[Digital8] Q&A-01: enabling D8, DV cam. And if something goes wrong... Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 19:36:01 +0200 From: "Mijo K." Hi Jeff & others Jeff Vogt wrote: > I'm not sure but I remember hearing about cases where people have rewrote > the firmware and the camera wouldn't work. I think they have like 7 seconds > between turning the cam on and the time it shuts off again to undo what they > did... Have any of you heard of this? If the talk is about SONY MiniDV & D8 (first and second edition) cams, here are my own (verified) experiences: - After connecting power supply cable (or battery) on to camera the internal CPU will load FLASH (EEPROM) parameters in to RAM area. This happend even if cam main switch is in OFF (CHARGE) postion! - But not only the needed data is loaded, CPU will also calculate so called Cheksum out of the loaded data. This cheksum result must match with Cheksum data written in FLASH (EEPROM) area of cam. If calculated cheksum is different from that written in FLASH (EEPROM), the security of cam will be activated immediatly. - The security part of cam software will block any camera function, on LCD will be shown very large orange battery without voltage (even if power supply is connected), and after aprox. 4 seconds (SE D8) cam will shut down totaly. All that will happend regardles to main power switch of camera. And your cam is now gone to hell... or not? - Those 4 seconds (measured on few SE D8 cams) are the lifeboat to us, to repair false entered data. Why? LANC comunication will work within 4 seconds error free. And if you permanently open & close (insert & eject) tape within that time, this lifetime of LANC port can be extended endless. - So, with one hand opening and closing tape door, with other maintaning false enetered data (using RM95 emulator) via LANC & with some efforts, anybody can rescue the cam. If: if he know what data on what address and page he entered before cam goes blocked. So it's very important to wrote on paper all what is done. If you miss the 4 second life interval, you need to begin on starting point. This could be very painfull, but it's worth! Until now I repaired any blocked cam from friends. - If the FLASH (EEPROM) content need to be rewritten with new data - using STORE command on RM95 emulator, to permanently enable some new functions... then, the corect CHEKSUM must be written too! Calculation and postion of cheksum data for frist edition D8 (TRV7000, 110, 210, 310, 510,...) is very different from cheksum of second edition (SE) D8 (TRV8000, 120, 125, 320, 520,...)! - Also the actual data for DV-IN & ANA-IN enabling, and other functions are placed on different postions ! In general, there is no FLASH (EEPROM) data compatibility between 1st and 2nd edition of D8 cams. Also between different MiniDV cam's from one manufacturer, too. Be very careful by using various automatic enabling software! Such software must match D8 or MiniDV cam edition! - RAM area: if you like to play with setings, it can be done safetly in RAM area only. New function will be available until you disconnect the power supply or batery. By playing in RAM area DO NOT USE STORE button! Pressing on Store button will execute unwanted FASH (EEPROM) writing - it's usable only to permanently enable some new functions. But in such case the CHEKSUM must becalculated and stored too! Back to RAM area: first you need to enable service updating (writing) with folowing cmd: PAGE 00h, ADR 01h, set DATA from 00h to 01h. And don't press on STORE button ! Now you are able to play - to change any FLASH data... And don't forget: keep fingers away from STORE button in RM95 emulator! The result - new function can be seen in most cases immediatly in menus. Note: some functions will appear only in CAMERA mode, some others only in PLAYER (VTR) mode. Few weeks ago I start to collect memory dump's of any D8 & DV cam. These are now published on our server, to help you in rescue actions of your cam. And you are welcome with new dump's. I know my english is fare a way from perfect. Anyhow, I hope lines above will help you to understand basics of D8 & DV FLASH (EEPROM) memory area usage, and can be very helpful to bring your 'damaged' cam back to life. :)) With regards -- Mijo K., S51KQ http://lea.hamradio.si/~s51kq