Ferguson Ariva 250

The Royal Scam · 27-01-2013 09:26PM

Tony wrote: »

If you are referring to the one I posted, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the file . I have just loaded a 250 without any problem.

I'll second that Tony , your work and contribution is spot one. I did however get the Garda virus from the mediafire website after I clicked an ad banner by mistake. Just for people to be careful

STB · 27-01-2013 09:30PM

patrickpc wrote: »

That may well be but it screwed up my box and I followed the instructions to the letter and paid the price for it.. Once bitten, twice shy. Not casting blame on anyone other than myself, just sharing my experience and learning from it.

More importantly though. Why don't these boxes have a simple factory reset feature - hard to believe this can't be included in this day and age?? Great little box but not so clever in this area.

ASH (A5H) is an error code from the EEPROM to signify bad or wrongly flashed firmware. This can happen through using the wrong firmware, a power cut, or simply not following the instructions.

Anyone flashing a set top box via USB and reloading firmware/channel lists should realise that they are messing with the software of the machine.

The only fail safe is that the Master boot on these boxes is protected on the rom. Hence a safety net via Null modem cable. That is one of the advantages of these boxes.

You should return that Null modem cable to Maplins. €18.50 for a €2/3 cable is typical of them. For what its worth I had linked earlier in this thread to a cheap one that does work from an Irish ebayer. They are a handy item to have.

Thargor wrote: »

Post #963 on page 65 of this thread has the instructions for the ASH problem, is this update causing problems for anyone else? Can I go straight from my current 6 month old version to this one without having to install ones in between?

Yes. The main things that are offered in new firmware releases are fixes for the multimedia/entertainment end of these boxes. Particularly Youtube and Youporn. These sites move pages and features around. These strings are hardcoded into the firmware of the Ariva and need to be revised to take account of the changes. Its like bookmarking a page on a PC and going back to find it no longer exists. You dont get a 404 error with the box, you get "failed".

My main point to this is, if you dont use that functionality then you do not need to upgrade the firmware. There is a misconception that latest is greatest. Not always neccesary.

The Royal Scam wrote: »

I'll second that Tony , your work and contribution is spot one. I did however get the Garda virus from the mediafire website after I clicked an ad banner by mistake. Just for people to be careful

Get no script and adblock and add it to firefox. Even so called legitimate hosting sites like Mediafire dont patrol who is injecting popups with malware. Sign of the times.

Moon54 · 28-01-2013 09:22PM

I've just updated my Ariva 250 box to the latest firmware V1.21B6 and I've done a new channel list, here is the download link for it if anyone wants it;

A250ComboV1.21B6-Sorted-Jan2013.abs

As usual, my Irish channels (Ch 52) may not match your location, so you can delete the terrestrial ones, then rescan, and move from the end of the list to the start.

I like the new slimmer On Screen Display bar with this firmware update,
and Youtube seems to be working OK now.

Colmos85 · 29-01-2013 11:58AM

Just checked my updated box to see if new firmware sorted out the issue with the 2TB external hard drive. Well im very happy to say it now works.

:D

Colmos85 · 29-01-2013 10:18PM

Colmos85 wrote: »

Just checked my updated box to see if new firmware sorted out the issue with the 2TB external hard drive. Well im very happy to say it now works. :D

OK, I updated some files on the drive and now if wont recognise again.. Frustrated!! Gave me a taste of the sweet life and took it right out of my hands again. :mad:

STB · 29-01-2013 11:23PM

Colmos85 wrote: »

OK, I updated some files on the drive and now if wont recognise again.. Frustrated!! Gave me a taste of the sweet life and took it right out of my hands again. :mad:

What did you update on the drive?

Dont touch the directory it makes on the drive. You may also see test files written in the root.

Colmos85 · 30-01-2013 09:40AM

STB wrote: »

What did you update on the drive?

Dont touch the directory it makes on the drive. You may also see test files written in the root.

Sorry bad choice of words, I ment I transfered more video into my folders on the drive, not updateing. I tried again last night before bed and it worked, played video no problem, so I unplugged it and tried again but nothing. Its strange

freddy99 · 02-02-2013 12:19PM

When I record a program, it is labelled with previous program on that channel.
Is there any way to fix this ?

