Help M8S+ display stopped on one TV, works on others

citeog · Sep 28, 2016

Hi All,

I have a strange issue with my Android TV box. I am running 5.1 on an M8S+ box.
This was working perfectly on my TV for about 4 months, but suddenly stopped.
(It was powering up when being plugged into the HDMI port.)
The display is now blank and nothing is visible.

I have only one HDMI port on the TV (Walker, HD Ready) and this same HDMI port on the TV works fine with Sky/PlayStation etc.
The same Android box (including HDMI cable) works fine on other TV’s (Full HD and HD Ready) and a different Android box (Cyclone Android 4.4) works on my TV with the same HDMI cable etc. This seems to rule out any hardware issue with the TV, Android Box and cables.

I have tried changing the display settings to 1080i and disabling auto negotiate etc, but still no joy.
I cannot debug it on my TV as I cannot see anything there. I can only change settings on a different TV and then bring it back to mine.

I did not change any settings prior to the display stopping, so maybe an automatic s/w update on the M8S+ caused an incompatibility?

To help rule this out, I also tried a factory reset, but that did not help.

Does anyone have any suggestions ?
Many thanks in advance!!!

Andrew Cole · Sep 28, 2016

Try using RCA cables instead of the HDMI connection.

citeog · Sep 28, 2016

Thanks Andrew - I might have one handy at home so I will try that and let you know.

citeog · Sep 28, 2016

Hi Andrew, no joy with the RCA cables. There was no signal even on the TV that was displaying via HDMI.....any other theories?

Thanks !

Andrew Cole · Sep 28, 2016

...no joy with the RCA cables...

That's disappointing. Has anyone actually managed to get a box that has a working RCA jack?
I'm starting to think that the hole is more cosmetic than functional!

citeog · Sep 29, 2016

well at least i am not the only person with the RCA issue.
i cant think of any other settings to change - CEC, Display.......anything else worth checking ?

Andrew Cole · Sep 29, 2016

Your well thought out and complete first post has covered pretty much any answers that most of us could possibly have.

Why would the Android box and cable work fine on another TV and why would other devices continue to work fine on the TV yet the box suddenly fail?

It was working fine before and without you (knowingly) changing any settings, now it doesn't.

The factory reset did reset the device but still, it doesn't work on your TV...

It has to be down to settings... either on the TV or the Android TV Box... yet you can't easily make settings to the box without plugging it into another monitor.

My guess is that one of your other devices (Sky Box/Playstation) has made changes to the TV making the Android box unusable.
It may be worth resetting the TV to default values or just going through the controls and making intelligent guesses at some changes that may work.

One solution might be to get an HDMI switcher...

I have used one of these on an older TV with only one HDMI port.

They are brilliant... you plug the box into your HDMI port and all your devices into the box.
You then press a button on the top of the little box to select the 'input' to your TV.

When using this for the first time, don't plug all your devices into the hub at once...
Instead, plug them in one by one and test them.
(I learned this the hard way! I thought I had bought a dud at first!)

citeog · Sep 29, 2016

My guess is that one of your other devices (Sky Box/Playstation) has made changes to the TV making the Android box unusable.

I think you might be right there.......the Sky box was plugged in and hot disconnected and then the M8 plugged in.
I have seen issues with the Sky box since then saying the TV does not support HDCP and then this clears after a little while.....
The TV is 9 years old (I know, I know.....) so this was before the era of smart tv and factory resets. I did go through the menu settings but cannot see anything significant to change there. will take another look through the manual though.

I had a HDMI switcher before but it would not pass the Sky signal without one of the other sources being on at the same time (eg PS or DVD etc), but that might be worth considering again as a test.
I guess after 9 years, it might be time to concede that the tv is not going to keep pace with newer technology.

Anyway Andrew, thanks for taking the time to respond.
Without guys like you, these forums would not be half of what they are !

Help M8S+ display stopped on one TV, works on others

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