Viewsonic V210 Windows CE 4.2 Image

[penth]

I have a ViewSonic V210 I got off of ebay and flashed it with the only firmware image available from viewsonic. I was a bit shocked when the thing rebooted and I had no wifi. I've looked everywhere trying to figure out what I need to do to get the wifi working on this thing again. Someone said it's possible to get it back and told me to ask here. I have access to Windows CE 4.2 platform builder to try to build a platform but I don't really know much about building a CE image. I just wanted to make the thing like new and it destroyed it instead. Any help would be appreciated.

[laproxima]

I am experiencing the same problem. The V210 panel I originally purchased from Ebay had image version 2.2.0061.0 on it, and WiFi worked. Then I flashed it with the OS image available from ViewSonic (http://www.viewsonic.com/support/drivers_airsync.htm) and now it has version 2.0.0023.0 and NO WiFi.
For months now I've been searching the net for a fix, but have found nothing.

[fitzy75]

I've got one of these v210 units too but mine has image 2.2.0067.1 on it.

I was going to flash mine with the image thats on the viewsonic website but I couldn't get it to flash, good job it didn't!

If anyone can tell me how to dump my current working image I will send it to you to get you up and running again :)

[richiegp]

Hi guys,

I have had exactly the same problem with the V210. I bought it to control media player or RDP depending and flashed to the updated firmware from viewsonic's website. I lost wireless. Having just bought it (over a a year ago now), I emailed viewsonic. You couldnt find a less helpful bunch. Apparently, I had to wait for a single tech support person to come back off holiday, and when he did it took about 2 months to get him to answer any questions. Apparently, I need to re-flash the firmware to a different version...and...wait for it....solder on the mainboard a new wireless mini-card.

It has been a year now, I am still waiting for both the firmware and the wireless card that he promised was coming after repeated emails... the end of my business with viewsonic I think.

Anyone got any more news?


Cheers

[g4linux]

Hi - Hope to be some help.
I'm new....

I had the same problem with some flashed V210 with wireless. But later got some working V210 units.
I've rom dumped a VSMW24668-1W - 2.2.0039.0 build and a VSMW24668-3W - 2.2.0061.2 build. Wrote a perl script that constructed a workable wince bin flash image - fed a configuration file to the script. And was able to repair both my non-working units.

I don't really know what I'm doing - just studied with a hex editor and tried to get it right. Worked for me.
My units has the ISLP1 wireless card and the Prism1 wireless card.

I was unable to get any help from anybody and don't know the legality of passing these images. Send me a message if interested and any ideas on passing the zipped/bin images.

Thanks,

[cyberhatter]

That's awesome. I've been in contact with Viewsonic and have access to their support ftp server, and there isn't anything available because they discontinued the V210. If they are unable or unwilling to provide necessary support for their product, you can bet they're not going to get excited about the legal/copyright issues relating to fixing their products for free.

I'd use Rapidshare.com to upload your image after you zip it. The URL will allow other to download it whether they're a member or not. If there is any copyright complaint, Rapidshare will take down the file.

[g4linux]

Thanks!

As suggested I've uploaded the files to rapidshare.

Likely would not need to use the v210_3w_boot.zip image as I haven't seen the boot to be a problem and it is not tested like the others...

ViewSonic USBUpdate drivers - read the readme will give clues on using the below images.
http://rapidshare.com/files/179063318/UsbUpdatev210-10-03.zip

v210_1w_2.2.0039.0.zip - Contains 2.2.0039.0 build from a v210 VSMW24668-1W built from my scripts.

v210_3w wince image - Contains 2.2.0061.2 build from a v210 VSMW24668-3W built from my scripts.
http://rapidshare.com/files/179063323/v210_3w.zip

v210_3w boot image: Constructed a boot flash image from a working VSMW24668-3W have not had to use it.
http://rapidshare.com/files/179063324/v210_3w_boot.zip

Hope they will be of use as I have found them to be.

Thanks,

g4linux

[g4linux]

Looks like I missed one.

v210_1w_2.2.0039.0.zip - Contains 2.2.0039.0 build from a v210 VSMW24668-1W built from my scripts.

http://rapidshare.com/files/179063319/v210_1w_2.2.0039.0.zip

Thanks,

g4linux

[cyberhatter]

You're a hero in the V210 community. I've heard many horror stories (me included) of people who blindly installed the latest nk.bin from Viewsonic, only to discover they had no wi-fi afterward.

Just updated mine with the .39 image and everything's back to beautiful. WIFI comes right up and the screen brightness is once again controllable! Yippee!!

