First thanks for the many posts and advice (some of which I have copied and pasted in here).. i thought I would just post this to help others..

This upgrades a F700BT / F900BT from Firmware 2 to 3.020200 for FREE..

ok.. 1st I would collect the files you need.

used on my F900BT Europe (UK) version

This is for a EU unit..

1. latest WinCE version from 3.0202 EU.. http://www.cdrpro.co.uk/wince.zip

2. Testmode 2.3.. http://www.cdrpro.co.uk/testmode.zip

2. Copy of 3.000303 Flash drive.. viewtopic.php?f=34&t=26625&p=182800#p182768 (I had to use the par files to correct the croupt data)

3. Upgrade 3.00202 from pioneers website.. http://www.pioneer.eu/files/support/avi ... 020200.zip

You will need 1 SD 2GB Card to do this.

1st upgrade your WinCE Version

1. format an SD card on your PC using the FAT32 file system

2. Check that your SD has no files on it

3. Copy from the files WINCEIMG.BIN and WINCEIMG.CKS from the above zip to the root dirctory of your new SD card

4. Verify the only files on the new SD card are WINCEIMG.BIN and WINCEIMG.CKS

5. Boot your avic into the service mode using the next steps

6. Power on the AVIC

7. When the boot screen appears, Press and hold in the Menu, Map and Eject buttons

8. Press the reset keep pressing in the eject button , Menu, Map.

9. You will see Blue screen with the words "Please push reset key again", you can now let go of the keys

10. Enter the password, Press UP, UP, DOWN, MENU, LEFT, RIGHT

11. You will now be in the service menu.

12. Its a good idea to test the Bluetooth while you are here so do that if you like. NOTE: Option 2 in the bluetooth menu will bot work with a special cable

13. Go into the WINCE Upgrade menu

14. Insert the SD card we made in the first 6 Steps

15. Select the first option, "WINCE by SD/MMC (Format). This will reformat "My Flash Disk"

16. The Winceimg files will now copy into flash. This takes about 5 mins to complete. On the bottom of the scree you will see this as it's done.

17. Wait till you asked to restart

18. Press the reset button again.

You have now re-flashed your AVIC but "My Flash disk" is empty. We now need to reinstall the Files

Next re-install the Flash Drive

You will need 2gb SD Card for the next part

1. Extract the testmode.zip to the root of the SD Card

2. Extract the archive avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300.rar to the root of the SD card

Your SD Card root directory will look like

Testmode

My Flash Disk

3. Boot from the SD Card in your F900BT unit, you will be presented with the Windows Mobile desktop.

4. Open Explorer and locate the "MY Flash Disk" on the main unit (not the My Flash Disk on the Storage Card) and delete everything from inside it. ONCE YOU HAVE REACHED THIS POINT,DO NOT SWITCH OFF UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS TUTORIAL.

5 Navigate to the Storage Card and into the "My Flash Disk" directory. Select EDIT and SELECT ALL, then select EDIT and COPY. Navigate back to your "My Flash Disk" inside the main unit and select EDIT and PASTE.

Wait 15 minutes for it to complete, and once done you can restart the unit. You can then update to 3.020200 using the standard Pioneer update.

NOTE - I couldn't manage to tap on my EDIT button at the top of the screen until I had calibrated the screen (think the option was in contol panel) so.. start button, control panel.. or settings, something like that

Steve

[added info via Reebs (post 5)]

Just a quick note, regarding corrupted downloads.

If you download these archives (the 'copy of the flash drive' ones) as they are, you'll find that they simply will always be corrupted. This isn't a corrupt download, so download again will not help. Sadly, it seems the author of these files kinda screwed up in a silly way.

rar will expect the files to have certain names. and will fail if they are incorrect, as they are here. I had problems with the italy file, as well as one other (which I cannot remember right now). This was caused by rar decompressing the files in the wrong order, and falling over every time.

The solution is simple. Rename the files, like so:

avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300(part1).rar --> My Flash Disk.part2.rar

avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300(part2).rar --> My Flash Disk.part3.rar

avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300(part3).rar --> My Flash Disk.part1.rar

It sounds crazy, but it worked for me, using the Linux unrar command line interface (I could've used a GUI program as well, but I *really* wanted to make sure it was all okay) I confirmed it all extracted okay. I also tested with the provided par files, all is well after being renamed.

Any chance this could be added to the main post? Doing this seems to make the par files redundant. rar does have CRC checking built in, so unless it complains, you won't be needing the par files.

So can I assume this would work on an American version of the F700 as long as I found North American maps (fbl's)

you would need to use the wince file from a usa version and also the flash drive files.. But yes the procedure is the same

steve

Do I need to download all 3 parts from the Flash Drive bit on the link you suggested? Also what PAR files did you need to use to correct the Rar files?

Do I need to download all 3 parts from the Flash Drive bit on the link you suggested? Also what PAR files did you need to use to correct the Rar files?

because the image (rar's) are so big the person has split them into 3 parts. You then use something like 7zip ( http://www.7-zip.org/ ) to extract the rar files. A rar file is like a zip file... a compressed file that contains folders / files.

It is possible and happens quite alot the the rar files get croupt and will not extract. The person has also provided PAR files. These files can repair RAR files.. not sure how they work but there very clever.. lol

To use par files you need to download something called quickpar ( http://www.quickpar.org.uk/ ). Install this then click on one of the par files you have downloaded. It will then check all the rar files to see if they need repairing. I would advise you do this so you know the files / folders are correct before transfering them over to your unit.

