Tcctool for S9 Project

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by joeyg

dkft, I don't have any information about the TCC91 series nor do I have the V5 player. Sorry. I can tell you that to get any information you will need to open the player and find the SDRAM chip.

I might just do that, if it helps.

[WAI]

Originally Posted by joeyg

Not a chance if you want to go about replacing your operating system, you'll have to do it on your own.

After installing Linux get the source as per
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/DevelopmentGuide

Then in utils/tcctool you will find tcctool.c.
Type 'make' to compile it.
Then download the Cowon firmware to the same folder and extract COWON_FW.BIN
Type ./tcctool -d cowons9 COWON_FW.BIN

It should work. If you have permission errors or something try prepending sudo to that.

can't i use a Live CD or do i actually have to install it? would it work on a Virtual Linux by any chance? and i tried the Live CD but i was puzzled about what to do at where to find the source code or w/e. i tried svn but your second step is what puzzled me

[joeyg]

You can probably use a LiveCD. Make sure make/gcc/svn are installed.

The latest SVN revision is 25894. Knowing that, the instructions on the site should be pretty straightforward. You need to know your way around a terminal.

Change directory to utils/tcctool and then do make:

cd rockbox/utils/tcctool
make
./tcctool -d cowons9 COWON_FW.BIN

If you can forward your USB port to your virtual Linux I don't see why that wouldn't work.

[joeyg]

Guys, I have some important information:

I bricked my S9 again and the SDCFG value I posted here didn't work. I rechecked my values and tried a few others. Finally, this one: 0xaaac7800, worked.

Edit: The tcctool maintainer would like me to get some confirmation before putting this new value through. Has anyone else had success with this value?

[WAI]

if my S9 DID NOT get REPAIR or Replaced i will try it. this is for the Windows Version right?

[joeyg]

No, I changed the Linux version.

If you get libusb for Windows you can probably compile it and run the same program on Windows too. Just edit tcctool.c with the new value and you're off to the races.

[WAI]

i never knew libusb was for Windows

how do i edit Tcctool.c?

[joeyg]

I do not have Windows. I don't know how to use or develop on Windows, or if such a thing is even possible in a meaningful sense. All I know is that there is a project called libusb-win32 available here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb-win32/

Perhaps it will help you.

In tcctool.c there is a table of configuration values for different players. Page down once and you will probably see it. Add this line:

    {"cowons9",  "Cowon S9",                     0xb057, 0x20000000, 0xaaac7800 },

Then recompile.


In the end, you are going to have trouble if you use Windows. There is no way around it except to install an operating system more condusive to development.

Edit: linuxstb has posted a Windows version: http://linuxstb.cream.org/tcctool.exe

[walrusmonarch]

Hey guys. Just joined today and just managed to brick my 7 month old s9
So I am running lucid x64 right now. I downloaded the source for tcctool and edited tcctool.c and added the line for cowons9 that joeyg provided. I ran the command and it said that it was patched successfully. However, nothing happened on my s9. It still won't turn on. Am I doing something wrong or is it just not working?

Some answers would be appreciated

[joeyg]

Can you grab a voltmeter and check the voltage on your battery? (Sorry for the late reply, I have been very busy at work lately.) Also, you remembered to compile after changing tcctool.c, right? Can't count how many times that's burned me..

[walrusmonarch]

Hey, thank you for responding. Unfortunately I am in India visiting family right now. I don't have access to a voltmeter at the moment, and yes i remembered to compile. I tried both values that you posted. Aside from the voltmeter is there anything else that I can try to unbrick my s9? Oh, and sorry for replying so late, but I just managed to track down and Internet connection

By the way, when it is done patching, i just unplug my s9 and then try and turn it on right?

[joeyg]

You can unplug, yeah. If you are concerned about battery life, you should probably use the 'reset' button to reboot it instead, which will keep the USB power constant.

What I am seeing is that after loading the Cowon firmware on, it will restart itself and load the firmware, but not be permanent - ie, after a hard-boot it will be gone. So I load the firmware in, then copy the file to the root of the drive so that it will upgrade itself with its internal procedure, which is permanent.

What model S9 are you using? I have the original 8Gb one with no options or anything.

[walrusmonarch]

My s9 doesn't restart itself afterwards and using the reset button seems to do nothing. Oh and I have a 16GB titanium black. Maybe the values you provided don't work for my s9?

This is possibly the worst time for my s9 to die. I am on vacation in India and am subjected to long car rides... I miss my music. I tried listening to music on my psp, but it sounds like crap...

[joeyg]

Yikes, that sucks.

If my numbers aren't working for you, you might need to pop open your player and take a picture of the SDRAM.

It's a rectangular chip next to the processor, which is the square one that says Telechips TCC7901. (There is probably a QA sticker hiding this. I used alcohol to clean the residue off to read it.)

But BEFORE YOU DO THAT, here is my suspicion that I just got now while writing this. From my earlier post:

32 bits

+-31---30---29---28---27---26---25---24---23---22---21---20---19---18---17---16-+
| CL | BW | CW      | RC                | RCD               | WR      |  0 |  0 |
+-15---14---13---12---11---10---09---08---07---06---05---04---03---02---01---00-+
| RP                | RW      |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 | AM |  0 | PPD| SR |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Where the fields are:
CL CAS latency (0 = 2 cycles, 1 = 3 cycles)
BW Bus width (0 = 32-bit, 1, = 16-biT)
CW CAS address width (0, 1 = 8-bit, 2 = 9-bit, 3 = 10-bit)
RC Refresh-to-idle cycle parameter
RCD Refresh-to-CAS cycle parameter
WR Write-to-read cycle parameter
RP Precharge-to-refresh cycle parameter
RW RAS address width (0 = 12 bits, 1 = 11 bits, 2 = 13 bits)
AM Address matching order (0 = BANK-RAS-CAS, 1 = RAS-BANK-CAS)
PPD Precharge power-down enabled
SR Self-refresh enabled

I have the RW and CW set for the 8Gb chip. For a 16Gb or 32Gb chip, the address widths will almost certainly be higher (the 8Gb model has 512Mb RAM - I'm guessing the 32Gb model has more). Try increasing one or both of those values in the SDCFG value and see how you fare.

[walrusmonarch]

Gah!!!!!!!! My internet is slower than dial up!!!!

Anyways, sorry if this sounds stupid but...uh...erm...well... which numbers exactly are the cw and rw values in the SDCFG. Um... I don't even know what the hell that chart thing you posted is... Can you give me a few sample SDCFGs with increased rw and cw values so i know what im supposed to do. Again, sorry if this seems like a stupid question, but I don't have a clue about things like this.

Thanks in advance