How-To Recover your Bricked J3 using Tcctool

[WAI]

Hello, a User: joecool finally found the right value to unbrick his J3. other users who had bricked theirs followed and accepted to use this value and it was a success! we all would like to thank him for his work and help

[NOTE] Tcctool should ONLY!!! be used if you..

-Can't seem to connect your J3 to a PC [J3 not being detected once connected]
-J3 appears to reboot [A repeated Loop while accepted to load the OS [Firmware]]
-Can't turn on J3
-All other things Failed [Tried turning on while Charging or trying to use the reset button, Etc.]

DOWNLOAD TCCTOOL

[Note for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users] i have found out that tcctool doesn't work and is unable to find the J3 while accepting to use Tcctool for Unbricking your J3. reboot PC and hit F8 before Vista or Win. 7 boot logo appears. There will be several options. Select [Disable driver signature enforcement] and that should allow you to use Tcctool. You'll have to do this step everytime if you want to use Tcctool though



Guide is ready and uploaded! Newer and BETTER! .PDF Link .DOC Link

Intro Video Link
Video Response 1 Link
Video Response 2 Link

[Text Based Guide: Install TCCTOOL]
-Create a new Folder Titled Tcctool @C:\ "where you see Program Files, Etc." then copy the contents of the .zip File to that Folder
-Copy/paste the COWON_J3_FW.BIN File from the Firmware .zip File to the tcctool Folder
-Connect the J3 WHILE Holding the play/pasue Button "IF" Windows ask to find Drivers, cancel and manually Install Tcctool Drivers by Right-Click My Computer then Manage/Device Manager then Find *unknown Device and Right-Click/Update Drivers and then there should be a manual option, allowing you to FIND/LOCATE the Tcctool/Win32. Sub Folder "Containing the Drivers"

[Text Based Guide: Fix Device]
-Open CMD and input cd C:\tcctool then tcctool -d cowons9 COWON_J3_FW.BIN then press ENTER
-After the File transfer is complete your J3 should come on and be detected [NOTE] At this point you should Back up ANY Files on your S9. Copy/paste all the Firmware Files to the ROOT of the J3 then disconnect then reconnect your J3 while still putting into Recovery Mode. REPEAT the same command tcctool -d cowons9 COWON_J3_FW.BIN or you can Hit the *Up Arrow key on your Keyboard to bring that command back up in CMD. wait for File transfers to complete! Your J3 should turn off after the FW Upgrade. disconnect then you should be able to turn on your J3

[NOTE] input cowons9small instead of cowons9 for small S9/J3 models 8GB/16GB

[UPDATE] for MAC users read this Thread please Link

[All else Failed Method] just tried with the J3 Firmware with a success! no harm in doing what i said. so simply do as followed

[NOTE] please note i do not know if this will actually fix the issue that some J3 users are having with the last part of the updating process freezing


-DOWNLOAD S9 Firmware Link
-Copy/Paste the cowon_s9_fw.bin File in the Tcctool Folder then proceed with the guide above

[NOTE] it may take a second try but it works

[FIXED] Short 'Fix Device' Method

[NOTE] please note i do not know if this will actually fix the issue that some J3 users are having with the last part of the updating process freezing

[NOTE] be sure to have Tcctool installed properly and the J3 Firmware File within the Tcctool Folder

-Open CMD and input cd C:\tcctool then tcctool -d cowons9 COWON_J3_FW.BIN then press ENTER
-After the File transfer is complete your J3 should come on and be detected. Copy/paste all the Firmware Files to the ROOT of the J3 then Safely Disconnect and turn on the Device
-Update process will begin and then after, all should be good

[joecool]

Just so there is no confusion. The s9 options in the tool work fine. The S9 and J3 have very similar hardware. Do not try to load a J3 firmware on an S9 or vice-versa. This method should unbrick it if you made that mistake.

I will follow this thread if anyone has any questions. Please be sure to state the size of the j3 that you unbricked successfully or if asking for help.

[chronicali]

Hey guys, was researching on the S9 thread and then found this thread.

So I bricked my 16GB J3 on the first day after charging and loading up songs. For some reason, after I loaded songs and safely disconnected, it gets stuck on the J3 loading screen. It won't load past halfway. So I used this this guide.

So to disable driver signature in Windows 7, it won't work going through the F8 before boot screen. Instead...

To Disable Driver Signature in Windows 7:
Start Menu -> Inside Search Bar type in "cmd.exe" and then right click cmd and choose "Run as Administrator".

Then type in these two commands:
bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON

Then simply restart and there should be a stamp on the bottom right hand corner of the screen saying that it is now in test mode. Now the tcctool drivers can be installed as advertised.


The only problem with my J3 is that it still gets hung up at the loading screen!
(By the way, 16GB J3 uses the cowons9/cowonj3 command, and not the cowons9small.)

So I connect it in boot mode and run the command, and then at the end it says "Patching application uploaded successfully!" At this point, my J3 turns on (I believe in normal mode) by itself and goes to the loading screen, only to get hung up at the same spot. The only difference is that before the FW version on the bottom would say VER 2.03, but now it says VER 2.21, the one that I am trying to flash onto it.

This doesn't really help me though, because I still can't access the memory inside via My Computer to really reflash the new firmware, so it stays bricked atm.

