PRS-T2 Hacking the T2

[parkher]

Originally Posted by skipme

Hello
I tried to upgrade my T2 from version 1.0.03.09110 to version 1.0.05.11130

No!!!
Don't do that. T2 with 1.0.03.09110 is a very valuable device.
Once you upgrade to 1.0.05.11130 it becomes worthless.
1.0.03.09110 is the firmware everybody dreams about when attempting to buy T2.
Once upgraded to a newer firmware, it is not possible to downgrade back, unless you already jailbreaked your T2 before upgrading.

I hope you somehow failed to upgrade. Not sure about the usb problem, though.

[parkher]

Originally Posted by johnthemate

Ok, so Ive started the process. I was too impatient to wait for an answer

Very bad to be impatient.
I've heard of several such cases as the above one when somebody upgrades firmware of a perfectly good T2 to 1.0.05 so that it can no longer be rooted.

But what exactly is your firmware version and what model (how many dictionaries)?
If you bought it only recently, it is unlikely you can do anything, unfortunately.

For EU (12 dictionaries) or US (6 dictionaries) models, you need to have firmware where the first digits of the version number are: 1.0.00 or 1.0.01 or 1.0.02 or 1.0.03 or early revision of 1.0.04.
If you bought T2 with 1.0.04.11081 already running on T2, most likely your device is locked. Only the early revision of 1.0.04.11081 which initially appeared for downloading was OK.
If T2 already has 1.0.05 - it is also locked and cannot be improved.

For RU models (2 dictionaries), 1.0.01.11080 was the last good firmware but also was changed by Sony without changing the version number, so if it is already on a new device - it is probably locked as well.

If you have an early enough firmware, you can make backups or restore from backups, including (most likely) - restoring on a US model from a backup of EU model.
But it is not necessary. With such a device you can also install all the 14 dictionaries from EU and RU models simultaneously (US 6 dictionaries = a subset of EU 12 dictionaries).
Better still, you can install rupor's AMR (it is recommended when expanding dictionaries anyway - there might be a problem with switching dictionaries otherwise). Then you will get an open android where you can install any dictionary software you like and add any dictionaries you want.
My favorite dictionary software: GoldenDict. It works with multiple dictionary formats, including StarDict and dsl and lsd. It is more convenient to use on T2 than ColorDict. It is integrated with Cool Reader and can be invoked from it.
But for any of that you need an early enough firmware version that still has the hole discovered by boroda for hacking T2.

[johnthemate]

Hi Parkher, Thanks so much for coming back to me in so much detail.

My Device is a version 1.0.04.11081... hence I thought that I was good to go, but from what you mention in your thread, it would appear that not all versions are created equal.

I have the US version with 6 dictionaries ( 2x ENG, 2 x FR and 2x ES), sadly not German, Dutch or Italian ( let alone chinese)

How can I work out whetherI have the modern ( bad ) version of 1.0.04.11081, or if I am doing something stupid on the copying process of rescue package. i clearly dont want to try going any furtehr until I know I have a way back .

Other info I know about my T2.
refurbished T2.
Model PRST2 HBC


Thanks!

john

[parkher]

Before you attempt anything, you better make a backup.
But you can make a backup only if your firmware is good for rooting.
So trying to make a backup itself is a good test.

In particular, if you have the right firmware, you should be able to go into the recovery mode and hopefully see the striped disk on your PC.
If your 1.0.04 has the hole closed - you will not be able to get into the recovery mode.

Actually, I never tried making a backup on a T2 running wrong firmware.
Never encountered such a device. Stopped buying them when it became dangerous to do so. Or rather, bought 4 of them in a hurry before it became dangerous.
BTW, the US model stayed safe for much longer, the bad 1.0.04 firmware initially showed up for EU model only. And in USA and Canada where Sony readers are not so popular as Kindle or Nook, it is easier to find one with an older firmware.


I wrote sort of a guide here a few pages (or years) back, it is a bit out-of-date, though, now the required firmware is 1.0.04 (but the good one!!!).
For backup the firmware version is not important, though.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=87

Try doing step 2.

