Cannot install RockBox - e250R - NOW WORKING!!! HURRAY!!!

[mrphil76]

Hi -

I had rockbox installed but then the sansaupdater broke it with a firmware update. During the course of trying to fix it I accidently loaded the E200 bootloader & ended up with the "Load main image failed" issue.

Using RCM's ultimate "sandisk_sansa_R_series_recovery" and got it running.

I ran e200rpatcher.exe to confirm it was still patched, but that failed with "unknown loader" error - so I loaded "SanDisk Sansa e250R" from http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/mi4.html & then reran RCM's ultimate.

Still working fine at this point. & ran e200rpatcher.exe to confirm it was still unencrypted.

Now, for some reason everytime I try to install the OF.mi4 & PP504.mi4 files as per http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaE200RInstallation - it boots, goes to upgrading firmware & then upgrade complete. The upgrade complete is in a RED box instead of green which I guess indicates it fails even though it says completed...

Reboot & just have regular sansa...

Rockbox firmware does not install & I have also tried to just upgrade the firmware to version 1.0.2.165 from sansa with the same results (red completed upgrade box)...

Any advice?
Thanks -Phil

[MarcGuay]

What does "RCM's ultimate sandisk_sansa_R_series_recovery" do?  Please revert your player to it's initial state and try the install again.

More:  When you tried to update the Sansa firmware and got a red "updated" message, did it successfully update the firmware?

[mrphil76]

Should have clarified - "sandisk_sansa_R_series_recovery"  is just the firmware pp5022.mi4 (version 1.0.2.31) & sansa.fmt in a self-extracting zip file to D:\ drive. I booted to recovery mode & ran it.

(see it at: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15424)

Currently it is booting directly to the e200R sansa rhaspody firmware 1.0.2.31 - I don't know how much closer to initial state I can get...

I can't upgrade the firmware to 1.0.2.165 or install the Rockbox firmware - I have tried both numerous times.

[MarcGuay]

So starting the installation from the beginning, what step do you get stuck at?  People often confuse the file renaming procedure in the second part, that may be where the problem is.

[mrphil76]

alrightly here we go - I will outline everything as I do it:

Step 1 - Original Sansa bootloader patching

Code: [Select]

[INFO] Searching for E200R
[INFO] Found E200R, uploading patching application.
[INFO] Patching application uploaded successfully!
[INFO] Press ENTER to exit:

Results:

Code: [Select]

Already Unlocked
Proceed to Step 2

unplug - release hold - hit select to shutdown

Step 2 - Rockbox install from windows

• boot & confirm e200r set to Mode = Rhasphody & connect to USB
• download rhapsody-1.0.2.31.zip, unzip & rename file to OF.mi4 in new folder & download pp5022.mi4 to new folder
• copy pp5022.mi4 to root of e200r & OF.mi4 to SYSTEM folder on e200r
• download latest rockbox build & extract to e200r
• double check .rockbox folder & pp5022.mi4 in root & OF.mi4 in system
• disconnect e200r - it reboots
• refresh database - firmware upgrade - upgrade complete (in red box) in ~1sec
• device reboots to sansa firmware

thoughts?

[MarcGuay]

Code: [Select]

Already Unlocked
Proceed to Step 2

What's up with that?  I thought you were back to square one?  Try reinstalling the plain Sansa firmware in recovery mode manually (not using that utility).  I believe there are some available from daniel's website you linked to before.

If that doesn't work, which after re-reading your previous messages it seems as though it won't (red updated message?), I've reached the end of my abilities.  I suggest reading the Unbrick page in the wiki here or asking the people who's software you've been using up until now for assistance.

[mrphil76]

well i just tried to upgrade to : http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/rhapsody/rhapsody-1.0.2.31.zip

unzip pp5022.mi4 & drag & drop to e200r - disconnect & reboots results:

refresh database - firmware upgrade - upgrade complete (in red box) in ~1sec

i think the red box indicated the firmware update failed (even though it says completed..)

how do i fix that?

[MarcGuay]

Please verify that the upgrade failed by checking the current version on the player.  If it has not taken, perhaps try "upgrading" to the version you currently have on your player.

[mrphil76]

hi - I have tried to reload 1.0.2.31 (currently what it has) & 1.0.2.165 from the sandisk website.

Same results on reboot:

refresh database - firmware upgrade - upgrade complete (in red box) in ~1sec

It says 1.0.2.31 in the Setting -> Info & I cannot find an earlier firmware to try online.

Could it be the bootloader is currupt & so it can't load the firmware?

thanks

[MarcGuay]

It sounds like something is off with the bootloader, then.  Read up on this http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaE200Unbrick#Restoring_the_bootloader.  I don't have any experience with this, and the file provided for the e200R is not a .rom file but a .btl file, which I find confusing.  It might be wise to head into the IRC channel and ask there.

[mrphil76]

MarcGuay -

thanks for all the help I finally figured it out - I think it was the boot loader (BT) - all I did was go into recovery mode & drop the following files in the drive file from http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/mi4.html for the 250R:

pp5022.mi4 from http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/rhapsody/rhapsody-1.0.2.31.zip &
http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/BL_SD_boardSupportSD.btl

It took me a while because in all the forum posts/docs i read, the BL_SD_boardSupportSD file had the extension ROM - I finally stumbled upon a post that clarifed - vanilla e200 BT are ROM & the e200R are .btl - once I dropped the file as .btl it upgrade fine.

I got it to reload 1.0.2.31 (upgrade complete box was green) then i upgraded to 1.0.2.165 (upgrade complete box was green) & confirmed via Info it was right - then I did the Rockbox e200R install.

Thanks again for your help - hopefully the info I included in this post may help someone else in the future.

[Angelfire]

Well yes you have helped at least one other person, MEEEEEEE!

I was having a nightmare trying to load Rockbox onto my e280.  I could get Rockbox to run, but only by copying the .mi4 file to the system drive while in recovery mode.  Obviously this then meant I could not dual boot back to the original Sansa Firmware.  I tried using both the "Rockbox Utility" but it refused to find my Sansa, which is running firmware version 1.02.24e.  I also tried to use sansapatcher.exe but it could not find the files it required.  So many thanks for your manual installation instruction, they worked first time with a little substitution for the obvious differences in the models. 

Just want to say that Rockbox is awesome, but also how it reveals just what an amazing piece of kit my e280 actually is. Such a shame that the 'official' firmware is so unbelievably poor.  :'(

Here is my version of how to upgrade an e280:

How to manually install Rockbox firmware onto an e280 running sansa firmware version 1.02.24e

   Download pp5022.mi4 from Rockbox site.

   Boot & connect e280 to PC using the included USB cable, check to see that drive letter
   appears in File Manager.
   Download e280-1.02.24e.zip. Unzip & make a copy of file pp5022.mi4 renamed to OF.mi4
   Copy the Rockbox version of pp5022.mi4 to root of e280 & OF.mi4 to SYSTEM folder on e280.
   Download latest rockbox build & extract to e280.  It should appear as .rockbox in the root
   directory of the e280
   Double check that .rockbox folder/directory & pp5022.mi4 file are in the root directory
   and that OF.mi4 is in the SYSTEM folder/directory.
   Disconnect e280 - it will then reboot.
   The Sansa e280 will then refresh database and confirm that the firmware upgrade has taken
   place.
   It will then reboot itself once more, but this time the Rockbox splash screen will appear.
   Yippee!!

   If you wish to boot to the origonal sansa firmware simply hold down the left arrow/rewind
   button, when switching on the e280. The e280 will then boot to the original sansa firmware

I hope this helps.

Angelfire

Edit:  Remove colours and formatting - BigBambi