Firmware suffix letter codes

[Click]

Oh Yeah!!! Thanks to some interesting info regarding firmware "regions" and filenames from dfkt; where he noted that the A & E FW are identical - I proposed maybe, ahh, checking some OTHER letters - so I have done that, and discovered what the letter codes mean...

m300*.bin; where * =

A = Americas. Radio, volume high
E = Europe. No radio, volume normal
F = France? Starts after upgrade with Language selection, radio, volume normal
G = Hebrew, no radio, volume normal (NO Arabic language choice)
H = Hebrew. with radio, else same as G
M = Arabic, no radio, volume normal (NO Hebrew language choice)
N = Arabic, with radio, else same as M
P = starts with language choice, radio, volume high, and forces MSC mode.
S = language prompt, no radio, volume high

And now, for the Holy Grail. Try this AT YOUR OWN RISK and don't blame me if something goes wrong

T = TEST MODE

No other letters, including the rest all the way through "Z", do anything.

The Secret - after renaming the .20 FW file to m300t.bin and placing it on your Clip, go to the Settings menu, scroll down, umm, what's this?? A Diagnosis option??

Note that after running through the Diagnostics when not plugged in, the Clip comes back at next power up in USB Auto mode.

Nothing else seems to be any different from the "A" feature set.

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by Click

The Secret - after renaming the .20 FW file to m300t.bin and placing it on your Clip, go to the Settings menu, scroll down, umm, what's this?? A Diagnosis option??

Note that after running through the Diagnostics, the Clip comes back at next power up in USB Auto mode. Nothing else seems to be any different from the "A" feature set.

Interesting experiment. So what does the "Diagnosis" option actually allow you to do? What is it diagnosing?

[macilaci457]

You should sent it to the RockBox team, unless they already found your post!
They may can use it!

[Click]

There's not that much in there of interest to the RB porting efforts; the menu structure is:

(note that entering HOLD while in the Diagnosis menu shows the lock icon as a negative image...in most menus)

Battery Voltage indication (and provision to charge from USB without connecting - I found that if USB is connected when prompted, the USB mode and other user prefs are not reset after running through the menu.)

SDRAM Test - some rudimentary testing and info

LCD Test - H & V bars, etc.

Keys Test - push buttons to confirm they work. Note "HOLD" won't go into hold when in here.

Radio Test - tunes to fixed FM station at the high end of the band, clearly intended for EU region where radio is normally disabled since the station is 107.8, and EU channelization uses the "evens", at 200kHz spacing (107.8 = even; 107.9 = odd)

Codec Tests - an Earphone Test (plays a "diagnosis.mp3" file, if one exists, which is up to YOU), and a Mic Test (loops the microphone through to the headphone output - hearing aid mode)

iNAND Test, SanDisk's user flash memory area minor details

And finally a charge level screen (seems to be indicating: current voltage of battery, and the battery voltage when connected at last charge cycle)

EDIT - I found that sometimes, it is necessary to perform the power-button-reset to get it to power back up, but only after running through the Diagnosis menu items (like playing a diagnosis.mp3 file...)

Thanks go out to dfkt and the "V2 Crew" over at forums.rockbox.org for the "diagnosis.mp3" finding. Things are heating up a bit as a consequence of these recent discoveries...

BTW I've been running the "test" mode FW since I discovered it, and haven't bricked 'er yet /EDIT

I found out more interesting things about the device by snooping around the firmware files and using a flash drive recovery utility, to connect to the Clip and see what is not exposed to the user (for example, you normally cannot see the MTP music area when in MSC mode, but the recovery util can see this, and more).

Enjoy

[dfkt]

Excellent find, Click! Very interesting. Deserves a sticky.

"F" might stand for France and means the usual obnoxious volume limit imposed by French laws. Installing a "F" firmware starts the player with volume option at "normal", not "high". (Probably this is since they can't just limit the volume when choosing French from the language selections list - Canucks would run amucks. )

"P" might stand for Pacific, as I've seen from other Sandisk firmwares. (Optimized for Reggae and Calypso music?)

The other question is - what's with the Clips sold in Europe that have a radio (and cost EUR 5 more)? Do they run on the US firmware?

[Click]

Thanks for the sticky status!

Yes, "F" could be for France (and of course, that Funny part of Canada). Thanks for checking the volume level. But should it not greet you in French first, when asking for the language, for the Quebec "language police" will have an...obnoxious reaction, oui?

LMAO on the reggae optimization... Maybe "P" is for "penguin", for the Linux crowd - as MSC Mode is mandatory for Linux interoperability. I verified that when changing from "T" to "P" (with USB first reset to AUTO, and forcing MSC connect with the Hold/Center Button method) with "P" loaded, USB is then reset to MSC mode.

