[Coeurdechene]

If you have a busted toilet, I'm your guy.

If you could not return it, it would be worth to try and flash it (everything is hackable..) but being able to return it, just return the camera and buy one that's working...

[spystyle]

I asked because in the rangefinder forum there were a few. I guess those guys have to learn to tune up their old cameras or have a resident repair man.

It's unfortunate we don't have a real Pentax repair man in the forums who could give us deals or share documentation.

[Coeurdechene]

There probably is someone who service cameras...but what you ask is too much hassle and the solution looks pretty straightforward.,if you couldn't return it i think more people would have made thourough researches (i know i would have spent some hours looking for something usefull since fiddling with harware is something i admire and am getting slowly into...maybe you should hook up a computer geek with promises of challenge and achievement (be carefull he doesn't install linux on it though XD)

[spystyle]

My problem is so simple, I need the software that allows me to "force firmware install".

The camera works but can't make an image correctly because it has the wrong firmware. I can keep installing the same wrong firmware - it can see the wrong firmware on the SD card and is happy to install it. But it can't see the right firmware on the SD card so I can't install that.

I'm sure it's very easy to fix, but there is probably a $100.00 minimum charge

[Coeurdechene]

I'm sure it's very easy to fix

maybe not...sometimes to flash a device you need to "speak" to it through a special program and a special cable that only devellopers have, you have to buid your own...we flashed a crappy router that way..it took 2 weeks work to make it work as we wanted and 3 days finding some pieces and making the cable...i don't know what would take to flash your camera but maybe sd is not the medium anymore and you need to do it from elsewhere (that's from inside the camera).
but maybe it can be easy as you say...you talked with the vendor to send it back, have you done it yet?

[spystyle]

The vendor was being a bi@ch so I had to open a claim with eBay, at some point in time they will refund my money and I'll send it back.

I am able to get into the debug but I don't know what to do with it... but if I did understand it maybe I could force the firmware install ?

[JeffJS]

I don't know if you can edit it, and at this point it probably doesn't matter, but perhaps you can find the version number and change that. That's one of the ways the K10d hacks use to work.

[spystyle]

You mean edit the firmware, taking the top line from the one that the camera likes and pasting it to the firmware that the camera should have? If I had instructions I could attempt it

[Coeurdechene]

info@pentax-hack.info
you could contact them..they have been fiddling with some pentax digital cameras and may know how debug mode works.
Not sure if they still are active though...

[spystyle]

I sent him an e-mail, I wonder if that guy is a member here?

Are we really all helpless users ? None of us knows repair ? I feel so helpless

I wish Pentax would release repair info to us.

Gateway (computers) is the same way - I had to tear down a Gateway laptop and there are no service manuals released to the public, so I had to make my own with snapshots. I asked tech support and they said those documents didn't exist - so I asked how their repair guys refurbished laptops - but of course talking to tech support is less helpful than sitting up all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive ...

[Coeurdechene]

yep...releasing service manuals would make them lose some customers, out of warranty people, and would infuriate some tech professionals...i've dismantled a fair amount of laptops now...desoldered some parts and put new ones because they were broken ..usually it happens with the power supply...most propietary, brand laptops are quite difficult to dissassemble (toshiba ones are the worst, and they have great service manuals, wish i could get a hold on those...i saw them from a friend who worked a repair store..). We're not helpless but to find out some tricks you just have to spend much more time and effort, that's the thing with closed devellopment, they just want us to be consumers.
(what reminds me of this Holland crew that had some fine hardware hackers, "hippies from hell"...and reminds me too of the people who hardware hack toys to produce electronic music or Noise.)
Hope you get a usefull response.(at least to fullfil your curiosity)

[gp1806]

I would try an older version of firmware, use an SD card and not an SDHC, put the one firmware file and nothing else on the card.
Here is a download of a K2000 firmware. Maybe the one you have is corrupt.
Pentax K2000 Firmware Version 1.1 Updates - Masterchong.com: Photography Reviews, Sample Photos and News

[spystyle]

Thanks I'll try it, I've been using the tiny SD in SD adapters



I have a bunch of those and 1 SD HC card

I'll have to go to the department store to get a regular old SD card

I'll try it thank you

[cats_five]

I really don't understand why you did what you did. The only sensible course of action IMHO would have been to return the camera, once you had tried a different SD card to make sure that wasn't the problem. In flashing the firmward yourself you are removing any evidence of the problem and replacing it with a different one, of your own making.

[cabstar]

your title says bad firmware broke my.... yet here you are blaming the seller whilst you find ways to hack your camera!!à
am i missing someg
thing here? sounds to me like you broke your camera!