jdog
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2010
- Posts
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INTRODUCTION
Let me first admit to being a huge fan of the Xuelin line of DAPs. I currently own several of the Xuelin players: iHiFi 770, iHiFi 770C, modified iHiFi 770C, iHiFi 800, modified iHiFi 960, and iHiFi 960 dual-core. I really enjoy the sound quality of all these players, but I am especially fond of the 800 and 960-dual core. But, I am also probably one of their biggest critics when it comes to functionality and firmware. I have sent numerous emails to Xuelin encouraging them to provide more significant firmware updates that will provide better file format support, gapless playback, cue support, graphic user equalizer, etc, but I suspect that most of my emails are being directly routed to auto delete. I have found Xuelin to be very difficult to communicate with and I'm not sure why.... In any event, Xuelin has recently released firmware updates for the 770s and 960s; although these updates do represent a step in the right direction, the current firmware still remains somewhat restricted and simplistic. Although many Xuelin DAP users may be satisfied with the current firmware status (and this is perfectly okay with me), I would really like to see much more progress...
This is where Rockbox comes in to play. Let me first admit that I have played absolutely no role in the development or modifications of the 960 Rockbox port. The credit for the Rockbox port for the 960 goes to several very bight and talented individuals, most (if not all) of whom appear to live in or around Russia. I do not know any of these people, but I am certainly grateful for and appreciative of their efforts. The addition of Rockbox to my 960 dual-core player has greatly increased the value of the player to me. Although there are a few limitations, I feel the benefits of Rockbox clearly outweigh any downsides, and I have not even taken advantage of all the features Rockbox has to offer. It does appear that Rockbox runs smoother on my 960 dual-core than on the modified 960, and some people who own the original 960 or the modified 960 may not find Rockbox to be as attractive as I do.
In any event, I am going to present information in this primer that will outline the process for rockboxing the iHiFi 960. All of this information is available in the Head Fi.org forums already, so I am just pulling the information together into this thread. Hopefully, anyone interested in Rockboxing their 960 will find this information useful and relatively easy to understand. For me, the biggest hurdle to get over in this process (once you have all the necessary links and files) is to learn how to upgrade the firmware in the 960. It really is not very difficult, but you do need to follow proper steps and make sure you have downloaded the necessary drivers to your computer. I will outline these steps in this primer and provide needed links to files you will need. And remember, if you do happen to load Rockbox onto your 960 and you find you don't like it, you can always replace the Rockbox firmware with the latest firmware offered by Xuelin. The whole process is completely reversible....
IMPORTANT LINKS FOR THE ROCKBOX PROCESS
1. This is the link to the Xuelin file that you will need to update firmware in your 960: http://www.91avr.com/ihifiupimg.rar
2. This is the link to the Rockbox firmware that you will load into your 960: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1nI4rgGNPbtanJpVzRGRHI4cm8&usp=sharing
3. This is the link to the daily Rockbox build that you will need to extract to your microsd card: http://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ihifi960
4. This is the link to the latest Xuelin firmware upgrade for the 960: http://www.91avr.com/HIFI-old-chinese-0726.rar
I find it very helpful to download link 1 to my computer, but I download the files in links 2, 3, and 4 to a separate thumbdrive, so I can move more easily through the firmware upgrade process. In my experience, the links to the Xuelin site do not always work. If you find this to be the case, then go to the Xuelin site, www.i-hifi.com, and look under the "Events and News" section. You will find the files you need (ihifiupimg.rar and the latest firmware file for the 960) about 1/4 way down the page; and you should be able to download them directly.
LET'S GET STARTED...
The first thing you need to do is learn how to change the firmware in your 960. Again, this process works well with Windows 7, XP and Vista, but I do not think you can use Windows 8. Once you have downloaded the Xuelin file (ihifiupimg.rar) from Link #1, you will need to open the file. If you have not used the firmware upgrade image before, the process can appear to be a bit confusing, but once you have gone thru the process a few times, I believe you'll find it to be fairly easy. You do have to make sure that you download the drivers to your computer, if you haven't already. MAKE SURE THE BATTERY ON YOUR 960 IS WELL-CHARGED BEFORE MAKING FIRMWARE CHANGES.
