Aopen EA65-IIa 2.0 instantOn not working

[hangerstraight]

dear lucy,

I have recently bought the above xc cube from aria. i have installed all the new components for it but i am having problems with the software installation. I have installed the instanton software, which i think has installed ok because it doesn't come up with any errors. once installed, the pc shuts down, which i think is normal. I then install windows xp, which also installs without a problem. I then go on to installing the ezinstall software, but whilst autoinstalling it comes up with an error 'the bonus cd does not support this model'. i then went into disk management to the partitions, which shows a partition of 100mb for the instant on and the other partition for the rest of the harddrive. however the 100mb partion states 102mb capacity with 102mb free. is this because windows does not recognise it because it is on another operating system. there is also no drive label designated to it ie 'i' drive. i've reformatted the whole drive several times but am getting nowhere.

your help would be greatly appreciated as its driving me mad.

regards

neal

[Sleepy]

Is there absolutely no manual anywhere i.e. even a readme on the discs?

As for the partition, afaik the InstantOn is basically a stripped down Linux OS with the InstantOn frontend software, the bit that displays when you boot into the InstantOn part. Therefore, Windows is not compatible with this partition properly and so will not assign a drive letter to it.

This is from the Aopen FAQ:

Q5569: How can I install Windows and InstantOn Operating Systems on my new EA65 XC cube?

Windows and InstantOn are two independent Operating System supported by EA65, please follow the procedure below on how to install them.

Make sure that the hard drive to be used has no partition present.

Start the system with InstantOn CD inserted, installation process will now automatically start, follow the onscreen menu and wait until it\"s finish.

Proceed to the installation of Windows, you will see that at least 100MB of your hard drive has been used. This is for InstantOn please leave it untouched, continue the installation of Windows then install the necessary drivers and Home Theater application afterwards.

It is important that InstantOn be installed FIRST before Windows Operating System.

EA65 should now work properly.

To reiterate a point here, that there should be no partitions present before attempting to start installing the InstantOn CD. Remove all previous partitions and then start again as above. Install InstantOn and then see if it works before installing Windows XP. Obviously, create a new seperate partition for this during Windows XP's setup!

Incidentally, i did find this bit of useful information myself, also from the FAQ's:

Q5671: When installing Windows XP on my EA65 with InstantON pre-installed, the partition available for Windows has shown a drive letter \"I\", how can I make it a normal \"C\"?

Perform the normal installation of Windows XP. You will be asked which partition you want to install Windows, and then choose the un-partitioned space. Note that a drive letter \"I\" will be assigned to it rather than the usual \"C\" at this time.

Just continue the partitioning and copying of files, once it restarts and the message- Press any key to boot from CD- will pop out again, do press any key and you shall get back to the initial status of installation process. Now you will see the C is given, select it and continue the process as you used to do.

I never thought of running the setup twice to change the drive letter from it's original given \"i\" letter to make it \"c\" drive! Cool

If you want to read some more, here is the link to the Aopen FAQ section:

http://club.aopen.com.tw/faq/

Best of luck to you, let us know how it goes!

[hangerstraight]

hi,

thanks very much for your advise. could you tell me what i should be seeing on the display if instant on has been installed correctly as i get all the relevant modes displayed when i use the remote, ie dvd, cd, mp3 etc. but when i choose the mode and turn on the machine it just boots up in windows. Also have you ever experienced the error 'the bonus cd does not support this model'. when installing ezinstall. do you know if there are different versions of the software for the various versions of this model.

i'm sorry to ask you so many questions but i've not had many answers yet off any of the forums including aopens forum.

best regards

neal

[Anonymous]

[Removed at the request of the author]

[Sleepy]

could you tell me what i should be seeing on the display if instant on has been installed correctly

Once you have installed the InstantOn software, you should have the full multimedia capabilities i.e. when the system is switched off, pressing say \"TV\" on your remote will start the computer and load up to the TV viewer program etc. It should not boot up into windows! Check the BIOS settings and see if there is a section for enabling bypassing InstantOn at boot up. I vaguely recall seeing this?

