MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - PRS-T1 Possibly toast

DoctorM · 02-18-2017, 12:03 PM

Sorry to reply to myself but I wanted to report what I did this time and ask a question for the community.

(If anyone wants a FULL guide on how to do this, let me know.)
First, I unbricked the reader with Porkupan's SD rescue package using the method shown here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRS...C_sd_rescue.29

Next I had to fix the fact that this makes the firmware a hybrid of two versions. That requires convincing the reader that the version is lower than 1.0.07 and reflashing the current firmware.

I did this by putting the reader in recovery mode using rupor-resuce, PuTTY and the linux-cdc-acm.inf. Method is here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRS...covery_Console

Then I copied the contents of the reader drive to my PC (in Recovery Mode), and used
the hex editor HxD to find and replace all occurrences of the text "1.0.07.05070" with "1.0.03.11140".

Once that was done I copied the data back over the contents of the reader's drive.
This is described here: https://community.sony.com/t5/Reader...p/523641#M1774

Finally, the reader can be reflashed with the 1.0.07 firmware and all is good again.

Now here is where I went off the path. Instead of flashing 1.0.07 I flashed 1.0.05 and rooted the reader to see what there was to see there.

My impression was so-so since most apps are now less functional (for example Pandora for this version of Android is no longer supported) and I figured I'd unroot and reflash to 1.0.07. That presented it's own challenges and didn't go smoothly. (No need to detail that.)

My take away was a question for the community:

(TL;DNR ->) Instead of dumping the contents of the reader's drive, editing the firmware version numbers and copying it back (or in fact when my reader first had the shut down problem described in the first post), couldn't I have just run the unrooting restore-set (which seems to do exactly the same thing) and then reflashing to 1.0.07?

Edit: Haven't tested what I said there, but other discussions suggest this will create a mixed firmware version.

02-18-2017, 12:03 PM	#5
DoctorM Groupie Posts: 168 Karma: 43000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: none	Sorry to reply to myself but I wanted to report what I did this time and ask a question for the community. (If anyone wants a FULL guide on how to do this, let me know.) First, I unbricked the reader with Porkupan's SD rescue package using the method shown here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRS...C_sd_rescue.29 Next I had to fix the fact that this makes the firmware a hybrid of two versions. That requires convincing the reader that the version is lower than 1.0.07 and reflashing the current firmware. I did this by putting the reader in recovery mode using rupor-resuce, PuTTY and the linux-cdc-acm.inf. Method is here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRS...covery_Console Then I copied the contents of the reader drive to my PC (in Recovery Mode), and used the hex editor HxD to find and replace all occurrences of the text "1.0.07.05070" with "1.0.03.11140". Once that was done I copied the data back over the contents of the reader's drive. This is described here: https://community.sony.com/t5/Reader...p/523641#M1774 Finally, the reader can be reflashed with the 1.0.07 firmware and all is good again. Now here is where I went off the path. Instead of flashing 1.0.07 I flashed 1.0.05 and rooted the reader to see what there was to see there. My impression was so-so since most apps are now less functional (for example Pandora for this version of Android is no longer supported) and I figured I'd unroot and reflash to 1.0.07. That presented it's own challenges and didn't go smoothly. (No need to detail that.) My take away was a question for the community: (TL;DNR ->) Instead of dumping the contents of the reader's drive, editing the firmware version numbers and copying it back (or in fact when my reader first had the shut down problem described in the first post), couldn't I have just run the unrooting restore-set (which seems to do exactly the same thing) and then reflashing to 1.0.07? Edit: Haven't tested what I said there, but other discussions suggest this will create a mixed firmware version. Last edited by DoctorM; 09-25-2017 at 12:18 AM.