Boxee Box remember me? XMBC will not boot from USB2.0 with Boxee+Hacks installed

[makeitworst]

I have 4 Boxee Box units, a Rev A1, 2-Rev B2 and a Rev B3 (my wife worked for D-Link 18 years, then got laid off .... like Boxee Box). I've been fooling around with Boxee Boxes since they came out, one the first to install Boxee + Hack, argued with D-Link execs not to turn off the support server (they value money far more and complained about the expense over screwing over tens of thousands of owners.

Anyway, a little over two weeks ago, all the Boxee Boxes we have now completely refuse to run, balking at the login, which it used to ignore after the servers were turned off. So now I've tried to install the last version on XBMC on but a Rev A1 and a Rev B2 Boxee Box (both having Boxee + Hacks install and were running fine till 10 days ago. I've freshly formatted 2 USB 2.0 thumb drives to FAT and copied over all the XBMC files, the USB drives are named XBMC, Neither Boxee Box will boot to XBMC, does the usual Boxee OS load, then the Boxee + Hack load and then the "Red Face" can't log in a dilemma.

I need HELP! What am I doing wrong? the Formating of the USB 2.0 Flash Drives, the naming, what !!??

Addendum: 1) Found out the USB has been named "BOXEE" like the Boxee + Hacks, but NO ONE bothered noting that on any XBMC install forum or site.

2) D-Link turned off the last "login" server which is why everyone is now out in left field and BB won't boot. D-Link Taiwan was in charge of that server mgmt and I'm guessing was tired of that couple hundred dollar expense.

3) The above may be the reason the XBMC USB hack no longer works as Boxee has to login first via a Net connection (even though its a Null connection) and now there is no response.

One other thing the XBMC patch run off a USB 2.0 stick will not work now. Rooting is the only remedy.

Root your BB instead with help from Google for a site named "How to obtain root, install and run XBMC on D-Link Boxee Box" 05 Dec , 2013

[vaderismydaddy]

hi, I have 3 boxee boxes and stupidly factory reset them all so I am obviously not getting past the login stage neither can I get the update that always automatically appeared after the initial log in handshake. have you had success rooting your boxes and did you do the software or hardware mod to do this? I am keen to get them working again and any help or advice would be most welcome. once rooted what does that enable you to do ? many thanks neil

[makeitworst]

You unfortunately "screwed the pooch" by resetting. D-Link Taiwan turned off the last authentification server that allowed running even without "logging in". With that you can't get past the sort of error screen you are stuck at, which means that you can't install Boxee + Hacks and that Hack supposedly allowed you to install XBMC / Kodi ( which I've never been able to get running anyways).

Some clowns on the Reddit Boxee site "Claim" that they /he can resurrect a "cloned" D-Link Boxee Box Server. I say BS as this claim has been made for the last 3 to 4 years and no one has done so.

There are some sites claiming to explain how to Hack Boxee to run pure Linux and consequently XBMC, but it means doing trace cuts on the circuit board and that just isn't something 99% of hobbyist can do.

If you feel like writing, write to D-Link corp in Taiwan and complain vigorously that they killed Boxee Box completely just to be cheap bastards and you will never buy any D-Link network product again and tell your friends not to also. Though I doubt that they care, D-Link is pretty much dead in the US and Canada anyways.

Your Boxee Box is dead now, just bury it or recycle it and switch to an Android TV box. Plenty of them on Amazon that work great. I bought a Peendoo running Android 8.1 and it has Kodi / XBMC already installed. Boxee OS was stollen from XBMC, and now XBMC is called Kodi and it's 100 times better than Boxee OS. I paid $33.50 on Amazon after a 5% Disc coupon, free shipping. It has a MicroSD slot to expand internal Storage.

[vaderismydaddy]

thankyou for such a broad and elequant response. I luckily do have a friend who may be able to help who is a bit more than a hobbyist but failing that i shall have to move on to pastures new. The boxee has been a dear loyal friend over nearly the last decade and actually faultless....it just worked .....and the wife and kids found it intuitive enough whereas I have had kodi installed on some other devices and they either didn't use because of the not so simple interface or would call me several times every time it was used. Anyway it is what it is and I have already written to them although I agree it probably will not get me anywhere.
I will check back on this thread should I manage to get anything sorted as I hope you will . many thanks and kind regards neil

[FattyZA]

Good Day All. can anyone here assist with the install of XBMC onto a boxee with Hacks i cant get the USB 2 XBMC to run, and had the install done on the internal drive, but had to reset mine recently.

i usually did this with the script that was available online, but this is now no longer available. i dont think that trashing a piece of hardware because its old is reasonable. i just want to be able to run iptv from mine many thanks

[makeitworst]

@FattyZA

Its been a LONG time since I played around with my Boxee Box (es) I have 5 of them .... long story, and was screwing around with XBMC on them, but I seem to recall that "LogIn" must function to be able to get to a programming level that you can actually install the XBMC Hack. Of course, the AH's at D-Stink have long since turned off their Login server.

Too bad, the Boxee Box has a pretty powerful processor in it, Intel if I recall correctly. Know anyone that wants to buy a few New or Nearly New condition Boxee Boxes?

I also gave those POS "Android TV Boxes", all made in China, and those turned out to be a total waste of time. The Pendoo's are the Worst! So I went back to using my X Box as my Movie / Streaming Server, works great.

Let me know if you figure anything out.