H320/340 Car compatible custom bootloader build. (Update: Added cradle support)

[massiveH]

EDIT: Please see post 15 for updated bootloader file and changes.
EDIT2: Patch Submitted http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/9202

I use my H340 in the car alot.  However, the firmware on the bootloader page is very outdated, and does not like being turned on by being plugged in.  It appears that I have to press the play button on the player to make it boot past the "bootloader charging" screen.  This got annoying, I downloaded the source, and commented out that code that halts the bootloader on the charging screen when a charger is present.  I have built this bootloader into the 1.31K H320/H340 official firmware and bootloader cvs r17713m-080611.  I want my music to resume as soon as the car started, and this does that.  This build works perfectly for me, but usual disclaimer, if it messes up your player, it's not my fault.

Again, this bootloader is A) Updated and B) does not stop on the charging screen when plugging in a charger, it simply boots as normal and C) NOT THE OFFICIAL BOOTLOADER.

Linky Linky
http://rapidshare.com/files/121703450/H300.hex.html

[massiveH]

Anyone finding this useful? Am I the only one that uses the firmware this way/likes it this way? Feedback please?

[rogue]

Hey,

I just joined the forum to reply to you. 

Thanks for doing this, and I'll be giving it a try soon.  I don't have a car, but I'm annoyed at the screen when I sit the H340 in my dock.  I'd like the backlight to go out -- plus the device goes into charging mode when it's plugged in.

Am I mistaken in thinking that the drive will also show up as normal on my desktop?

Thanks!

m a r

[massiveH]

I didn't touch any of the "USB Bootloader" code, so I'm pretty sure it still enters "USB Bootloader" mode.  I only removed the code that stops it from entering Bootloader charging.  If your cradle only has power, it will boot normally and not hang up on the USB mode.  If you want, I could remove the USB part too.

I MUST warn you though, if the Bootloader's USB code is removed, your player WILL NOT boot if the harddrive is bad, that is the whole point of the bootloader's USB mode.  This problem of not actually showing up as a disk has been resolved though, so try the one I've already compiled, and see if it shows up. 

I guess a possibility that can be done is make the player enter USB Bootloader mode if the user holds down a button, or boot into rockbox like normal if no button is held down.  I'm not exactly sure the ramifications of this, but I know something like this is done to enter the stock firmware.  Anyone have input?

[massiveH]

I have now worked a bit more on this for folks that use USB and power cradles.  This new version will boot normally into rockbox if the power plug and/or the usb cable is inserted.  The bootloader will use "USB Bootloader" if you hold the A-B (Mode) button (bottom right) on the player or the remote.  Also, even if the HOLD switch is enabled, the unit will still boot into rockbox, but this should be the desired result when hooking it up to a power source.

http://rapidshare.com/files/130237255/h300.hex.html

[ViperKnight]

I have now worked a bit more on this for folks that use USB and power cradles.  This new version will boot normally into rockbox if the power plug and/or the usb cable is inserted.  The bootloader will use "USB Bootloader" if you hold the A-B (Mode) button (bottom right) on the player or the remote.  Also, even if the HOLD switch is enabled, the unit will still boot into rockbox, but this should be the desired result when hooking it up to a power source.

http://rapidshare.com/files/130237255/h300.hex.html

If this does what I understand it to do.....you are a bloody genius!!

I'm using my H340 as part of a CarPC setup (mainly as just an external HDD) and it's a pain in the ass having to turn the player on and wait for it to boot Rockbox before the ignition.  Otherwise, when the computer boots, the H300 immediately just goes to the USB bootloader screen.  Since I don't have the DC power plugged in as well, this ultimately drains the battery.

Seeing as all my music is on the H340 (the carPC itself only has a 40GB drive which I leave for videos + games), if Windows boots without the Iriver connected it chucks a hissy fit

Hopefully this solves my problem 
I'll post again if it works.

[massiveH]

Yep ViperKnight, this will solve your problem, just make sure USB Charging is enabled in rockbox's options.

