for a really long time, like an hour
then it goes to the error screen , then i press the back button like the guide says and i re configure the wifi settings like the guide says and then hit connect ,then when it says connection successful i pull the ethernet cable out of the back of my router,the one going to my modem , before it gets to checking for updates
then it says checking for updates and hangs there for like an hour , then it just goes back to the error screen and i press the back button and start the process all over again
is there is any way out of this loop?
i think that this guide is just outdated and that this method has not been tested recently for the fire tv stick specifically
because i follow it exactly and get the same result every time
anyone know what i am doing wrong, if anything or if this guide even still works anymore and on current devices?
can anyone with a brand new stick(not fire tv 1 or 2) confirm that this still works or not?
because i have not been able to find a single account of anyone doing this and getting it to work
i have just wasted and entire weekend on this BS
regretting my purchase and wishing i just bought an android box,
i really wanted to get into this scene but these extremely poorly written and outdated guides have got me so frustrated and discouraged that i am just about to say F it and return this thing to the store and go buy an android box instead
it's just not worth the aggravation and waste of time
this device is a Fing piece of $hit, how can anyone deal with this $hit?
it paired with the remote instantly on 1st use, but after i unplugged it it will not pair, the 1st time i turned it on after unplugging it
it took 15 minutes to pair with the remote, the second time, the 3rd time unplugged it it paired in like 5 minutes, the 4th time i unplugged it and now when i turn it on it will not pair with the remote at all after an hour, i took out the batteries, put in new ones, i put the remote right up to the stick , i press the home button briefly, i hold it down have i tried everything and this damn thing will not pair at all now i just opened it 2 days ago ,says made in mid march 2016
F this device and F this scene i am out , returning this steaming pile of dog $hit and going to order a android box what god damn piece of $hit this thing is , how do you people deal with this $hit, every Fing time you turn it off the remote will not pair again
these devices are pure garbage
this is the worst product i have ever bought
Have you tried using the steps in the Can't Pair a Remote or Game Controller guide? I am waiting on the @rbox release of Fire OS 5 for the 1st Gen Fire TV Stick and can not test this out for now as far as rooting the device.
mjbxx said:
Have you tried using the steps in the Can't Pair a Remote or Game Controller guide? I am waiting on the @rbox release of Fire OS 5 for the 1st Gen Fire TV Stick and can not test this out for now as far as rooting the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i did all of that i am just trying to pair the remote that came with it an it does not pair it worked right away the 1st time but one i unplugged it the 1st time it was nothing but problems from then on
also it keeps saying that i'm not using the amazon power supply when i am using it is this normal?
i think this thing is defective
gdroid666 said:
yes i did all of that i am just trying to pair the remote that came with it an it does not pair it worked right away the 1st time but one i unplugged it the 1st time it was nothing but problems from then on
also it keeps saying that i'm not using the amazon power supply when i am using it is this normal?
i think this thing is defective
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. That is not normal as I've never seen that message on my 4 Fire TV devices. Just exchange it and hopefully you'll have better results trying to root a Fire TV Stick.
mjbxx said:
No. That is not normal as I've never seen that message on my 4 Fire TV devices. Just exchange it and hopefully you'll have better results trying to root a Fire TV Stick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
funny thing i was just about to take it back,i had the bag receipt and everything ready to go
i figured i'd try it one more time before going back to worst buy , i plugged it in again but this time i used the HDMI extension adapter
and it finally paired after like 10 minutes but then once i hit play it went straight into checking for updates
and it did not give me the option to configure my wifi or network settings ,it just connected and said checking for updates , so i yanked the ethernet cable from my modem out of the back of the router and this time it finally went to the registration screen
it had done this like twice before, i mean automatically going to checking for updates on power up without me configuring the wifi and i had pulled the cable but it never went to the registration screen before
i only had 2 domains blocked in open DNS
after it was on the registration screen i plugged the ethernet cable back into the router and added the other 2 domains to the block list in open DNS dash
but then i realized i was not sure if this thing even remembers the DNS settings, i assume it did not ,so i think that was a waste of precious time because i think it just connects to wifi without even going through open DNS if it goes to checking for updates on power up without giving you the option to pick the wifi network,enter the password and set the DNS settings, but i am really not sure about this
after i added the other 2 domains in open DNS and had all 4 on the list i went and checked the about menu and seen it was still on 5.0.5 and not on 5.0.5.1 , then i went and turned on adb and unknown apps
then i went to cmd prompt and connected to it and did pm hide com.amazon.device.software.ota
then i went into about checked it to make sure it was still on the older fw, then i went to check for updates and realized i forgot to disconnect the modem from the router, so i unplugged it again , i noticed it had downloaded the update or at least it looked like it did because the progress bar was all the way at the end but it was not installing
then i ran adb fire and debloater tool and did the hide the update.ota.apk option just to be sure
i have restarted a couple times and it is still on 5.0.5 ,but i still have not reconnected the wifi yet
but i think i should be in the clear,but the weird thing is that after i restarted it once or twice it still had the message in the check for updates menu that said downloading 5.0.5.1 ,it would not go away then i ran the debloater tool and hid the ota.apk
and now when i go in there it just hangs at checking for updates(but i did not yet reconnect the router to the modem yet) and the message about downloading 5.0.5.1 is gone
but i watched a few tutorial videos and they all show that it gives them an error message in checking for updates menu screen mine does not give me that message ,it just hangs at checking for updates and i am afraid to plug the modem back into the router now
but when i did both block methods, the one through cmd prompt it said some message, can't remember it exactly but it said something like hide: true so i assume it worked and in debloater it said something like status hidden
i did try to run the cmd prompt method again after i rebooted the 1st time to be sure but it kicked some error the second time maybe cause i was telling it to hide something that i already hid , but debloater seems to have given the confirmation even after i ran the cmd method
it has also stopped giving me the not amazon power supply error now too
i think maybe because when i initially powered it on for the 1st time it was connected to the tv usb , but then i switched it to the amazon power supply but it still was giving me the message on every reboot, it's like it remembers whatever it was connected to on initial boot and does not forget it until you finally get through completing the setup even if you switch it to the amazon power supply
I'm a bit confused. Is your Fire TV Stick rooted now?
mjbxx said:
I'm a bit confused. Is your Fire TV Stick rooted now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no it is unrooted on 5.0.5
i just used adb to block updates
it's brand new i was just trying to get past the initial setup without updating so i can root it in the future when rbox releases a pre rooted custom rom for it
but it would not go past the error screen and get to the registration screen
then it rebooted and went straight to checking for updates which it had done a few times before but this time it went to the registration screen after checking for updates, it usually just hung on that screen for about an hour and went back to the error screen no matter what i did
since it went to checking for updates right after i turned it on and pressed play without me configuring the network settings and DNS setting i did not put in the open DNS settings, so i don't know if remembers them from previous boots when i did enter them
so i am wondering if it not connecting through open DNS is what finally let me get to the registration screen
like if it has something in the FW that detects weather or not a proxy like open DNS is being used when it gets to connection successful and then it tells the device hey do not let this go to registration if a proxy is being used or if the update domains are blocked through open DNS
but then again i did have it go to checking updates a few other times at boot and i did not configure the wifi and DNS settings and it still hung on checking for updates and kicked back to error screen every single time
i don't what made it finally work but it was getting really frustrating, especially with the length of time it hung on the checking for updates screen

Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012) -Wi-Fi not connecting, USB device not recognized

Hi All,
So i had a Kindle Fire HD 1st Gen (2012) repaired (USB port was replaced).
Firstly, it wouldn't connect to any WiFi spot after the repair. Tried everything, including a reset to factory defaults.
Then i realized the time and date was February 2000. That looked like a root cause (i literally tried every conventional method of solving the Wi-Fi issue). I figured the guys might have disconnected the battery when replacing the port, which could reset time and date to the year 2000. Since there is no option to change time and date on a Fire, the only way was to connect it to a PC, and to try installing a time-date change app, or run the appropriate string to do it via debugging mode.
The problem is that not a single PC can see Kindle, and show "USB device not recognized" message, while all other Android devices work totally fine. The only hardware Id in Device Manager is "USB\UNKNOWN". Installing Kindle Fire drivers from Amazon manually did not help. Installing Android Studio and the relevant Android drivers via that did not help either. I had turned ADB on in Kindle settings, and tried several different USB cables.*
I can't even send a Kindle hardware report to Amazon because of that (you can imagine the amount of hours I spent with Kindle support that they asked me to send those reports to their devs after having no other ideas, which probably would not help anyway)
Do you think this is because of the new USB port? Time and date thing is really weird too. Maybe you have any ideas how i can make this work? I need Kindle to either connect to Wi-Fi, or to a PC.
Tried to connect it to both protected and unprotected networks on a variety of perfectly working routers, with a variety of security settings. Connected it via USB to Windows 10 Pro, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Professional (3 totally different machines) with no luck of detecting the Fire.
Thanks in advance!

