How to upgrade the MK802 III firmware

The MK802 III is an awesome and cheap device to make a smart TV out of your regular TV (see my review here). Rikomagic, the company behind the MK802 III, regularly provides firmware updates.

Alternate firmwares are also provided by external vendors, but today I’m going to explain to you how to update the Firmware using the official Rikomagic versions.

There are plenty of reasons to want to update your MK802 III, for example if you want the latest features, or if you are having issues with your current firmware. In my case, I was having a few minor issues that I wanted to get rid of. I wasn’t really convinced that I wanted to update, until I realized how simple it was.

Updating the MK802 III is extremely simple. You will need a Micro SD Card, if you don’t already have one for your MK802 III:

1. download the latest update. As of this writing, the latest firmware is version 2012-11-29 and can be downloaded here (alternate link here)
2. Extract the archive to your desktop
3. The archive contains a file “update.zip”. Copy it it at the root of your MK802 III’s SD Card. Note that you can do it through FTP if you have an FTP server running on your MK802 III, or simply by copying the file to the SD Card with your computer (for example by plugging the card into a card reader). Note that your MK802 III does not need to be unplugged during this process, but it is recommended by the manufacturer
4. If your MK802 III was on, when you insert the SD Card back, it should detect the update, and suggest you to do an upgrade. If the MK802 III was off, just put the Card back and turn it on again, it should suggest to do the update as well. In either case, just select yes.
5. The MK802 III will then perform a series of checks, reboot the device, and install the update. This takes about 5 minutes.
6. Once the update is done, a message will ask you if you want to delete the update file. It is recommended to do so.

You’re done!

Feel free to post your results in the comments 🙂