[brick42]

if uploading to the latest greatest official why not just do OTA?

 

[WitzyZed]

if you’re afraid you’re going to brick your device maybe follow the steps and do what’s been described?
we don’t know what firmware or state the pre owned device is being shipped in, best to just give it a clean slate..

 

[XP_98]

Hopefully this proves useful as a reference for those installing stock or custom firmware (the Fidelizer Purist ROMs by WindowsX), and kernel+scripts (jkbuha & prispewnic from 4PDA).

Many have already done this successfully even with some of the instructions focused or scattered on different pages of the thread.

Links to anything you need are provided within. This set of instructions goes for anyone with a windows home computer. Best of luck!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9k2u95d9z37vt2t/Fidelizer_1.2.2_and_Kernel_2.5_instructions.txt/file

(I give up with attaching the file here's the full text):

Grab the 1.2.2 purist rom as well as the FiiO firmware upgrade tool from this link:
http://www.fidelizer-audio.com/fiio-x5iii-purist-rom-version-1-2-2-released-with-fiio-music-updated/

Begin by installing the latest usb drivers:
http://fiio-file.fiio.net/FiiO_USB_DAC_Driver-V4.47.0.zip

Then run the RKDriverInstall exe from the firmware upgrade tool folder.

Next you must delete or remove the ‘update’ disc image file from the firmware upgrade tool folder, and replace it with the ‘update’ disc image from the WindowsXPurist1.2.2 folder. The purist disc image will be the smaller of the two.

Going forward, please keep any of your precious microSD cards removed from your player, and be aware anything on your player’s internal storage is going to be wiped.
-this should be obvious, but let’s continue

Hold down the “Previous Track” rocker button (the one closest to the volume dial) with your player powered down and connect the micro USB cable from your computer to your player.
-You should have heard a connection chime, and your player's screen should remain off. The player is now in the "bootloader" mode

Right click on the firmware upgrade tool exe in the firmware upgrade tool folder and run as administrator.

With ‘√ Device Connected’ showing, click the green ‘Upgrade Now’ button ONLY ONCE. Wait patiently.
-The progress bar will move along, and in the process you will hear several connection chimes.
-It is done when you see the white battery icon on your player's screen, and the blue LED power indicator illuminated.

Hold down your player's power button and allow it to boot up/initialize, etc.

From the settings app, scroll to 'System', then hit 'Factory data reset', scroll down and check the 'Erase internal storage' box, hit the grey 'RESET DEVICE' button.
-Let this do its thing and wait for the player to reboot.
-You can disconnect USB from player at this time.

Next we've got to install the TWRP (Custom Recovery) loader.
-found here: https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=11410963190603909512
-unzip this to your desktop or wherever.

Power off your player again, and put it in bootloader mode by connecting to USB holding down the previous track button.

Open AndroidTool.exe from the loader folder.
- 'One Loader Device Found' should be displayed.
-Make sure that checkbox #2 'boot.img' & #3 'Image\recovery_twrp.img' are checked.

Press 'Run' and wait until the loader operation is completed.
-The efficacy of this I can't explain, call me superstitious or paranoid, but I choose to run this loader operation like 5 times consecutively. I've heard from people saying oh the custom recovery wasn't flashed. And there were times where after running the loader operation only once for me it didn't flash. But every time I've installed this (yes I've had to do this more than once since I was beta testing earlier kernel versions and such) if I flashed it 5 times I never had any issues. So yeah. After the first time the loader operation is completed, just run it an extra 4 more times.

Go to 'Advanced Function' and click "Reset Device".
-You should have heard a connection chime, and your player is released to a powered off and charging state, like when you installed the Fidelizer firmware.
-Go ahead and disconnect your player from USB cable.

Power on your player, allow it to boot up/initialize, etc.