Not sure about the EU radio-less version; if the FM IC is not stuffed, or only FW difference. Perhaps sometimes the EU ones "without radio" only have the "E" FW to disable the radio; and perhaps sometimes they actually have no hardware support.

As you pointed out, it is an easy test!

[kukrapok]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Excellent find, Click! Very interesting. Deserves a sticky.

"F" might stand for France and means the usual obnoxious volume limit imposed by French laws. Installing a "F" firmware starts the player with volume option at "normal", not "high". (Probably this is since they can't just limit the volume when choosing French from the language selections list - Canucks would run amucks. )

For the record: my Sansa Clip, bought in France, has radio. Its original firmware version was 1.01.11F. Of course I had to apply further firmware upgrade w/ the 'A' letter (never tried the 'F' again though).

[Click]

Note that if you use NO letter at all ("m300.bin"), it appears that the FW upgrades to whatever the region code is currently installed on the Clip.

So anyone anywhere in the world should be able to use a common file / file name, as long as they don't need to change localization settings...

[Click]

*BUMP*

Just a word of advice to those who may have loaded the "T" version - it is confirmed as officially unsupported by Sansa and this may void your warranty if you return a failed device and it is found to have this "version" on it.

In addition I have experienced some peculiar lockups (nothing even requiring a hard reset) that I could not duplicate with the "A" release.

I suspect this could be due to the fact that the "T" version incorporates support for ALL languages (no other release version does) and as such may be a bit on the hairy edge as far as total resource utilization (RAM etc.).

My advice is, when you're done fiddling with the Test mode, load the correct RELEASE version for your region, just in case.

[cristiano007]

Originally Posted by dfkt

"P" might stand for Pacific, as I've seen from other Sandisk firmwares. (Optimized for Reggae and Calypso music?)

Very nice for third world technicians, because Clip is expensive for many people there and needs to be repaired if fails. I can make that joke because I live in one...
By the way, Reggae and Calypso music are from Jamaica and the Antilles in the Caribbean Sea... So, what kind of Pacific music is optimized with that option? Ukelele country? Kangaroo rap? Pleease, tell me...

[pekelnamicinka]

Not sure, but I think that F letter is just next to E(urope) in alphabet, so that's why it is used for radio version.

[Click]

Thanks for your input. "F" is for Fascinating.

Just an update; the "T" mode still works in FW .29.

I'm not sure if it also allows >100% of normal (pre v.29) OLED brightness on non-4GB clips but, it might.

[Mikerman]

I am totally unconvnced of the brightness enhancement feature for the 4gb players; I see minimal improvement, at best (less than 10% improvement), and likely no change at all. Very disappointing.

[kredig]

i am a bit confused. in the top of this thread it is described that the suffix letter sets the clip if it has radio or a volume regulation etc... i got mine yesteday and updated the firmware etc... but now i can choose if i want to have a "high volume" or a "normal volume". i thought the volume is regulated in europe because of some law...
is it a feature of the firmware?

[Mikerman]

For regions in which the volume limitation doesn't apply (e.g. the U.S.), you get both options to choose between.

[velenia]

Uhmm... the F volume comes with the double choice normal and high, but is it anyway lower than the A volume? Could you tell me, please?

[A.z]

velenia, it's the same. Just a different Region, that's all.

[Schlummi]

Hey Guys!
My first post here in your forum ;-)

I just wanted to remark, that the lettersuffix F is not for french people but for the Europe-Version with radio! The volume can be choosen as "normal" or "high" (so no restriction).

U can see it here (>>click)

For EUROPE w/ FM - You can download the .zip file by clicking on this link.

Greetings,
Schlummi

[Click]

Welcome to the forum. We were kidding about the "F" for French, at least I thought we were. Sarcasm has been known to lurk here on occasion...

As was pointed out earlier, "F" follows "E" which stands for "EUrope". So the link is certainly nothing more than the "A" version (umm, again - they are all the same bit for bit except the filename!) renamed with an "F". Which is the gist of the thread. And yes it appears that all regions, except "A" have radio/no radio "versions".

WARNING I did notice that the 1.01.32 (on V1 hardware) was unstable in T mode, it caused a recoverable but scary lockup - fortunately, no bricking. I took it as a warning and therefore advise against playing around any more in T mode - there's nothing all that interesting in there, and Sansa probably isn't too interested in maintaining the integrity of an unsupported mode with all the important features to test etc.

peace

[lkatz22]

Is there any solution to block from using or getting in diagnostic mode or not having the new firmware overwritten?