NEO A3: Re-Pairing Remote and USB Receiver

John_S

Trusted Helper
Follow below instructions to re-pair NEO A3 and USB receiver:

1. Remove both batteries, then reinsert.

2. Press Fn + P on the keyboard.

3. Caps LK & Fn LEDs will glow.

4. Plug the receiver into a USB port on your MINIX Media Hub for Android.

5. LEDs will flash three times when successfully paired.
 
I followed the above instructions and the LK & Fn led's glow. I plug in the usb and turn it on but the led's continue to glow but after a short time they just go out, not flash. The remote does not work, only the on/off.
Are the usb and reciever designed to only work together or can I use another from my other A3 which is working.
 
I followed the above instructions and the LK & Fn led's glow. I plug in the usb and turn it on but the led's continue to glow but after a short time they just go out, not flash. The remote does not work, only the on/off.
Are the usb and reciever designed to only work together or can I use another from my other A3 which is working.
It was once thought that, as they were paired during manufacture, if the dongle was lost or broken you would have to purchase a new remote and dongle but I believe this is not true. A different dongle and remote can be paired successfully.
In the old forum there were instructions for this provided by @Menorca Man.
Hopefully he can submit these instructions once again.
 
It was once thought that, as they were paired during manufacture, if the dongle was lost or broken you would have to purchase a new remote and dongle but I believe this is not true. A different dongle and remote can be paired successfully.
In the old forum there were instructions for this provided by @Menorca Man.
Hopefully he can submit these instructions once again.
@Villa what a memory !..... I also remember that post from @Menorca Man explaining how to do that.
 
Okay, I found the instructions provided to me by the vendor in April 2017:

1. Power up the MINIX box
2. Unplug the USB receiver
3. Remove one of the batteries from the remote control
4. Reinsert the battery and the LEDs will flash 3 times
5. Within less than 1 minute, momentarily press the POWER BUTTON ON THE REMOTE CONTROL and then press and hold the FN + P keys for about 2 seconds and release. At this point the LEDs will glow steadily
6. Reininsert the USB receiver into the MINIX box
7. Within 5 seconds, the LEDs should flash 3 times, signifying successful pairing
8. If the LEDs do not flash within 10 seconds, repeat the above sequence CAREFULLY!!

The above should work on all versions of the Neo Remote Controllers. Hope it helps.
 
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Thanks but it didn't work, I think the usb dongle is stuffed. I get the the 2 led's but after about 10 secs they both just go out.
 
Hello,

I'm having this issue too. Constantly having to re-pair the A3 remote with the dongle.

I'm also seeing the "Microphone Status LED" flash on and off continuously.

The most annoying issue is that if i put the remote down for more than 3 or 4 minutes and try and use it again, it won't work.

Please advise?

Thank you
 
May I have an answer please?

Try disabling Google voice commands and/or "OK Google" from any screen, (if enabled).

Google Assistant recently did another update that's been intermittently messing around with my a3 remote again as well. (A previous update by Google did this before, they fixed it (eventually) and it's been absolutely fine until a few days ago.) The most recent update has even been completely locking my U9 up repeatedly.

Sometimes the a3 behaves itself & works perfectly, sometimes the remote constantly flashes & won't enter the sleep mode, other times it enters sleep and won't awake again. It's not the U9 or the a3 themselves, it's definitely a Google issue in my case!! Hope they sort it soon :).
 
Try disabling Google voice commands and/or "OK Google" from any screen, (if enabled).

Google Assistant recently did another update that's been intermittently messing around with my a3 remote again as well. (A previous update by Google did this before, they fixed it (eventually) and it's been absolutely fine until a few days ago.) The most recent update has even been completely locking my U9 up repeatedly.

Sometimes the a3 behaves itself & works perfectly, sometimes the remote constantly flashes & won't enter the sleep mode, other times it enters sleep and won't awake again. It's not the U9 or the a3 themselves, it's definitely a Google issue in my case!! Hope they sort it soon :).
This was documented in the old forum.
Personally though I've not had this issue with the U9-H and the A3. :)
 
This was documented in the old forum.
Personally though I've not had this issue with the U9-H and the A3. :)

Yes, I seem to remember a few posts about it too. (The a3 that was supplied with my U9 became defective so I trawled through a lot of a3 posts. Team Minix kindly sent out a replacement a3 though :).)

Pressing & holding the MIC key for a few seconds usually stops the a3 constantly flashing, however, that can get pretty annoying needing to do it every single time the remote is used lol ;). Thankfully I've only had the problem sporadically as well, it hasn't been a chronic issue. Will just have to wait for Google again ;).
 
When I received the U9-H, I updated to 7.1.2

Would that possibly be the source of the problem?
As I said earlier, in the old forum this issue was raised and some had the issue while others, including myself, didn't.

I now recall the issue did appear for me when I tried the Android 7 firmware.
 
Right, so, I managed to disable Google Voice Commands. I think I actually deleted the "trained model" or something.

Then, I battled for about 20 minutes to pair the A3 remote with the dongle. I eventually used the usb cable and that seemed to work.

For the last 15 minutes, I've been able to use the remote and the voice led is not flashing anymore.

So far so good.
 
And the goodness has ended.

I was watching a 4K movie in Kodi and after about 10 minutes, thought I'd try and use the remote again and nothing.

No response from most of the buttons.

Oddly, I was able to press the Power button and the screen turned off, press it again and the screen turns on.

When I say screen, it could have been the Minix turning off or going in to sleep mode.

I suspect now that there's an issue with the remote "waking up"?
 