One thing is that inside the J3 2.21 FW, there is 3 BIN files, I simply just used the cowon_j3_fw.bin because it seemed most logical. But there is also cowon_j3_ft.bin and cowon_j3_rs.bin.

Does anyone know what else I can do? Maybe it's because I didn't follow through the last part correctly?

"...-After the File transfer through tcctool, disconnect your J3 and reconnect to PC. REPEAT the process as stated above again and wait for File transfer to complete! Device should now be read from the PC and be detected as a USB Device thus' letting you update the Firmware as normal"

On that step, after the initial file transfer through tcctool, when I disconnect my J3 it still stays stuck on the loading screen so when I plug it back in I can't even find the TCC device anymore, it says "TCC device not found." Then when I do a hard reset while unplugged (only way to turn off device) and then plug it back in, it does the same thing as what happened in the initial load.

Am I doing this last step wrong or am I missing anything? It still continues to stay bricked with it getting hung up at the loading screen. Have spent quite a few hours trying to debug this, but with no luck. Thanks in advance for any additional help.

[WAI]

i may have forgot to mention when you disconnect your S9/J3 the Boot Mode is turned off i think but i'm unsure on this. does your J3 get detected by Windows after the file transfer in Tcctool?

[chronicali]

Originally Posted by Who Am I?

i may have forgot to mention when you disconnect your S9/J3 the Boot Mode is turned off i think but i'm unsure on this. does your J3 get detected by Windows after the file transfer in Tcctool?

No, after the file transfer it automatically turns on the machine in regular mode and starts loading on the load screen, where it subsequently gets stuck. The firmware version is changed to 2.21, but it just gets stuck there and the computer still doesn't see it as a drive.

[WAI]

Originally Posted by chronicali

No, after the file transfer it automatically turns on the machine in regular mode and starts loading on the load screen, where it subsequently gets stuck. The firmware version is changed to 2.21, but it just gets stuck there and the computer still doesn't see it as a drive.

hmm... sorry i'm of no help. you wouldn't happen to have a MicroSD Card in your J3 would you?

[chronicali]

No MicroSD card in it. I feel as though I may have to RMA this one.

[chronicali]

And when I use cowons9small, it works as well, tells me that update is complete, but the player seems to stay in boot mode. When I disconnect and reconnect WITHOUT holding the play button, it cannot find the TCC device when I try to run the commands. But when I reconnect WHILE holding the play button, I can update it again successfully, but unfortunately it kind of seems to do nothing after that...

[joecool]

Obviously cowons9small does not work on the 16gb if the screen does not turn on and it says plugged in charging. It will just stay in boot mode.

Basically what happens is, this forces a bit of the firmware on to the device into it's ram. It doesn't actually flash it when you run tcctool. The changes are not persistent, meaning when you unplug it, it returns to it's normal bricked state.

So the proper process is:

1. run tcctool to get screen started. If it works properly, screen turns on, says plugged in charging.
2. copy over all files to be flashed onto the drive (because when the screen turns on it SHOULD see it now as a normal drive
3. unplug it (wiping what you just loaded)
4. replug it and run tcctool again. It should read the flash this time and begin flashing automatically.

[chronicali]

Thanks for the quick response.

I think my unit is truly bricked. I am a technically oriented individual, so I do understand what you have been saying.

So following the latter post, after running tcctool via

tcctool -d cowonj3 COWON_J3_FW.BIN ENTER

it updates successfully and the unit turns on and starts to boot. But the ONLY problem is that everytime it starts to boot on the menu that says J3 in the middle and the blue load bar right below, the load bar gets stuck right before half way, so it never truly gets into the system. Also, the computer STILL doesn't read it as a drive at that point in time either (probably because it hasn't completely booted up).

Any other ideas? Seems like I'm eternally stuck on step 2. I've sent Adorama an email to possibly start an RMA process, do you think they will honor it or do I need to contact Cowon directly?

Thanks.

[joecool]

Weird, my only other idea is try another version of the firmware. I did the unbricking using the 2.10 version of the firmware. Went from 2.03 > 2.10.

It's worth a shot

[chronicali]

Yeah, I did try 2.10 as well yet with no luck. It feels like its still hung on scanning some other files inside the drive preventing me from "getting to" the reflash of the new FW. I will try both FW versions installs again tonight before truly giving up and sending it back for RMA. Thanks.

[dduckquack]

was trying to make playlists while on MTP mode and suddenly my J3 wont turn on anymore;
tried this, first windows didnt ask for a driver, a notification just popped out that the device wasnt recognised. then if i try to update driver anyway, it says "windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date"

[dduckquack]

nevermind, it all seemed lost, so i just decided to hold the power button and press the reset button at the back, and now IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

[Caleb]

Hey, I just got a 16GB J3 about a week ago. After I loaded some more music on it and disconnected, the player now gets stuck on the loading screen. Can Tcctool fix this?

I've tried to use Tcctool, but I'm not sure if I did it right. I followed all the steps above and I connected the device while holding the play/pause button. After typing: "C:\tcctool\tcctool -d cowonj3 COWON_J3_FW.BIN" in CMD, I get this message:

[INFO] Using device "Cowon J3"
[ERR] Could not open COWON_J3_FW.BIN

The J3's screen is blank throughout the process. I'm not sure what to do..
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks