Unlock Sansa M230 FM Radio in Europe

[simplistsims]

i have ordered a m240 from amazon and i would really like radio and ifi find out the firmware is 3.xx.x should i forgot doing the radio hack or should i try upgrading the firmware if theres a new verison but choose the american one?

[tenof26]

Originally Posted by simplistsims

i have ordered a m240 from amazon and i would really like radio and ifi find out the firmware is 3.xx.x should i forgot doing the radio hack or should i try upgrading the firmware if theres a new verison but choose the american one?

mine came from amazon.co.uk, and went dud trying the radio hack, so i wouldnt
sowwies

[abeetha]

Hi Guys,

I busted my M240 from Amazon attempting to do a firmware update to unlock FM So I suggest nobody attempts to do so without checking this site for updates again,

My firmware version was 3.2.8E

I have an idea though guys, I think the American version of this Hardware revision is also 3.2.8A. I dont know if it would work by simply changing the E to an A and using that tool to flash the firmware (the one that installs version 2.0.0A) I am not quite sure of what it does, I just followed instructions.

I dont have a Sansa to try it out now and I hope Amazon will give me a replacement but i am wary of busting it again ......... to try out my theory.

Also I also think that its a matter of time till a new firmware is introduced and am hoping that if we change the version to 3.2.8A then maybe the firmware updated will also update to the new american version not european version.

Please note these are just ideas, i have not tried them and i dont know if they will work, and i will very well be wrong, so anybody who tries them does so at their own risk,

hope somebody else has better ides than me

[simplistsims]

yeah someone wid v3.x.xE should try changin the E to an A and try updating it!

[riho]

any luck? I managed to wreck my m240 too

[simplistsims]

did u try changing the letter or somethin? wat did u do?

[abeetha]

Hi Guys,

Got my replacement, and could not be deterred from trying again he he,

I think I have made some progress, If you change the firmware version from 3.2.8E to 3.0.5A and use sdmx3-iv001.exe it says i can upgrade to version 3.0.6A which is a HARP firmware version so should not mess up my sansa,

problem is then the firmware updater tells me that

C:\Windows\Temp\HarpAmerican\sansam200.rom

was not found does anybody know how i can obtain this rom file ?

Abeetha

[simplistsims]

try changing the firmware version on the mp3 to 3.0.0A

[Bong]

Originally Posted by abeetha

I think I have made some progress, If you change the firmware version from 3.2.8E to 3.0.5A and use sdmx3-iv001.exe it says i can upgrade to version 3.0.6A which is a HARP firmware version so should not mess up my sansa,

problem is then the firmware updater tells me that

C:\Windows\Temp\HarpAmerican\sansam200.rom

was not found does anybody know how i can obtain this rom file ?

Yeah, the installer for sdmx3-iv001.exe specifies that 3.0.6A of the HARP firmware should be included in the package but for some reason it isn't... maybe it wasn't ready when they made that installer (it's over a year old).

Changing the firmware version to 3.0.0A won't help.

What might help is to get hold of any 3.x.xA firmware, like 3.2.8A which I think is the only 3.x.xA firmware that exist, rename it "sansam200.rom" and place it in the C:\Windows\Temp\HarpAmerican\ folder and try the update.

So we need to either find the ROM on the net or somehow extract it from an american player...


Have you btw tried to update with the Sansa Online Updater after changing the version string to 3.0.5A?
I doubt that will work, SansaUpdater seems to do a more rigoreus check of the current FW version but it might be worth to give it a try.

[riho]

mine is so bricked that I cannot access any way the memory of m240. Because update needs to READ the file SYS_CONF.DNC (correct me if I'm wrong), I'm sure the m240 is not updateable by any means without getting the computer to see the memory again.

How it could be done, I don't know. I'm trying to communicate with sundisk support but no luck with their suggestions so far.

[abeetha]

Originally Posted by Bong

Yeah, the installer for sdmx3-iv001.exe specifies that 3.0.6A of the HARP firmware should be included in the package but for some reason it isn't... maybe it wasn't ready when they made that installer (it's over a year old).

Changing the firmware version to 3.0.0A won't help.

What might help is to get hold of any 3.x.xA firmware, like 3.2.8A which I think is the only 3.x.xA firmware that exist, rename it "sansam200.rom" and place it in the C:\Windows\Temp\HarpAmerican\ folder and try the update.

So we need to either find the ROM on the net or somehow extract it from an american player...


Have you btw tried to update with the Sansa Online Updater after changing the version string to 3.0.5A?
I doubt that will work, SansaUpdater seems to do a more rigoreus check of the current FW version but it might be worth to give it a try.