Nowso · 02-02-2013 12:32PM

its the program thats on the epg when u start to record

randombar · 05-02-2013 10:39PM

Hi Lads, so trying to set this up for the mother at the moment, deep breaths, so got it up and running did a channel scan and picked up all the channels (including the bloody not free ones) trying to ween the mother off sky so if she had to go through all those channels she'd give up. So I reset the box and went again, when I did my channel scan on a few different satellites and a few different places I couldn't find most of the bbc etc. etc. for some reason? Anyone encountered this before?

Anyways just wondering what's the best way of setting up these boxes for the like of the mother who wants rte's bbc's true movies if it has it within easy reach?

Any advice appreciated.

Nowso · 05-02-2013 10:44PM

u need to select astra 2a , then in single satellite search select fta only yes and change scan mode to blind scan

bbc 3 and 4 only start at 7pm

use terestrial search for soarview rte channels .

STB · 05-02-2013 10:55PM

Then setup a Favourites Menu. Call it Saorview and Satellite or Mums list or whatever. The you can add the channels that your mother will watch to that list in whatever order you want (you can mix saorview channels and satellite in that favorites list). You can reorder within that favourites list. You can set the box to always come on, on channel 1.

All of this is done with the remote control easily. Read the manual or fiddle with it long enough and you will cop how it works.

That way your mother can use the P + and - buttons for the stations and the V+and - for the volume. In the event that she presses the wrong button all she has to do is press the left arrow button until she sees the list called Mums list etc.

Eg here's one where I named my set up a Favorite list called "DTT & Sat" which mixes the typical channels I would watch on a daily basis. This way you dont have to delete the channels in Astra 2. You just always use the Favorites list which is an organised list of what you do watch which is taken from those channels tuned in under the dvb-t tuner and the satellite scanned list.

randombar · 05-02-2013 11:36PM

STB wrote: »

Then setup a Favourites Menu. Call it Saorview and Satellite or Mums list or whatever. The you can add the channels that your mother will watch to that list in whatever order you want (you can mix saorview channels and satellite in that favorites list). You can reorder within that favourites list. You can set the box to always come on, on channel 1.

All of this is done with the remote control easily. Read the manual or fiddle with it long enough and you will cop how it works.

That way your mother can use the P + and - buttons for the stations and the V+and - for the volume. In the event that she presses the wrong button all she has to do is press the left arrow button until she sees the list called Mums list etc.

Eg here's one where I named my set up a Favorite list called "DTT & Sat" which mixes the typical channels I would watch on a daily basis. This way you dont have to delete the channels in Astra 2. You just always use the Favorites list which is an organised list of what you do watch which is taken from those channels tuned in under the dvb-t tuner and the satellite scanned list.

Thanks for the quick reply lads. On the dream box there was some kind of bouquets you can upload to tidy things up for you, something similar here?

STB · 05-02-2013 11:58PM

GaryCocs wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply lads. On the dream box there was some kind of bouquets you can upload to tidy things up for you, something similar here?

Yes but i havent fully figured it out yet. A few months back I came accross a guy who had patched the Ali editor to accept TXT files. So you could use a Dream tool to download the data, rearrange it and then export it as a TXT file. You then superimpose that over the ALI firmware. I haven't actually got around to testing/figuring that out yet.

BTW You cant FTP into these boxes so you have to upload it via USB.

randombar · 06-02-2013 09:46AM

Could I install Tony's firmware and get the FTA channels only without having to do the full sat scan?

http://www.mediafire.com/?lmah8j5ulc93a4v

Daniel S · 17-02-2013 12:14AM

Just got the box there the other day, YouTube doesn't work.

"Movie not founded on server."

Any ideas?

zg3409 · 18-02-2013 12:25AM

Daniel S wrote: »

Just got the box there the other day, YouTube doesn't work.

"Movie not founded on server."

Any ideas?

Have you upgraded to the latest firmware for the box? Are other internet based things working?

Daniel S · 18-02-2013 12:40AM

zg3409 wrote: »

Have you upgraded to the latest firmware for the box? Are other internet based things working?

I have and they do, it's very odd.