FYI, I used the APTEST utility (invisible app in the Windows folder) to Update the NK. Had to Erase Flash manually first (boot panel while holding down keyboard button)

[donhelt]

Hope you both don't mind me getting involved in your thread here about the v210... but hat's off to both of you for keeping the v210 interest!
I happen to own 3 of these ViewSonic v210 panels, none of which fully worked before. And thanks to your efforts and posts, one of them works [U]almost completely now. You guys are good!
But I still need some help...
- Panel #1, with image 2.2.0039.0, works fine except it has no Wifi (can see my home wireless network but will not connect)
- Panel #2: with image 2.2.0061.2, works fine, has Wifi, but can't "Remote Desktop"
- Panel #3: with image 2.2.0067.1, works fine except it has no Wifi (can see my home wireless network but will not connect)

Perhaps we can help eachother out. If you can help me get my panels working correctly, then (with your help), perhaps we can get the image version of 2.2.0067.1 of my panel and get it to you (since it seems to be the latest version).

Look forward to your responses...

[g4linux]

I've had issues with some wireless routers - AT&T 2wire, netgear - WPA won't work.

My resolution was to install aegis and disable the Use windows to manage network. The problem is I can't find where to get aegis from any more and am guessing it can no longer be had.

http://rapidshare.com/files/196496192/aegis2.1.4.0.zip

Hopefully the above link will stay up for a bit.

I install to permanent spot.
Fix up it's startup short cut to have the correct path to the permanent spot.
Find pregedit and run and change HKLM->Explorer->Shell Folders Startup to point to the location of the start up folder - that way will survive a reset.

I'm assuming you have Prism wireless card go to advance disable the use windows to configure my wireless settings.

Maybe power off and on to save the registry stuff.

Startup the AEGIS_START and don't need any identity stuff then configure you wireless card listed for your network - work for me on my hostile wireless wpa networks.

Let me know how that goes for you.

Here is my old version of pregedit.
http://rapidshare.com/files/203353358/pregedit.zip

I'll post my routine on creating flash images from the rom on next post.

Hope that helps some,

g4linux

[g4linux]

Here is the quick and dirty routine I use.

My script and example configs. My example configs are likely unix text format, the script doesn't care if dos text file or unix text file.

http://rapidshare.com/files/203361253/q_makeb000ff_rom.zip

Here are the steps I use to dump the image which then I use the linux version of hexedit to do my research. I'm sure this can be done with some hex program on windows and install activestate Perl to run the perl script if needed.

Use XDA utilits pmemdump.exe to dump the rom contents which I use a small xp machine and use Microsoft Activelink to talk to the device.

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=XdaUtils Actually not sure which version I use - I think 20080313.zip version.

Boot rom location is at 0x98300000.
Start of wince rom is at 0x98380000 and top of that rom location is about 36M from 0x98380000 (0x240000). after the 36M appears to be other stuff like maybe the registry stuff - unsure.

Changing to the xdautils (on the windows machine) directory dump 0x98380000 for 0x02400000 (36M)
pmemdump requires the hex numbers be 8 digits long. 0x########

pmemdump 0x98380000 0x02400000 ..\v210_wincerom.raw

Then I copy the raw rom image over to my linux system for research. Could of course be windows....

Using hexedit - providing if only dump 36M from 0x98380000.
Use > to get to end/bottom.
With cursor on hex side Ctrl R to search backward and look for hex 80 (looking for a reasonable non-zero last location).
Then put cursor on last non-zero after the hex 80 - and record last position.

If creating a image from the rom image.
Create a config file for parsing the rom image - .

0x98380000 #rom offset
0x0:v210_wincerom.raw #inputfile offset:filename
0x0:0x23ec5a3 #first:last verify with hexeditor the last spot
0x1000 #rom entry
0x0:0x3 #segments start:end
0x40:0x47 #etc....
0x1000:0x23ec5a3 # etc... verify with hexeditor the last

So the above 0x23ec5a3 in the first:last spot and the last segment spot would be my recorded last spot in the rom dump.
And also the second line must have the file name of the raw image to read.

Then it is just a matter of running the makeb000ffrom.pl script to build the flash image.
perl makeb000ffrom.pl configfile outputwince_image

perl makeb000ffrom.pl 2.2.0061.2.cfg v210_2.2.0061.2_wince.bin

Thats the rough steps I go through.

Thanks,

g4linux

[g4linux]

Here is a additional v210 image v210 2.2.0067.1 .
Seems the image is getting smaller compared to the previous ones.