Maybe I should explain it a bit better:
When you download rupor-rescue.7z you will find OS Firmware folder inside.
You must put it on an external SD card and have it inserted in T2.
You can try switching to the recovery mode either manually or from PC.

Manually:
- press HOME and MENU buttons together and keep them pressed
- press the reset button with a pin inside the reset hole.
- press ON/OFF button to switch T2 off and then to switch it ON again (still keeping HOME and MENU pressed)
- keep HOME and MENU pressed until the progress indicator of "Opening book..." reaches the end.
NOTE: this procedure may not work reliably every time. You may need to try several times until it works. The exact moment when you press those two keys and when you release them might be important.

From PC: connect T2 to the PC.
You will need to use
ebook_msc.exe
which can be borrowed from an archive for any step of routing and installing AMR, for example, from rupor-jailbreak.7z
So then you run it on your PC with the following command line arguments:
name "PRS-T2" um recovery
In other words, run this:
ebook_msc name "PRS-T2" um recovery
This approach is simpler than with HOME+MENU because it works every time.

As a result you should see a striped (with multiple partitions) disk on your PC in the Disk Management.
However! It is working fine on my XP machine but it does not show up on a Windows 8 machine. Perhaps something needs to be configured in Windows 8.
So if this striped disk does not show up on anything above XP - it is not yet conclusive that your firmware is bad. Because I still have XP on another computer, I never bothered yet to make it work under Windows 8. BTW, my Windows 8 has explorer.exe from Windows 7, so it is not purely Windows 8 either.

At a quick glance, there is one more very useful step that should be added to that old guide:
to increase screen_off_timeout value from default 2 seconds to 10 seconds or so.
For that purpose you can use a rupor-timeout-set procedure (sets timeout to 10 s), or it can be done directly on T2 from the terminal app:

su
sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "update system set value='6000' where name='screen_off_timeout';"
reboot

This way you can set any value you want, in this example - 6 seconds.



The main source of information is
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...3fbb9b92146c93

Attempting to translate into English:
http://translate.google.com/translat...07%26start%3D0

You can easily see the download links there. Including the link to the good 1.0.04 firmware.
Although in your case it is not important. If you already have 1.0.04 you will not be able to replace the bad one with the good one. Unless on that refurbished T2 of yours somebody already ran jailbreak when the T2 still had good firmware and the internal flash was not restored from a full backup - in such a case it is possible to recover.
I don't have any experience with this, but, I think, boroda wrote how to do it.
Perhaps the recovery mode and restoring from backup is still working on a such device, not sure.
But I guess, if you are not successful with the direct approach, perhaps you should investigate this issue, perhaps you have such an already jailbreaked device.

And specifically about making the backup:

http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25373

The required files (just for the backup stage) are here:
http://projects.mobileread.com/reade...upor-rescue.7z


You can also take a look at this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=parkher


I found it!
If T2 was previously successfully jailbreaked it can be salvaged, look here:

http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...3fbb9b92146c93

and directly the download link:
http://projects.mobileread.com/reade....0.05.12140.7z

It says there that you can recover from firmware 1.0.05.
Not sure about bad 1.0.04.
But, I guess, it is always possible to update from 1.0.04 to 1.0.05.
So it is not a problem.
However, do not do it in a hurry. If it turns out that your 1.0.04 was good after all and jailbreak was never done - you will destroy (in my view, at least) a perfectly good T2.

[johnthemate]

thanks so much for all the effort put in.. im trying to follow, but starting to think I must be an idiot.. give me a bit more time to see what is going on, do even more reading..

for eg..

Trying to run ebook_msc.exe straight from the pc, does not seen to do anything. dos type widow flashes up and then dissappears managed to screen shot it before it dissappeared.

I presume the after doing the procedure witht eh home and menu button that the reader should come off the opening book page.. anyway, I am sure that I am expecting to see a new image file ont eh SD card.. none of this is happening

back to tryign things.. so deperately want my extra dictionaries, and I cannot even tie my own laces yet!
Thanks

[johnthemate]

yeaa! - making progress. Got the back up at last Thanks!!!

Yeeahhh x 2 - after initial phobia all worked like a dream. Thanks very much !! one happy hacked Sony owner. Thanks again!!!!

