Bricked GS1000 (Sunty 5E5)

[kimvette]

just purchased a Sunty 5E5 full HD dashcam (marketed as GS1000) from Spytec via Amazon and the firmware version is SM5E5HGB.130427.V1, orange menu. The camera does have the Ambarella chipset.

I ran into a problem where GPS was not being embedded in the video but was being logged in the GPS data files (and tracking was in sync with the video, as verified in Registrator Viewer/Datakam Viewer). I tried updating but it turned out the firmware is incompatible - upon rebooting after the update, all I get is the texet flash screen followed by a blank screen and an endless looping "ding ding ding."

If I press power to turn it off, the power button does not respond, but of course I can turn it off via the reset button. When I connect a USB cable it does boot and mount as a DCIM/mass storage device (enumerated in Device Manager as AMBA Storage USB Device). I have tried updating by both renaming the original to vfirmware.bin and also via autoexec.ash but the firmware enters an endless loop prior to executing the firmware update check code.

I tried to connect to the camera via directusb but I cannot get this camera to boot to the USB Boot Mode. I have tried the three methods posted here: http://dashcamtalk.com/gs1000/#Firmware

To no avail; none of the methods seem to get me into that mode.

Does anyone know a surefire way I can unbrick this device? It is obviously not a true brick as it does mount as a mass storage device, so that part of the firmware is clearly operational.

 

[kimvette]

Update: I did get it to show up in Device Mangler under "Other Devices" as "Unknown Device" I held down camera and OK while plugging in the USB cable. It does not accept the driver in the USBDIRECT directory though. Any tips?

 

[kimvette]

Hardware IDs

USB\VID_4255&PID_0001&REV_0000
USB\VID_4255&PID_0001

 

[Sabe]

Update: I did get it to show up in Device Mangler under "Other Devices" as "Unknown Device" I held down camera and OK while plugging in the USB cable. It does not accept the driver in the USBDIRECT directory though. Any tips?

Do you have XP or something else, 32 or 64 bit?

 

[kimvette]

Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit. I do have a 32-bit Vista workstation if that will work, or Windows XP mode (which supposedly will do USB pass through) on Windows 7 Pro.

 

[Sabe]

Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit. I do have a 32-bit Vista workstation if that will work, or Windows XP mode (which supposedly will do USB pass through) on Windows 7 Pro.

From what i have heard 32 bit would be enough.

 

[kimvette]

From what i have heard 32 bit would be enough.

I'm sorry I thought there was a technical basis for your question. It isn't a matter if "enough bits" or "not enough bits" to accomplish a task. When you asked the question I figured you might have had an actual insight, such as "edit line 64 of install.inf" or "due to a bug in libusb0.dll it won't successfully communicate with the 5E5 on anything newer than 32-bit Windows XP." Sadly, I was wrong - that you were asking for the sake of asking, and not to offer any actual tips toward re-flashing this unit.

Thank you though.

 

[Sabe]

There is quite a lot difference between 32 and 64 bit windows drivers.
Have fun.

 

[kimvette]

There is quite a lot difference between 32 and 64 bit windows drivers.
Have fun.

Right, and many are compatible, and many are not. "32 bits is enough" indicates a total lack of knowledge regarding software architecture, or at best, an unhelpful reply.

Are you saying that the included libusb dll or another component of directusb is incompatible (even though I've used that same dll with another package to unbrick an iphone), or were you just posting for the heck of it? I am trying to get a solution here, not just answer questions that are being posted just so users asking those questions can raise their post count.

 

[jokiin]

Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit. I do have a 32-bit Vista workstation if that will work, or Windows XP mode (which supposedly will do USB pass through) on Windows 7 Pro.

the Ambarella USB program (if that's what you're trying to use) only runs on XP 32 bit, it won't run on later version in compatibility mode

 

[kimvette]

XP Compatibility Mode is a VM running the full version of Windows XP - 32-bit. However your reply was much, much more helpful than Sabe's was. Thank you I will try a 32-bit system tomorrow if I can't get XP Mode to run it through the virtualized USB driver. I'll post back the results tomorrow. Thanks again!