Not sure what is different, but seems to work and is the latest I have.

http://rapidshare.com/files/217099632/v210_2.2.0067.1_wince.zip


Thanks,

g4linux

--- differences in 2.2.0061.2 and 2.2.0067.1 ---

Maybe some WinCE 4.2 updates - unsure - newer time stamps - maybe around 09/13/2005.
PRISMA00.dll one version newer.
Citrix has a lot more files in its directories.
Sprint aircard 550 stuff has been removed in 67.
Sprint PC connection manager stuff removed in 67.
Sierra Wireless 550 stuff removed in 67
Transcriber stuff removed in 67.
VShell included in 67.
The Internet browser button no longer brings up IE like it does on 61 - unknown why.

OH and Big Plus!! WPA network security now works with my AT&T 2Wire wireless router - where it did not work out of the box with 61.

Thanks,
g4linux

[jcdillin]

Hello,

I just flashed my V210 with the v210 2.2.0067.1 image, the last one in this thread. But now all I get on the unit is a screen with different colors and strange fading lines. If I press on the screen I can hear clicks so I know the unit is running just without video. I tried hooking up an external monitor but I can't see anything.

Is there any alternate ways to load firmware on this thing so I can try other versions? At least so I don't have a big paperweight? :)

Thanks

[jcdillin]

So i've been playing with it some more, I found the USB update application from viewsonic. I've tried going back to the firmware from the viewsonic site and all I still get is colored lines on the screen.

Is there some steps i'm missing?

[jcdillin]

So after yet more playing I think the issue may be that my unit is a V210x and not just a straight 210. I was able get a raw boot image from a friend but when I run the perl script on it and try to upload the rom file to the device it just locks up in mid upload. which is the same problem i'm having with the boot rom file from earlier in this thread.

[davec709]

jcdillin, I have a v210x with the same problem. Have you found a solution? If not, I would like to help solve this. I agree with you that it looks like a video driver issue with the 1024X768 display on the 210x.

[g4linux]

Here is a v210x NK.bin image 2.5.0069.0

http://rapidshare.com/files/265430271/v210x_2.5.0069.0_nk.zip

Alternatively I have successfully done the following to get a v210x image working on a v210 - the reverse of v210 working on a v210x should work also.

Use the XDA Utils to modify the registry.
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=XdaUtils

For a v210x the following should make the v210 image work.
pregutl -s hklm\drivers\display\smi :CxScreen=dword:400
pregutl -s hklm\drivers\display\smi :CyScreen=dword:300

For a v210 the following should make the v210x image work.
pregutl -s hklm\drivers\display\smi :CxScreen=dword:320
pregutl -s hklm\drivers\display\smi :CyScreen=dword:258

Power off the v210 unit and then power on. Then reboot - or completely remove power. If memory serves correct should work. At least I've done this with a v210 using a v210x flash image.

Hope that help some,

g4linux

[dpcalpha]

I'm hoping some of you might be able to offer some suggestions.

I have a V210-1w which when I flashed the 3W boot it is seen by my wireless network. However once the OS is booted (I've tried .39, .61, .67 and the original .23 code) the panel does not see the network, though the network does see it.

When I look at the connection log it states connection list exhausted and I know I've configured the connection correctly as a v210x that I have works with no issues. The only time I see the wireless light come on is during the initial boot or during an OS flash.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Regards,
Dean

[g4linux]

What Wireless card does your v210-1w have?
Start->Settings->Control Panel->Network and Dial-up Connections.
The usual is PCI-PRISM or PCI-ISLP2.

Does the v210 Wireless Information browser show your wireless SSID in the list.

How is your wireless router configured? - for 80211b or 80211g, combo, WEP or WPA security network?

ISLP2 will only connect to 80211b and will not authenticate to WPA security.

PRISM will connect to 80211b or 80211g and will authenticate to either WEP or WPA TKIP WPA-PSK.

Or at least in my experience.

Also the wireless light will only light when authenticated to a wireless network when wince is managing the wireless.

Otherwise the wireless light only lights during boot - has nothing to do with wireless at that point.

[dpcalpha]

It's the PCI-ISLP2. To ease testing I configured the wireless access point with just an SSID, disabled security, and set it only to 802.11b as I know in the past I could only get it to connect if set strictly to 802.11b. The Crestron/v210x that I have can connect to 802.11b/g.

Intermittently the wireless browser will show the SSID of my test network and has picked up neighbor's networks too.

I'm assuming the card is soldered on the motherboard of the panel and there is no way to replace, correct?

Thank you for replying and a big THANK YOU for posting those images!

