PRS-650 Flashing the firmware

[Papi]

Prokupan : thanks a lot for your help. Switching to English, I was indeed able to see the settings.

As for the serial console, could you tell me how to get in recovery mode ? I search for it on google, and it seems I have to make a diagnostic card to get in recovery mode, but then I don't know how to make a diagnostic card, and haven't found informations about it. Could you help me on that ?

[Mark Nord]

Check "reflash_reader.bat" from the "standard" 1.5f update

.\ebook_msc.exe name %_READERMODEL% um recovery
if errorlevel 1 goto :failure

[Papi]

Thanks Mark. So if I understood correctly, I need to :
- put ebook_msc.exe and the dlls it uses in some directory
- copy the login_update files (update.sh, "PRS-650 Updater.package", shadow) in that same directory
- create a batch which would be very similar to flash_reader.bat, except I can get rid of the lines which copy the tocopy_* and test_flash directories
- run the batch
- switch to linux and try to access through a serial console

am I correct ? Given I don't do anything too stupid once (if) I log into that console, is this procedure risky ?

Thanks for your patience

[650user]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Good luck to you, 650user, and let us know what happens with the warranty claim!

eP

I did not tell Sony that I tried unofficial firmware update. They sent me a new 650 saying they could not repair my 650.
So, even Sony does not have a solution to repair it yet.

By the way, I guess this infinite restarting problem could happen even after official firmware update if the USB connection fails while updating. I wonder how Sony will handle this problem when they launch official firmware.

[PatNY]

I am having a problem updating the Russian firmware to 1.05f and am hoping Porkupan or anyone else knowledgeable can help me.

Currently my PRS-350 is running 1.05e. When I try to run flash_reader.bat, the script will run for a few lines but then I get the following:

Access is denied
Script did not complete
Press any key to continue ...

Pressing a key then exits the DOS window. I tried it a few times and always get that message. Does anyone know why?

I am on Windows XP SP3.

The reason I thought I'd try the update is because of a minor glitch in 1.05e where the alphabetic navigator on the right-hand side is in part Russian (I think) and part English. See attached screenshot. It is not a major bug, and I can live with it, but thought the latest firmware might iron it out.

[PatNY]

650user, glad to see Sony sent you a new 650.

[Papi]

Originally Posted by PatNY

I am having a problem updating the Russian firmware to 1.05f and am hoping Porkupan or anyone else knowledgeable can help me.

Currently my PRS-350 is running 1.05e. When I try to run flash_reader.bat, the script will run for a few lines but then I get the following:

Access is denied
Script did not complete
Press any key to continue ...

Pressing a key then exits the DOS window. I tried it a few times and always get that message. Does anyone know why?

Did you run it as administrator (right click the batch to see the option) ? Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be done on Winwows XP, but it does on Windows 7.

[edbro]

Originally Posted by PatNY

The reason I thought I'd try the update is because of a minor glitch in 1.05e where the alphabetic navigator on the right-hand side is in part Russian (I think) and part English. See attached screenshot. It is not a major bug, and I can live with it, but thought the latest firmware might iron it out.

I believe that is a setting you can choose. I'm at work and I don't have access to my reader but if you look in the settings menu one of the options will change that. If I remember correctly, it wasn't obvious from the setting name what it did. I tried it and I remember getting mixed Russian and English before I changed it back.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by Papi

Did you run it as administrator (right click the batch to see the option) ? Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be done on Winwows XP, but it does on Windows 7.

Papi, that is the first thing I tried to do, but in Windows XP, in my configuration, there was no option to choose to run as administrator. At any rate, I am the only user on the computer being used, with full administrative rights.

But good news. I booted into safe mode, attached my 350, ran the .bat file, and it worked! I am now running 1.05f. I'm not sure but I think some software or service running on my PC when in regular mode prevented access to the reader. The only thing I can think of is that when I first ran the Russian firmware a few weeks back, I hadn't yet installed the Sony Reader library. I only did that after. So perhaps the Sony library program is somehow interfering with the updating?

Unfortunately the latest firmware did not fix the funny looking alphabetic navigator on the right hand side.

Porkupan, is there any way you can fix this? It's not a biggie, but it would be nice to see it in all-English.

Edit: navigation fixed.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by edbro

I believe that is a setting you can choose. I'm at work and I don't have access to my reader but if you look in the settings menu one of the options will change that. If I remember correctly, it wasn't obvious from the setting name what it did. I tried it and I remember getting mixed Russian and English before I changed it back.

edbro, thanks! That fixed it. I guess at one point I had been fiddling with the options, probably when I was trying to figure out how to work the screenshots, and inadvertently switched up the language for that part of the interface.

So, never mind, Porkupan. Everything is working as it should be.

[Kralik]

New Sony user, but I'm glad to report that I flashed the 1.05f boroda firmware on my PRS-350 without a hitch. Using Windows 7 32-bit, ran Command Prompt-->bat as administrator. Seems like it took about 30 seconds. Nice to have some new keyboard shortcuts! Thanks!

[bahz]

.....

[jackie_w]

Another happy hacker here - on Windows XP. I just upgraded my PRS-650 with the 1.05f Boroda firmware. Worked like a dream. Thank you Boroda/Porkupan

I'm used to having the PRS+ hack on my PRS-505 so it's great to have the epub/userStyle.css facility on the new reader.


P.S I was wondering, is it technically possible to add in-book access to TOC as a keyboard shortcut? For some reason Sony have buried it 3-levels down (Options - Goto - TOC)

[simonbcn]

Where can I read the improvements of the 1.05f Boroda firmware?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by simonbcn

Where can I read the improvements of the 1.05f Boroda firmware?

It's here. It's in Russian so you'll probably need to use the Google translate feature. Boroda (Porkupan on this forum) is a very experienced Sony hacker.