 

[jokiin]

XP Compatibility Mode is a VM running the full version of Windows XP - 32-bit. However your reply was much, much more helpful than Sabe's was. Thank you I will try a 32-bit system tomorrow if I can't get XP Mode to run it through the virtualized USB driver. I'll post back the results tomorrow. Thanks again!

if you do then I'm interested to know, I use Win7 64 on my machines but have to keep one old machine running XP just to use this program, have tried everything I could think of without success to get it running on Win7

 

[kimvette]

My roomate has an XP laptop so I was able to connect. I then switched to my desktop (Windows 7 Pro, x64 build) and installed vmliteworkstation and was able to attach the Amba A4 device to it, and it detected, installed the driver and I am able to connect. I am trying to flash the firmware now. I will let you know how it goes.

BTW Samoon sent me an updated firmware image so I am trying that one. I will let you know how it goes. I saw others have had this problem with the new orange firmware devices so if this works we now know how to un-brick them. Right now because I erased the flash it is no longer mountable as a mass storage device, but this is progress.

Thanks!
Kind regards,
Kimberly

 

[jokiin]

My roomate has an XP laptop so I was able to connect. I then switched to my desktop (Windows 7 Pro, x64 build) and installed vmliteworkstation and was able to attach the Amba A4 device to it, and it detected, installed the driver and I am able to connect. I am trying to flash the firmware now. I will let you know how it goes.

BTW Samoon sent me an updated firmware image so I am trying that one. I will let you know how it goes. I saw others have had this problem with the new orange firmware devices so if this works we now know how to un-brick them. Right now because I erased the flash it is no longer mountable as a mass storage device, but this is progress.

Thanks!
Kind regards,
Kimberly

as long as you have the correct firmware file you can get it back on with the USB program even if the flash has been erased, just need to put the board in boot mode

will have a look at that vmlite and see if I can use that, I'd heard others say USB access could be hit and miss but your results are encouraging

 

[kimvette]

In VMLite it shows under Devices -> USB Devices as Amba A4

I am going through the various devices to try to flash with the updated firmware. Here is a sample log based on the a2s_1gb device selection upon clicking download:

AMBA device found!
AMBA device found!
AMBA device not found!
AMBA device not found!
AMBA device not found!
BLD execute failed.
Failed!!

 

[jokiin]

In VMLite it shows under Devices -> USB Devices as Amba A4

I am going through the various devices to try to flash with the updated firmware. Here is a sample log based on the a2s_1gb device selection upon clicking download:

AMBA device found!
AMBA device found!
AMBA device not found!
AMBA device not found!
AMBA device not found!
BLD execute failed.
Failed!!

have you tried the same from a 32bit XP machine?

what other settings have you selected in the USB program?

 

[kimvette]

have you tried the same from a 32bit XP machine?

Yes I was getting identical results.

what other settings have you selected in the USB program?

DRAM: 216 MHz

I left everything else alone.

 

[jokiin]

have you tried the same from a 32bit XP machine?

Yes I was getting identical results.

what other settings have you selected in the USB program?

DRAM: 216 MHz

I left everything else alone.

have you opened it up at all, are you sure it has 1GB of DDR, a lot of the generic ones have 512mb so you would need to choose the a2s_512 option, sorry I know Samoon but not familiar with what they use to be able to say for sure, if you've opened it up you can easily Google the part number off the RAM and you'd know for sure though

also make sure you're correctly in boot mode, as well as whichever key sequence yours uses to get recognised you also have to press the reset button prior to doing any of this

sorry I can't be of more help, we don't use the generic mainboards and I'm not super familiar with those, our process is a little different, the basics should be similar though

 

[kimvette]

will have a look at that vmlite and see if I can use that, I'd heard others say USB access could be hit and miss but your results are encouraging

It is not so much hit-or-miss as it is a question as to whether your motherboard and CPU both support VT-D for I/O virtualization. For example, the K-series processors do not support VT-D (why Intel removes that from the premium enthusiast CPUs, I don't know but they do) so USB pass through will probably not work with those CPUs.

 

[jokiin]

will have a look at that vmlite and see if I can use that, I'd heard others say USB access could be hit and miss but your results are encouraging

It is not so much hit-or-miss as it is a question as to whether your motherboard and CPU both support VT-D for I/O virtualization. For example, the K-series processors do not support VT-D (why Intel removes that from the premium enthusiast CPUs, I don't know but they do) so USB pass through will probably not work with those CPUs.

maybe that's why it's hit and miss, meaning it works for some and not others