Firmware Related

There are three official, and one unofficial firmware versions for the m:robe 500i.

Official Firmware

Version 1.02 is the oldest. This version was available for those who bought m:robe when it first hit the market.
Version 1.03 is available for download from the Olympus website.

Version 1.04 is the newest known firmware version, and is not officially available for download. This version appeared on newly bought m:robe 500i players, or ones which were recently repaired or refurbished.
Exploitable version of firmware 1.03 (N5002-BD-EXPv01.zip mirror) has been announced by shirour. This version allows one to run code placed inside a remix xml file. See Software Development.

Custom images firmware allow you to add your own background images for the m:robe player. Click on the link for a detailed description.

See forum thread about the format.

See also forum thread with a Python script that implements the enciphering algorithm and checksum updating.

At offset 39h of the decrypted firmware file, there is the string "SOL-eBinder-L". More information:

The core of the firmware updater is in the OlyGin.dll file. The update process does roughly the following:

Scans the system for a disk drive with the correct type (see article on CodeProject)
Opens the disk drive using its device name (e.g. \\.\E:, see CreateFile, under Physical Disks and Volumes)
Uses I/O control code 4D004h (IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH) to send SCSI commands directly to the device
The SCSI commands (first 4 bytes of the CDB) used are:
- The standard SCSI IDENTIFY command, to which the device responds with a human-readable identification string that also contains the firmware version (e.g. "OLYMPUS m:robe MR-500i 1.03")
- The remainder of the firmware update is carried out using SCSI commands in the range C0h - C4h inclusive, which is defined as vendor-specific