manual/advanced_topics/archos-flashing.tex

   1 \section{\label{ref:Rockboxinflash}Rockbox in Flash}
   2
   3 \subsection{Introduction}
   4
   5 When you bought your \playertype, it came with the \playerman\ firmware in
   6 flash ROM. When you power on your \dap, this \playerman\ firmware starts,
   7 and then loads an updated firmware from disk if present (\firmwarefilename).
   8 An ordinary Rockbox installation only replaces the on-disk firmware, leaving
   9 the flash ROM contents intact. That means the \playerman\ firmware still
  10 controls the boot process.
  11
  12 The main reason to change this is to improve the startup time of your player.
  13 The \playerman\ bootloader is rather slow. With Rockbox in flash, your \dap\
  14 will boot much faster, typically in three to five seconds. Furthermore you
  15 might prefer a clean Rockbox environment, with as little remnants of the
  16 \playerman\ software as possible.
  17 \opt{rombox}{On your \dap\ it is also possible to execute Rockbox directly
  18   from flash ROM, increasing the amount of free RAM for buffering music. This
  19   is called \emph{Rombox}.
  20 }
  21
  22 \warn{Flashing your \dap\ is somewhat dangerous, like programming a mainboard
  23   \emph{BIOS}, \emph{CD/DVD} drive firmware, mobile phone, etc. If the power
  24   fails, the chip breaks while programming or most of all the programming
  25   software malfunctions, you'll have a dead box. We take no responsibility of
  26   any kind, you do that at your own risk. However, we tried as carefully as
  27   possible to bulletproof this code. There are a lot of sanity checks. If any
  28   of them fails, it will not program.
  29 }
  30
  31 \opt{ondio}{\warn{After flashing Rockbox, never try to ROLO the \playerman\
  32     firmware
  33     \opt{ondiofm}{versions 1.31f or 1.32b! These versions are flash updates
  34       themselves. If they are}
  35     \opt{ondiosp}{version 1.32b! This version is a flash update itself.
  36       If it is}
  37     applied when Rockbox is flashed, you'll end up with a garbled flash ROM
  38     and hence a dead box.
  39 }}
  40
  41 There's an ultimate safety net to bring back boxes with even completely
  42 garbled flash content: the \emph{UART} boot mod, which in turn requires the
  43 \emph{serial} mod. With that it's possible to reflash independently from the
  44 outside, even if the flash ROM is completely erased.
  45 \nopt{ondio}{This won't work if you have one of the rare "ROMless" boxes. These
  46   have no boot ROM and boot directly from flash.
  47 }
  48 If the first $\approx$2KB of the flash ROM are flashed ok, \emph{Minimon} can
  49 be used for the same purpose.
  50
  51 \subsection{Terminology and Basic Operation}
  52
  53 \begin{description}
  54 \item[Firmware:] The flash ROM contents as a whole.
  55 \item[Image:] One operating software started from there.
  56 \end{description}
  57
  58 The replacement firmware contains a bootloader and two images. The first image
  59 is the \emph{permanent} rescue software, to be used in case something is wrong
  60 with the second (main) image. In current firmware files this first image
  61 contains \emph{Bootbox} (see wiki for details). The second image is what is
  62 booted by default. The current firmware files contain a copy of Rockbox 3.2
  63 in the main image. It can easily be updated/replaced later.
  64
  65 The bootloader allows to select which image to run. Pressing
  66 \opt{RECORDER_PAD}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{PLAYER_PAD,ONDIO_PAD}{\ButtonLeft} at boot
  67 selects the first image.
  68 \opt{RECORDER_PAD}{\ButtonFTwo}\opt{PLAYER_PAD}{\ButtonPlay}\opt{ONDIO_PAD}{\ButtonUp}
  69 selects the second image, which will also be booted if you don't press any
  70 button. The button mapping is only there for completeness.
  71 \opt{RECORDER_PAD}{\ButtonFThree}\opt{PLAYER_PAD,ONDIO_PAD}{\ButtonRight}
  72 selects the built-in serial monitor called \emph{Minimon}. You should know this
  73 in case you invoke it by accident. Minimon won't display anything on the
  74 screen. To get out of it, perform a hardware shutdown of your \dap.
  75
  76 \subsection{Initial Flashing Procedure}
  77
  78 You only need to perform this procedure the first time you flash your
  79 \playertype. You may also want to perform it in case the update procedure for
  80 the second image recommends it. In the latter case do not perform the steps
  81 listed under "Preparation".
  82
  83 \subsubsection{Preparation}
  84
  85 \nopt{ondio}{
  86   First, check whether your \playertype\ is flashable at all. Select
  87   \setting{System $\rightarrow$ Debug (Keep Out!) $\rightarrow$ View HW
  88   Info}.
  89   \opt{lcd_charcell}{Cycle through the displayed values with \ButtonRight /
  90     \ButtonLeft\ until "Flash:" is displayed. If it shows question marks,
  91   }
  92   \opt{lcd_bitmap}{Check the values in the line starting with "Flash:". If it
  93     shows question marks after "M=" and "D=",
  94   }
  95   you're out of luck, your \dap\ is not flashable without modifying the
  96   hardware. You can stop here. Sorry.
  97 }
  98
  99 \nopt{ondio}{If your \dap\ is flashable, you}\opt{ondio}{You} should perform a
 100 backup of the current flash ROM contents, in case you want to restore it later.
