NWZ-E436F Firmware Won't Update

[LsWalk]

Hi - After searching here and elsewhere for a couple of days, and contacting Sony, I can't find a solution. Trying to update v 1.00 to 1.02 on my wife's E436F (she loves it - 1st MP3 player, although taking that into consideration, she likes the quality sound, ease of navigating, storing songs, size of display) -- Vista home premium. Walkman shows as an MTP item.

The updater window appears with the "Current Firmware Version" and "Upgrade Firmware Version" fields blank. As it progresses, another window appears: "Unable to write to device. Device timeout." I remove that window. The updater window now shows "Current" ver as 0.00, and "Upgrade" as "1.02". I'm now given "Start" as an option, so I did that. End result, no change.

The Sony instructions say if 0.00 appears, unplug the unit, close all programs, start over. Tried that several times, plus rebooting. No change.

I first tried this in Jan 2009 (bought in Dec 2008), w/same result. Sony (on phone) said (in Jan, and now in Apr) to save all songs/pictures, etc., and Format. I tried that in Jan, but no change. Tried the reset button -- no change. I've not tried the Format nor reset again in Apr.

Tried updating as a USB item instead of an MTP - definitely doesn't work - keeps telling me to connect device.

Any clues to this obstacle ?

The unit works just fine (yes, it does have the little pre-programmed quirks mentioned in these forums for the E-Series units).

BTW, I did notice, when new, and now, that when volume level is halfway, it wasn't as loud as I expected. However, 20-25 (max) is more than sufficient. I'm 55 with some high-end hearing loss, and when younger I used to really want to "feel" the music. Well, I can "feel" it just fine at level 20-25 - I don't need it any louder. I "want" it louder, but that's different than "need." For those that say the E-series units aren't loud enough, either you're already partially deaf, or "simply loud" isn't good enough for you -- you want to "feel" it !!! Well, you may be (will be) sorry later. That said, I sure enjoyed it at "blast" level when younger. There's always a price to be paid, isn't there ?

BRgds,

Dave H.

[CrowdAds]

[stevee]

Hi LsWalk,
Mine came with 1.02 already loaded so I can't be of much help with this one. Have you installed the Sony software that came with the player, I know the Creative Software I got with an old player would automatically update the firmware. Maybe the Sony one has a similar function. If you're still stuck after trying that I personally would exchange the player under guarantee just in case later firmware adds useful functions.
With regard to the volume, you are right that it is adequate for headphone use and I certainly don't want to risk damaging my hearing. The problem for me is that I listen to the player a lot in the car through an FM transmitter but because of the low output of this player I have to turn up the car stereo much more than with other players that I own and radio interferance becomes a real pain.
Steve

[Lazarus Ledd]

Here is the instructions. I know you know about it.

All I can say is I read on the site to put the update.exe into a separate folder. I followed that and updateed my device. also i didn't have any music or other on it.

WZ-E435F/E436F/E438F Firmware Update Program Download Service

File Information
NWZ-E430F_V1_02.exe ( 6,692 KB )




Overview/Features

For owners of Walkman E series, we offer “NWZ-E435F/E436F/E438F firmware update program” download service.
We provide the firmware update to the latest version 1.02 for the firmware of NWZ-E435F/E436F/E438F. Please read carefully the following instructions.

Target Device

The followings are the target products of this service, whose firmware version should be less than or equal to 1.01.

Target products
NWZ-E435F/E436F/E438F


Fixed symptoms

With the above products, customers may experience the following symptoms. The symptoms will be fixed with this firmware update.
Title and album information attached files are not displayed correctly on the unit.
The unit turns off in a specific point, when playing MP4 files in Video Library.
The beginning of the video are skipped in a few seconds, when WMV files are played in Video Library.
Sometimes audio to video synchronization may not occur, when playing back movies.

How to confirm the Model and the Firmware version

Please confirm the Model and the Firmware version from the steps below.
Press and hold the BACK/HOME button until the Home menu appears.
Pressbutton to select(Settings), and then press button.
Pressbutton to select [Common Settings], and then press button.
Pressbutton to select [Unit Information], and then press button.
Confirm the Model and the Firmware version.


