On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 5:58 AM, pondlife <pondlife_at_ntlworld.com> wrote:
> A SUMMARY:
>
> The current released H300 bootloader (v5) is now over 3 years old, and has
> several issues that have been resolved in SVN* since::
> - Unable to start the device using the standard (non-LCD) remote.

Never noticed this; I always use my LCD remote.

> - USB fails to work at all (on some devices)

Works on my H340.

> - Lacks RTC alarm support (* also needs FS#7814)

I don't use this feature so I don't really miss it. :)

> - Loud audio thump at startup

My H340 sounds more like a "POP" than a "THUMP".

> - Hard disk click entering USB  (on some devices)

Doesn't do this on mine.

> Personally, I'm successfully running a bootloader I built, version
> r19309M-081203 (where M is FS#7814).  This works fine with both the H340
> stock drive (whatever that was) and my current MK8007GAH.  FWIW, prior to
> that I successfully ran r14938M (but am not 100% sure what the M was in this
> case!).
>

I'm still using v5 on my H340, and I would like to update it to an SVN
bootloader or
a new stable for a different reason: AFAIK the SVN bootloader has better support
for CF cards and SSDs, and I've been wanting to swap out the drive for
either a CF
card or a good SSD (if I can afford one!).

> I believe the closest we got to resolving it was in April 2008 - see the dev
> list thread "building bootloader from source (h300)" available at
> http://www.mail-archive.com/rockbox-dev@cool.haxx.se/msg03786.html  In
> particular, petur's post:
>
>> It looked like a timing issue, but it turned out that adding debug
>> prints merely changed the timing in a subtle way for the bug to
>> happen more or less. Adding sleeps does not do this, in fact I
>> can add sleeps at certain points and get a nice crash.
>>
>> When it crashes, it is always in threading code, giving me I03
>> or I04 (AddrErr and IllInstr) in thread.o or its data area.
>

IIRC both petur and LinusN were trying to correct a few remaining bugs
in the bootloader
code so we could push a v6 bootloader out the door for the H300 (and a
v7 for the H100 as
well), but since LinusN hasn't been around very much lately, I have no
idea what's going on
there now.

> THE WAY FORWARD:
>
> I intend to build a new bootloader from current SVN (with no RTC patch),
> then try it here.  If that boots, I'd like to put it up on the forum (?)
> with a suitable brick-warning for brave souls to try.  My hope is that it
> either:
> (a) works for everyone (except maybe petur, so we can identify that as a
> one-off) or
> (b) fails on the device of a dev with spare time (or someone who could lend
> the device to a dev).
>

But will we have a v6 bootloader for the H300 soon enough?

> I fear there are relatively few H300 owners around now, although it remains
> my player of choice, so this might be a last chance to bring the bootloader
> up to speed.
>

I have an H340 and an H320 that I'm repairing, so I'll gladly test.

--Robert

-- 
Nobody's ever lost in life...they're merely taking the scenic route.
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