Steve

Hi,

Very new to all this and still ready all the posts I can before attempting to mod my F900BT. One question with the files needed from the link. Do I grab all the rar files and all the par files? Also the first 2 par files have the same file name but are different sizes? What should happen here?

Thanks.

hi m8..

Yes all rar's and the par's to repair them if needed. The pars should all be named different. they do go up in size for some reason.. no idea why.

Steve

I followed your instructions mate and everything works perfectly.

However, whenever I use the Pioneer upgrade the system continues to display System Startup. Please Wait.

So I re-install your version and everything works fine again.

So, I was thinking, if I boot into testmode to do the Pioneer update, and follow the same instructions like you said, would that work?

If you goto pioneers website they have upgrade instructions on there which go into alittle bit more depth. I'm assuming your firmware in your settings currently say 3.0003 ?

Steve

Just a quick note, regarding corrupted downloads.

If you download these archives (the 'copy of the flash drive' ones) as they are, you'll find that they simply will always be corrupted. This isn't a corrupt download, so download again will not help. Sadly, it seems the author of these files kinda screwed up in a silly way.

rar will expect the files to have certain names. and will fail if they are incorrect, as they are here. I had problems with the italy file, as well as one other (which I cannot remember right now). This was caused by rar decompressing the files in the wrong order, and falling over every time.

The solution is simple. Rename the files, like so:

avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300(part1).rar --> My Flash Disk.part2.rar

avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300(part2).rar --> My Flash Disk.part3.rar

avic f900_700_500 ver_3.000300(part3).rar --> My Flash Disk.part1.rar

It sounds crazy, but it worked for me, using the Linux unrar command line interface (I could've used a GUI program as well, but I *really* wanted to make sure it was all okay) I confirmed it all extracted okay. I also tested with the provided par files, all is well after being renamed.

Any chance this could be added to the main post? Doing this seems to make the par files redundant. rar does have CRC checking built in, so unless it complains, you won't be needing the par files.

PM the author of the thread.

Thank you so much for this works a treat

pete

worked like a charm

thank you very very very much

mm sometimes it loses settings (language, color illumination, camera) any suggestion ? is there some sort of reset i'm missing ?

mm sometimes it loses settings (language, color illumination, camera) any suggestion ? is there some sort of reset i'm missing ?

Are you finding that you are loosing FM stations as well? Is the unit not resuming playback every time you start the engine, but instead just showing the main menu?

If this is the case, then you have a wiring problem that a simple adapter can fix.

If not, then I've not had any major issues. I think it once lost illumination color, but I've not noticed the other issues you describe.

sounds like your red / yellow might be mixed up

no wiring it's ok, i never lost settings in 1 year+ of use with v2

anyway seems its ok now .. after 3-4 days with severals reset of the language per day it stopped ... I didnt do anything particular or anything tha i've noticed but well .. if it keep up it's ok for me

Would someone mind confirming the size of the "MyFlashDisk" folder - once it's extracted correctly?

I've got 1.57 Gb for 833 items....

Does this sound right?

DAn

yep sounds about right. If it unzipped without a crc error then you should be fine. The most important bit of the process was flashing the WinCE. Once you have this operating system on then all the flashdisk bit does is load the pioneer application onto the device. So if this bit doesn't go right you can just boot up again and replace it.

Steve

Cheers bud - will have a play this weekend!

Dan

Hello,

my english is not so good, so i have some questions.

Im proud owner of my f900bt with firmware 2.xxxxx and Mapversion 1.xxxx

officaly you will need also mapversion 2.xxxx if you want to upgrade to 3.xxxx FIRMWARE.

Is it necessary to have mapversion 2.xxxx before i use this "hack"

will this hack for firm ware 3.xxxx update my mapversion also ?

I hope you can help me !

greets nick

It upgrades the firmware and map in one go .

Steve

Hey !

Thanks for this post !!

Just 2 questions :

- is the european version in all european languages (i'm french )

- some people found some problems that disappeared later... is it still ok for all who tried it ?

Thanks again !

Seb

@ Botherseb:

Yes the european version include all european language (Of western and central part of Europe !!)

After the upgrade works perfectly if you follow the whole process.

For your information there is some available mod which are comptabible for French AVIC (Interface in French). For me the best for french user is this one developped by Misterblue : mod MB-IDT3.0-3b : http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=32080. As complement of AVIC 411 forum, If you are not fluent in english, you can have a look on his french forum.

Hello, i d´like upgrade firmver for 3.0 and i had FM 2.9 orig from web Pioneer.EU and old europe maps 1.6 (2007)

I first downloaded Wince (this: http://www.cdrpro.co.uk/wince.zip) and reinstal. /instalating was very short maeby one minut, but after rebooting was 100 % and restart... Instalation completed ?)

Next i downloaded tesmode 2.3 (http://www.cdrpro.co.uk/testmode.zip) I unziped to the SD card ad put in to the navigation.

After turn on ignition Navigation start, (LCD has start picture-blue waves) and key ligting blue.

This situacion is 3O seconds, and next time is ewerithing black.

I cannot start win ce

please help me

and next problem. On this first site are zip folders for europe (3 directory for megauploaded) But first is same with seconds (same name same capacity 700 MB) names are part 1 thirt directory has 160 MB and has name part two ????

I dont udnderstand them

Pleas help me