Target PC environment

Target OS
Windows Vista Ultimate (Service Pack 1 or later)
Windows Vista Business (Service Pack 1 or later)
Windows Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 1 or later)
Windows Vista Home Basic (Service Pack 1 or later)
Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 2 or later)
Windows XP Home Edition (Service Pack 2 or later)
(The 64 bit version OS is not supported.)
Hardware requirements

CPU: Pentium 4 1.0GHz or higher
Memory: 512MB or more
Display: 800 x 600 dots or better (1024 x 768 dots or better is recommended)
Display Color: High Color (16bit) or higher

Before download

When downloading the program and updating the firmware, log on to the computer with the administrator name or with any name which belongs to the administrator.
If you are Windows Vista user, “Windows needs your permission to continue” message appears in the User Account Control dialog box. Click [Continue] to proceed, and follow the announcements.

Download and installation procedure

Download procedure

Please follow the steps below to download the program.
Set up a folder named as “FWUP” in C drive of the computer for storing the downloaded file on the hard drive.
Download the following file to the folder set in Step1.
NWZ-E430F_V1_02.exe (6,692 KB)
After the download is completed, select [Views]-[Details] in the Explorer to check the selected file size. If the size is not the same as the file size showing as shown above, try downloading the file again.
After reading this instructions, click the [I accept] appeared at the end. Then, the file download will be started. Follow the displayed dialog boxes to download the file.

Upgrade procedure

Once the download is finished, follow the steps below to upgrade the program.

Note: When upgrading, the unit is needed to have a free space about 20MB.
Also, please transfer all tracks and data from the unit to the computer in advance, since the tracks and data may be lost when updating as they are remained on the unit. We cannot guarantee in case the tracks and the data are damaged or deleted by this update.
Quit all software running on Windows, and complete any other works besides the update.
Note: If some other Digital Music Players are connected to the computer, disconnect all of them from the computer.
Connect the unit to the PC.
Note: If using a notebook PC, keep an AC adapter connected to the PC to ensure the PC battery stays charged.
Windows Vista users: Click [Start] button on the task bar of the computer, and click on “Run...” followed by [All Programs]-[Accessory].
Windows XP users: Click [Start] button on the task bar of the computer and click on “Run...”
The “Run...” dialog box will be opened.
Input “C:\FWUP\NWZ-E430F_V1_02.exe” in the “Open” text box and click [OK].
The program will be started.
Confirm the Current Firmware Version/Upgrade Firmware Version.
During displaying “Ready”, click [Start].
Note: Please do not disconnect the unit from the computer during updating.
When the message of completing updating is displayed, click [Close] button.
Errors during upgrading

In Step 5, if the current firmware version is showed as “0.00”, close all the software installed in the computer (including the Startup programs), and try updating the firmware again.
After Upgrade

Please confirm the version when the update program is installed successfully with following [How to confirm the Model and the Firmware version] steps.
The update program installation is succeeded when “1.02” is shown on the screen.

[LsWalk]

Well, I finally got the E436F to update. I tried it on my work's laptop, which has WinXP Pro, and it worked first time. I've also recently bought, from Sony (couldn't find it anywhere else around the Atlanta, GA area), an NWZ-S638F, and it updated from 1.10 to 1.11 just fine. It did it differently - not the same kind of update windows. A nice touch was the option to engrave up to two lines on the back, for FREE, which I took advantage of.

The sound has many more settings, and is definitely louder at the same volume numbers than the E436F (which is my wife's, and is plenty loud for her). The headphones, whose ends look like they're broken, 'cause they're canted to one side, are really good. I don't know if it's the unit (I think they both go to 20K), or the headphones, but I could hear many more little high-end sounds. I'll try it on her Walkman, and on my CD player.

The "creating library" process is a LOT quicker (about the same number of songs, videos).

One thing that I thought was a MAJOR display problem, but turned out it wasn't (thought I'd have to send it back right out of the box) -- there were several barely-lit vertical lines of slightly different lengths stretching from top to about 3/4's the way down the display.

It looked like a major pixel problem, but was just the idiotic Wallpaper 2 ! I thought maybe the engraving messed up the pixels, but thankfully it was only someone's bad idea for a wallpaper.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Dave H.