dual boot to rhapsody firmware

[Sansauser07]

After days of going back and forth between these forums and those on AnythingButIpod, I have finally managed to dualboot into Rockbox, albeit by modifying my e270R and turning it into a regular 270. Here is generally what I did:

Keep in mind I tried to dualboot using the e200R instructions here on Rockbox, but managed only to boot in Rockbox, and got only a fading white screen when I tried to boot into the OF, so...

While in UBUNTU, I downloaded the e250R bootloader from http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/250R_bl.rom, renamed it BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom -  and a firmware file from http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/rhapsody/pp5022.mi4

then I put my player into recovery mode and copied the two files onto the disk. I unmounted the player and it booted into the rhapsody firmware as usual.

I then proceeded to follow the e200R bootloader installation instructions from Rockbox and recovered the bootloader using e200tool.

Once again I put my player into recovery mode and transferred the firmware and bootloader files from
http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/PP5022.mi4 and http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom to the player.

I unmounted the player and it booted into the vanilla e200 firmware, sans Rhapsody.

I then proceeded to follow the Rockbox install instructions for regular e200 players and now I dualboot fine, albeit without Rhapsody.

I hope this summary helps at least one other person who was suffering from the fading white screen.

Any further questions, please do not hesitate to send me a message.  

[ROCKboxxUser]

Thanks Sansauser07, this method worked perfectly.  I'm now dual booting my E260R with Rockbox and the non-rhapsody firmware 1.03.01H.  Any idea if you know this imethod is permanent, or can it be reverted back to an e200R firmware?

[Bagder]

AFAWK, all this kind of fiddling is perfectly possible to revert.

[zwaldowski]

Sounds cool... I wanted an e200 anyway!  I knew there was a way using the BL method to get an e200.

Now, if I can manage to convert my e200R to an e200 using their firmware and a standard bootloader, can't I just use sansapatcher?

[Bagder]

if I can manage to convert my e200R to an e200 using their firmware and a standard bootloader, can't I just use sansapatcher?

Yes you can, as then you have effectively turned it into a plain e200.

[DavidGWRawson]

The only difference between the e200 and the R's is just the music subscription, right? So it's not a big deal to ditch the rhapsody firmware. Also, are you sure you need to do the bootloader install twice? All it's doing is overwriting the bootloader anyway..

[zwaldowski]

What has to be done is the loading of the e200 loader on the e200R (which allows for bootloader patching, go figure), and then the patching itself.  However, you must place the new e200 firmware on while in [e200] recovery mode so both get written, or else it won't boot next time.

[Sansauser07]

Also, are you sure you need to do the bootloader install twice? All it's doing is overwriting the bootloader anyway..

My thoughts exactly, yet that was the only way I was able to recover into the e200 bootloader without dualbooting into a fading white screen. A bit messy, but for now it has to be.

[DavidGWRawson]

Following the Instructions above, my sansa now dualboots(thanks ) However, there are a few steps you can skip, because you are just putting something on that's coming right back off. I already skipped this step, with the same dualbooting effect. It's hard to explain, but you should be able to figure it out yourself.

[P.Opus]

Sorry, that doesn't fill me with confidence.

I specifically bought a Rhapsody model for two reasons.

One, Subscritpion based music using Microsofts PFS (Play For Sure) DRM can be really flaky.  On the Rhapsody Sansa's, they play Rhapsody's Native .rax files.  The long and short of it, is that file transfers are much faster and reliable.

Also, Rhapsody Channels are really great.

I am really excited by the work you guys have done here.  If I ever decide to stop using Rhapsody, then Rockbox may be an answer for me.  However, if using Rockbox will force me to give up my tight Rhapsody integration, I'm not really interested in doing it yetl.

Keep up the good work.

Will

[zwaldowski]

It'll only be a short while until we (they, I mean) to get the Rhapsody firmware to work dual-boot.  Even though I don't use Rhapsody and its channels, the R firmware is faster and smoother, in more ways than one.

I also had this one question... since the patched bootloader simply bypasses the signature check, can we use themed R files now, too?

[Bagder]

I also had this one question... since the patched bootloader simply bypasses the signature check, can we use themed R files now, too?

Although this is a not at all Rockbox-related question, the answer is yes.

[scorche]

It'll only be a short while until we (they, I mean) to get the Rhapsody firmware to work dual-boot.

That is why I am still quite puzzled at the moment.  As I said before, I dual boot the Rhapsody firmware just fine, and yet, no one else seems to be able to.  And if they followed the instructions exactly, they did the exact same thing I did.

[DavidGWRawson]

Does it matter? Who cares about rhapsody? E200 is the same exact thing, except for a little more animation and the rhapsody feature.

[scorche]

Alright...  I have a new test for those willing.  Please use this bootloader: http://scorche.cleansoap.org/rockbox/BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom in place of the first one that the instructions tell you to download (http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom).  Follow the instructions exactly as they are, but just don't download the first one listed (use this one instead).  Then come back and tell me if you are able to dual boot.