O'Prez · 18-02-2013 05:40AM

Lads is there any need to scan eurobird as well as astra. 2 or will the latter give me all available channels regardless? Also is it safe to use that channel list trick with the new firmware releases (the one where you save it over the new firmware)?

Nowso · 18-02-2013 09:11AM

if u do a blind scan on astra 2 u will get the eutelsat 28 channels on a different frequency . some have moved recently . its a bit annoying as some boxes have a joint scan for both

Nowso · 18-02-2013 09:11AM

if u do a blind scan on astra 2 u will get the eutelsat 28 channels on a different frequency . some have moved recently . its a bit annoying as some boxes have a joint scan for both

iba · 18-02-2013 11:15AM

O'Prez wrote: »

Lads is there any need to scan eurobird as well as astra. 2 or will the latter give me all available channels regardless? Also is it safe to use that channel list trick with the new firmware releases (the one where you save it over the new firmware)?

There are only a few stations on eurobird that are not on Astra like sky sports 2 - Im afraid I dont know the names of the other ones - but I would not do a scan on Eurobird as you will be duplicating most of the stations that you have.

If you come across a station that you want to watch and its not in your astra 28 list then you know its on eurobird so then go to Eurobird and just scan in the transponder that that station is on but do not do a full or blind scan.

iba · 18-02-2013 11:16AM

Nowso wrote: »

if u do a blind scan on astra 2 u will get the eutelsat 28 channels on a different frequency . some have moved recently . its a bit annoying as some boxes have a joint scan for both

Ferguson really do need to join teh two sats together.

b4ss · 18-02-2013 01:00PM

Hi All,
Whats the cheapest place to get a 250 from?

I am thinking of just collecting it from on of the satellite shops in Dublin for 115Euro.
If anyone knows of a better price, can they let me know, thanks

Tony

randombar · 18-02-2013 01:02PM

b4ss wrote: »

Hi All,
Whats the cheapest place to get a 250 from?

I am thinking of just collecting it from on of the satellite shops in Dublin for 115Euro.
If anyone knows of a better price, can they let me know, thanks
Tony

I would recommend getting it off this site if you're not going to the same shop:

http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Ariva-250-combo.html#aariva250

Preinstalled with a decent list of channels and a great guy to deal with.

iba · 18-02-2013 01:03PM

b4ss wrote: »

Hi All,
Whats the cheapest place to get a 250 from?

I am thinking of just collecting it from on of the satellite shops in Dublin for 115Euro.
If anyone knows of a better price, can they let me know, thanks
Tony

There is an Irish seller on ebay that often has a good price.

In addition, are you sure you want the 250 rather than the 150?

b4ss · 18-02-2013 01:18PM

iba wrote: »

There is an Irish seller on ebay that often has a good price.

In addition, are you sure you want the 250 rather than the 150?

Well cheapest 250 so far is 115inc vat collected in Dublin or delivered.

The 150 is pretty much the same 10Euro cheaper, am happy to pay the extra
ten euro for programmable remote and channel name display.

Thanks,
T

king2 · 21-02-2013 06:34PM

I am still on firmware 1.18. I was considering updating so I bought a null modem cable in case I needed it if something went wrong. I have just connected the 250 to my PC with the null modem cable. I started the ariva editor program and tried to upload an abs file to the 250. A box is displayed saying the serial port is being tested and then it says it failed the test. I am doing this with the 250 switched on. any ideas?

iba · 21-02-2013 07:36PM

king2 wrote: »

I am still on firmware 1.18. I was considering updating so I bought a null modem cable in case I needed it if something went wrong. I have just connected the 250 to my PC with the null modem cable. I started the ariva editor program and tried to upload an abs file to the 250. A box is displayed saying the serial port is being tested and then it says it failed the test. I am doing this with the 250 switched on. any ideas?

To update you just need a USB stick. Upload file to USB stick and then download file from USB stick to Ariva

desaparecidos · 21-02-2013 10:39PM

Sorry if this has been asked and answered already, but have some questions about external hard drive:

Does the box send external hard drive to sleep when it is not accessing the drive?
Does the box provide enough juice for a USB "self" powered 2.5" drive?

Ferguson Ariva 250

Comments