AVR Guide

Introduction

This guide will explain to you how to program your AVR board with the latest fix available. Currently, the AVR board will only function with a subbed or ex-subbed smart card and emulation. Check the BEV or Dish status pages for the latest on what is working. I will provide information for programming for auto roll and non auto roll programs. This guide will assume you have some basic knowledge and know how to download files off the internet and unzip them. Please note I take no resposiblity for any damage you may cause as well as any laws you may be breaking. Please read the disclaimer on the home page. This guide is for educational purposes only. Enjoy.

Difficulty Level

Programming your AVR board is a fairly simple task. I give it a 5 out of 10 for difficulty.

What's Needed

AVR Board
- See DishNewbies.
Jeepers 2.1
- downlaod Jeepers with Dish .pfgs
Bell Expressvu or Dish Network IRD
- currently, you must be have a subscribed or ex-subscribed card
The Latest Script
- If you aren't sure what script is currently working, go the the main section of this site and check out the "Status" section. All the required scripts are included with Jeepers
Computer:
- All you need is a computer with a printer port, and Windows 95 or higher

Background

Jeepers is by far the more popular program used to program AVR and Atmega boards. The main chip on your AVR board is the Atmel AT90S8515. This chip, when programmed with the latest script available, will emulate a smart card to open up all your channels. Now, there are many different versions of AVR boards and they come in many different shapes, sizes and colours. Another thing that varies when discussing AVR boards is their name. You may here people say AVR 1, AVR 3, AVR 4, AVR 5, AVR 6 and even AVR8. An AVR 1 was basically the first version of the AVR board. It was very simple and I believe, it didn't even have a DB 25 connector on it. Then cam the AVR 3. This board was/is a step up from the AVR 1, but still, produces the same result (all channels open). The newer AVR boards are called anything from AVR 4 to AVR 8. The main difference with these boards are they have an additional EEPROM chip called the 24LC256 (or 128) and they have pins 10-12 jumpered (on dip Atmels) and 11-14 jumpered (on PLCC Atmels). The addition of this chips allows the board to auto roll the keys (which usually change one a day) so there is no need to remove the board from your IRD and reprogram. Some of these boards even have a switch which allow you to enable or disable autoroll. The AT90S8515 has to sections of memory - the Flash and EEPROM memory. The Flash memory contains the script which allows you to open up all the channels and the EEPROM memory contains variable information that changes from user to user such as your IRD and CAM numbers, current keys (Aux 0 and Aux 1 for BEV and Key 0 and Key 1 for Dish Network), black out strings, time zone settings, zip code, etc.. If you are using an auto roll script, you will also have to program the I2C (this is the 24LC256 or 24LC128 EEPROM chip I talked about earlier). For your information, the I2C is not "built in" to the AT90S8515, it is an additon to the AVR circuit.

Jeepers uses external .pfg files, so whenever the latest fix is released, all you have to do is come to Dishnewbies and download the latest .pfg file and extract it to the same directory that your Jeepers program is in.

Programming a Non Auto Roll Board

As mentioned earlier, your AVR board is most likely not equiped for auto-roll if you don't see a chip called either 24LC256 or 24LC128. Don't be fooled though, this chip is sometimes located under the smart card socket on your AVR.

Before we do anything with the AVR, it would be a good idea to put your smart card in your IRD by its self so you can be sure that you have the latest public key on your smart card. The idea when programming your AVR board that the public key on your 8515 matches the public key on your smart card.

