Rockbox Technical Forums
Installation / Removal => Manual Installation => Archos - Installation/Removal/Flashing => Topic started by: skram0 on October 08, 2004, 05:17:17 PM
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Will there ever be a firmware flash for the Player models?
I have a Studio 20 and would like to get some joy the Recorder people get when they flash theirs. A quicker boot time would be nicccccce :)
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I plan to work on this as soon as the major issues of the Ondio port are solved. The basic procedure of flashing is no problem, however, rockbox does not yet run on the Players when cold-started.
There is another problem: Afaik, the percentage of Players that have the right flash chip (which is in-circuit programmable) is rather small, unlike with the Recorder models. You can check this if you go to "Info->Debug (Keep out!)->View HW info" and then cycle through the entries with the + or - buttons until "Flash:....." is displayed on the second line. If there are hexadecimal numbers after it, your Player is flashable, if it reads "Flash:??,??, you're out of luck.
Unfortunately the Player I aquired to do the flash development is not flashable, so I'm required to solder in the right chip first.
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I'd be interested in this if you ever get around to doing it. My Archos can be flashed.
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Very interested in applying a flash version of rockbox to my Studio 20 as well. It has the right programmable chip (hex code, no ???).
Is there any way to improve the battery recharging/discharging cycling or reporting?
In the meantime, using 2.3 rockbox loader with Archos 5.08 firmware. Thanks for your great work. Makes the player a joy to use.
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It's actually already almost done, the only reason that it's not yet published is that I need tests with old players as I only have a new player myself.
There are some hardware differences that need to be accounted for (lcd, harddisk power control). The code is in, by not tested on old players, so if someone with an old player would flash and then rockbox doesn't work, it would need a involved procedure to recover the box. (For the technically interested: applying the uart boot mod and reflash it via minimon).
Specifically I need tester(s) with players that report an archos fw version < 4.50 on boot, and who are able to do the uart boot mod to load rockbox test version(s) from that. The test players do not necessarily be flashable, btw. I would do it myself, if I had access to an old player...
There is another quick test that needs to be done which doesn't require any mod, just rockbox loaded and then running a special test plugin to report a value. This should be done both on a 4.x player (< 4.50) and a 3.x player (most likely there is only 3.18). The latter is more important.
Jens
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Im willing to help test.
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What exact Player model & ROM version do you have? For checking the ROM version, go to Info->Debug->View HW Info. The ROM version is the very first info displayed. Furthermore I'd be interested in your archos firmware version, which is displayed at boot. This may be slightly different from the ROM version.
Jens
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On boot it says 5.08. In HW info the ROM version is 5.06.
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I too have a flashable player, it says: Flash: BF, D6 in the [HW Info] section.
It's an Archos Jukebox Studio 20. The firmware version displayed on boot is 5.08, the ROM version in the [HW Info] section is 5.06
I too would be willing to help, but I know very little about this sort of stuff. As long as I can't screw up anything and as long as I am able to reverse the damage (if there is any) I am certainly willing to participate! Being able to boot this baby up quicker would be very nice!
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Look at the mailing list: The player flash package is available now :-)
Jens
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Where?
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See:Â
http://www.rockbox.org/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2004-12/0245.shtml
It has the information on how to Flash the Player (including warnings) and where to download the firmware.
Steve
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Thanks, I flashed it and its running beautifully! ;D Are there any other advantages to flashing besides faster load times?
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I succesfully flashed my player aswell, one question though, after flashing can I delete: firmware_player.bin or is it still being used in some way? I also added: archos_player508.ucl seeing as I was not sure if I needed that thing on my archos, can I delete that also?
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@Crossupmasta:
Imho, there are 3 main advantages of flashing rockbox on the players:
- Power on by simply tapping ON instead of holding it down for 3 seconds.
- Boot time roughly cut in half, depending on hard disk model.
- The ability to use RomBox (http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RomBox), leaving more free RAM for buffering mp3s, therefore spinning the HD less often, which in turn saves energy and delivers slightly longer battery runtime.
Furthermore, it's for the fun of it, and there is no longer an archos message at startup ;-)
@Ice[K-9]:
You can safely delete both files.
firmware_player.bin is the content that was programmed into your player's flash rom while first-time flashing via firmware_flash.rock. You will most likely never need this again (on this very box that is).
archos_player508.ucl is an image of the latest archos firmware for the players, only supplied for the rare case when you want to to start the archos firmware from flash by default, instead of rockbox, without completely reverting the flash process. You can always start the archos firmware alternatively by holding "-" while powering on.
