QUERY: Serial cable to reflash bricked Philips player?

[amckinney]

I have bricked a Philips DVP5982/37 (got cheap from a pawn shop for $20) in a bad firmware upgrade. Considering it's a cheapie, sending it to a repair shop isn't really an option.

Can anybody here walk me through (or point me to somewhere) what I need to do to buy/make an appropriate serial cable to revive the dead player?

Any chance there's simply a USB-to-serial cable I can buy "off the shelf" (pre-made) and just plug a thumb drive into to bring it back? I really don't know what I need to do to bring it back (no idea if it's this easy or much more complicated).

Help greatly appreciated!

[amckinney]

Doesn't someone here know how to do this? I've seen discussions on the topic, but haven't found enough information to figure it out for myself.

[victoriabears]

what happens when you turn it on?

Try downloading the official firmware from philips put it on a thumb drive , then re power the unit , it may pick it up or a disc would be better if the drive will open.

[jman98]

Doesn't someone here know how to do this? I've seen discussions on the topic, but haven't found enough information to figure it out for myself.

1) You seem to be operating under the assumption that this is 100% correctable and it is NOT. You may not ever be able to unbrick this player. Botching a firmware upgrade sometimes permanently ruins the device in question.
2) Given the lack of responses to date, I would take that to mean that none of us have experience in saving Philips players after a bad firmware upgrade. I have personally only seen info on changing firmware on non-bricked players.

Assuming the player will power on, follow whatever procedure is recommended for upgrading firmware on your player and hope it picks it up automatically as victoriabears suggests, but note that the odds are high that this will not happen.

[victoriabears]

have to say $20 plus time and effort equals a new player to me, there are other brands/alternatives nearer $40

[amckinney]

Doesn't someone here know how to do this? I've seen discussions on the topic, but haven't found enough information to figure it out for myself.

1) You seem to be operating under the assumption that this is 100% correctable and it is NOT. You may not ever be able to unbrick this player. Botching a firmware upgrade sometimes permanently ruins the device in question.
2) Given the lack of responses to date, I would take that to mean that none of us have experience in saving Philips players after a bad firmware upgrade. I have personally only seen info on changing firmware on non-bricked players.

Assuming the player will power on, follow whatever procedure is recommended for upgrading firmware on your player and hope it picks it up automatically as victoriabears suggests, but note that the odds are high that this will not happen.

I bricked it, so it doesn't power on at all. Hate to just throw it away when I know it's (technically) fixable, but I don't have the technical know-how to "build" a cable (especially if it means soldering). There are all kinds of posts on the web about using a cable to fix a bricked player, but very little ACTUAL info (many of the links are dead). I was hoping there was an 'off the shelf' cable I could just plug into the port on the circuit board to fix this, but from what little I've seen on the web, it would seem not?

if you think I can reflash a 'dead' unit vla the USB port, I'll certainly try it. I just though the only way to fix one that won't power on was through the main circuit board.

[PhoneMatt]

Try looking through the blog at http://blog.techflaws.org/2008/11/01/philips-dvp3260-5990-faq/. He seems to be a major source of information about the Philips players. (Yes, I know that the blog is about the 5990, but most, if not all of the information will apply to the 5982.) I seem to remember that to unbrick a player, you need a special cable, not a standard USB cable. I think that it is a homemade cable, not something off the shelf.

[nic2k4]

This is not a satellite box, DVD players don't have a JTAG port so forget about a serial cable fix. The only fix that you can do is to re-flash the ROM.

First thing to consider is whether the chip is soldered on or socketed. If it's soldered, is it surface mount (PLCC) or through hole (DIP)? If it's surface mount, I hope you have a friend willing to do it for free otherwise just turf it. The level of difficulty and the tools required make this impractical.

You'll need an EEPROM burner to program a new chip. You can get a Willem on ebay for $40; oops might as well buy a new player unless you intend to start a business. There are other ways to do it using your PC motherboard's BIOS socket, but I'm not going to get into this. Unless you have somekind of love affair with this player, what you need to do is obvious.

[nic2k4]

Try looking through the blog at http://blog.techflaws.org/2008/11/01/philips-dvp3260-5990-faq/.

Just seen this, I stand corrected some DVD players may have a serial port.

[amckinney]

I think I read somewhere that the 5982 DOES have a serial port. Still, considering the small amount of money I paid, combined with the amount of work it's going to take, I may just forget about it. As has been said, it's not like it would be expensive to replace. I just hate throwing this in the trash when I know it's fixable.

Too bad there's not an easier way to fix this. I know that my "bricking" of this particular machine is my own fault, but there are instances where a person can ruin their player if the power goes out during a (sometimes important) firmware upgrade, for instance, and then they're out of luck.

[jman98]

I think I read somewhere that the 5982 DOES have a serial port. Still, considering the small amount of money I paid, combined with the amount of work it's going to take, I may just forget about it. As has been said, it's not like it would be expensive to replace. I just hate throwing this in the trash when I know it's fixable.

Too bad there's not an easier way to fix this. I know that my "bricking" of this particular machine is my own fault, but there are instances where a person can ruin their player if the power goes out during a (sometimes important) firmware upgrade, for instance, and then they're out of luck.

I don't share your optimism that this is for 100% certain fixable. I've heard of too many bricked firmware upgrades that could not be fixed to agree with that. You may be right though, but I still wouldn't say it's 100% certain.

Yes, you are quite right that if you lose power during a firmware upgrade that you are hosed and it sucks to be you, but that's just how it is.

You might try looking on the AVS forums to see if someone there can help. I hate the format of their forums, but they have some smart people there and you might be able to get the kind of help you need that no one here seems able to give. Sorry for not suggesting that earlier, but I just now thought of it.