mp3/4 player and firmware problems

[jaynick]

hi guys
i was wondering if you can help me,,,i have just purchased an mp3/4 player for my daughter for christmas via ebay...and suprise surprise it dosn,t work,,,contacted the seller to no avail..anyway i had a blue screen as described in your dead player forum and have tried everything in that forum to try and get it to work but still wont....i have sucessful loaded it into to device manager using the aduupdate driver ..but still cant seem to get any firmware that is correct for the player.. ive have lost the original firmware or deleted it or something,,however i do know that it read sc85051f...2006/04/25.. act v3.5.35 the board number islxd85018c v3.0..and a samsung chip k9f2g08udm this is so say an 8gb which i now know it is not..the probelms ive been having are i can load the first firmware but then go to load the second but the software will not find the device again..ive tried formating the drives several times but still can,t seem to gat it to work..windows seems to lose the drive when i switch the player of and then i have to go back through the tweaser bit...other times i get past the first section of firmware then find i have 2 extra drives in my computer..any help would be very much appreciated as i am losing the will to live with this thing and feel like going to china with a baseball bat in tow...could be cheaper to get an ipod though.. tia cheers

[tadad1]

jaynick, Sadly dead player recovery is not an exacting science and in the end it becomes a matter of trial and error as there are 100's if not 1000's of firmware variations.
You also may need to try a few different full version firmware if the one you are using is killing your player. If you are loading a full version firmware in ADFU mode then once it is loaded you may have to format your player before you can load the second firmware.

[Lorne]

did u contact seller?
because aint there a huge policy on recieving dead items?

[jaynick]

thanks for your replys,,, when i load a full firmware is this not all i need or do i still need a second firmware if so do they have to be the same versions ie v3.5.35 and i assume that the merged firmwares are the first and second together so there would be no need to load two f/wares...also if i reformat the drives after the first install would this not clear the first one out as would re using the tweasers or am i mistaken and the firmware stays in place...all i can seem to remeber about the screen was a spinning disc at the start...the player its self is much the same as the one being advertised on your home page forth one down(pink) is my best option to search for the same number f/ware or could any of them work

[tadad1]

jaynick,
Best to stick with the same version number.

If your player is not detected by Windows or the Upgrade Tool then you need to short the chip which should set the player into Recovery Mode as an ADFU Device. In this state the player will only accept a full version firmware. The chances of finding a full firmware that is compatible with your player are pretty slim. The full firmware will take your player out of Recovery Mode and then you will be able to load backup dump files. Because there are a lot more dump files available than full firmware you have a better chance of finding one that recovers your player.
Formatting the player will not delete the firmware it is stored in a locked section of memory.

If your player is detected by Windows and the Update Tool then you do not have to worry about shorting the chip or using a full firmware your player should accept dump files but there is a good chance at some stage it will stop responding as you try different ones.

[jaynick]

tadad1

sorry another question,,,a friend of mine has a very simillar player but only classed as a 4gb lol her screen shows up the same as mine did..would it be possible to copy her firmware without causing any damage or loss of data,,,,,,also you say it would be pretty slim to find a full firmware for my player why is that is it the age of it? the firmware version or the chip? or prehaps another reason ..sorry i meant to mention earlier its a 1.8 screen... thanks again

[tadad1]

jaynick, These players will only support a maximum 2GB memory. If your friend has one that shows 4GB then it is a fake with a hacked memory chip.

Despite the fact that your friends player and firmware may look the same they may not be but no harm trying it.

Full version firmware are very rare they either come from a manufacturers web site or occassionally they are included on the Mini CD that comes with the player. Because they are so hard to find there are not very many available so the chances of finding the specific one for your player are not good.
Dump files on the other hand are extracted straight from the player using s1fwx etc. so basically anyone with a player can uopload their firmware to the net, so you have a far better chance of finding a dump that suits your player because there are so many more available.
If your player was running 9.0.48 or higher then you have practically no chance of finding a suitable firmware as there are no tools yet to extract dumps from these versions.

[jaynick]

i appreciate the issue with the hacked memory chip i was only quoting this as a comparison to mine.. as in mine its supposed to be a 8gb which i now realise is probably a 1gb ie: would the firmware be different because theres contains a so say 4gb which i beleive would be a 512mb different hacked chips...and would i cause any damage to thers if i was to extract there firmware file and try it......also is there any way of telling i have the correct first lot of firmware installed...because when i try to install the second lot it says this is the incorrect firmware for this device..why is this ive tried formatting every time ive had a probelm?..i will ask you straight do you think i am pissing into the wind with this particular player and just bin the f/ing thing.or is it possible i will get there... bit more info the usb port is on the bottom and the headphone jack...I REALLY do appreciate all your help on this but could you plz answer all the questions

[tadad1]

jaynick, Extracting the firmware from your friends player will not cause any problems. Memory size should not be an issue it is possible to restore a 2GB player with a compatible firmware from a 512MB player.
If your player was DOA and has never worked then this may not be a fimware problem but hardware related so you could be pissing into the wind trying to fix it.
What version of the upgrade tool are you using? If you are not already using it I suggest trying MP3 Player Utilities 4.07 which you will find in the Download>Tools section. There were improvements made to the update tool in this version for newer chipsets.
There are so many variables that define the right firmware the main ones being control chip, mainboard, and LCD size and type, then things like button layout, radio chips the list goes on. Whilst you can find out a fair bit of this information from your player there is no way to tell if a firmware will match all these components so no there is really no way to know if the first firmware installed is helping or the cause of the problem. If you tried 4 or 5 different full version firmware and still could not load any secondary dumps then I would suggest the problem may not be firmware related.

[jaynick]

hello again tadad 1

i now have my freinds player and the firmware version reads the same as mine did which i hope is good news...any chance you can give me instructions on how to copy the firmware i assume i use the s1fwx program....may main concern is losing her data and buggering hers up...also by copying the f/ware will this give me everything i need ie the 1st and 2nd lots of firmware...if this is sucessful i will be more than happy to upload it to the forum for others to make use of....mine was DOA but i did manage to look at the software and the buggered it up and lost it..thanks again