Hi,
Yes, Chancing the firmware version name on the SYS file has no effect on the Sansa online updater, because it straight away changes it back to 3.2.8E. What we really need is some way of getting our hands on the original American firmware, for the HARP hardware. I think the online updater will download the firmware to a temporary location before updating, and maybe thats the opportunity to steal the rom he he , bottom line is either the firmware needs to be extracted from a player, which I don't think is very easy, or we need to get our hands on it using some other way,

Without the version 3 firmware there is really no point anybody busting their players with earlier firmwares because we have all established it just doesnt work on a version 3 player, if somebody does get their hands on the firmware please let us know,

Abeetha

[phormion]

Hi, I happen to own a Sansa M250 player, and just found this thread a few days back. I definitely would love to get FM radio on it, and I have version '2.2.3E' in my SYS_CONF.DNC. I've understood that it was generally people with '3.x.xE' versions that screwed their players in the process, but I was wondering if anybody here got in trouble after starting from a '2.x.xE' version (leaving the font problem mentioned here out).

Of course, I don't want to end up with an expensive cat toy. I've also read the thread about font problems, so I understand that I'm very likely to be safe, but hey, double checking doesn't hurt.

Thanks in advance!

[phormion]

OK, I finally bit the bullet and tried the firmware hack, and it worked!! I was a bit nervous when I saw "upgrading FW, please wait" on the display, but now it's done.

I haven't upgraded the firmware to 2.2.5A yet (still at 2.1.0A), since people reported problems with fonts (although the problem is reportedly easy to fix). And if it's OK as it is, why change?

[Chaberrr]

I have the same question like phormion.
I bricked my m240 (3.x.xE), I brought back to the shop and they try to repair it, they sitting on it till 4 weeks, then the resoult is: not repairable.
I get my money back.
Because m240 it's not avaible yet, I buy a new m250 player thre is 2.2.3E firmware.
I wondering the FM radio, but I'm afraid a litlebit to experinmenting.
It's 100% work with these fw?????
byebye
Chaberrr

p.s.:What's new in the 2.2.5E firm???

[phormion]

Chaberr, as far as I understand, the first digit in the firmware version actually specifies a hardware platform (see here for some details). I guess there would be some differences between firmware versions written for different hardware, thus explaining why flashing firmware for 2.x.x models on 3.x.x models doesn't seem like a good idea.

What I was trying to do was to come up was some simple statistic of people having tried the firmware hack (switching from european to american firmware), together with the start version of the FW, and the result of the operation. It was a bit confusing that at least one person reported success starting from version 3.x.xE (here).

Try to understand that nobody is going to come out and say "yes it's 100% guaranteed to work" (only somebody at Sandisk might be able to assess that, but then again they don't want you to use the FM radio, I guess). Nobody wants to be made responsible if others apply the hack and "brick" their player. You can evaluate the odds at most, by checking how many people reported success, and the version they used.

[killakrust]

Originally Posted by Chaberrr

I'm thinking a lot about this problem...
I do everything like I read on this page when I tried updating.
Some Idea:

In our(died) player maybe newer memory chip or something, and the old firmware kill the memory or something.

Or

Something we did wrong???
- I used rechargeable battery(why say the manual: not use rechargeable(1,2Volt)? it works with it)
- When I updated the firm with 2.0.0a I used the detach device from usb feature, but i think it's okay
- I had deleting all of mp3s from my player before I updating...

And some question...
have you tried to take out the battery and holding the power button 45 sec.?(I'm not)
And what about with this button cell on the panel?
Why it's 2.0.0a update program is accessible on the sandisk site, when there are an updater program also that "better" and "safer"(it's read the firm code from player directly not from the file, I tried before do this(hack))?

I also bricked my m240, but just bought another one from Amazon, as they are only £25 delivered.

I took the bricked m240 apart and de-soldered the button cell that is attached to the board.

With the cell removed, the player functions exactly the same (00MB memory), so I assume that it is not there to keep any CMOS alive.

I soldered it back on afterwards, put it back together, without any damage.

[YogiCK]

Originally Posted by Bong

I searched on Google and found a german forum that discussed the firmware some more, unfortunately I'm no good at german...
It looks to me like they're trying to flash from european firmware 3.2.8E to US firmware by changing the version text from 3.2.8E to 3.0.5A?
Is there someone here that understands german better than me that can confirm this?

Here are the links to the threads on the german forum:
http://www.telefon-treff.de/showthre...5&pagenumber=1
http://www.telefon-treff.de/showthre...8&pagenumber=9

Translated from German to English version of this 2 topics:
http://translate.google.com/translat...&hl=en&ie=UTF8

http://translate.google.com/translat...&hl=en&ie=UTF8

[Solmyr]

works on the m250 with ver. 2.2.3E updated to 2.2.5E... changed to 2.1.0A, updated to 2.2.5A... =)

[tomand]

American firmware 4.0.45 for m2x0 is on http://ca1.storage.flashcp.com/sansa...lusA4_0_45.txt. This is a packed file, so you also need http://ca1.storage.flashcp.com/sansa...cation/7za.txt. Rename 7za.txt to 7za.exe. Now run '7za e SansaM200_plusA4_0_45.txt' and you'll have m200p.bin, which is the firmware. How I found out? I ran EtherReal, a network sniffer, while the Sansa updater checked for new versions. You might be able to find the location of other versions of the firmware using the same method.

[YogiCK]

Any ideas for 3.x.x firmware??