Here is the process for downloading the drivers to your computer: The drivers are contained in the file that you downloaded from the Xuelin website (ihifiupimg.rar). Once you open this main file, you will find the folder "Release_DriverAssistant". Open this folder and you will then see a subfolder "Release_DriverAssistant". Open this subfolder and then you will find a file named "DriverInstall.exe". Click on this file and it will extract and open on your computer. A pop-up will appear on your screen "RK Driver Assistant". Select "Install Driver" and another pop-up will appear that asks you if you want to install the device software. Click on "Install"; after several seconds, the pop-up that asks you if you want to install device software appears again (I'm not sure why this happens, but it does). Just click on "Install" again. After another minute or so, you should see a pop-up that says "Install Ok" Once you see this, then you have loaded the drivers you need, and you can then proceed to change the firmware on your 960. Good luck.
Now comes the process of changing the firmware to the Rockbox firmware. The firmware you will need is found in Link #2 above. You only need to download the file labeled as rockbox-ihifi960.zip. This has the rockbox firmware file (ihifi960_rb.img). You will need to use the RK27 upgrade image to change the firmware. Here is the process for this: Once you feel you are ready to upgrade the firmware, open up the ihifiupimg.rar folder (from Link #1) again and select "RK27Upgrade_I...exe" which should then extract to and open on your computer screen. The images on the Image tool are not in English in this version, but I can talk you thru the process nevertheless. First, identify the dialog box in the lower left corner of the image box. Turn on your 960 and plug your 960 into your usb port; the message in the lower left dialog box should change and will now contain a message that reads something like "...RK27 MSC...". Your 960 screen should say something like "iHiFi usb connection". Once you see these messages, then look towards the upper 1/3 of the upgrade image box on your computer and you will see a small box that has the number 80 in it. Now, just to the right of the number box, you will see a row of 4 buttons; you will click on the 2nd button just to the right of the number 80 box. This is the "switch" button. The message in the left lower dialog box will now change to something that contains "...RK27 Loader..." Now, just under the row of the 4 buttons, you will see another small dialog box that has the word "Image" on its left side. Go to the Right side of this same dialog box and click on the button with "..." in it. This will open a widow where you will select the ihifi960_rb firmware from your thumbdrive. Select the firmware file and press "open". The firmware img will then appear in the Image dialog box. After this happens, then go back to the row with the 4 buttons, and click on the 1st box to the right of the number box (the number box now should read 688135). This is the Upgrade button. After you press the Upgrade button, you should start to see message lines appear in the large box that fills the bottom half of the Image. Once the upgrade process is completed, your 960 screen will have 2-3 lines of print at the top of its screen and may appear frozen. Turn the 960 off with its toggle switch to reset the player. The Rockbox firmware is now on your 960, but you can not use Rockbox until after your have extracted the Rockbox daily build (.rockbox: found in Link #3) to your microsd card. So once you have installed the Rockbox firmware onto your 960 and you have inserted your microsd card with the extracted daily build, turn the player back on as you normally would (toggle switch on, then face button on) and you should see the rockbox logo page appear on your 960 screen. Now you are ready to use and explore the benefits of your Rockbox'd iHiFi960. Good luck.
If you find that the Rockbox firmware is not for you, the process to remove Rockbox and replace with Xuelin firmware is as follows: OK, so start with your 960 off and make sure the microsd card with the .rockbox file is in the microsd slot. If the microsd card is not in the player, then the upgrade image will not recognize the player. Then turn the 960 on by the usual method (toggle switch on, then face button on). Your 960 screen will have 4 lines of print, with the last line saying "Entering rockchip usb mode...". Then open up the RK27 upgrade image as outlined above. The dialog box in the lower left corner will read "...RK27 MaskRom..." Then go thru the same process as above to get to the "image" dialog box. You will now select the Xuelin firmware (which can be downloaded from the Xuelin website, i-hifi,com, under the section "Events and News"; again download to thumbdrive). The latest firmware for the 960 is "HIFI-old-chinese-726" Complete the firmware loading process as above and the latest firmware from Xuelin will now be on your 960. This version is in Chinese, so to change the language, you will need to go to the Settings menu, go down to the 3rd line, select and you will see your language options. However, the icons will still be labeled in Chinese with this version. I do not know why they have not posted an English version.... Good luck.