Download the kernel+optimization scripts by jkbuha.
-found here: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397902029

Download SuperSU (root).
-found here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1ch3om94ugjlvjm/SuperSU_PRO_v2.79SR4.zip/file

Plug USB back into your player, and mount its internal storage.
-Without being too verbose, you should see the green android guy and a "turn on usb storage" button and click ok
-Once you see the internal storage as a volume on your computer, you're going to want to drag the two zip folders (keep them unzipped) to an easy to access location, like the 'Download' folder on the X5's internal storage.
-Once that's copied go ahead and safely eject / unmount the X5 volume from your computer
-Click "turn off usb storage" button on your X5
-Power down your X5

To enter TWRP custom recovery, power off your player then simultaneously hold down the following three buttons:
-Play/Pause (Remain pressed until you see blue TWRP splash screen)
-Previous Track (Remain pressed until you see blue TWRP splash screen)
-Power (Release when FiiO ‘Welcome’ logo appears)

You should now be at the home page in TWRP

Press 'Install' and navigate to sdcard/Downloads
-here you should see the two zips you added to the folder
Select the jkbuha 2.7 zip and swipe to install
-once this is done installing hit the 'wipe dalvik/cache' button

Navigate back to home page in TWRP
-click ‘Wipe’ then ‘Advanced Wipe’
-make sure the ‘Dalvik Cache’ and ‘Cache’ boxes, just those two, are checked
-now ’Swipe to Wipe’

Navigate back to home page in TWRP
-click 'Advanced' then 'Fix Permissions' and swipe right
-A 'Reboot System' button should appear when this is done, hit that
-You may see a notice here "It appears you device is not rooted, would you like to install SuperSU" or something to that effect. DO NOT swipe to install. Hit "Do Not Install" and let your player reboot.

Let the player sit for about 1-2 minutes to let the scripts run fully.
-then reboot your player once more

At this point you should have the Fidelizer 1.2.2 firmware and the latest kernel, scripts, boot optimizations, etc. installed.

However you may remember we added the SuperSU (root) zip to your downloads folder on the X5.

So again enter TWRP recovery by doing the play/pause, previous track and power button combination from above.

Go to 'Install'
-and select the SuperSU zip
-swipe to install
-then hit 'wipe dalvik/cache'

(Now here's where I get superstitious again, as I have had SuperSU not install properly upon just one go.)

So.... I install the SuperSU zip and wipe dalvik/cache like four more times.

Go back home in TWRP
-Go to advanced 'Fix Permissions' then 'Reboot System'
-If done right you should not see the 'It appears your device is not rooted, would you like to install SuperSU' notice that appeared previously.

Let your player reboot and initialize, etc.

With root access, you are going to want to install an application like Titanium Backup Pro (about $6 on google play store) because with that, you can freeze applications (like google play services or google services framework) or delete unnecessary applications (like es file explorer, animated wallpapers, alternative language keyboards, fiio market app, email & exchange apps, stock browser)

Thank you very much for taking the time to write down this tutorial Worked perfectly ! Without it, not sure I would have dared trying to replace the stock ROM...

 

[XP_98]

Now I have one question : after going through all the described process (keeping latest stock ROM + jhbuha latest kernel + supers), I bought Titanium Backup Pro too be able to freeze or uninstall unused apps.
When I try to open it, it asks me if I want refund, and tells "root needed".
Did I miss something ?

 

[javre76]

Now I have one question : after going through all the described process (keeping latest stock ROM + jhbuha latest kernel + supers), I bought Titanium Backup Pro too be able to freeze or uninstall unused apps.
When I try to open it, it asks me if I want refund, and tells "root needed".
Did I miss something ?

If you are certain that you are rooted, it is just informing you that for certain task can be done just if you are rooted.

 

[XP_98]

If you are certain that you are rooted, it is just informing you that for certain task can be done just if you are rooted.

How can I check if I am rooted ?
How can I use Titanium Backup Pro ?
Edit : Google Play tells me Titanium Backup Pro is installed, but I can not open it...

