Dead Chinese iPod/iPhone clone - Anyka 36XX

[eddyb]

Hi everybody .
This is my first post on this forum, and that after I searched a day and a half for a solution.

So, my player looks (and I suppose it is) the same as Touchscreen MP4 Player + Video Camera 8GB .
The original software showed Spring MLC v3.0.3 / Magic v2.
Hardware: Anyka 36XX / IL<something> LCD.

It was like crap and couldn't run some avi I've thrown at it, and I decided to try updating the firmware. Of course the "Update software" in the settings wasn't working and the "what does that button do" was nowhere to be found.

The only useful key combination I could find was "hold M and plug in USB". There was nothing I could do to get to the system partition to backup the firmware or install another one without messing with the BIOS.

I've found the Anyka burn tool and tried a few firmwares, but none of them worked fully. The best I could get was TV1<something>, which was booting up and was bringing up the touchscreen correction screen, which I couldn't use (somehow it wasn't communicating with the touchscreen) nor skip. Another one was showing loading mirrored on a blue screen. The rest - NIL (black screen).

Now, do any of you know any details on using that burn tool and combinations of firmware I could try? I really need to get this fixed (it's not mine, and the guy who gave it to me didn't mention it wasn't his until I killed the original firmware) or I'll have to pay $50 for some Chinese plastic & circuitry...

Thanks a lot .

LE: found http://www.mp4nation.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1855 . I actually saw it before and went over it, but now I think that could be what I've been looking for. Does anyone have that zip?

[eddyb]

Okey, that TV firmware was TV1F568 and I found it again here: Reviví tu MP5 Anyka 3631 o morí en el intento... - Taringa! .
It works, except for the touchscreen, and I can't calibrate it...

What settings in the burntool do you suggest I should try?
What will I be able to do with this MP4?

[eddyb]

This is very stressing for me... Do I have to buy a new one? I'm sick of this crap already...

[eddyb]

It's been about a month already. I had to buy a new one for that guy, but I can keep this one.
Anyka « Computer Solutions Blog pointed me in the right direction, and I'm using radare to decode the firmware I bricked the player with. It turns out to be a bit hard, and I'll write some javascript application to parse the dissassembly for me (and get some pseudo-C code).
If I manage to get some insights into how this thing operates, and maybe what does it do wrong on my mp4 I'll come back to this forum... So far I managed to find the UART (serial output, mostly used for debugging) code:

/// 0x30001340 (putc)
while((r3 = [0x2006000c]) & 0x4) // wait for UART to be available
[0x20060000] = r0 & 0xff // write one character to UART
pc = lr // return