Let me first admit to being a huge fan of the Xuelin line of DAPs. I currently own several of the Xuelin players: iHiFi 770, iHiFi 770C, modified iHiFi 770C, iHiFi 800, modified iHiFi 960, and iHiFi 960 dual-core. I really enjoy the sound quality of all these players, but I am especially fond of the 800 and 960-dual core. But, I am also probably one of their biggest critics when it comes to functionality and firmware. I have sent numerous emails to Xuelin encouraging them to provide more significant firmware updates that will provide better file format support, gapless playback, cue support, graphic user equalizer, etc, but I suspect that most of my emails are being directly routed to auto delete. I have found Xuelin to be very difficult to communicate with and I'm not sure why.... In any event, Xuelin has recently released firmware updates for the 770s and 960s; although these updates do represent a step in the right direction, the current firmware still remains somewhat restricted and simplistic. Although many Xuelin DAP users may be satisfied with the current firmware status (and this is perfectly okay with me), I would really like to see much more progress...
This is where Rockbox comes in to play. Let me first admit that I have played absolutely no role in the development or modifications of the 960 Rockbox port. The credit for the Rockbox port for the 960 goes to several very bight and talented individuals, most (if not all) of whom appear to live in or around Russia. I do not know any of these people, but I am certainly grateful for and appreciative of their efforts. The addition of Rockbox to my 960 dual-core player has greatly increased the value of the player to me. Although there are a few limitations, I feel the benefits of Rockbox clearly outweigh any downsides, and I have not even taken advantage of all the features Rockbox has to offer. It does appear that Rockbox runs smoother on my 960 dual-core than on the modified 960, and some people who own the original 960 or the modified 960 may not find Rockbox to be as attractive as I do.
In any event, I am going to present information in this primer that will outline the process for rockboxing the iHiFi 960. All of this information is available in the Head Fi.org forums already, so I am just pulling the information together into this thread. Hopefully, anyone interested in Rockboxing their 960 will find this information useful and relatively easy to understand. For me, the biggest hurdle to get over in this process (once you have all the necessary links and files) is to learn how to upgrade the firmware in the 960. It really is not very difficult, but you do need to follow proper steps and make sure you have downloaded the necessary drivers to your computer. I will outline these steps in this primer and provide needed links to files you will need. And remember, if you do happen to load Rockbox onto your 960 and you find you don't like it, you can always replace the Rockbox firmware with the latest firmware offered by Xuelin. The whole process is completely reversible....
IMPORTANT LINKS FOR THE ROCKBOX PROCESS
1. This is the link to the Xuelin file that you will need to update firmware in your 960: http://www.91avr.com/ihifiupimg.rar
2. This is the link to the Rockbox firmware that you will load into your 960: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1nI4rgGNPbtanJpVzRGRHI4cm8&usp=sharing
3. This is the link to the daily Rockbox build that you will need to extract to your microsd card: http://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ihifi960
4. This is the link to the latest Xuelin firmware upgrade for the 960: http://www.91avr.com/HIFI-old-chinese-0726.rar
I find it very helpful to download link 1 to my computer, but I download the files in links 2, 3, and 4 to a separate thumbdrive, so I can move more easily through the firmware upgrade process. In my experience, the links to the Xuelin site do not always work. If you find this to be the case, then go to the Xuelin site, www.i-hifi.com, and look under the "Events and News" section. You will find the files you need (ihifiupimg.rar and the latest firmware file for the 960) about 1/4 way down the page; and you should be able to download them directly.
LET'S GET STARTED...
The first thing you need to do is learn how to change the firmware in your 960. Again, this process works well with Windows 7, XP and Vista, but I do not think you can use Windows 8. Once you have downloaded the Xuelin file (ihifiupimg.rar) from Link #1, you will need to open the file. If you have not used the firmware upgrade image before, the process can appear to be a bit confusing, but once you have gone thru the process a few times, I believe you'll find it to be fairly easy. You do have to make sure that you download the drivers to your computer, if you haven't already. MAKE SURE THE BATTERY ON YOUR 960 IS WELL-CHARGED BEFORE MAKING FIRMWARE CHANGES.