[parkher]

Great!
My favorite software is Cool Reader 3 builds made by jotas.
The current one is cr3.0.57-15-43-jotas.apk, although I am a few build behind, not tested this one yet.

But there are people who prefer the original buggins builds.
You may also try AlReader - it has advantages, such as an ability to edit the book, so you can fix OCR problems directly on T2 while reading, etc.
But its support for T2 buttons is minimal. But next page / previous page buttons do work.
In comparison, on CR3 you can have many actions mapped to short press, long press, double press actions of T2 buttons.

I am also using GoldenDict integrated with CR. GoldenDict is a bit more suited for T2 than ColorDict.
It at least has page up / page down buttons on the screen, and also allows to define language pairs, and also to jump to a specific dictionary.

[Greydesk]

I have been reading over this thread for a while and took a look at my T2 information when Sony dropped the reader store. There is an update for the T2 to allow Kobo. I don't care about Kobo purchases as I have a large library of epubs in Calibre that I have to read first.
My Version is 1.0.04.11081
Is there a list of programs and such that I can use if I root my device? I saw a mention of coolreader, which I use on an old Pandigital Novel 9 (rooted) and I would love to use that. Are there other programs? Games (suduko?)

Thanks!

Greydesk

[ebookread]

check out the WIKI page of working apps

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRST1_working_apps

[antonizoon]

Hi, I have a Dutch PRS-T2N on 1.0.01, and I'm trying to get it rooted.

I originally envisioned reflashing the PRS-T2N to a european firmware using the SD recovery, but I read about a person who did the same with his Japanese PRS-T2 and bricked it.

So instead, does anyone know exactly what it takes to port the root to another variant of the PRS-T2? Do I need a system image dump? How do I modify the root package? (I can do a bit of scripting, just need to understand how)

I noticed that on the PRS-T1, a similar port was necessary for the Japanese version, so I'd like to do the same.

[rem736]

so i got a t2 just a few days ago from the tigerdirect deal for about $30. i checked and it has firmware 1.0.03.09110 on it currently.

before i attempt at rooting it, i need to know if i can set it back to this original firmware if i change my mind. is this possible? i just need to back up the firmware with one of the tools first, correct? and is it best to do the rooting on a windows xp machine? win 7? win 8.1?

and one more thing. the latest update available incorporates kobo store integration. if i jailbreak on version 1.0.03.09110, make the backup, and update to the latest firmware with kobo store integration, will i be able to restore back to 1.0.03.09110?

[Xiaopangzi]

Haha, also got a T2 for $30 from tigerdirect, refurbished but looks like new.
Mine came with 1.0.00.07100. Upgraded to 1.0.04.11081, made a backup, and rooted it (from within a virtual machine running xp). Very happy with the result. Coolreader looks very nice (using Sitka Small as custom font).

[rem736]

Originally Posted by Xiaopangzi

Haha, also got a T2 for $30 from tigerdirect, refurbished but looks like new.
Mine came with 1.0.00.07100. Upgraded to 1.0.04.11081, made a backup, and rooted it (from within a virtual machine running xp). Very happy with the result. Coolreader looks very nice (using Sitka Small as custom font).

so if you want to go back to 1.0.04.11081, can can just re-flash with the backup?

[Xiaopangzi]

Originally Posted by rem736

so if you want to go back to 1.0.04.11081, can can just re-flash with the backup?

Yes, I would expect so (but have not tried it).

[Xiaopangzi]

It appears that everyone who still sells the PRS-T2 is advertising it as having 512MB RAM. Mine clearly only has 256MB. I assume that is the case for all of them, and the ads are wrong.

It appears that 256MB is not quite enough for this device. Sony configured it without swap partition or swap file, and 'busybox free' shows that all of the 256MB is essentially always fully in use, not even leaving much for disk buffers. It looks like adding a swap file helps quite a bit. For the time being, I added a 128MB swap file on internal memory, with typically 30 to 50MB of swap being in use, but I have also seen it to go much higher for some memory hungry applications. I think adding swap also seems to help with the indexing service force-closing when too many books are added.

Have these matters been discussed? Are there any recommendations?