[Archive] TomTom v9 Firmware and Maps

[sophie999]

DSA,

Quick questions:

1. I have the 8.370 NC on my GO920, patched by your tools. Now I want to try new NC 9, again, using your tools. Would you recommnend deleting any files from the TT device prior to another patching, or leave all as is and DSA tool will just replace the old files with the new??

2. Can I still use your tool to patch TT home (how?)?

Thanks a lot.

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by sophie999

DSA,

Quick questions:

1. I have the 8.370 NC on my GO920, patched by your tools. Now I want to try new NC 9, again, using your tools. Would you recommnend deleting any files from the TT device prior to another patching, or leave all as is and DSA tool will just replace the old files with the new??

2. Can I still use your tool to patch TT home (how?)?

Thanks a lot.

1) NO, do not delete anything. It's an accumulating process. Except for folder "8370" which will become no longer needed (it will be replaced, after start-up, with folder "9000"). Other/all folders of four digits name can be also deleted (at any time); the required one is recreated automatically at start-up, if missing, as part of the memory savings procedure.

2) YES. But first wait until TTHome downloads the new software for "Operate my GO". It is triggered at first click on the menu item. BUT, this software is not yet available - as you'd be notified by TTHome itself.

Word of warning: it appears that external SD cards of 8GB capacity are NOT supported by the bootloader that comes along with NC v9.000.1637.
So, BEFORE disconnecting device from PC, erase or rename the file named "system" from your 8GB storage, if that's the case.
However, it is possible to return to the previous bootloader with dsa.exe, in case the bootloader has been already upgraded (to version 5.5256). The recipe is in my post #10.

Bottom line, it is safe to upgrade to v9.000, I like it more than the v8 versions.

[mathiaskt]

Originally Posted by dsa8310

@mathiaskt:

Judging from your info:

a) you had a working v8.560 nc of bl equal to 5.5229 on your external 8GB SD card.
b) you made a nc v9.000 installation on the 8GB card, but it does not boot; the new bl was flashed into the device.
c) however, the internal card (2GB) is still booting (the official nc) and there is a new bootloader 5.5256 on device.

If a+b+c are true, then the new bl 5.5256 (that came with nc v9.000) does not support 8GB cards.

Fortunately, you can go back to a bl supporting 8GB cards, with dsa.exe.
The recipe is in post #10.

(you may do an extra test first: back-up your internal card and install on it nc v9.000; it should boot from there)

Something interesting. I copied the pathed system file from NC9 to the internal card and rebooted. All is fine. Then using dsa.exe, I created the new NC9 and also extracted the NC9 cab file. Then manually copied the NC9 cab file to internal card and forgot to copy new NC9 as well. The device reloaded fine with NC9 on it. I did navigate the screen and I have to say it does look good. I then connected it back to the PC (winXP pro). Unzipped dsa_navcore.9000.zip and copied the content to internal card. Now it does not reboot. So what I now plan to do is track which file/folder is stopping it from booting. What I intend to do is repeat the last process and then copy files/folders from dsa_navcore.9000.zip one at a time and each time reload TT720.

Will let you know what I find.
Mathias,

[mathiaskt]

Originally Posted by mathiaskt

Something interesting. I copied the pathed system file from NC9 to the internal card and rebooted. All is fine. Then using dsa.exe, I created the new NC9 and also extracted the NC9 cab file. Then manually copied the NC9 cab file to internal card and forgot to copy new NC9 as well. The device reloaded fine with NC9 on it. I did navigate the screen and I have to say it does look good. I then connected it back to the PC (winXP pro). Unzipped dsa_navcore.9000.zip and copied the content to internal card. Now it does not reboot. So what I now plan to do is track which file/folder is stopping it from booting. What I intend to do is repeat the last process and then copy files/folders from dsa_navcore.9000.zip one at a time and each time reload TT720.

Will let you know what I find.
Mathias,

I started all from the beginning again. Brough the internal card to a working state. Extracted NC9.000.1637.cab to the internal card and all still ok. Copied all folders from dsa_navcore.9000.zip to internal card and all still fine. All i have left to do now is to copy PNDNavigator, ttsystem and data_** (6 of them) - before I do that, I will give it a drive to make sure all is fine. So will let you know tomorrow.

Mathias,

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by mathiaskt

I started all from the beginning again. Brough the internal card to a working state. Extracted NC9.000.1637.cab to the internal card and all still ok. Copied all folders from dsa_navcore.9000.zip to internal card and all still fine. All i have left to do now is to copy PNDNavigator, ttsystem and data_** (6 of them) - before I do that, I will give it a drive to make sure all is fine. So will let you know tomorrow.

Mathias,

Your terminology is confusing to me.

I can get that indeed, your internal card (2GB, that is no greater than 4GB) supports the new NC v9.000.

As I guessed, the problem stands with the external 8GB card that is NOT supported by the new bootloader ver. 5.5256 which landed on your device when first attempting the NC v9.000 installation.

When it comes to installing the new NC on your (internal or external) device, the dsa.exe procedure is straightforward:

1) connect TT to PC; unmount (aka remove safely in Windows terms) the other storage you do not want to install to, if device is with both internal and external storage present.