 

[javre76]

How can I check if I am rooted ?
How can I use Titanium Backup Pro ?
Edit : Google Play tells me Titanium Backup Pro is installed, but I can not open it...

When you open the SU app, does it say anything stating you are not rooted? If you don’t, there are high chances you are rooted.

 

[XP_98]

SU gives me the option to "unroot all", so I can suppose the X5III is rooted, however no way to start Titanium Backup, that doesn't show on the apps screen either (but is listed in "Applications list" in "settings" screen) ???

Should I uninstall and reinstall it ?

[Edit] Solved ! Stupid me, I had only pages and downloaded the "Pro" key in Google play, not the app itself. It's ok now

 

[nekromantik]

anyone else have issues with Fiio App on latest official fw with custom kernal?
Today it started to stop playing anything after 2 songs and if you press play again it would go back to track I was playing last time I turned it off. So it reset to position I was on last time I used the player.
Then it sometimes force closes.

I still have issues with Neutron closing itself too and only way to fix is to root and install kernal app to reduce the lmk.

 

[ElKabong]

anyone else have issues with Fiio App on latest official fw with custom kernal?
Today it started to stop playing anything after 2 songs and if you press play again it would go back to track I was playing last time I turned it off. So it reset to position I was on last time I used the player.
Then it sometimes force closes.

I still have issues with Neutron closing itself too and only way to fix is to root and install kernal app to reduce the lmk.

I did have some problems with jetaudio and the fiio music app, where it would pause after a song was finished, and on the fiio app, i thought it shut down as nothing was working. I just re-installed all again. Will see if it happens again in the future, haven't used it for a few days, so i guess i best give it workout.

 

[nekromantik]

I did have some problems with jetaudio and the fiio music app, where it would pause after a song was finished, and on the fiio app, i thought it shut down as nothing was working. I just re-installed all again. Will see if it happens again in the future, haven't used it for a few days, so i guess i best give it workout.

as in you re-installed the firmware?
I only just did that went from custom fw to official but it did a full wipe so started from scratch.

 

[ElKabong]

as in you re-installed the firmware?
I only just did that went from custom fw to official but it did a full wipe so started from scratch.

I started from scratch, i just use the latest stock firmware with the custom kernal, for now i'm staying in pure music mode, i listened this morning for a little over 30 minutes with no problems,
small sample size i know. I need an extended listening period to see if i encounter any pauses or whatever happens, i'll stick with the fiio app for now and see how it performs.

 

[XP_98]

I have a problem : "Tonal Tinnitus Therapy" app crashes after a few minutes on my X5III.
It was the case with stock ROM, and it's the same now I have installed last Jhbuha kernel.
Neutron works, no other app than stock installed.
Tonal Tinnitus Therapy works flawlessly on my XDP300R, and on my new DX150.

Any idea ?

 

[Carrow]

Dear Head-Fi community

After some extensive work over the last few weeks I am very happy to announce the latest release - Version 2.6 of the @FiiO X5iii custom kernel. This release contains by far the largest amount of new features and changes, and elevates the player usability and user experience in a class above its own. Indeed comparing the original factory versions with this custom kernel gives the X5 a new premium feel in terms of smoothness and execution.

Changelog

Version 2.6
New: UKSM instead of KSM (much faster)
New: ZRAM (more RAM)
New: fsync_disable (much, much faster)
New: ROW I/O scheduler for SD cards (much faster)
New: LZ4 Compression instead of LZO (faster, more compression)
New: zsmalloc implementation instead of xsmalloc
New: zcache enabling (faster)
New: ARM RSEM implementation (faster)
New: frandom generator instead of random (much, much faster)
New: MSG pop-up notification daemon
Fix: Lowered voltage for some FiiO players with lower-grade VCOs
Fix: Corrected git file dependencies
Fix: Disabled system animation by default

