PBO Bootcode Update (TFTPD/LAN Free) Under $6 and Under 666 Seconds

[aasoror]

I. Materials (under $6):

• 4 dupont wires TPK pin header (get 20 for $2.5 here), or use a 4 pin CD/DVD audio cable.
• Nokia CA-42 USB Data cable (get one for $2.68 here)
• Wire stripper
• Electric tape

II. Serial Cable Preparation (under 4 minutes):

• cut the CA-43 cable and strip the part of it.
• strip the wires inside the cable (depending on the specific cable manufacturer you might find different arrangement than the one below)
• The most straight forward way is to use continuity test on the cut connector (check the pic here for pin assignment) else try the procedure listed at the end of this post.
• The wires are color coded as the following:

BLACK --> GROUND
RED --> VCC
WHITE --> TXD
GREEN --> RXD

• strip the dupont wires
• twist together (use typical soldering knots or solder them if possible)
• cover with electric tape

III. Hock up (under 2 minutes)

• Download and install the cable drivers from here (Nokia drivers wont work), get Win7 compatible drivers from here (thank you tskitishvili).
• Insert the cable and use the device manager to set the COM port parameters as follows (115200,8,N,1,N)

• open up the PBO (make sure back switch is turned off), connect the serial port pins to the matching wires as indicated earlier.

IV. Bootcode update (under 5 minutes)

• Get the bootcode file you want from here.
• Open MS Hyper Terminal (or get it from here or the get the one extracted from my XP pro machine from here)
• Create a new connection with the same setting as the serial cable COM port settings (115200,8,N,1,N).
• connection should now be open (with a time counter at the status bar)
• holding the Esc key switch the PBO on
• You should now be connected to the Realtek Rom Monitor

• Type the following command at the prompt to load the bootcode file (press Enter when done)

load -b asc://tty0 0x80100000

• When you get the message to dump the file, transfer the bootcode bin file to the PBO using the Ymodem-G protocol (from the Transfer menu)

• Wait till the transfer is complete and window disappears, press OK at the message box that follows.
• Next execute the bootcode by typing the following command at the prompt (press Enter when done)

go 0x80100000

• Wait until code is executed and you are back the Realtek prompt.
• Turn off the PBO
• close Hyper Terminal (remember to save the created connection)
• unhock the serial cable from the PBO then from your PC
• close the PBO, hock back to your TV, check the bootcode version, you should see .18

Viola .. total cost under $6 .. total time under 666 seconds


Side notes:

You can similarly reload corrupted video / audio drivers without TFTPD:

load -b asc://tty0 0x81b00000

and transfer the bluecore.audio (extracted from the firmware image) using the Ymodem-G protocol
then

load -b asc://tty0 0x81d80000

and transfer the video_firmware.bin (extracted from the firmware image) using the Ymodem-G protocol.

Also if you need to clear a corrupted firmware image (unbricking without bootcode update)

erase -m

then proceed with the FAT32 USB firmware recovery procedure.

If you happened to get a 3 wire cable that you don't know the proper wire assignment to .. you can try this

you can try a simple test that wont break anything (you can only do this because you got 3 wires so the cable is USB powered).

Twist the naked green and white wires together, connect to the cable, run the HT, setup the connection as described in the OP, once you get the connection to open .. type anything at the prompt, if the white/green are indeed the txd/rxd then you should see whatever you type echoed back to you.
If one of them is ground then you should see nothing (tx/gnd) or trash (rx/gnd), so try green/yellow then white/yellow.

Once you determine the ground (by elimination), proceed with the connection to the PBO, even if rxd/txd are inverted this wont harm the PBO, you wont be able to send anything to the box and you will just see the startup sequence on the HT screen (because you will not be able to interrupt it with the escape key), just switch those wires and you should be done.

Disclaimer:

Perform at your own risk, you might end up bricking your box and voiding your warranty.

Acknowledgments:

• Mickez for reminding me about the cheap phone cables
• The Globule and the anonymous guy from O!Play hack forum for getting me inside the Realtek Rom Monitor
• Outatouch0 for motivating me to get this done this century
• Google .. for pretty much everything else

Resources:

• Use a Nokia Serial Cable on an ARM9 Linkstation
• Use a cheap phone sync cable with the serial port
• How to install Windows XP HyperTerminal client on Windows 7 or Vista for Free

Its OK to rate this thread

Various reports about the wire color codes of the CA-42:

BargainCell via Amazon, ... Green is ground, TXD is white and RXD is yellow.

Amazon, Red --> TX, Green --> RX, Black --> GND, White --> (not used)

Ark Pioneer Microelectronics Ltd., with 6 wires. White (GND), yellow (TX) and blue (RX). (Black, Red and Green UNUSED)

My cable is CA-42, VCC+ - Red, RX - Blue, TX - white, GND - black

I bought a Chinese eBay CA-42 cable, Blue - GND, Green - TX, White - RX

my cable is an eBay CA-42. Blue --> Rx, Red --> Tx, Orange --> GND

I've got a 3 wire CA-42 cable which is based on the Prolific PL-2303 chip. BLUE = GND, WHITE = Rx, YELLOW = Tx

My DKU cable setup BLUE = GND, WHITE = Tx, YELLOW = Rx

My CA-42 cable has:gnd = orange,tx = blue,rx = red

yellow: not in use, red: VCC, black: GND, blue: Rx, white: Tx

Black = Grnd, Green = Vcc, Blue=Tx, White=Rx, Orange=not use.

(Compatible Win7 driver)

[wigout]

Well done aasoror.
That's showing that pbo who's boss.
It'll boot up the bootcode you tell it to boot up or else.
(or else you'll get an o!play)
-wigout

[outatouch0]

Thanks for the above - I think we all encourage and motivate each other.
Step IV is taking me a little bit more than 6 min lol - not so easy for neophytes to networking though I do enjoy the learning despite the occasional frustration.

[aasoror]

It'll boot up the bootcode you tell it to boot up or else.
(or else you'll get an o!play)
-wigout

The way things are going now, it seems that it will be getting an O!Play firmware update whether or not it decided to cooperate on the bootcode update

Step IV is taking me a little bit more than 6 min lol - not so easy for neophytes to networking

Thats exactly the reason step IV shouldn't take much time now, there is no more networking involved

[Toolman]

Great post! thanks for the info. I ordered the parts and will give this a try.

[watcher]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you get all the stars on this one!

[visionlogic]

Thanks aasoror! Just ordered the supply of chinesium & will give it a shot.

[snappy46]

Outatouch0 for motivating me to get this done this century

I hope that getting this done this century did not interfere with your high paying 24/7 job here on this forum. Maybe that's the reason I was able to help a few people here before you had time to jump in first?

Well Done step by step tutorial.

[The Globule]

I don't like this method...

Just kidding!

Great job on this post aasoror

[jamaroney]

Looks tempting!

But, remind me, please - what are the advantages of the newer bootcode? I seem to have no issues with my present bootcode - should I simply leave well enough alone?