Mega Player 533- F/W v2.00.02 & Driver v1.672- Possible Problem & Fix to Recover

Question

RE: Firmware v2.00.02 & Driver v1.672 Update dated 06/04/06 for Megaplayer 533 - Model MS5533.
I think that there is a possible problem with the above Driver & Firmware Versions as they do not seem to work for the Mega Player 533 - Model MS5533 ???. It renders the player inoperable (ie.Unable to turn player on at all) and also makes the 256MB flash drive unrecognisable to the computer (ie. computer asks for a disk to be inserted into the flash drive, similarly like the SD Expansion slot) .
All Steps to update the firmware were followed to the letter, including no battery, updating to the new version of the driver software v1.672, formatting the drive at the same time and pressing sustained "play" button.
Possible Fix : I was able to make the player operable again by reinstalling the original driver software & rolling back the firmware version back to v1.00.06 again (Try original firmware v1.00.02 if you haven't saved the v1.00.06 Firmware to your hard drive, as MSI does not have any longer the v1.00.06 firmware on their website to download anymore ). It now works as it did before  :D(unfortunately still with the "ROCK" setting bug) .
NOTE: In order for computer to recognise the drive, Press sustained "Play" button when connecting to the computer, then please go to "start" (below left corner) and enter "programs" and choose "MSI MEGA PLAYER MS-5533" then "Download Firmware".
Computer should then recognise the player and allow for the firmware update . 
My main concern is that many of MSI's other unsuspecting customers will download this particular software and experience the same problems as I did. They probably won't be able to figure out how to rectify this issue & therefore unfortunately be left with a player that does not work at all .
I have logged this problem now with MSI, but have yet to hear a response from them.
Has anyone else out there experienced this same problem or is it just me??? ???.
I searched this forum for any similar posts for this problem but found none.
If I am doing anything wrong to update firmware v 2.00.02, please let me know.
I did notice however that driver v1.672 software for MS5533 was called a "Megastick" and NOT a "Mega Player". Is this possibly the cause of the problem as it is the wrong driver for the MSI 533 Mega Player - Model MS5533 ???. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Quote from: Questioon on 06-July-06, 06:54:00
Hello,
Actually it is a long story including 2 other 533s which are fried (literally) during upgrade process.
Here are some of my experiences...
After completion of one of my upgrade attempts  I inserted battery and get "usb power surge" message when plugged. That rendered the device inoperable with the battery. It was still recognizable by windows both as recovery and storage devices depending on pressing/not pressing start button before plugging.
To be sure I checked the usb voltage of my PC  with a multimeter and it was about 4.5 volts on load. During my countless plugging unplugging attempts I accidentally noticed that if I connect USB cable sort of half way (like only dc power pins connected but data pins not) device was able to start as mp3 player. I mean original mega logo appeared and device was able to play mp3s as normal. Then I made a special usb cable to try to power it with 3 serially connected AAA cells (~4.5 volts total) via USB port. And surprise,... it was working. So for a couple of days I used it with that external battery pack. It was big and ugly though. And I gave it to a friend who likes customized! devices : ).
And here is what I did to install latest firmware into my second 533:
1) I deleted all file instances and registry traces of old 533 driver and downloader versions both automatically (by uninstaller) and manually (coz related sys file was still there, in system32\drivers folder and maybe also in driver backup after automatic uninstallation). Also maybe it is necessary to perform a complete search because despite I deleted the related sys, windows was able to install recovery device  probably from its driver backup folder. I also deleted related oemxx.inf from \inf folder (be careful, don’t delete the wrong oemxx.inf ones belong to other devices). Because windows rename/recopy original *.inf into oemxx.inf.
2a) I put firmware files from zip into driver installation package's bin folder.
2b) Again I put firmware files from the zip into c:\program files\msi\... after installation (though this step is probably unnecessary)
3) I removed battery, pushed the button, plugged in, windows recognized it as recovery device, after about 5 seconds   (not too long coz a device timeout occurs sometimes, and if this happens unplug and replug while still pressing the button)  started software, now device was disappeared from hardware list momentarily and re-recognized as storage volume.
4) Here I get an error message like "operating system error..." It was impossible to use software with the device recognized as "recovery device". I unplugged and re-plugged now without pressing the button, device was recognized as usb storage volume and I started the software and upgraded the firmware. Device was inoperable...
5) Repeated the process, now with pressing the button. I upgraded the firmware. And everything was OK. Rock EQ fault was gone. A playlist function is added, hough I dunno how to use this  as yet : ) When I go into playlist option I’m unable to exit, and only way I found to exit is turnoff. Except this detail it works properly.
My computer is a standard Dell latitude c600 (an old model with one USB-1 port only), with windows xp spII. Device chip is stmp3502 according to latest driver but it was a stmp3500 according to driver on the cd came with the device.
Hope this helps,
Best regards.
PS: Despite the whole adventure I really like this device, its plain design, SD card feature, removeable battery, and especially its stmp35xx chip, also used in ipod shuffles which is regarded as best sounding ipod model, by some people.
PS 2: Maybe this is known to everyone, but I just noticed that it is possible to play non-compressed wav files with maga player 533 (16 bit 44.1 khz stereo PCM files). All you have to do is copying them into "voice" folder of the device. Then you have CD quality audio. I dont know whether it is possible with older firmwares too, or just a feature of latest one.  I also tried higher quality formats like 24 bit 48 khz but device couldnt see these ones
anyone tried this procedure? did it work?didn't work for me..