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/FlashingRockbox is recommended reading if you want to know more details.
Jens
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Great Thanks!
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I am trying the flash on my Studio 20.
Boot reports firmware 5.08
HW info reports 5.08 & that I have a flashable ROM.Â
But when I try to run the flash I get a wrong version error message.
Help?
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Dr5150co,
what do you get in the debug hardware info screen for RomCRC?
Perhaps you have such a strange boot ROM, too. Like Frederik in the mailing list, see here:
http://www.rockbox.org/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2004-12/0397.shtml
Jörg
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HW Info Details are:
ROM 5.08
USB:neg
ATA: 0x300m
Mask: 0000
Flash: BF,D6
RomCRC: 222F
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That's the standard one, you should be able to flash.
Are you sure you do everything correct? What exact error do you get?
Jörg
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I have loaded the current build (not Daily Build) the rest of the Drive is blank at the moment (It was time for a Format anyway).
I have downloaded the flash for players file & placed the files in the root of the drive.
I have gone into info & saved a backup of the current rom to file.
When I browse plugins & try to launch the firmware_flash.rock I get the message "Wrong Version" nothing else.
The backup ROM can be found at http:\\rassoft.com\ROM\ROM_Backup.zip (http://rassoft.com\ROM\ROM_Backup.zip)
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Thanks, I see the problem now.
The flash of your player is versioned 5.08, so far we've only seen players going up to 5.06.
The plugin looks at this number in flash and in the new file, to determine the model you're running it on and whether they match. This is a safety feature, to prevent people from flashing files which are not for their model and so ruining the box.
I will relax this check, try again tomorrow.
Jörg
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Cool. Flashed mine without problems. Had all the required chips and whatnot.
Thanks to all who were involved. ;D
Although my boot time is still about 7 seconds, it's nicccccceee to be able to just tap the power on. I guess my delay is the hard drive spin up time? When I boot holding "-" for the stock firmware boot, it takes about 9 seconds. Which if I was using the original firmware, it'd be about 10 or 11 for the added 1 or 2 seconds for holding the power on button longer.
I tried deleting the .rockbox directory and the archos.mod file, but it booted and said it couldn't find the .rockbox directory and that it was unfinished or something, but then continued to the rockbox OS. So I put them back. Since it was flashed into the ROM, I didn't think it still needed rockbox files from the hard drive?
Oh, and now that I know my player can take the flash, is there anyway to only flash with the rombox and not include the stock archos flash (via "-")? Would this increase any memory buffers at all or speed up the boot? Maybe the rombox by itself won't need to be compressed?
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I tried deleting the .rockbox directory and the archos.mod file, but it booted and said it couldn't find the .rockbox directory and that it was unfinished or something, but then continued to the rockbox OS. So I put them back. Since it was flashed into the ROM, I didn't think it still needed rockbox files from the hard drive?
The only file you save is archos.mod, the firmware. The other stuff is used at runtime. To still have Rockbox when booting with '-', you'll again need it. So I suggest to keep it, unless you specifically want Archos firmware with '-'.
Oh, and now that I know my player can take the flash, is there anyway to only flash with the rombox and not include the stock archos flash (via "-")? Would this increase any memory buffers at all or speed up the boot? Maybe the rombox by itself won't need to be compressed?
Rombox is by nature never compressed, else it coudn't run directly in flash. There's plenty of space in case of the Player, nothing is saved by omitting Archos. You'd want it as a backup firmware, in case you flashed a bad Rockbox version.
Jörg
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IT'S ALIIIIIVE!!!! Muha ha ha ha!
Ok the flash worked with the newest rock.
I love it so much nicer not having to wait on the old ROM first.
things seem a bit snppier as well.
Very good work!
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I have a Studio 10, but the BootRom reports as No. I cant use the current flash because it is looking for the _norom version of the flash file. I know the flash for the player is still very new. I did not know if it was in the works for a _norom version of the flash for players.
