AIGO EROS Q / AIGO EROS K / IRULU Surfans F20 / AGPTek H3 / HIFI WALKER H2

[dconrad]

Dang, good work! That display wake-from-sleep hang has been haunting us for a long time. Every now and again I still see it.

[ZappBranigan2972]

Surfans F20 v3.2 Files:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/uvgblcick0neptf/of_player.img/file of_player.img
https://www.mediafire.com/file/rcte45t9zzr6n86/flash.img/file flash.img
https://www.mediafire.com/file/6i77w6gr7u4f29i/flash_onfi_info.txt/fileflash_onfi_info.txt
https://www.mediafire.com/file/329y1rwe62qqu6e/erosqnative-boot_04.bin/file erosqnative-boot.bin

Would that erosqnative-boot.bin work on a 3.1 F20?

That is NOT a native Rockbox v3 Bootloader, its the unmodified original shipped Surfans F20 v3.2 Bootloader (saved via jztools + in Ram Rockbox Bootloader) 

That is a native Rockbox Bootloader only for v3 H2/F20/ErosQ Devices
https://www.mediafire.com/file/1nll8cf0lan4ela/bootloader.erosq_v3/file bootloader.erosq_v3 (Build 21.6.24, GCC4.9.4)
Rename to bootloader.erosq and Test or Install via https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/JztoolInstall.html

That is a full native Rockbox Build only for v3 H2/F20/ErosQ Devices (Build  e722334ab1M-240729:, GCC 14.1.0) with all my Goodies
https://www.mediafire.com/file/npbpqlk48j1s2o3/rockbox-20240729_ErosQ_V3_AXP_2024_gcc1410.zip/file

[ZappBranigan2972]

And a set of Patches for x1000 / ErosQ v2/v3

Please submit these patches via gerrit so they can be reviewed (and attributed) properly.

In the next dayt or two I will grab the OF images you posted and see if I can successfully patch them with the hosted bootloader.

Whoops , my experience with Gerrit is nearly zero.... (IT Service and Linux / Electronics, not a experienced Developer    )

[vans37]

Sadly I followed the steps from wiki:
The RockboxUtility fully supports these players as of version 1.5.0. However, if you wish to install the bootloader manually, follow these instructions:

Download or create the appropriate patched original firmware image

Rename the patched firmware file to update.upt and place it into the root directory of the SD card

Grab the latest hosted port daily build for the player and unzip it into the root directory of the SD card

Go into the settings menu and select firmware update.

Upon reboot, select rockbox from the initial menu

This is what I've done:
Followed steps in wiki for my 2.7 surfans f20, and not it's a brick.
Black screen with an indication of power and that's it. Gosh, why did I even wanted to do this, device is a day old and already bricked.
What I did:

I copied F20-v27-patched.upt to the root of SD card and renamed it update.upt.

https://download.rockbox.org/daily/aigoerosq/rockbox-aigoerosq-20240727.zip downloaded this file, unzipped it into my SD card root

Updated firmware from device menu

It is dead.

Now it's probably a useless piece of junk.

I'm pretty sure it was v2.7 firmware, it has usb type c port and it clearly stated v2.7 on device info.
Any chance unbricking it?

[7o9]

I do not have that device but you should be able to boot into recovery and flash back the backup of your bootloader.

https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/JztoolInstall.html

From those instructions you should be able to hold ‘menu’ while turning it on to be able to use jztool.

Besides that, would putting the original firmware on the sd card not flash it back to original?

[vans37]

I've put v2.7 and renamed it to update and copied the file onto sd card root. I hold power and vol+ and nothing happens.

[dconrad]

It's basically impossible to completely brick these players.

Did you follow the JztoolInstall instructions that 7o9 linked?

Follow those instructions to boot the player off of USB. From there you should be able to get into the original firmware and do an update.

The process is summed up by:
You will hold menu and power to put the device into usbboot mode.
Then you will plug in usb.
Then you will run the relevant jztool command (see the jztoolinstall page linked) to temporarily send the bootloader to the device.
From there, you can boot into the original firmware to try the update with either the stock firmware update file or the rockbox patched update file.

[dconrad]

And a set of Patches for x1000 / ErosQ v2/v3

Please submit these patches via gerrit so they can be reviewed (and attributed) properly.

In the next dayt or two I will grab the OF images you posted and see if I can successfully patch them with the hosted bootloader.

Whoops , my experience with Gerrit is nearly zero.... (IT Service and Linux / Electronics, not a experienced Developer    )

Don't worry, if you're an IT guy I'm sure you can figure it out. I can't say I'm a professional developer either and I figured it out! Get git set up (lots of tutorials on the web), make a branch, commit to that branch, and then you can sign in to gerrit with a github, gitlab, or google "oauth2" (whatever that means) login.

You'll need to set up an ssl cert of some sort (instructions seem to be not available until you sign in to gerrit for some reason? I just looked and didn't see them, but they're under one of the dropdowns at the top of the page when you're logged in). Then you can push your changes to gerrit from git.

[vans37]

It's basically impossible to completely brick these players.

Did you follow the JztoolInstall instructions that 7o9 linked?

Follow those instructions to boot the player off of USB. From there you should be able to get into the original firmware and do an update.

The process is summed up by:
You will hold menu and power to put the device into usbboot mode.
Then you will plug in usb.
Then you will run the relevant jztool command (see the jztoolinstall page linked) to temporarily send the bootloader to the device.
From there, you can boot into the original firmware to try the update with either the stock firmware update file or the rockbox patched update file.

I've managed to upload bootloader on linux. Now on each boot I for some reason get an error saying: "Error loading rockbox, file not found". But anyway I can choose both rockbox and default firmware.
I've yet to find a community this helpful and answering questions so fast. Thank you!