First, I'm going to take you through the steps on how to program a non-autorolling AVR board. The first thing you are going to do is connect your AVR board to your computer for programming. There are 2 ways you can do this. The first way is do get in behind your computer and attach the AVR directly to your computers printer port. If you have a female connector on your AVR board, you are going to need to go to your local computer store and get a 25 pin male to male straight through connector. The second way is to get a straight through cable (this is the method I prefer, you'll see why) as well as a male to male connector. It is important that you use a straight through cable, or you wont have much luck. I'll explain my setup: I have a 25 pin male-female (male connector on one side, female on the other) 6 foot straight through cable that I got from my local computer store as well as a 25 pin male to male connector. What I do is plug the male end of the straight through cable to the back of my printer port on my computer and leave the other end of the cable sitting on my desktop. Then I have the cable coming from my printer (which is a male connector) sitting on my desktop as well. So, when I want to program an AVR board, I just simply disconnect the printer cable attached to the straight through cable sitting on my desktop, connect the male to male connector to the straight through cable, and then connect my AVR board to the other end of the male to male connector. Keep in mind that this method is for an AVR with a female connector, yours might have a male connector, so you'll have to figure out which setup is going to work best for you. In case you didn't know, when I say male, I'm talking about a connector that has the little pins, and female is the connector that has the little holes.

Now, you are going to want to download Jeepers 2.1 with BEV .pfgs or Jeepers 2.1 with Dish .pfgs . Once you have downloaded, create a new folder on your desktop (to create a folder, right click on your desktop, put your mouse over "New" and then select "Folder". Give the folder any name you want). Now open the Jeepers .zip file your just downloaded and extract all the files to your new folder. You can now start Jeepers. You should see something like this:

Now, select the non-autorolling program that you want to be use under the "Program" section. To see what the current scripts are, visit the BEV or Dish status pages. Under "Network" choose either "Expressvu" or "Dish Network" depending on what you are using. under "Enabler" select "Married Sub" and for "Board" choose "AVR3". Please keep in mind that although in some .pfg files you see options such as "No cam", that doesn't mean it will work! Now, under the "Cam" section where it says type, choose "Expressvu" for Expressvu CAMs and "Dish Network" for Dish CAMs. For now, leave the public key at all 0s (we will be changing this is just a second).

Now, under the "Keys" section, press the "Get" button. The Jeepers program will connect to Sattech.net by default to retrieve the latest keys. You must be connected to the internet for the program to download the latest keys. After a few seconds, the Aux 0 and Aux 1 fields should fill in. Now we must program the AVR board with the proper public key (It has to match the key on your smart card, that is why I told you to put your smart card in the IRD while we are doing this, so we can be sure we have the latest public key on your smart card).

Look at the keys on the main page of Sattech at the top and find the keys for your network (either Dish or BEV). Dish Network keys are referred to as Key 0 and Key 1 and BEV keys are referred to as Aux 0 and Aux 1. It should say which key is active/public. It will either be Key 0 or Key 1/Aux 0 or Aux 1. It is very important that you remember which one is active. Now, go back into Jeepers and hilight which ever key is active. Then right click and select copy. Now go to the "Public Key" field and delete all the zeroes in it and put your cursor in the field. Right click and select paste. Right below that field, you will see two buttons that you can select. One button says "Key 0" the other says "Key 1". If Aux 0 is active, then select Key 0. If Aux 1 is active then select Key 1. Just to recap, you want to find out which key is active, and then put that key in the "Public Key" section of Jeepers.

Pretty simple so far, eh? We're getting closer. The next step is to enter your IRD and CAM number. These numbers can be found by going over to your BEV remote control and pressing "Menu"> 6(System Setup)> 1(Installation)> 3(System Info). Write down your Receiver (IRD) number. It should start with R 00 xxxx xxxx-xx and your Smart Card (CAM) number. It should start with S 04 xxxx xxxx-xx. BE SURE YOUR COPY THESE NUMBERS DOWN CORRECTLY! These numbers can also be found on the back of your IRD and the back of your CAM.

I'm going to give you the following scenario to make sure you understand everything correctly.