Fire TV stick - is there any way to pass initial "remote pair" step?

Hello Developers!
I got a problem and I hope some of you can help me (if not you then i don't know who). I have Fire TV stick 2 gen for about 2 years and recently my remote stopped working. I installed amazon TV app on my cellphone to get back control of the stick. Then I tried everything I was able to find on the Internet (new batteries, hold home button for 5-10-20 sec, find new BT device from the settings menu, etc.) to bring back to life original remote but there was no luck. So I decided to reset the stick back to factory settings (bad idea). As you can guess now I have the stick that is asking me to pair my (probably dead) remote with it (!).
I don't have friends with amazon TVs and I don't want to pay $20 for the new remote ( when the new stick with remote is like $30 ) I'm ok to use the app.
So I have three questions for you guys:
1) Is there any way to skip the first step (initiation of remote)? Maybe I can find some kind of firmware that I can change a little bit
(put my wifi settings and tell to skip 1st step) and flash it into my stick? IDK...
2) As I understand the original remote works on BT not on WIFI so Is there any app that uses BT and can be recognized as an amazon tv remote on that 1st step. Two apps I've tried (amazon tv app and CetusPlay) use WIFI.
3) Is there any way to check if my remote still live or completely dead? (Again I have no friends with amazon TVs)
Thanks for any input!
No ideas guys? Any?
I think you actually need a remote for first time boot :/ I don't think there is any app out there that emulates the remote, I could be wrong but have you tried this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amjs5hGXqbs
I have exactly the same issue. I don't know if my remote is working or not.
I managed to connect a usb keyboard and stupidly reset the thing to defaults - disabling developer mode in the process.
Now I have a firestick that keeps asking me to "pair the remote..."
Is there any way to enable adb ?
in this thread.. ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/development/unlock-fire-tv-stick-2nd-gen-tank-t3907002 ) I remember reading about shorting a pin inside the unit to ground, would this allow adb access?
tbird635 said:
I have exactly the same issue. I don't know if my remote is working or not.
I managed to connect a usb keyboard and stupidly reset the thing to defaults - disabling developer mode in the process.
Now I have a firestick that keeps asking me to "pair the remote..."
Is there any way to enable adb ?
in this thread.. ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/development/unlock-fire-tv-stick-2nd-gen-tank-t3907002 ) I remember reading about shorting a pin inside the unit to ground, would this allow adb access?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to say I'm fairly certain I was able to skip the pairing with a USB keyboard. Although I don't remember what key I pressed.
My remote stopped too. I stretched out the springs and reinstalled the batteries. Works great now.
Did you have any luck solving this Bartyman?
with a usb keyboard i was able to use play button to bypass
I reset my device using TWRP, and cannot get pass the "pair remote" screen! Help!? Would buying a otg cable and using a usb keyboard help? or is that a waste of money?
KINDLE FIRE MURDERER said:
I reset my device using TWRP, and cannot get pass the "pair remote" screen! Help!? Would buying a otg cable and using a usb keyboard help? or is that a waste of money?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
buying a OTG is very useful, almost any keyboard/mouse will work. makes TWRP easier also. holding down the home button for about 10 seconds has worked for me when trying to pair the remote. I dont know if you can do anything to get by it with CEC using the TV remote.

Using the .apk instead of the remote

My wifi is down so I can't use the remote. My ADB USB debugging is on so I can't use a USB keyboard. I've connected the Fire TV to my router via ethernet and installed the Amazon app on my Android phone. It sees the Fire TV (displays the correct name), but when I try to connect it spins and returns "cannot connect." Any ideas what to do to get it to connect?
Without access I can't select any menu options, box boots fine, but I would like access again. Also, just FYI, I mentioned this in passing in a more detailed message about not being able to use my gen 2 Fire TV, but thought I should focus on this issue in particular since if I could get it working I can reset it to factory defaults.
Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated!

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