Here is the process for downloading the drivers to your computer: The drivers are contained in the file that you downloaded from the Xuelin website (ihifiupimg.rar). Once you open this main file, you will find the folder "Release_DriverAssistant". Open this folder and you will then see a subfolder "Release_DriverAssistant". Open this subfolder and then you will find a file named "DriverInstall.exe". Click on this file and it will extract and open on your computer. A pop-up will appear on your screen "RK Driver Assistant". Select "Install Driver" and another pop-up will appear that asks you if you want to install the device software. Click on "Install"; after several seconds, the pop-up that asks you if you want to install device software appears again (I'm not sure why this happens, but it does). Just click on "Install" again. After another minute or so, you should see a pop-up that says "Install Ok" Once you see this, then you have loaded the drivers you need, and you can then proceed to change the firmware on your 960. Good luck.
Now comes the process of changing the firmware to the Rockbox firmware. The firmware you will need is found in Link #2 above. You only need to download the file labeled as rockbox-ihifi960.zip. This has the rockbox firmware file (ihifi960_rb.img). You will need to use the RK27 upgrade image to change the firmware. Here is the process for this: Once you feel you are ready to upgrade the firmware, open up the ihifiupimg.rar folder (from Link #1) again and select "RK27Upgrade_I...exe" which should then extract to and open on your computer screen. The images on the Image tool are not in English in this version, but I can talk you thru the process nevertheless. First, identify the dialog box in the lower left corner of the image box. Turn on your 960 and plug your 960 into your usb port; the message in the lower left dialog box should change and will now contain a message that reads something like "...RK27 MSC...". Your 960 screen should say something like "iHiFi usb connection". Once you see these messages, then look towards the upper 1/3 of the upgrade image box on your computer and you will see a small box that has the number 80 in it. Now, just to the right of the number box, you will see a row of 4 buttons; you will click on the 2nd button just to the right of the number 80 box. This is the "switch" button. The message in the left lower dialog box will now change to something that contains "...RK27 Loader..." Now, just under the row of the 4 buttons, you will see another small dialog box that has the word "Image" on its left side. Go to the Right side of this same dialog box and click on the button with "..." in it. This will open a widow where you will select the ihifi960_rb firmware from your thumbdrive. Select the firmware file and press "open". The firmware img will then appear in the Image dialog box. After this happens, then go back to the row with the 4 buttons, and click on the 1st box to the right of the number box (the number box now should read 688135). This is the Upgrade button. After you press the Upgrade button, you should start to see message lines appear in the large box that fills the bottom half of the Image. Once the upgrade process is completed, your 960 screen will have 2-3 lines of print at the top of its screen and may appear frozen. Turn the 960 off with its toggle switch to reset the player. The Rockbox firmware is now on your 960, but you can not use Rockbox until after your have extracted the Rockbox daily build (.rockbox: found in Link #3) to your microsd card. So once you have installed the Rockbox firmware onto your 960 and you have inserted your microsd card with the extracted daily build, turn the player back on as you normally would (toggle switch on, then face button on) and you should see the rockbox logo page appear on your 960 screen. Now you are ready to use and explore the benefits of your Rockbox'd iHiFi960. Good luck.
If you find that the Rockbox firmware is not for you, the process to remove Rockbox and replace with Xuelin firmware is as follows: OK, so start with your 960 off and make sure the microsd card with the .rockbox file is in the microsd slot. If the microsd card is not in the player, then the upgrade image will not recognize the player. Then turn the 960 on by the usual method (toggle switch on, then face button on). Your 960 screen will have 4 lines of print, with the last line saying "Entering rockchip usb mode...". Then open up the RK27 upgrade image as outlined above. The dialog box in the lower left corner will read "...RK27 MaskRom..." Then go thru the same process as above to get to the "image" dialog box. You will now select the Xuelin firmware (which can be downloaded from the Xuelin website, i-hifi,com, under the section "Events and News"; again download to thumbdrive). The latest firmware for the 960 is "HIFI-old-chinese-726" Complete the firmware loading process as above and the latest firmware from Xuelin will now be on your 960. This version is in Chinese, so to change the language, you will need to go to the Settings menu, go down to the 3rd line, select and you will see your language options. However, the icons will still be labeled in Chinese with this version. I do not know why they have not posted an English version.... Good luck.