And the goodness has ended.

I was watching a 4K movie in Kodi and after about 10 minutes, thought I'd try and use the remote again and nothing.

No response from most of the buttons.

Oddly, I was able to press the Power button and the screen turned off, press it again and the screen turns on.

When I say screen, it could have been the Minix turning off or going in to sleep mode.

I suspect now that there's an issue with the remote "waking up"?

Yup, unfortunately the "goodness" as you put it has ended for me now too. My a3 troubles are also back with a vengeance & it's all over the place too, one minute I can consistently recreate one or all of the problems, the next minute I can't :(. GAAAAHH LOL.

(FYI, I've never tried any of the 7.x.x betas on my U9-H, obviously that at least isn't a factor for me. My memory is far from the best lol, but If memory serves these issues with the a3 were also reported before the 7.x.x betas were released too, I doubt it's the source.) I've tried resetting/re-pairing my a3 & disabling various features on the U9 that minimised the LED problem in the past but it doesn't seem to make a difference anymore. My a3 didn't actually drop or lose its pairing with the dongle as yours seems to either, however, it has developed these other problems...

Previously, the only a3 problem I experienced until a random update sorted it was the mic status LED as mentioned. (It definitely wasn't a FW update, my device was already 008 by then). As far as I can recall it only did it when the U9 was on a home screen too. Otherwise, everything else functioned normally, such as the fly mode (air mouse/gyro's) on the remote all entering sleep mode as expected.

Now, I'm seeing several seriously odd events:-

1) The mic status LED flashes constantly when media is playing in Kodi for example, however, as yet I haven't observed it happening on the home screen as it was before, (unless it was triggered in Kodi first). If I initiate a movie using the air cursor + enter, it constantly flashes, but if I initiate a movie using the D-pad + enter, no flashing lol. (?????)

2) This is the really bizarre one.... The air mouse is also sometimes essentially working in reverse in Kodi IF I use the air cursor + enter. The a3 then won't auto sleep if media is playing or paused & it will only auto sleep when Kodi enters screensaver/sleep!!! Instead of having to use the "fly mode" button to wake the remote I have to use the fly mode button to manually put the a3 to sleep. (The air mouse almost becomes unusable at times while playing media in Kodi as well.) However, lol, after trying to recreate these issues I've literally just discovered that as with the flashing mic status LED above... IF I initiate a movie in Kodi using the D-pad + enter, the remote enters sleep exactly as normal. As one would expect, I have to use the fly mode button to get the cursor back/wake the remote again. IF I hard play/pause or ffwd/rwd actually using the buttons on the remote it continues to enter sleep as normal, but IF I use the air cursor & soft play/pause/ffws/rwd, again the remote will no longer sleep. (Seriously, WTF LOL???). I also have NO idea how/if any or all of this is going to happen the next time the system locks up or I manually restart.

3) My U9 has also completely locked up several times per day since the weekend & I have to pull the power cable to restart it. Prior to whatever it was that updated, my U9 would literally go weeks without requiring a restart & I hadn't experienced any issues with my a3 at all for quite some time.

I use rechargeables in my a3 anyway, just as well because since the weekend my a3 has discharged 2 fresh pairs! Ordinarily, a pair of 900mAh cells lasts 3-4+ weeks per charge.

(I haven't changed ANYTHING with my Kodi & nothing has auto-updated in Kodi either.)

It's a head scratcher that's for certain lol!! Try using your hard keys only rather than your air mouse + soft keys & see if it also minimises the issue. See if pressing & holding the MIC button also stops the LED flashing & then see if using the hard or soft buttons makes a difference too. Might be a start if that issue at least can be consistently recreated on more than one device :).

SIGH LOL ;).
 
Just for reference: I have Android TV 7.1.2 with the U9-H and A3.

I upgraded the firmware to 7.1.2 without trying out 6 so I don't know if the A3 worked well on 6.

Does anyone have experience with 6 and the A3? Were there any issues?

I want to try and find whether there is a baseline here where the remote has worked without issues and then move on from there.

If I have to disable Google Voice Commands, then I suspect it's a conflict amongst certain functions of 7.1.2?

I've seen talk of loading LibreElec Kodi on a USB stick and dual booting into Kodi via that method.

(Apparently LibreElec is the best for some Kodi purists. Which I'm fine with. I had LibreElec running on a Cubix before.)

So then would it be possible to load the original Android 6 firmware on a USB stick or SD card?

That way I could test the factory OS while leaving 7.1.2 intact.

Is that a viable option?
 
Well, my device has continued to become more & more unstable & problematic today, constantly grinding to a complete halt or completely locking up :(. I've NEVER had any issues like this before. I've just uninstalled all updates for the Google Assistant & taken it back to the stock Google app the device shipped with & voila. My system is now running perfectly again, (so far but the difference was immediately obvious). It was definitely this latest darn Google Assistant update. Unless I disable it in the Play Store, obviously it's going to auto-update itself eventually though :(. I rarely use the Google Assistant on the U9 anyway, so I'm 50-50 as to what to do about it.

I'm either going to need to source the correct .apk for the Google Assistant that runs on the U9-H from before the weekend as it was running beautifully before then, or just leave it on the old stock version & never use it. (Admittedly, it's not something I've delved into before lol, I've had a quick scan through the Google app .apk's but I have absolutely NO idea which choices to go with, with regards to the correct DPI, ARM version, etc. vor the U9-H lol.)

Typical Google. Update everything to be optimal for the latest OS & sod what might happen to older versions :(.
 
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