[dconrad]

It's basically impossible to completely brick these players.

Did you follow the JztoolInstall instructions that 7o9 linked?

Follow those instructions to boot the player off of USB. From there you should be able to get into the original firmware and do an update.

The process is summed up by:
You will hold menu and power to put the device into usbboot mode.
Then you will plug in usb.
Then you will run the relevant jztool command (see the jztoolinstall page linked) to temporarily send the bootloader to the device.
From there, you can boot into the original firmware to try the update with either the stock firmware update file or the rockbox patched update file.

I've managed to upload bootloader on linux. Now on each boot I for some reason get an error saying: "Error loading rockbox, file not found". But anyway I can choose both rockbox and default firmware.
I've yet to find a community this helpful and answering questions so fast. Thank you!

Ok, sounds like progress. When you boot it, does it show an image and let you select rockbox or the original firmware?Or does it just go right to "no .rockbox found"?

If the first,you'll need to extract the .rockbox folder from this zip file onto the root of your sd card: https://download.rockbox.org/daily/aigoerosq/rockbox-aigoerosq-20240727.zip

If the second, you'll need to extract the .rockbox folder from this different zip file onto the root of your sd card: https://download.rockbox.org/daily/erosqnative/rockbox-erosqnative-20240727.zip

either way, you should end up with a .rockbox folder on the root of your sd card.

In the second case, you are using the "Native" port. In this case, we may need to reformat your sd card. Usually they come with "exFAT". The Native port can't handle this, we'll need to reformat your card to just regular FAT. Not a big deal, but its just an extra step we'll have to do if you haven't alrwady done that. Ignore this if the first case above is true.

We're just about there!

[vans37]

It's basically impossible to completely brick these players.

Did you follow the JztoolInstall instructions that 7o9 linked?

Follow those instructions to boot the player off of USB. From there you should be able to get into the original firmware and do an update.

The process is summed up by:
You will hold menu and power to put the device into usbboot mode.
Then you will plug in usb.
Then you will run the relevant jztool command (see the jztoolinstall page linked) to temporarily send the bootloader to the device.
From there, you can boot into the original firmware to try the update with either the stock firmware update file or the rockbox patched update file.

I've managed to upload bootloader on linux. Now on each boot I for some reason get an error saying: "Error loading rockbox, file not found". But anyway I can choose both rockbox and default firmware.
I've yet to find a community this helpful and answering questions so fast. Thank you!

Ok, sounds like progress. When you boot it, does it show an image and let you select rockbox or the original firmware?Or does it just go right to "no .rockbox found"?

If the first,you'll need to extract the .rockbox folder from this zip file onto the root of your sd card: https://download.rockbox.org/daily/aigoerosq/rockbox-aigoerosq-20240727.zip

If the second, you'll need to extract the .rockbox folder from this different zip file onto the root of your sd card: https://download.rockbox.org/daily/erosqnative/rockbox-erosqnative-20240727.zip

either way, you should end up with a .rockbox folder on the root of your sd card.

In the second case, you are using the "Native" port. In this case, we may need to reformat your sd card. Usually they come with "exFAT". The Native port can't handle this, we'll need to reformat your card to just regular FAT. Not a big deal, but its just an extra step we'll have to do if you haven't alrwady done that. Ignore this if the first case above is true.

We're just about there!

It turned out I hadn't read instruction of installing via jztool carefully, it stated: "Visit the daily builds page to download a build for your player. For Eros Q users, note that you must choose the "Native" version."
Once I've changed hosted to native, all the errors went away! Now it works perfectly! Thank you!

[dconrad]

Excellent! Glad we got ya sorted 

[emilyinspace]

hi everyone. thanks a lot for these efforts. i wanted to ask; why the hosted port doesn't need a backup with jztool but the native one does? also, is there any benefit of using the native port? i'm just trying to understand a little more about the software here.

thank you!! 

[dconrad]

hi everyone. thanks a lot for these efforts. i wanted to ask; why the hosted port doesn't need a backup with jztool but the native one does? also, is there any benefit of using the native port? i'm just trying to understand a little more about the software here.

thank you!! 

I think the main advantage to the native port is the shorter startup time and maybe hardware volume control rather than in software. There are a couple other technical advantages (more RAM available to Rockbox, mainly), but that's the main ux difference I think.I will say the hosted port is a lot easier to keep on top of the hardware version changes though!

As far as the backups... That's probably just a difference in who wrote the instructions

[speachy]

hi everyone. thanks a lot for these efforts. i wanted to ask; why the hosted port doesn't need a backup with jztool but the native one does? also, is there any benefit of using the native port? i'm just trying to understand a little more about the software here.

Native:  More of a PITA to install, doesn't properly handle the multitude of hardware variations, is limited to FAT32 only, no bluetooth currently possible.  No access to hardware FPU yet.   Easy to accidentally trash the original firmware making "Going back" a challenge. However, it has access to the entire system RAM and is generally more performant.

Hosted:  Much simpler to install if we have access to the vendor firmware update image.  OEM firmware also handles all hardware interaction so stuff Just Works(tm). Supports exFAT on the SD card, and has a functional if janky bluetooth stack (that we could theoretically use).  Also have access to the FPU so FP-dependent codecs can be used.  However, we're limited to maybe 1/4th of the total RAM and we don't have the performance we'd like, especially on the UI side of things.  And bootup times are much longer.   (There is a new bootloader that partially mitigates this but it's still far slower than the native port)

On one had we're grateful that these folks are still producing an old-school standalone DAP, but their continual tweaking of the hardware design/components (apparently without a way to detect it in software) makes this an often-frustrating moving target.