Dual Boot not working?

[chimera1978]

In one of the threads somebody implied that the dual boot function is not currently working.  Is this true?  Is it on the slate to be fixed?  I think dual-booting is a great feature, but I cannot get mine to work.  I assume that "A" button to load original firmware is the dual-boot feature.  Any time I do this, I get a "Bank 0 mem test: -xxxxxxxx" (different number every time) and a "Woops, should not return from firmware".

Other than that, looks great!

Thanks,
Greg

[Nate!]

I don't think this feature pertains to the Gigabeat.  I vaguely recall something posted in a different thread about it being too complicated to rename files and the such.

You can sort of dual boot, but its not as smooth a process.  If Rockbox is already installed and currently loaded then hopefully you've went through the setup process step by step.  

You should have a FWIMG01.DAT and a FWIMG01.DAT.ORIG file in X:\GBSYSTEM\FWIMG.  (X: being the drive that represents your Gigabeat.)  To boot back into the original Toshiba firmware, just connect your AC adapter to the Gigabeat and your Gigabeat to the PC via USB.  Navigate to the X:\GBSYSTEM\FWIMG dir and rename your current FWIMG01.DAT file to say FWIMG01.DAT.RBX.  Then rename the FWIMG01.DAT.ORIG file to FWIMG01.DAT.  Disconnect the Gigabeat from the AC adapter and PC.  Switch the battery off and back on again.  Turn your Gigabeat back on and you are now in the Toshiba firmware.

Let me know if you get mixed up from my instructions.

[chimera1978]

Hi Nate,

Your instructions make perfect sense.  I was just thinking that pressing the "A" button at boot up would boot the Toshiba firmware instead.  What exactly is the intent of pressing "A" at boot up then?

Thanks,
Greg

[Nate!]

You have to remember that Rockbox is designed for multiple platforms.  I think this works on most but just not the Gigabeat.  I do think you can revert back to an ealier build if you have multiple builds loaded, but just not the original firmware.

[GodEater]

From what I gather in the IRC channel - dual boot is an intended feature of the gigabeat port - it just doesn't work yet. Give it time.

[scubacoles]

GodEater is correct..
Dual Boot support is planned but not yet implemented.
Boot options in Rockbox for Gigabeat F/X are currently:
1) boot into Rockbox (of course)
2) Press "Vol +" during Startup for Bootloader USB Rescue mode... (allows you to plug in your gigabeat  and view files by USB when only in Rockbox Bootloader)
3) Press "Menu" during startup to overwrite the Rockbox FWIMG01.DAT with the backup Toshiba FWIMG01.DAT.ORIG. (Which on restart will boot into the Toshiba firmware, no usb cable required)

Developer interest in sorting out the issues with true dual boot is, to be honest, minimal...
They don't really see the point since the Toshiba firmware can't see your Rockbox files (cause they aren't SAT'd) and Rockbox can see but can't use SAT'd files...
As a result Dual Boot is likely to stay unimplemented for a long time!!

[Nate!]

scubacoles:  Have you tested loading the original firmware with the button sequence?  I've tried and haven't been successful.  I usually just connect to my pc and rename "manually."

Of course the only reason I have ever needed to go back to the Original Firmware was to create walk thru instructions.    Unlike maybe the iPods, there is absolutely no reason to go back to the dark side.

[zurvan2]

I have several reasons to want the original firmware:

1. the cool camera support that the gigabeat can do with the usb cradle
2. compatible with free, but encrypted, audiobooks from my public library
3. compatible with wma files. (these could be converted, I guess, but with some quality loss)

anyway, I would *love* to see dual-boot working on the gigabeat.

[Phalangees]

I've "dual booted" in a way by going through the files menu and actually renaming both of the files. That works fine. Another thing that you could do is rename the files but don't flip the battery switch. When you want to switch turn off your gigabeat and then flip the battery switch off and on to load the other firmware. Of course you only can do it once before having to hook it up to rename them back.

[johnson4]

GodEater is correct..
Dual Boot support is planned but not yet implemented.
Boot options in Rockbox for Gigabeat F/X are currently:
1) boot into Rockbox (of course)
2) Press "Vol +" during Startup for Bootloader USB Rescue mode... (allows you to plug in your gigabeat  and view files by USB when only in Rockbox Bootloader)
3) Press "Menu" during startup to overwrite the Rockbox FWIMG01.DAT with the backup Toshiba FWIMG01.DAT.ORIG. (Which on restart will boot into the Toshiba firmware, no usb cable required)

Can anyone confirm that # 3 actually works? when I try this, it doesn't seem to work. Which isn't a big deal since it's easy to rename once RB is started.
Now all we need is a bootloader feature that writes the file back so we can switch back to RB without using a PC..... alas I will continue to anticipate USB-to-GO for RB. That will be a very exciting day.
This project continues to amaze me everytime I start my player. Great job to all

[andypicch]

I was wondering if there was any progress on the dual boot situation with the gigabeat. I would love to be able to do a disconnect dual boot from original firmware to rockbox and vice versa with a button push or a combination of button pushes or whatever.

Thanks for any information in advance!

[Llorean]

Nobody's working on it.

[elborak]

I think the main issue is that the Gigabeat firmware is so awful that there's very little to motivate the developers to work on dual boot. This contrasts with the platforms that require dual boot for USB (such as the Sansa E2xx series) or those with a pretty decent original firmware (X5).

I truly can't imagine why anyone would want to run the Gigabeat firmware after a day with Rockbox.

[GodEater]

Even if someone did come along and finish dual boot support, what would be the point ?

You can't play music that the Gigabeat firmware can play in Rockbox, and you can't play music that Rockbox can play in the Gigabeat firmware - so you'd need two copies of your music on the one player for there to be any point at all.

[zurvan2]

Even if someone did come along and finish dual boot support, what would be the point ?

You can't play music that the Gigabeat firmware can play in Rockbox, and you can't play music that Rockbox can play in the Gigabeat firmware - so you'd need two copies of your music on the one player for there to be any point at all.

See my earlier post. It's not *all* about music. The Toshiba has a whole class of functionality, with the cradle, that (as far as I know) no other player has, and certainly rockbox does not have.

And again, there *are* legitimate uses for protected WMA files.

If this was stuff I could do with rockbox, I wouldn't care, and I certainly have no expectation of using the same files with both firmwares.

(Note: The use of the word "expectation" above does not imply that the poster is a snippy luser... I'm just trying to correct the perception that no one wants this functionality, and apparently I'm not the only one. )