Also have you ever experienced the error 'the bonus cd does not support this model'. when installing ezinstall. do you know if there are different versions of the software for the various versions of this model.

I don't think your model has an ezinstall bonus cd which would certainly explain the error message.

'm sorry to ask you so many questions but i've not had many answers yet off any of the forums including aopens forum.

As PrivatePyle@Work said!

OK, back to your problem then. I would try a different InstantOn install to see if that helps. What version do you have? The latest version is 0.56 afaik, but this isn't compatible with all models. Some only work with older version 0.41 it would seem. In which case you could always try the older InstantOn and see if that gets your system up and running. i.e. If you have version 0.56 try version 0.41, or use 0.56 if you already have 0.41.

If you need either or both versions, i can provide the links to download them in .iso format so as you can burn them onto fresh cd's for your own copies if required.

Have you tried looking for an updated BIOS? The latest one is WA652109.

I am sorry i cannot help pinpoint the exact cause of your problems, but by trial and error i am sure you will win out in the end!

[hangerstraight]

hi sleepy,

i've tried going into the bios to find if there is an option regarding 'enabling bypassing InstantOn at boot up'. can't seem to find anything though, gone through all the menus but nothing obvious jumps out at me.

I've also checked what version of instant on i've got. the part number is 52.EA651.021(L) the serial number is 044-055-221. on the disk there is a text file called 'release' and the text on it says: 'Avocet-0.38'. The model number of my machine is EA65-140. Do you have the same model?

Would it be possible for you to supply me with the versions 0.41 and 0.56 please.

Many thanks again for your help.

Neal

[Sleepy]

Unbelievably, i actually discovered a link to download InstantOn when i was looking for a replacement TV Card for it! All the time i searched for InstantOn i didn't come across a single download site, typical!

Anyway, here it is

ftp://asftp.aopen.com.tw/pub/xccube/ea65ii/

Best of luck!

[hangerstraight]

hi sleepy, thanks,

i know i sound like a complete numpty but i'm new to this iso buisness and not sure what to do next. when i follow your link and get the two files for instantOn, i click on say the 041instantOn and it gives me 2 files and a zipped folder. do i have to click on all of these and save them to one location or just the zipped folder. also could you tell me the best software to copy these to cd. will i have to change any of the file extentions to iso to make it work.

cheers
neal

[Sleepy]

[quote:f53428fa2a=\"hangerstraight\"]hi sleepy, thanks,

i know i sound like a complete numpty but i'm new to this iso buisness and not sure what to do next. when i follow your link and get the two files for instantOn, i click on say the 041instantOn and it gives me 2 files and a zipped folder. do i have to click on all of these and save them to one location or just the zipped folder. also could you tell me the best software to copy these to cd. will i have to change any of the file extentions to iso to make it work.

cheers
neal[/quote:f53428fa2a]

It is not a problem, i know how confusing it can be at times!

OK, i had a look at the files and here is what you need to do. If you are downloading version 0.56 then you must download all 3 files. Once they have finished, extract the last one (instanon056iso3.zip) into a new folder, call it say InstantOn 0.56. Cut & Paste the other 2 files, iso.1 & iso.2 into that same folder you just created, InstantOn 0.56. Then run the file JOIN.BAT whicjh will do what it says on the tin.

You will now have a new file with an .iso on the end. This file needs to be burnt onto a cd, use Nero image file burner, Alcohol 120% or any image file burning app you use. You should then have a working InstantOn cd for you to try on your Cube.

I hope that my instructions were not too complicated, if you need any clarification, just let me know!

[hangerstraight]

hi sleepy,

thanks for that. i've followed your instructions and successfully created my first cds from 2 image files. many thanks. i'll give them a bash and see which one works.

thanks again for all your help. Happy new year!!

Best regards

Neal

[murraylandale]

I have just bought the same unit and I have posted a problem with the TV tuner. I would appreciate if you could post how you get on with your problem.
Thanks

Murray