Let's pretend that we are going to be using Quincy's Fix, we are Married Sub, our IRD number is R 00 12349876, our CAM number is S 04 5678 1122, we looked at the keys table above (or on the main page) and found that AUX 0 is AB CD EF GH IJ KL MN OP and AUX 1 is 12 34 56 78 90 67 89 10 and AUX 1 is active. If this was the scenario, this is what your Jeepers screen shoud look like:

Don't worry about the password field. Just leave this field alone. You MUST have all information entered correctly in order to have any luck. Notice that the Public Key field is exactly the same as AUX 1 (just for this case, if AUX 0 is active, then obviously, the Public Key field should match what is in the AUX 0 field). Also, be sure you choose the proper button right under the Public Key field! We are now ready. Click "Full Monty" and watch your AVR's Flash and EEPROM memory be written. You should get a message saying something like "Programming Successful". You can now disconnect your AVR board, remove your CAM from your IRD, insert your CAM into the AVR board, insert your AVR board into your IRD and watch TV.

Key Changes

BEV changes the keys an average of once a day (it could be once a week, it could be 5 times a day, but I'll say once a day for an average). When BEV does this, getting your AVR back up is pretty simple. Here are the steps:

First, remove your AVR board from your IRD, but DO NO, i repeat DO NOT but your CAM into the IRD . The reason you DO NOT want to put your CAM in the IRD is, it will take the latest public key, and that means doing one more step in changing the keys. Connect your AVR board to your computer, just like you did when you programmed it. Open up Jeepers and press the "Read" button near the bottom left corner of the screen. This will read the contents of your AVR (it wouldn't be a good idea to make sure that your IRD and CAM number are still correct because some times they can be corrupted by static, althought not often). Press the "Get" button at the top right hand corner of the screen. Jeepers should connect to which ever website you have set up in your prefrences and download the latest keys. Now, all you have to do is press the "Write" button which is right below the "Get" button. A "Full Monty" is not required because we are just writing to the EEPROM. Put your CAM into your AVR, put your AVR into the IRD and repeat these steps whenever the keys change. That's it, you're done. Watch some TV!

Programming an Auto Roll Board

The process for programming an AVR board for auto roll is pretty much the same as programming an AVR board for non auto roll with a few different/extra steps. A lot of the information is just copyied and pasted from the above section and been edited a bit. I have made the font colour yellow where ever something has changed from above.

Before we do anything with the AVR, it would be a good idea to put your smart card in your IRD by its self so you can be sure that you have the latest public key on your smart card. The idea when programming your AVR board that the public key on your 8515 matches the public key on your smart card.

The first thing you are going to do is connect your AVR board to your computer for programming. There are 2 ways you can do this. The first way is do get in behind your computer and attach the AVR directly to your computers printer port. If you have a female connector on your AVR board, you are going to need to go to your local computer store and get a 25 pin male to male straight through connector. The second way is to get a straight through cable (this is the method I prefer, you'll see why) as well as a male to male connector. It is important that you use a straight through cable, or you wont have much luck. I'll explain my setup: I have a 25 pin male-female (male connector on one side, female on the other) 6 foot straight through cable that I got from my local computer store as well as a 25 pin male to male connector. What I do is plug the male end of the straight through cable to the back of my printer port on my computer and leave the other end of the cable sitting on my desktop. Then I have the cable coming from my printer (which is a male connector) sitting on my desktop as well. So, when I want to program an AVR board, I just simply disconnect the printer cable attached to the straight through cable sitting on my desktop, connect the male to male connector to the straight through cable, and then connect my AVR board to the other end of the male to male connector. Keep in mind that this method is for an AVR with a female connector, yours might have a male connector, so you'll have to figure out which setup is going to work best for you. In case you didn't know, when I say male, I'm talking about a connector that has the little pins, and female is the connector that has the little holes.

