[CFW 3.14] Customised Firmware v3.14 released.

[Black Hole]

Yes I have tried both front and back USB ports. The back one did feel a little bit tighter but then the front didn't feel bad either. I also did check that the unit could read from the usb stick which it could. You can observe the light on the usb stick flash when trying to boot but it still does not start the upload.

Then either you haven't prepared the UPD (stick, whatever you want to call it) properly and the HDR-FOX doesn't recognise it contains a firmware file, or the UPD itself doesn't start up fast enough after power is applied to catch the pre-boot window. You say this UPD has worked in the past, but perhaps it was marginal. This seems to be the key factor which prevents modern, large UPDs working for firmware updating.

We have speculated that if a UPD or even USB-connected HDD can be separately powered, this will avoid the startup delay. I think somebody even tried it, I never got around to it myself.

Unfortunately, until you can install CF, there is no other work-around for this. Once CF has been installed, further firmware updates can be achieved without this rigamarole. Double, or even triple-check you have met all the requirements for firmware update (correct file name "hdr_fox_t2_upgrade.hdf", root directory, FAT32 not quick-formatted, etc etc) before you give up on that.

 

[Robert4583]

Then either you haven't prepared the UPD (stick, whatever you want to call it) properly and the HDR-FOX doesn't recognise it contains a firmware file, or the UPD itself doesn't start up fast enough after power is applied to catch the pre-boot window. You say this UPD has worked in the past, but perhaps it was marginal. This seems to be the key factor which prevents modern, large UPDs working for firmware updating.

We have speculated that if a UPD or even USB-connected HDD can be separately powered, this will avoid the startup delay. I think somebody even tried it, I never got around to it myself.

Unfortunately, until you can install CF, there is no other work-around for this. Once CF has been installed, further firmware updates can be achieved without this rigamarole. Double, or even triple-check you have met all the requirements for firmware update (correct file name "hdr_fox_t2_upgrade.hdf", root directory, FAT32 not quick-formatted, etc etc) before you give up on that.

Yes I thought of the formatting and did do a long format. The USB stick is only 8GB and shows a red light when on and flashes when active. During the startup is does flash for 15 to 20 seconds roughly.

 

[Robert4583]

I have solved the issue and all has installed and working fine.

The problem or difficulty was caused by the usb stick being formatted previously by Windows for NTFS. This formatting had changed the partition tables to GPT. So I used another tool to reset it to MBR and FAT32.

Thank you all.
Rob.

 

[prpr]

The problem or difficulty was caused by the usb stick being formatted previously by Windows for NTFS. This formatting had changed the partition tables to GPT.

Ah, now you mention it I remember I suffered from that too. It wasn't until I put it in a Linux box and had a look with fdisk that I worked it out. But how hideous is Window$ to even do $h!t like that in the first place - it's completely unnecessary on an 8GB drive, and it doesn't tell you it's doing it, or done it, and makes it hard to find out afterwards.

I've tidied up the Wiki with regards to this matter.

 

[Black Hole]

MBR only – good to underline. I'll make sure my sources are updated to make that clear (it explains why Windows corrupts drives).

 

[Owen Smith]

I have an 8GB USB stick I bought in 2008 which I use for all the firmware updating I do of HDR Fox T2s, my home cinema amp, smart TVs etc. It came formatted FAT and have never reformatted it, whenever instructions tell me to format it I instead just delete all the files on it. That's probably why I've never fallen foul of this.