Rockbox Default Firmware Installed & Hold Mode Broken: Any way boot w/Cowon firmware?

[music065]

The "Hold" position of my D2's power switch stopped working, and I have it setup so it boots by default using Rockbox.

Does anyone know of a way to get this D2 to boot using Cowon firmware in this situation? (I still need to use Cowon firmware to connect it to a computer via USB so I can add & delete music, etc).

The only way I could think of is to perhaps remove the SD card & use TCC tool to get the computer to recognize the D2, then reinstall the Cowon firmware, making Cowon the default boot firmware. While this may work, it will take a lot of time and isn't really a practical way to continue to use the D2.

Is anyone aware of a way of enabling the D2 to boot into either Rockbox or Cowon firmware *without* using the hold switch?

Thank you

[shotofadds]

The only way would be what you suggested: use tcctool to flash the original Cowon firmware. That is, unless you are a coder and feel up to hacking the Rockbox bootloader ARM code to check a different button....

[andrewthecoder]

here's a patch to do what you want, boot cowon firmware when menu is pressed (I think): (url removed as I was clearly wrong ;P sorry bkd11)

For reference (and hopefully shotofadds' correction);

Index: firmware/target/arm/tcc780x/crt0.S
================================================== =================
--- firmware/target/arm/tcc780x/crt0.S (revision 24663)
+++ firmware/target/arm/tcc780x/crt0.S (working copy)
@@ -73,8 +73,8 @@
#ifdef COWON_D2
ldr r0, =0xf005a000
ldr r0, [r0, #0x20] /* Read GPIO A */
- tst r0, #0x8
- ldrne pc, [pc, #-28] /* Jump to original firmware if HOLD not pressed */
+ tst r0, #0x200
+ ldreq pc, [pc, #-28] /* Jump to original firmware if HOLD not pressed */
#else
#error No bootup key detection implemented for this target
#endif

[bkd11]

^^ I tried this (just to see if it would work ;p) and I ended up with a Rockbox only d2 having to recover with tcctool. If I powered on then quickly pushed the MENU key it still went to Rockbox. If I powered on while holding MENU it would put in recovery mode (Thankfully!). Might be safer to experiment with a Cowon FW first bootloader.

[shotofadds]

@andrew, try this instead (untested):

ldr    r0, [r0, #0x40] /* Read GPIO B */
tst    r0, #0x4        /* Test bit 2 */
ldreq  pc, [pc, #-28]  /* Jump to original firmware if button not pressed */

(Explanation: the CowonD2Info wiki lists which GPIOs you can check, the normal version works by checking the state of the HOLD switch using GPIO line A3. The other buttons aren't wired up to individual GPIOs, but you can test if any of them are pressed by checking GPIO B2. So that's what the code above does)


HOWEVER, you might find this is completely unusable - since pressing one of the buttons when you try to turn the device on might put it in tcctool mode before the Rockbox code even gets to run. But it's worth a try...

[music065]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I'm not really a coder -- if I read your posts correctly, it appears that at this point the only methods are rather untested/experimental in nature?

hmmm. . . maybe I should open up the D2 and take a stab at repairing the switch. I think the contact may just need to be resoldered. Maybe.

Or, OMG I should probably actually consider buying a new/refurbished D2 as the prices have dropped to a level thats not too painful, not a lot more than paying Cowon to do the screen/switch repairs.

[bkd11]

Originally Posted by shotofadds

@andrew, try this instead (untested):

ldr    r0, [r0, #0x40] /* Read GPIO B */
tst    r0, #0x4        /* Test bit 2 */
ldreq  pc, [pc, #-28]  /* Jump to original firmware if button not pressed */

Ok, I'll be the guinea pig.

I can confirm that this works. Once again shotofadds is the man.

You just have to push one of the buttons quickly after you flip the power switch because if you do it before, or at the same time, it will go into recovery mode. BTW it works with any of the buttons (-/M/+).

I changed Idreq to ldrne thinking that it would go to the OF by default but it actually reversed it to Rockbox by default. Hmmm.

@music065 I use the 3.13 FW. Here is the patched version of that.

If you use a different FW and know how to patch using mktccboot, here is the bootloader-cowond2.bin.

But ya, the d2 is pretty easy to take apart. Worth a shot to see if there is a broken solder or something.

Edit: I think I actually like this method better than the hold switch.

[music065]

Thank you, I'll give this a try and report back.

[music065]

PROBLEM SOLVED. I installed the patched version of the 3.13 FW that bkd11 posted above and can confirm it works great.

I agree, I like it better than the version utilizing the power/hold switch. This seems a bit more natural because with this method one uses the menu button to startup either in safe mode (hold menu while starting up) or Cowon FW (press menu after power on). Also, IMO this version may extend the life of older D2s a bit further because the power switch has a relatively high failure rate, as evidenced by many threads on the topic in the troubleshooting forum, and it seems utilizing the patched FW where one flicks the power switch back & forth quickly to boot with Cowon FW could potentially increase the power switch failure rate.

[music065]

@ shotofadds, andrewthecoder, bkd11: Thank you for posting & testing the necessary code. IMO the 3 of you are helping the D2/Rockbox community immeasurably.

[music065]

hmmm . . . now another D2 user here has posted that he has a similar problem to the one I had here, except his power switch is stuck in hold mode (he has Rockbox setup so that D2 boots into Rockbox with hold mode) -- so he can't boot into Cowon FW. http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showth...089#post282089

Interestingly, I think even though his problem is kind of opposite of mine, IMHO he could use the same method you all helped devise on this thread to bring his D2 back: use tcctool to get computer to recognize D2, then reinstall Cowon FW, then install a version of Rockbox that utilizes the menu button rather than the hold mode to select boot FW.

. . . I'd like to take this opportunity to say i told you so re: High failure rate of the D2 power switch.

[ekzotic]

is it possible to make patched bootloader that will load original firmware by default? and will boot rockbox with M?