Scientific Atlanta 4250 HD

dsbruno · Post by **dsbruno** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:31 am

Im new at this but i've been doing alot of reading trying to get familiar with the usbjtag nt and what it can do. It looks like a great product and i see its getting more and more support. Will it be possible to get into the SA 4250 or even the 8300 model. Thankyou in advance.

jackmode · Post by **jackmode** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 3:22 pm

yes these models are more common then the motorolas

dsbruno · Post by **dsbruno** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:14 pm

If you could please help me it would be greatly appreciated. Ive done alot of reading and understand the process. I have quite a bit of knowledge jtaging Charlie and Bev recievers but absolutley none with these types of boxes. Which software would be used to get into them and is there a layout for the 4250 or 8300 board ( to hook up the jtag). Sorry if im asking for too much info but alot of the info is scattered and i tried a search for 4250 and 8300 but couldnt find any info on them.

jackmode · Post by **jackmode** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:42 pm

im on the same boat as you i have 2 8300hd boxes one on through comcast the other i got from my buddy would be nice for some support hopefully the usbjtagnt can do the job

dsbruno · Post by **dsbruno** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:49 pm

It would be nice to get some clarification on these boxes. If the usbjtagnt does work with these boxes i guarentee they sell hundreds of these usbjtagnt units. As i only have one of the boxes i am not in a position to open it up try and figure out the pinout of the board, then to find out it dosent work. Someone has to be able to find one of these boxes refurbished or at a garage sale or has one laying around to try it out. If anybody has any info please let us know.

beerfan · Post by **beerfan** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:59 pm

Just bought a 8300 on ebay for 39.95$ fully functionnal from a powerseller. Box will arrive in a couple days so I'd like to know which jtag I need to buy and what are the first steps to do... Any how to in the forums? searched and didn't find anything so far... I'm a veteran in testing... but retired for a few years. Still having those H cards

Thank you

Post by **usbbdm** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:59 pm

I have not tested this box myself. If it is Broadcom chip should be JTAG. You should better wait the box come first.

beerfan · Post by **beerfan** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 11:00 pm

Speaking of the service providers, can I convert my box to my local provider, in this case, Videotron easily? I have a friend who has an explorer 8300 suscribed... I went for the 8300 because I can dump my friend's machine for tier list, firmware, tsop, etc. Probably much easier to do it that way than look around on the net for firmware, etc.

garybaldy · Post by **garybaldy** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:31 am

These 2 boxes are the reason I joined this forum today. I bought one of each a couple of weeks ago. I already have 10-pin headers soldered on the PCBs (2x5 pins). People say hacking digital cable is almost impossible because the boxes are in constant 2-way communication with the cable co. That may be true, but I want to read the flash anyway. My goal is not free cable channels or ppv movies.

The 8300 has a broadcom chip, but it's not the CPU. The biggest chips are SA custom chips. MIPS32, but that's all I know. What if the jtag pins are mixed up? Can usbjtag deal with different combinations of TDI and TDO?

SA4250HD (STB) and SA8300HD (PVR). Can usbjtag read the flash of these boxes? That information = my buying decision.

Post by **usbbdm** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:41 am

garybaldy wrote:These 2 boxes are the reason I joined this forum today. I bought one of each a couple of weeks ago. I already have 10-pin headers soldered on the PCBs (2x5 pins). People say hacking digital cable is almost impossible because the boxes are in constant 2-way communication with the cable co. That may be true, but I want to read the flash anyway. My goal is not free cable channels or ppv movies.

The 8300 has a broadcom chip, but it's not the CPU. The biggest chips are SA custom chips. MIPS32, but that's all I know. What if the jtag pins are mixed up? Can usbjtag deal with different combinations of TDI and TDO?

SA4250HD (STB) and SA8300HD (PVR). Can usbjtag read the flash of these boxes? That information = my buying decision.

If you are sure it is MIPS 32 and it has JTAG port, USB JTGA NT should be able to handle it. But since I do not have the box and I might do a lot of help.

garybaldy · Post by **garybaldy** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:48 am

I am not 100% sure it is MIPS32, but there were press releases back around 2002 that said SA was committed to using MIPS32 designs in their STBs. The 8300hd pvr is out since 5 years ago.

The flash in the 8300hd is very small. It's a spansion s29al004d90tf102 which is only a 512 KB part (4 Mbits). Maybe the firmware download is stored on the HD? Maybe. Or maybe there are other flash chips on the pcb? That's what I want to find out.

The exact SA chip is:

Sci-Atl 2003
4008988
9E609914
ATLAB0H-
HHU73 9E
KOR 22 621

No datasheet on that anywhere

I'm 99% sure it's MIPS32.

dsbruno · Post by **dsbruno** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:09 am

Have you had any luck getting into your unit yet Gary? You would think there would be a ton of people working on these units. Scientific Atlanta is huge.

pinochett · Post by **pinochett** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:57 pm

I agree that scientific Atlanta is really huge and I think that some people have been able to do some modification already but probably in a different way than the one discussed in this forum.My brother just gave me an 8000 which is very similar to the 8300 and when I opened it to take a look I saw that some time ago it had been modified some how.I saw a wire connected to three different spots and what looked like a lifted leg of an ic soldered to a resistor and the other leg of the resistor solder to another spot.I didnot see any jtag headers.I would like to know if anyone knows anything about this type of modification.

Greetings,
pinochett

jjkool · Post by **jjkool** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:25 am

pinochett- Do you know what the purpose of the mod was for? Why would they clamp the pin, was it a write lock?

ictvtec · Post by **ictvtec** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:01 pm

care to take a picture?

USB JTAG

Scientific Atlanta 4250 HD

Scientific Atlanta 4250 HD

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