Some concerns

[minky]

Hi all,

After reading an article in Pop. Mechanics, I came here to roam around, and have decided that I would like to use rockbox on my h320.  I have a couple of quick quesitons before I do this though.

1.) If I decide after all the installation that I don't want this anymore, is it possible to get back to how my iriver was before I started (since I will be flashing it with international firmware, and US firmware is not available)?

2.) Which version is best to use for the boot loader?  After a lot of reading, I think I will go with 1.29j....any pros/cons I should consider when doing this?

3.) I've read a lot here about holding down the record button then pressing play to boot up to load the original US firmware, or the new verison I will be installing?

Many thanks for your help!

[bluebrother]

1. The manual describes how to do this. It's possible. The only difference is that by flashing a non-us firmware you'll permanently loose DRM functionality, and you can't restore that by flashing a US firmware again. So DRM gets lost forever.
2. As long as you use one that's mentioned in the wiki I don't see any difference.
3. I don't understand your question completely ... you can still boot into the iriver firmware (as long as you don't remove it completely). As you said, just press Rec when powering up the player. So was your question if it's possible to boot into the OF? Otherwise please clarify.

[nls]

On point 3 yes you'll be starting the new (international) firmware you installed together with the rockbox bootloader, the original US firmware will be overwritten by it when you flash.

[minky]

Thanks for your quick replies.

I'm not at all worried about DRM loss.  So, if I do this, will I ever again be able to startup with the original US version firmware, or is this an irreversible loss?

[nls]

Yes you'll be able to start the US firmware again but it will give you some warning about a missing DRM key or something when starting but will otherwise work just fine.

Also this might be worth mentioning:
When installing an international firmware patched with the bootloader directly onto the US firmware some users have reported some problems (nothing serious). I recomend to first flash a clean international firmware for example the 1.29j that you mentioned and then flashing a patched version, this is only neccesary when going form US -> Patched international firmware.