 101 Select \setting{System $\rightarrow$ Debug (Keep Out!) $\rightarrow$ Dump ROM
 102 contents}. You'll notice a few seconds of disk activity. When you connect your
 103 \dap\ to the PC afterwards, you'll find two files in the root of your \dap.
 104 Copy the 256KB-sized file named \fname{internal\_rom\_2000000-203FFFF.bin} to
 105 a safe place.
 106
 107 \subsubsection{Flashing}
 108
 109 \begin{enumerate}
 110 \item Download the correct package for your \dap\ from
 111   \url{http://download.rockbox.org/bootloader/archos/}. It is named
 112   \fname{flash-{\textless}model{\textgreater}-{\textless}version{\textgreater}.zip}.
 113   The current packages are v3.
 114 \item Unzip the flash package to the root of your \dap.
 115   \nopt{ondio}{This will extract two files to the root,
 116     \fname{firmware\_{\textless}model{\textgreater}.bin} and
 117     \fname{firmware\_{\textless}model{\textgreater}\_norom.bin}.
 118     \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{(The {\textless}model{\textgreater} part is
 119       slighty different from that in the .zip file name.)
 120     }
 121     The flash plugin will select the correct one for your \dap.
 122   }
 123   \opt{ondio}{This will extract one file to the root,
 124     \fname{firmware\_{\textless}model{\textgreater}.bin}.
 125   }
 126   Now safely disconnect USB.
 127 \item
 128   \nopt{ondio}{Make sure your batteries are in good shape and fully charged.}
 129   \opt{ondio}{Make sure you use a set of fresh batteries.}
 130   Flashing doesn't need more power than normal operation, but you don't want
 131   your \dap\ to run out of power while flashing.
 132 \item Select \setting{Plugins $\rightarrow$ Applications}, and run the
 133   \fname{firmware\_flash} plugin. It will tell you about your flash and
 134   which file it is going to program. After pressing
 135   \opt{RECORDER_PAD}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{PLAYER_PAD}{\ButtonMenu}\opt{ONDIO_PAD}{\ButtonLeft}
 136   it will check the file. If the file is OK, pressing
 137   \opt{RECORDER_PAD}{\ButtonFTwo}\opt{PLAYER_PAD}{\ButtonOn}\opt{ONDIO_PAD}{\ButtonUp}
 138   will give you a big warning. If we still didn't manage to scare you off, you
 139   need to press
 140   \opt{RECORDER_PAD}{\ButtonFThree}\opt{PLAYER_PAD,ONDIO_PAD}{\ButtonRight}
 141   to actually program and verify. The programming takes just a few seconds.
 142 \item In the unlikely event that the programming or verify steps should give
 143   you any error, \emph{do not switch off the box!} Otherwise you'll have seen
 144   it working for the last time. While Rockbox is still in RAM and operational,
 145   we could upgrade the plugin via USB and try again. If you switch it off,
 146   it's gone.
 147 \end{enumerate}
 148
 149 \note{After successful flashing you may delete the \fname{.bin} files from the
 150   root of your \dap.
 151 }
 152
 153 \note{There are no separate flash packages for {\dap}s modified to have 8MB
 154   of RAM. You need to use the corresponding package for non-modified
 155   \playertype. You should then install a Rockbox image that makes use of all
 156   available RAM as described in the following section.
 157 }
 158
 159 \subsection{Updating the Rockbox Image in Flash}
 160
 161 When Rockbox is booted from flash, it does not check for an updated firmware
 162 on disk. This is one of the reasons why it boots faster than the \playerman\
 163 firmware. It means that whenever you update Rockbox, you also need to update
 164 the image in the flash. This is a simple and safe procedure:
 165
 166 \begin{enumerate}
 167 \item Download (or build) the Rockbox build you want to use, and unzip it to
 168   the root of your \dap. Safely disconnect USB.
 169 \item ROLO into the new Rockbox version.
 170 \item Go to the file browser, and enter the \fname{.rockbox} directory (you
 171   might need to set the \setting{File View} option to \setting{All}.)
 172 \item Play the file \fname{rockbox.ucl}\opt{rombox}{, or preferably
 173   \fname{rombox.ucl}}, and follow the instructions. The plugin handling
 174   this is \fname{rockbox\_flash}, a viewer plugin.
 175 \end{enumerate}
 176
 177 \subsection{Restoring the Original Flash ROM Contents}
 178
 179 In case you ever want to restore the original flash contents, you will need
 180 the backup file. The procedure is very similar to initial flashing, with the
 181 following differences:
 182
 183 \begin{enumerate}
 184 \item Check that you do not have any \fname{firmware\_*.bin} files in your
 185   \dap's root.
 186 \item Select \setting{Plugins $\rightarrow$ Applications}, and run the
 187   \fname{firmware\_flash} plugin. Write down the filename it displays in the
 188   first screen, then exit the plugin.
 189 \item Connect USB, and copy the flash ROM backup file to the root of your
 190   \dap. \emph{Only use the backup file from that very box, otherwise you're
 191   asking for trouble!} Rename the file so that it matches the name requested
 192   by the \fname{firmware\_flash} plugin. Safely disconnect USB.
 193 \end{enumerate}
 194
 195 Now follow the instructions given for initial flashing, starting with step 3.