[ViperKnight]

hmm...

Booting using the charger works.  But for some reason the bootloader won't go past the Voltage reading when booting with USB.  Any ideas?

[massiveH]

Did you use the second one I posted?

[ViperKnight]

Pretty sure I used the second link.

However, now my h340 refuses to get past the voltage reading with a normal start (just hitting play, no cables).

Hopefully my HDD isn't starting to die.  Might have something to do with the cold weather though.

EDIT:

Righto, managed to get it into rockbox by booting it holding A-B as well (no cable though).
Then reflashed with the second link just incase and it seems to work now 

Hopefully it stays working.  I'm guessing it was getting stuck in a loop or something previously as the hard drive would spin up and keep spinning constantly but didn't boot.

EDIT 2 (29/7):
Seems to be doing it again.  But:

I think I've narrowed the problem down.  The USB boot works fine except when the player has been shutdown by the "Idle Power-Off" timer.  After Idle Power-Off it just keeps freezing at the Voltage display regardless if I start it by plugging in the charger, USB cable or just normal power-on.

To fix it, I booted into the original firmware, plugged the USB in to connect it to the computer, then unplugged it and turned it off.  From then the USB booting works fine again.  I might download the code and have a look.

EDIT 3:
Yep....it seems to be a problem with the Idle Power-Off setting.  Maybe it's just my iriver doing it.  I'm getting the most current Rockbox build just incase it was fixed.

[massiveH]

@ViperKnight:

I tried to replicate the bug that you presented, but I was not able to.  My bootloader does not freeze at the voltage.  What exact model of H3xx series do you have?  If more people could test this, we could narrow down the root cause.  But you seem to be the only other user to try this bootloader build, so I'm not sure the exact cause.

I use the H340 (with a 60GB hitachi drive)

[ViperKnight]

I'm using a H340 with original Toshiba drive.  Soon to be replacing the Battery since it doesn't hold very much charge.  I have changed the battery before but the new one ballooned and I had to put the original back in.  Maybe the HDD isn't quite back in properly.

I can tell you, that the hard drive does spin up when it freezes at the voltage.  From there it keeps spinning and does nothing.  I've gone back to the original rockbox bootloader and it all work fine though 

I also was unable to use the USB bootloader mode (with holding A-B) with your bootloader.  Maybe it's all related somehow.

[massiveH]

Well, ViperKnight, this totally happened to me yesterday while driving to a concert.  It would lock up at the voltage reporting.  I have no idea if the harddrive spun up though, as I was in a car.  After the concert, however, it started up perfectly fine.  I had no charger or USB cable to try and 'unfreeze' it.  When I tried booting into the original firmware, it started fine, but duing the original firmware's boot sequence, it stopped and said "CHECK HDD CONNECTION" on the bottom, which I don't know what could cause that.  The ATA init is after the original firmware part of rockbox's bootloader, but I'm not an expert in this.  This is what leads me to believe it may be in rockbox's shutdown, but not sure...

I'm not exactly sure if it will enter "USB Bootloader" when it freezes where  it is (the voltage prompt), as the bootloader itself appears to be freezing.  There must be something being done to the harddrive on shutdown that may cause this, but no idea...  If I had a debugger, I could easily find the cause of this.  I will continue testing, but I can't get it to happen every time, and it's only happened once.

[ViperKnight]

Hmm....I've never got the "Check HDD" error

All that I can say to help is that the issue is somewhere between the voltage check and the shortcut to boot the original firmware.  No matter the freeze I could always boot the original firmware.  Just not rockbox. 

I'll have a crack at looking at the code, although I'm relatively new to C (have done other languages), to see if there's anything I can spot.

[massiveH]

Updated patch to re-include "Bootloader Charging" mode.  Now, when booting with a power cord in and holding the Mode (A-B) button, it will enter "Bootloader Charging".

http://rapidshare.com/files/142635165/H300.hex.html