Firmware CD-R not being recognised by RDR-HXD890

[Alexander-C]

Apologies if this is a tad double post-ey, as like everyone else I’m having the issue with my digital channels vanishing and the messed-up EPG ( temporarily fixed by changing the region to France) and have posed this question in another thread, but as it’s not directly related to that I thought it would be ok to ask in a new topic:

I can’t get my RDR-HXD890  to recognise the CD-R I’ve burnt with the firmware file ‘sr08S124.mem’  that I downloaded  HERE . I keep getting "CAN'T USE" on the front display and "incompatible or unreadable disc" on the TV. My current firmware version is V1.15 . I’ve confirmed the firmware update is the correct size and appears to have downloaded correctly

I've used Imgburn with the settings suggested by the link (disc-at-once mode and ISO 9660 CD-ROM file system format)

 

 

This doesn’t work. I’ve tried making a few different settings but nothing I try works - I keep getting the "CAN'T USE" and "incompatible or unreadable disc” error messages. I've even downloaded a trial version of Nero Burning ROM 12 to see if burning CD-Rs with that would make any difference, but with no success either - I've wasted 6 CD-R's on this so far with no joy. I found a couple of old CD-RWs so I formatted them and tried it, but I get a ‘No disc inserted’ message with them.. Just to clarify, I've followed the instructions in the link exactly by pressing and holding the Rec-Stop and then the Play buttons on the actual unit itself, so I'm not trying to load the disc incorrectly using the remote or anything like that.

FWIW, my DVD burner has been playing up for some time and no longer seems to recognise DVDs that I'd previously made with it anymore (initially just DVD-RWs but now DVR-Rs as well) and seems to be pretty much limited to 'proper' DVDs only (as in bought films and TV boxsets), so I did wonder if the problem could be there. Having said that though, the system seemed to be perfectly able to recognise a CR-R with jpeg images on that I tested earlier and another one with MP3s on.

If anyone could advise me, or even better walk me through the exact way they transferred their firmware to CD-R I would be ETERNALLY grateful.

Sony, why didn’t you just make it possible to update the firmware using the RDR-HXD890‘s front USB connector? It would make life so much easier!

[bracster]

Hi

I can't find the thread now, but I read that the the firmware file is an image file. So you could try changing your selection to 'Write image file to disc'. Don't forget that the CD should also be finalised.

You may have seen by now that the issue is not resolved by updating the firmware. Several of us have tried this and the upload sticks at 'DOWNLOAD5'. Although the recorder shows the new version I'm not yet convinced that it has been updated correctly.

See threads at http://community.sony.hr/t5/Home-Cinema-Projectors-Players/RDR-HXD890-19th-July-2013-No-digital-EPG-...

Good luck!

[Alexander-C]

Thanks for the reply. My DVR seems to be working normally again now (the EPG colours are still kind of funky though), so chances are that I'll probably (hopefully) never need to update my firmware like this now, but the fact I couldn't get it to work at all is going to bug me... it would really be appreciated if someone who got the firmware disc to get recognised at all (even if the download got stuck) could explain how they did it.

I have had a bit of experience in the past burning CD images and have done so with no problems to back up games using ISOs, BINS, and NRGs files. One of the first things I tried was "Write image file to disc" but neither imgburn or Nero recognises this mem file thing as a valid image format, and it's certainly not a file type I've ever heard of. The only way I can see to get it onto the CD is to just burn it as a standard data disc.

Like I said, hopefully I won't need to update at any point in the near future, but just for my own peace of mind I really want to know how people did this.

[Clem_Dye]

I struggled with this too on my Mac. I went through 4 CD-Rs trying different formats with no luck whatsover. I have the 1.15 firmware and it struck me that an update to the 1.24 firmware may have helped -- obviously it wasn't the case. However, in light of recent issues, I'd still like to flash the firmware. Anyone have an ISO image in the correct format for the 890's 1.24 firmware please? I can find somewhere on a website that I have access to host it so other interested users can download it and burn the ISO to CD-R.

Cheers

Clem

[jra505]

Send me a PM with your address and I can send you a disc which definitely works if you like.......

[Mr_Onion]

I do not use a Mac so can not directly help, but with NERO on XP I just burned the disc as a DATA CD and finalised it.

I hope that helps you make one successfully

[Mr_Onion]

EDIT

Just realised that I have made the wrong file.

[Mr_Onion]

ISO update file for RDR-HXD890 saved as a zip file 

http://www.filedropper.com/firmwareupdatetoversion124iso

You do not need to sign up or pay to download.

Sorry for the confusion earlier

[Alexander-C]

Thanks for the upload Mr.Onion, I've unzipped it and this now looks like what I would've been expecting from the official Sony download - a proper ISO image. Everything seems back to normal with my DVR now (even the EPG's gone back to it's normal colours now), so unless something starts malfunctioning I'm going to stick with the current firmware version I've got - if it ain't broke and all that.

Just as an aside, anyone thinking of downloading imgburn, be careful where you download it from. I followed a link from the Major Geeks website and it surreptisously installed a whole load of crap on my PC and Hijacked my web browsers (both Chrome and IE), which took me ages to fix. I had to manually search for and delete  all traces of the files it installed and actually make chages to my registry before I could get my web browsers back to normal, folllowed by endless sweeps with Spybot, Malwarebytes and CCleaner. This on top of thinking my DVR had just kicked the bucket, so yeah, Saturday night was fun...

[Mr_Onion]

Glad its working for you now, but at least you have the ISO as backup. Just in case.

I find most of the download sites package searchbars etc to downloads. Despite being very careful I have managed to get McAfee on my PC without my knowledge.

FileHippo is IME one of the safe bets for downloads.