Firmware update fails if using new exfat format in V-52 firmware

@Rock Liu

I just tested the new V-52 firmware and discovered, that firmware updates fails if the sd card is formatted in the new exfat format. The K2.bin on the sd card is simply deleted, but no update occurs. This could bring new customers/users into trouble, as the V-52 firmware now always formats the sd card as exfat when using the app.

Means: If someone installs the new V-52 firmware and formats his sd card using the app, he will not be able to do any further firmware updates, as long as he does not re-format the sd card as fat32 (or use a different sd card).

Flashing-Log looks like this

NP>T
Loader Start ...
663_DDR3_LV1_587_2048Mb 05/10/2018 11:33:42
R
card open fail

It seems that the bootloader, which is responsible for flashing, cannot handle the exfat format ("card open fail") and therefore fails. After that, the normal boot process deletes the K2.bin.

Normal flashing-log looks like this

NP>T
Loader Start ...
663_DDR3_LV1_587_2048Mb 05/10/2018 11:33:42
RRRRWDT init
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFullComp
SPI NOR detected
Ud FW
eeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE...and so on.

I'm not sure if your developers can fix this, because as far as I know (and understand the K2), the bootloader cannot be flashed using the normal update process. It can only be flashed using the usb port and a special program.

6 comments

6 Comments

Youguys Aregeeks

Jul 08, 2019

I found myself in this same situation that Frostie referenced, but on 57.

Updated to 57 (frostie-modified version for higher bitrate) then formatted the SDcard via the app. Was scratching my head for a bit wondering why it was not recording footage. Aside from not recording, I was also not able to flash to an earlier version or even the base version.

I found this thread and realized what that my partitioning might be the problem. I ended up deleting my partition table and used rufus (on the PC) to get FAT32 on my card. Flashed back to 49 (frostie-modified w/higher bitrate). Everything looks good.

Out of curiosity, is there an official procedure for downgrading if on EXFAT (formatted via app).

Also, Frostie, what "special program" can be used to do it via USB?

Frostie

Jul 10, 2019

Replying to

Out of curiosity, is there an official procedure for downgrading if on EXFAT (formatted via app).

As far as I know, there is no official way. But the only possible way is to use a FAT32 formatted SD Card for flashing. Regardless whether up- or downgrading.

Also, Frostie, what "special program" can be used to do it via USB?

This is a misunderstanding. You cannot flash the firmware of the K2 via USB.

My comment was about the bootloader, which can probably only be flashed via USB. This was more towards Rock to show that the they cannot solve this problem by simply updating the bootloader. as the customer wil not be able to flash it.

Frostie

Jun 19, 2019

One thing you should mention in the firmware notes is, that the user has to format the SD Card using the App, if he wants to use the EXFAT format.

Simply formatting a FAT32 card to EXFAT on the PC will not work, because the K2 expects a different partition layout for EXFAT than for FAT32

SD Card with FAT32, formatted by V49-Firmware looks like this

<----4MB unallocated space---->|<----Partition---->

SD Card with EXFAT, formatted by V52-Firmware looks like this

<----16MB unallocated space---->|<----Partition---->

So if you simply format a FAT32 Card as EXFAT on the PC, the Partition layout is incorrect for the K2 and it will not start recording (lots of error messages in Log).