LG FirmWare - seneste version?

AndersPier skrev: Hi Tweakradje. Maybe the Loader here is the DVD Firmware (again, not sure what it is on this player/recorder) - but what version of the Loader (not Firmware), did the recorder have BEFORE You upgraded to version 50617A ? e.g. Loader=.v30.

When I was in the German forum I saw references to the following firmware/loader combination:

    Firmware as of 17.10.2005
    SET Ver:= 51017A Cware prod045 BSP=23FME 10 : Ver=R02 (D17)
    Loader w. 36

As it seems different loaders and firmware combinations have been released from, I have the idea that this is why peopel have different observations concerning e.g. subtitles working or not working (and maybe even if a reboot must be done to make them work).

I do recall - when I got the 50617A copy from the Polish site - that the were a doc mentioning "... no new loader update"!!!

What I got from this is that the loader (whatever that is) can be updated *separately*, so it must be in charge of separate tasks, also.

My private guess is the loader is to be seen as the "BIOS" of the recorder, meaning that it controls which parameter settings (e.g. GUI langauage etc.) that have been selected. These parameters must på stored on the harddrive some place (also the charset Latin-2 selection), so I guess the loader "loads" these parameters when the recorder is booted.

All in all, the firmware sits on a EPROM chip on the motherboard, whereas the GUI-parameter selections sit in a hidden file on the harddrive (and loads with the loader).

All guess work here, but maybe interesting to someone who has the time to debug what system and hidden files are stored on the harddrive

Regards,
Justin

tweakradje skrev: SiHiDa skrev: Running on FW 50323A, I noticed a very nasty bug: I edited some of the titles on my LG RH-7500's hard disk ('Delete Part'). After some editing, I noticed a title (for example, 10) was now pointing to the contents of another title (for example, 20), but the length of title 10 was the original length of title 10 (not the length of title 20)! I turned my recorder off and on, and the title 10 had completely disappeared! Does anybody know about my issue or has experienced the same issue? Does anybody know if this issue has been fixed in firmware 51214A (or 50617A)? Hoi, This is an old bug. It was already solved in 50617A. Perhaps it is wise to Reinitialize your HDD after upgrading.

How do you know the bug was fixed in 50617A? Experience? (Experience from) Other users? LG firmware notes?

I really would like to reinitialize (format) my HDD, but I've got more than 36 hours of video on my HDD (80GB). I don't want to delete those titles at the moment.

When I turn on my RH-7500, 'HDD CHECK' appears on the LCD display and the message 'Preparing. Please wait.' appears on my TV screen (for a couple of seconds). Is this normal?

1) I have'n seen this bug before ! Never experienced it myself, and I have done, maybe 100 edits by now (I had version 50425A bedfore my upgrade to 51214A).

2) The "HDD Check" and "Preparing, please wait" is normal - I have that too.
The more recordings, and editing - hence fragmentation on the Harddisk, it seems (don't know for sure) the message will stay there for longer, than when You first used the recorder.

The way to defragment, seems only to be solved by an initialization (format) of the harddisk.

But it is quite normal !

SiHiDa skrev: Hoi, 1) How do you know the bug was fixed in 50617A? Experience? (Experience from) Other users? LG firmware notes? 2) When I turn on my RH-7500, 'HDD CHECK' appears on the LCD display and the message 'Preparing. Please wait.' appears on my TV screen (for a couple of seconds). Is this normal?

1) Goto "Setup", "Lock Icon", press "7","8","8","9" and you get the firmware and loader info.

2) There has NOT been released any Loader updates yet (according to LGE yesterday). Maybe there will be ? I have asked LG, and waiting for them to answer.

Lucky us - my LGE contact is NOW out of the ossice, until 23/1 - so fortunatly we got the new firmware yesterday, BEFORE he left :-)
This means he cant answer my email about the Loader version, and what the Loader is used for, but this is NOT as important as the firmware update we already got :-)

You should update to the 51214A version, even though You don't get the Loader updated.

I think we will get a new Loader, once my contact receives it though - he has been VERY VERY kind to answer within HOURS ! Amazing support I think.
If people just took the time, to go the official way (the contact, web-form), sometimes (as in this case) it actually worked, and answer got back within hours - had 4-5 emails from the LG guy yesterday ! THATS SERVICE !

kikkan skrev: Hi too you all. Just wanted to thank you all for the information about the firmware. Will update my Rh7500 shortly. Just two questions.. 1) Where do I see what version the Loader is? 2) And how do I upgrade it? I allready updated the firmware to 50617A. Thank you again.

AndersPier skrev: Yesterday, I asked (emailed) my contact at LGE Nordic the question on: 1) What is the Loader for - is it the actual DVD drive firmware ?

Until we have your excellent contact at LG Nordic back, I found the following explanation as to what a loader is (and how it works) over Google Books (i.e. from "Software Product-Family Engineering"
by Andreas Van Der Klose, Frank Van Der Linden.

I have cut and modified the text only slightly for our present purpose:

"A loader is a system software component that takes care of updating the software of a device. It reads (or sometimes directly downloads, wow!) a complete binary executable image (Justin: like the BIN file AndersPier is making downloadable here)...

... the loader and the executable software is never active at the same time (Justin: so I assume it's the loader that presents this red rectangular message on our TV *during* firmware upgrade and ends with a "Done!" message)...

...the reason for relasing a list of firmwares (and loaders) is that customers tend to expand their devices gradually, while the manufacturer is constantly improving hardware and software implementations (Justin: and correct errors!)...

... the loader autheticates any new software image (Justin: the .BIN file), before it starts upgrading (Justin: which ideally means no BAD Firmware release can ever be loaded???)...

...the normal software (Justin: The GUI) and the loader never run at the same time (Justin: This is why you should NEVER EVER switch off your recorder during firmware upgrade). Upon a system reset, basic firmware decides to start-up either the normal software stack (Justin: I.e. if no recognizable .BIN file has been identified in the DVD drive!!!) or to start the loader (Justin: To execute the identified .BIN file, IF found authentic...

---

This answers maybe a few questions, but details about what the individual LG loader versions do and what errors they may hold will have to wait till your LG Source is back, AndersPier.

PS A little Wierd writing English in a Danish forum, isn't it???

Best Regards,
Justin