Firmware update failed - unit Dead

[tonyj1]

My wife connected her reader to load some new books and was asked to to a frimware update, whcih she iniated. I think the unit was NOT plugged in (our mistake). It got through the download and rebooted......

It is now stuck on "Reader Starting up ......."

I tried everything I could find here but no luck. I have usb connectivity and it shows an E drive but rerunning update starts and sayd "connect reader" and can't find it.

I beleive old FW was wiped from flash and new was never written so it is a blank slate.

Best part is Sony wants $251 plus tax to exchange it (no other option).
That is not happening!!!!

I read about a process using an SD card to load FW and any direction is appreciated, hate to throw it away, wife loves it.

Tony

[pilotbob]

Are you sure it is fully charged?

Have you followed the troubleshooting steps on our Wiki?

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRS505

BOb

[tonyj1]

pilotbob,

It is fully charged and connected to AC supply.

When I push the reset and slide the power switch unit does reset (screen blanks, etc.) I put USB cable in and I get the beep on the PC and PC shows an E: drive for reader.

Start Sony Updater and I check the license accept block .

It prompts me to connect a reader (it can't see it) and times out.

Tony

[gwynevans]

Anything on the E drive? I think some people have had success by deleting and/or formatting it. You're trying with the standalone updater? Tried other PCs? It worked for me on a 2nd laptop when the updater didn't work on my main laptop or maybe it was exactly when I plugged it in...

It might take a bit of trying things, but I'm sure it's not a throw-away!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by tonyj1

When I push the reset and slide the power switch unit does reset (screen blanks, etc.)

Are you waiting for it to start up at this point?

BOb

[tonyj1]

One fille on the E drive called Protected !! at 0KB. Tried copying files, formatting, etc. Gives CRC error. It is the PRS-505 updater from sony.com
Yes it retruns to the "Reader Starting up....."
Already on second PC

Thanks for the help

Tony

[gwynevans]

OK, maybe download the PRSCustomizer, prepare an SD card & see if it does anything when that's inserted or when restarted with it in?
If it does, one of the options is to prepare for reflashing, which might reset it enough for the Sony flasher to work?

[tonyj1]

I downloaded the software and loaded onto a clean SD Card.
Still get the Reader Starting Up.....I never see the "Run Script" or any other prompt.
Tried inserting card pre boot, post boot,, during boot, etc.
Some critical piece was destroyed during the update process that I just can't seem to recover.

Thanks for trying
Tony

[SueK]

Hi Tony,

I go to the same stage as you with the Protected!! file showing on the drive when I connected the device and had been conversing with Bob and others on MR and nothing was working. They all said hang in as someone will help. They were right.

I read an earlier Post (shown below) which had a solution if you were using the XP operating system. My laptop is Vista and I can't locate the Documents and settings folder. I have a desktop with XP but the file referred to in the Post is PRS.dat and the one that is dumped to the WSE0 directory is a video file which didn't seem to be much chop.

I read Bob's reply to you saying that he had tried another PC at one stage and got the unit to respond, so I went back for another go.

I followed the instructions below and opened the PRS file in Notepad and it worked. I have reloaded the firmware and it is almost operating fully. At the moment I can't open the eBook Library with the PRS connected but by itself is fully functional on first pass. Will have another look tomorrow night but i'm sure I will solve the issues I still have.

The post I referrred to is:=

Unbricking Instructions
-- Originally posted here by diabloNL
• Download the original PRS505 Updater from Sony at http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=PRS505
• Execute this PRS500 updater and click "ok" to proceed. The installer will unpack the installation files.
• Go to the following location on your disk: C:\Documents and Settings\[YOURUSERNAME]\Local Settings\Temp\
and copy the folder WZSE0.TMP and paste it on your desktop
• Now you can close the PRS500 updater.
• Go to \WZSE0.TMP\eBookUpdater\assets\updaterAssets\ on your desktop and open the file PRSVersion.dat with notepad.
• Change 110018040 into 110018041 and save it.
• Connect your Reader to the USB and press the reset button on the back. Don't forget to switch it back on. Wait until the Reader goes in to USB mode (wait for the USB connector icon on the Reader's screen). (Mine didn't do this as the firmware had been removed)
• Now execute PRS-500 Updater.exe in \WZSE0.TMP\ on your desktop
• Follow the steps of the updater and it should upgrade your Reader and unbrick it.


Thanks to Bob, Desert Grandma and others.

Regards

SueK

[tonyj1]

Thank you SueK but no luck. I still get "Reader Starting Up...." and the software on the PC says "Connect PRS-505 Now".
I think the unit has to go back to Sony or in the trash at this point. Seems sad that an upgrade gone bad renders the unit useless. Too bad, my wife really liked it, wish she'd plugged it in during the upgrade.

Tony

[astra]

Originally Posted by tonyj1

Thank you SueK but no luck. I still get "Reader Starting Up...." and the software on the PC says "Connect PRS-505 Now".
I think the unit has to go back to Sony or in the trash at this point. Seems sad that an upgrade gone bad renders the unit useless. Too bad, my wife really liked it, wish she'd plugged it in during the upgrade.

Tony

I am not sure the reader should be plugged in to the computer and power adapter at the same time. Most likely it should only one of the options at any given time not both.

[gwynevans]

Not sure what will help exactly, but others have had the same issue & sometimes had it become flashable - See this thread and this one.

Is it *fully* charged? (Do you have access to a PSP-compatible (barrel-type) charger in case it's not charging via USB?) Check for the Red LED when charging. Are you using the original USB cable - maybe try a different one?

Don't trash it though - it'll have some value - steps beyond the 'keep trying' become trickier, e.g. disassemble it but still, it's not as if it's got a broken screen, so as a final solution, there's the ForSale forum here or eBay.

Where are you located, as that seems a steep price from Sony if in the US?

[jayakumar]

Originally Posted by tonyj1

Thank you SueK but no luck. I still get "Reader Starting Up...." and the software on the PC says "Connect PRS-505 Now".
I think the unit has to go back to Sony or in the trash at this point. Seems sad that an upgrade gone bad renders the unit useless. Too bad, my wife really liked it, wish she'd plugged it in during the upgrade.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Please don't trash it. There are several of us who are working on reverse engineering the PRS-505 (I've been contributing linux drivers to the community for the various e-ink controllers such as metronomefb, broadsheetfb). If you end up deciding this unit useless to you, it may still be useful to folks like me who could use it for parts or possibly even restore it if we're lucky, in which case we can document how to do it for the next chap who encounters this issue.

Thanks,
jaya

[tonyj1]

I have a sony charger and yes it was charged for extended periods as other have suggested. I may take it apart and see what happens. I am an EE and work on this sort of stuff.

It belongs to my wife so it is her call. I wish Sony had a better attitude, 251 bucks to look at it is most unreasonable. Not only do they loose a customer (no more Sony anything for us) they also loose the future revenue on book sales.

Thanks again
Tony