Now, you are going to want to download Jeepers 2.1 with BEV .pfgs or Jeepers 2.1 with Dish .pfgs . Once you have downloaded, create a new folder on your desktop (to create a folder, right click on your desktop, put your mouse over "New" and then select "Folder". Give the folder any name you want). Now open the Jeepers .zip file your just downloaded and extract all the files to your new folder. You can now start Jeepers. You should see something like this:

Here is the major step that is different when programming an auto roll AVR board. You must program the external EEPROM on your AVR. To do this, you must first chose the program you want to use (at the time this guide was written, "Turnip 4.3" is the latest auto roll program). Now, you must go to the top and select "I2C EEPROM" and then click "Write AREEP200". You will be warned with a message saying that your Flash will be erased. Click OK to this warning. Jeepers will now write to your external EEPROM. This takes about 7 minutes or so, so be patient! When Jeepers is done, you should get a message saying "I2C Programmed and Verified".

Now, select the autorolling program that you want to be use under the "Program" section. To find out the latest script, head over to either the BEV or Dish status section. Under "Network" choose "Expressvu" or "Dish Network". Under "Enabler" select "Married Sub" and for "Board" choose "AVR3". Please keep in mind that although in some .pfg files you see options such as "No cam", that doesn't mean it will work! Now, under the "Cam" section where it says type, choose "Expressvu" for Expressvu Cams and "Dish Network" for Dish CAMs. For now, leave the public key at all 0s (we will be changing this is just a second).

Now, under the "Keys" section, press the "Get" button. The Jeepers program will connect to Sattech.net by default to retrieve the latest keys. You must be connected to the internet for the program to download the latest keys. After a few seconds, the Aux 0 and Aux 1 fields should fill in. Now we must program the AVR board with the proper public key (It has to match the key on your smart card, that is why I told you to put your smart card in the IRD while we are doing this, so we can be sure we have the latest public key on your smart card).

Here is an optional thing that you can do if you want to test your auto roll to make sure it is working. What you do is, disregard the step above, and leave AUX 0 and AUX 1 at all zeroes. When you put your AVR board in the IRD, it will take aproximately 5 minutes to retrieve the latest keys (whereas putting the keys in manually will get you picture right away). This is not required, but just a way to test if your auto-roll is working.

Now we must program the AVR board with the proper public key (It has to match the key on your smart card, that is why I told you to put your smart card in the IRD while we are doing this, so we can be sure we have the latest public key on your smart card).

Look at the keys on Sattech's main page and find the keys for your network (either Dish or BEV). Dish Network keys are referred to as Key 0 and Key 1 and BEV keys are referred to as Aux 0 and Aux 1. It should say which key is active/public. It will either be Key 0 or Key 1/Aux 0 or Aux 1. It is very important that you remember which one is active. Now, go back into Jeepers and hilight which ever key is active. Then right click and select copy. Now go to the "Public Key" field and delete all the zeroes in it and put your cursor in the field. Right click and select paste. Right below that field, you will see two buttons that you can select. One button says "Key 0" the other says "Key 1". If Aux 0 is active, then select Key 0. If Aux 1 is active then select Key 1. Just to recap, you want to find out which key is active, and then put that key in the "Public Key" section of Jeepers.

Pretty simple so far, eh? We're getting closer. The next step is to enter your IRD and CAM number. These numbers can be found by going over to your BEV remote control and pressing "Menu"> 6(System Setup)> 1(Installation)> 3(System Info). Write down your Receiver (IRD) number. It should start with R 00 xxxx xxxx-xx and your Smart Card (CAM) number. It should start with S 04 xxxx xxxx-xx. BE SURE YOUR COPY THESE NUMBERS DOWN CORRECTLY! These numbers can also be found on the back of your IRD and the back of your CAM.

I'm going to give you the following scenario to make sure you understand everything correctly.

Let's pretend that we are going to be using Quincy's Fix, we are Married Sub, our IRD number is R 00 12349876, our CAM number is S 04 5678 1122, we looked at the keys table above (or on the main page) and found that AUX 0 is AB CD EF GH IJ KL MN OP and AUX 1 is 12 34 56 78 90 67 89 10 and AUX 1 is active. If this was the scenario, this is what your Jeepers screen shoud look like:

This guide was written by The Dishnewbies Team . If you have problems, please ask on the message board or the #Dishnetwork or #Expressvu channels on irc.dishnewbies.tv .