30th Mar 2007, 7:02 pm
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Senior Member
MPx Junkie
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 391
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Nice little player you have there. Ok. i'll try to answer your questions as best i can.
'Firmware' is the mp4 players 'Operating System' on a chip. It's the part of the player that contains all the info it needs to play music, videos etc etc. It also contains the pictures for the user interface. The firmware in any player is usually 'chip' dependent, meaning that you can't take firmware from another player and upload it into yours and expect it to do everything the other did.
Which directs me to your next question about upgrading.
First of all... Don't Do It!... It will kill your player. i'd estimate that hundreds, possibly thousands of players are destroyed worldwide on a daily basis because people who are ill informed think that any old firmware file will work in thier player.
The most common scenario .." little Johnny just bought himself a new mp4 player from the money he saved mowing lawns. It arrived 2 days ago. It has been going great but sometimes it won't play files that he uploads. It ignores them and flips back to the menu screen. But thats ok, he didn't expect it to be perfect. His friend has a better player because it can play .ogg files and the screens and user interface looks cool. Johnny asks his friend can he have a copy of his firmware because he'd like to have .ogg capability and it would look cool with the new user interface. His friend was lucky enough to get a little cd with a copy of the firmware on it so they flash it to Johnnys shiny new mp4 player. All excited about having the same look as his friends.. Johnny quickly disconnects the player after the upload, switches it on and finds that it will only present him with a blue screen and nothing else... it won't turn on properly...nothing he does can get it to start or play files and his computer won't recognise it anymore. Next stop for Johnny is mympxplayer.org where we tell him "too bad dude, you shouldn't have done that... you just bricked your player, go to the Dead Player Recovery Guide and give it a try" :roll:
The next most common is when someone finds that a file won't play properly or the player restarts at random and they think a firmware flash will fix it. A firmware flash should be the last resort to resolve problems like that. More often than not, especially with the new versions of firmware, the player won't be recovered.
There are exceptions to this
1. If your firmware can be extracted (which would be just about any firmware version from v9.0.43 and below) You can modify it. Like change it's visual theme and even some settings. You can use this to make a backup of your original firmware and keep a copy safe in case you have to recover a dead player later.
2. If your player dies in some instances.. although not often, you may find another version firmware that will restore it. But it may not work the way it used to.
The mini cd will work in your cdrom/dvd-rom.. open the tray and take a look.. there is an indentation that the small cd can sit in right in the middle of that tray... thats what it's there for.
Now depending on how well you look after your player it should last ages. 12 months maybe longer but thats up to you and how long the battery will continue to hold a charge. Although you should only expect no more than 6 months. You could always get a new battery for a few bucks...what would you expect for a such a cheap bit of kit?
For proper care, keep it clean and away from extreme temperatures and definitely don't leave it in direct sunlight. Back up the files on it if you'd like to keep them and give it a format with the disk utility on the mini disc. It will only format the players storage memory, so don't worry about wiping the 'firmware', it's stored on a separate chip. Don't do it too often as it might shorten the life of the memory.
Don't fiddle with 'Upgrades' and the upgrade tool while it's connected to the computer.
You can grab a silicon cover to keep finger prints and dust off it.. some may even save it from impact damage if it's accidentally dropped. When disconnecting it from the computer, always use the 'Safely Remove Hardware' feature before pulling out the USB cable. And lastly, don't let it overcharge. There are some cases where the player has been connected overnight and the owner has found it dead the next day. In most situations, you should only need an hour or twos charging from empty. I find that small top up charges work best and not let the battery completely drain.
Thats about all i can think of.. i'm sure there are others that might give up a few tips.
cheers
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