[HW Info]
ROM: 5.08
USB: neg
ATA: 0x300m
Mask: 0000
Flash: BF,D6
BootROM: no
Thanks for any feedback,
Dwight
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Your're the first to discover a romless Studio model. Jens and I were wondering if such exists (so far only seen on Recorder V1 models) and decided to not proactively making a _norom file.
It's no general problem to make such. The flashing risk is a bit higher, since you can't boot it from serial if something goes wrong, even if technically skilled enough to do these mods.
Jörg
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I appreciate the prompt response and had wondered about the higher risk, knowing there was no backup method if something went wrong. Not a big deal, rockbox still works great. Keep up the good work.
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i've also a no boot rom on my player...so please make a firmware _norom.bin. Thanks a lot, and good works for all that. you rocks. ;)
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In order to build a _norom variant of the player firmware, I'll need a ROM dump of such a box. The description how to do this is found in the wiki: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/FlashingRockbox#Flashing_procedure
dwight_s, canvin: Could any of you make such a dump and send it to me? arnold-j AT t-online DOT de
Jens
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dwight_s, canvin:
I've updated the player flash package on my webspace (the place given in the wiki). It does now contain the required _norom firmware file for flashing romless Players.
Beware that this file couldn't be tested on a real box, because neither Jörg nor I have such a box available. While we tried to lower the risk as much as possible (each one building the _norom image independently, then comparing the file lead to identical files; Jörg also tested the image a bit on a CPU emulator), there is of course no warranty.
If either of you dares to flash his box, I'd be very interested in the results. Good luck!
Jens
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My LCD just crapped out on me this week. Otherwise I'd jump at the opportunity. I'm going to take it apart tonight and see if one of the connector wires has come lose. I'll let you know as soon as I get it working and will give the _norom a shot.
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i'll try this firmware today, and i hope it works, because i don't want disassembling the Archos. thank you. Canvin
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yeah !!
it works about 6 seconds to launch player now !! good rockbox now..do you want a copy of something ??like firmware.. the flashing lasts nearly 20 seconds and all seems ok...but i haven't a resume support at power on, at he first time, now it works. Last thing, when i power on my archos, before flash i have to press on 'on" 4 seconds, now i just touch it and it switch on :). Thank you for your works ;D ;D. Canvin.
P.S : sorry for my english, i'm french.
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when i flash my archos, i suppose that when i plug it to electricity, my archos launch menu etc.. and indeed it switch on. I wondered if there isn't a mni bios when it charges. ok good night now and great thanks again. :)Canvin
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ok now !!
there also a mini firmware when i plug it ! that's rocks, looks all ok now ! see you Canvin. ;)
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the flash works great! thanks so much! the instructions were easy to follow and is working great!
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Hello,
i've got an old Studio 6000 which isn't flashable in-circuit :(
Is it possible to flash it off-circuit or to replace the chip somehow?
Thanks for your feedback,
David
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Hi, I've got a studio with this HWInfo:
[HW Info]
ROM: 5.08
USB: neg
ATA: 0x300m
Mask: 0000
Flash: BF,D6
BootROM: no
Based on this thread, it seems like if I grabbed the latest rockbox (2.4) and flash_player.zip that I'd be good to go, but every time I run the firmware_flash.rock thingy I get the "Wrong Version" message.
Any ideas? Thanks, nathan
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Flash: BF,D6
BootROM: no
Based on this thread, it seems like if I grabbed the latest rockbox (2.4) and flash_player.zip that I'd be good to go, but every time I run the firmware_flash.rock thingy I get the "Wrong Version" message.
Yes, this box is indeed flashable, but it is the type without boot ROM. That means there is no safety net if the flashing procedure should ever go wrong (not that we know of any such case so far).
The 'wrong version' problem occurs because the firmware_flash plugin in the rockbox 2.4 packagae does not yet recognise a 5.08 ROM as a valid player ROM. Support for both 5.08 ROMs and ROMless players was added later, so I recommend installing a recent daily build instead. Rockbox 2.4 is more than half a year old...
Regards,
Jens
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OK, Is there a "good build" that people are using? Since I've got no backup, I'd like to use one that is considered somewhat stable.
thanks, nathan
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;D
I just want to say thanks to Rockbox OS developer for their wonderful software. It is so much better than the original Archos OS. I just successfully flashed my Archos Studio 10 model with Rockbox flashware. Thank you again.