2) select the source TT CAB with the leftmost open button of dsa.exe (e.g. NC9.000.1637.cab)

3) select either the x40 or L37 (the new lite mode that came with v9) radio button; recommended would be x40, but L37 is fine too.

4) check off the install box next to the big patch button; the target drive will be displayed below. The selection can be overriden by hand when wrong or absent.

5) click the big patch button and later on answer yes to install to TT.

6) disconnect/unmount/remove safely/ and let device start-up; that would be all. However, BEFORE letting the TT start-up, you may want to delete/rename the file "system" which contains usually a new bootloader if in doubt of its adequacy.

In your case, to reenable a bootloader which supports external cards greater than 4GB in size, you should do what I have described in post #10.
Install on the internal storage, of course, since the external 8GB one won't work until you patch back the last known to work bootloader, of version 5.5229, taken from the NC v8.560 cabinet - the file "system".

Note also that dsa.exe (and dsa.zip) is the only tool able to downgrade a bootloader (provided that it is of version 5.xxxx), so you are quite lucky, after all

[ebang]

I have installed the new navcore on my TT One but is it not working properly, it installs properly but when I turn on the devise it will stay on waiting to get a GPS signal and then shut off after about 30 seconds.

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by ebang

I have installed the new navcore on my TT One but is it not working properly, it installs properly but when I turn on the devise it will stay on waiting to get a GPS signal and then shut off after about 30 seconds.

Try L37 too. Then L34/35/36. See what happens. There is no guarantee...

We could keep track of devices with issues by posting the first two chars of the device serial number. Just the first two chars only.
For example, my device serial number starts with "V7" and is a GO 910 as one can see here: http://www.tomtom.com/products/maps/select.php in the "Which TomTom Device do I have?" area.

So, what are the first two chars of your device serial?

[ebang]

Originally Posted by dsa8310

Try L37 too. Then L34/35/36. See what happens. There is no guarantee...

We could keep track of devices with issues by posting the first two chars of the device serial number. Just the first two chars only.
For example, my device serial number starts with "V7" and is a GO 910 as one can see here: http://www.tomtom.com/products/maps/select.php in the "Which TomTom Device do I have?" area.

So, what are the first two chars of your device serial?

I'll try with the other options
Device id is Z1

I reloaded the V9 navecore and now my device will just freeze and reboot.

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by ebang

I'll try with the other options
Device id is Z1

I reloaded the V9 navecore and now my device will just freeze and reboot.

You could always go back to the last v8 version that worked for you.
(reinstall with dsa.exe a v8 cabinet, or restore your backup as a last resort; by the way, the only thing a backup can NOT restore is the bootloader flashed on device - but, if necessary, that can also be done with dsa.exe, as described in my post #10)

[ebang]

Originally Posted by dsa8310

You could always go back to the last v8 version that worked for you.
(reinstall with dsa.exe a v8 cabinet, or restore your backup as a last resort; by the way, the only thing a backup can NOT restore is the bootloader flashed on device - but, if necessary, that can also be done with dsa.exe, as described in my post #10)

I changed back to the lastest V8 navcore and it's all good again....thanks.

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by ebang

I changed back to the lastest V8 navcore and it's all good again....thanks.

I am sorry to hear it. Bad luck, for now.
(if you have used the latest dsa.exe, then it would be good to erase all four digit folders on device - like 8560, 8370, 8417, even the new 9000 - to save space and let the new memory savings algorithm kick in;; remove also the older dsa_navcore.xxx.zip packages too, they are next to the source cabinet files, and then rerun the dsa.exe installation, so that it effectively re-patches the v8 cab)

[XisiX]

Originally Posted by dsa8310

... by the way, the only thing a backup can NOT restore is the bootloader flashed on device - but, if necessary, that can also be done with dsa.exe, as described in my post #10)

Till now, I tought bootloader downgrading is impossible for us (mortals).
Is this tested enough? - playing with BL is not that funny game at all.

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by XisiX

Till now, I tought bootloader downgrading is impossible for us (mortals).
Is this tested enough? - playing with BL is not that funny game at all.

No, it's science...

I have tested it on my own device, thoroughly. I jumped from 5.5229 to 5.5128, then 5.5120 and then back to 5.5229.
I never post untested stuff.

The easiest way to check out my patched "system" file, without involving the device itself, is to compare it to the back-up copy, named "system.orig" when patching with the same version number as in the original. They will be identical, and this proves that I know how to change the version number of a 5.xxxx BL file - and this is not a mere cut&paste game, as a naive user might think

It seems (pending confirmation) that the new BL 5.5256 that came with NC v9000.1637 does NOT support SD cards bigger than 4GB in size, so for those who have already upgraded the NC together with the BL, my BL switcher looks like the only way to restore larger SD card support to their devices.

[tendriver]

Here is the REAL Navcore 9.000.1637 CAB.
http://download.tomtom.com/sweet/nav...navcore-GO.cab

[dsa8310]

Originally Posted by ebang

I changed back to the lastest V8 navcore and it's all good again....thanks.

One last thought, you could enable a human voice (if not already), switch device off and on and then retry the v9 installation.
(or vice-versa, if the human voice was enabled, select instead a computer voice, switch off and on and then retry the v9 installation).
Who knows...