Previous Versions

Version 2.5
New: Increased max clock speed to 1752MHz (faster)
New: BFQ I/O scheduler (faster)
New: Westwood TCP/IP congestion protocol (much faster)
New: InteractiveX governor (much, much, much faster)
Fix: Stability checks to voltage
Fix: iX handling changes

Version 2.4
New: Maple I/O Scheduler (faster)
New: init.d full support (much, much faster)
New: init.d scripts (thanks prispewnic @ 4PDA)

Version 2.3
New: Zen I/O scheduler (much faster)

Version 2.2
Fix: Changes to scheduler priorities during screen off (faster)

Version 2.1
New: Additional GPU and DDR overclocking (much, much faster)

Version 1.5
New: Update to Linaro gcc 4.9.4 (significantly much faster)

Version 1.4
New: SIO I/O scheduler (faster)
New: VR I/O scheduler (faster)

Version 1.3
New: CPU clock to 1704MHz (much, much faster)

Version 1.2
New: Additional voltage optimisation and DDR overclocking

Version 1.1
New: GPIO optimisation and documentation
New: CPU clock to 1518MHz (faster)

Version 1.0
Initial system release and branch-off from FiiO GPL code

Installation instructions:

1) Windows and/or first-time users
If you already have TWRP or a previous version of my kernel, go to step 2.

a) If you don't yet have TWRP and/or any previous version of my kernel yet, download the Windows-based loader here and unzip to a folder
https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397899882
(note: you need to have the FiiO USB Windows drivers correctly installed)
b) Run the AndroidTool.exe program and connect the FiiO via USB.
c) Put the player in bootloader mode (just as if you were going to upgrade the player the traditional FiiO way with the Windows-based loader), by pressing power+pause+back.
d) If all goes well you should see the green light with 'Found One Loader Device'. Make sure 'boot' and 'recovery_twrp' are selected and press Run. Once done, click the 'Advanced Function' tab and click Reset Device. You should have the new kernel and TWRP installed!

2) TWRP users

a) Download the latest version of the kernel (with new optimisation scripts) here:
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397899873 and push to sdcard
b) Reboot to TWRP recovery
c) Install -> FiiO-X5iii-jkbuha-V2.6-TWRP.zip
d) Wipe kernel and dalvik cache
e) Reboot
f) IMPORTANT: leave running for 1-2m for new scripts to do their magic
g) Reboot
h) Enjoy

3) Hints and Tips
After the first couple of reboots, you should immediately see an increase in usability and responsiveness due to the new kernel features and scripts in play.

If you're using Fidelizer (as I am) then you'll need to delete *.flac and *.pdf from your /system/media folder before you install my kernel.

Note that this version pushes the hardware to its maximum capabilities, so if you experience any random reboots, it's likely that your specific player may need slightly lower tuning settings. PM me and I'll send you a custom build!

Thanks and Rants

Again, massive thanks to prispewnic's product suggestions. His extensive knowledge of requirements and scripting have been the source behind all these new great features. Thanks also to the great community of users here on this forum, your support and feedback so far has been incredible.

Thanks also to @FiiO for releasing the first GPL of the source code back in June. If it weren’t for you we wouldn’t have this modded kernel. Also - gentle reminder - could you kindly release the source code for firmware version 1.2.2?

Coming up next
Version 3 is next, this will be quite an ambitious project, so expect even better CPU governors, I/O schedulers and faster internet on this player in the coming weeks

As always, any queries, comments etc - please shout.

Moderators - could someone pin this to the first post of this topic? It's a real shame that new users have to trudge through 1000 odd pages before they get to this...

Trying to install this on our desktop Windows machine. When @jkbuha says the 'FiiO USB Windows Drivers' what is he referring to and could I have a link? Connecting my player via USB after I open the AndroidTool programme and open the bootloader on the X5iii doesn't do anything, I'm guessing I don't have the drivers installed, much less correctly. Thanks

 

[WitzyZed]

The version of the kernel you’re quoting isn’t recent. Look at the post on the last page I quoted, links are all there.