[g4linux]

It's a mini pci slot inside the unit and changeable.

8 screws on the cover - some patience separating the back cover from the front.
8 screws on the tin shield.

flip up mini pci card.

The Prism stock card is a Gemtek WL-850FJB - one person is selling on ebay for 19.99 - unknown the condition has 7.

In replacing the ISLP2 (Xircom or Intel M3AWEB56GA) with the PRISM(GEMTEK WL-850FJB) in a v210-1 you have to reroute one wireless antenna - will be too short - pull the short antenna out and reroute so the tube the wire runs through (for got what it is called) lays on top of the MB between the MB and shield when put back together..

Only two type minipci cards that I know of supported in the v210 stock builds.
ISLP2 - Xircom or Intel M3AWEB56GA (Intersil Prism 2.5 type)
PRISM - Gemtek WL-850FJB (Intersil ISL3886 type)
Might be other cards that work that is related to the above.

Hope that helps some...

Thanks!!

[dpcalpha]

Based on my description do you think I'm dealing with a flaky card? If I get the Gemtek will I have any driver issues?

I see 4 sellers now on ebay.

Thanks again!

[g4linux]

If get a good working Gemtek - you won't have any driver issues with the v210 and the Gemtek WL-850FJB. Best you are using the latest build we have available to fix some PRISM driver issues though (2.2.0067.1) - mainly wpa issues.

It's hard to say if you have a flaky card - but seems reasonable.

I've had better solid - can count on behavior from the ISLP2 cards with wireless routers configured for wep and 802.11b than actually the PRISM cards.
The Gemtek cards seem to exhibit a wide range of finickiness with some wireless routers.

If you can get a card reasonably price - I think it worth the try to change the card to Prism to see what happens and would be able to move up to wpa security if you wish on your router.

Under porting Linux to the v210 - so far... - I've got rock solid performance from the ISLP2 card and linux under the v210 - but still fighting getting the PRISM cards working correctly under v210 and linux (pci bridge/card dma mappings/driver wildly not working right) - when I push the card hard - it falters and I have to unload the drivers and reload.

Anyway... My two cents worth...

[dpcalpha]

Forgive me but I think I'm getting confused.

Are you recommending the PRISM - Gemtek WL-850FJB (Intersil ISL3886 type)
but stating it's finicky with some routers or should I just get an true replacement for the ISLP2?

[g4linux]

Sorry....

I recommend trying something different - yes the PRISM GemTek WL-850FJB.
I'm not sure but I imagine your Crestron/v210x is using something similar to the GemTek card - if not the GemTek WL-850FJB. (Sorry don't know much about the Crestron).

I was rambling about my history with ISLP2 and PRISM cards.

I was guessing if your Crestron/v210x (Does it show Prism driver?) works ok - a GEMTek card put in your v210-1 would also work ok.

[dpcalpha]

I was able to find the same Intel card in a Thinkpad T30. I tested it with no issues and then for giggles put the original card back in. So far it's been working fine.

Thank you very much for your help.

[benburd]

There is some one on ebay selling one with ce5.0. I wonder if that image would help everyone. I'll try to bid but I've got M.S. and never know when I'll be up. If you see benburd don't bid against me but if you see someone else try to get it. maybe every one would pitch in just to get a copy of the flash so it wouldn't cost any one that much. It's here:
h**p://cgi.e**y.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260652730265&ssPageName=ADME:B:ONA:US:1123:D[/url]

[g4linux]

The eBay listing you were referring to is a V212 - not a V210. A completely different machine (even though externally they look very similar) - hardware and everything. You can not flash a v212 wince 5.0 image on to a v210. Memory mapping and hardware is completely different.

[kmatokov]

hi all, Im new annoyer here :-) so i will ask all what have in mind...

my english is not so well so forgive me on understeandingless...

I have 110 airpanel which is (I think so) practically (speaking about cpu)the same(or not?), I think have smaller flash, or something..... but, i have inside cracked image from something site/aibo , so i can run explorer exe or haret linux loader (i have not yet pcmci2cf so i did'nt tried to boot linux yet)... Ok i want to ask if somebody did it to put some opera or ie to it ? i cant put .cab because there is no support, where i can find iex excell and other stuf for ce 4.1 xscale-arm ? i tried tons of exe-s from other arm ppc repo-es but only few (which i don't need) works

thx for any idea... (or bunch of ce 4.1 files)

[kareeem]

Reviving a super duper old thread, but does anybody know how to hard reset this thing? I was given one to clear up and have no idea where to start and couldn't find anything online.