Hack for removing the volume cap on European iPods NEWS

im gonna try it when i wake up and see if it really works

mage, as soon as you 'unmounted' the iPod it should have automatically rebooted. I can see you have already tried a hard-reset, but this is quite strange. I've done this on my EU pod, silvakow (both of us OS X users) and 3 others via linux all success stories.

I wish you could have 'logged' the outputs from 'dd' at least we could check for annomalies. Best best, come to #eucap on irc.hashmark.net and we can help you there!

Originally posted by bsodmike
mage, as soon as you 'unmounted' the iPod it should have automatically rebooted. I can see you have already tried a hard-reset, but this is quite strange. I've done this on my EU pod, silvakow (both of us OS X users) and 3 others via linux all success stories.

I wish you could have 'logged' the outputs from 'dd' at least we could check for annomalies. Best best, come to #eucap on irc.hashmark.net and we can help you there!

I'm actually at work now, but I will do some more experimenting later today. (Re-install the original firmware using the Apple installer software, and then go through the whole process again). ... if I remember correctly, the output of dd said something like 800.000-ish records in and out.

However what stroke my attention is that the firmware that came off of my iPod had the same size as the USImage.bin you provided. Whereas the EUImage.bin you provide is some 7.5 MB smaller. :confused:

Link Removed

Updated, see if this helps!

Mike

does doing this wipe the songs on your Ipod ?

Is it just me or on that How-To site did the guy who wrote it have to links to Link Removed and not have one for Link Removed?

This line:

And write back over your old ipod firmware with dd if=3rd_gen_2-0-1.bin of=/dev/sda1

should, of course, be this line:

And write back over your old ipod firmware with dd if=USimage.bin of=/dev/sda1

Originally posted by bsodmike

Come to #eucap on irc.hashmark.net and I can walk you through it if you like
I might just do that cheers

im at work now wont be able to get on for another 7+ hours Im sure i will catch ya one day

Congratulations! I'm glad you've got it working. :)

Mike,

Out of interest, what do you make of EsspeN's solution and how does it compare with yours?

-Luke

Yeah, I updated mine (all procedures worked) but cannot notice any difference even after I switched back to the EU one?

Is there a significant difference?

Also when I look at the partitions in the Terminal using "diskutil list /dev/disk1" the firmware is 32mb, the same size as EU after installing US?? Should it not be 39.1mb?

Thanks everybody

Try:
"diskutil list /dev/disk2" ?? Dont really have much experience with the terminal but may be cos different disk setup???

No probs jabberwock...

let us know how you get on and how much more volume you get!!!

I have the same problem! Has anyone got a significant improvement?

mage - I'm with you.

Using the US or EU firmware, the volume stays the same - but both work correctly. I get the same number of records written as you.

Originally posted by SKX
I have the same problem! Has anyone got a significant improvement?

Another thought... does the disk partitioning differ for Mac and Win iPods?

On a Mac it seems that the iPod has three partitions:
s1 - small 32Kb partition for some administrative settings
s2 - firmware partition 32 MB
s3 - data partition for music files and user settings

On a Win iPod there are only two partitions:
sda1 - firmware 40MB
sda2 - data

Is there someone who had success with copying the US firmware on a Win iPod, or is it only Mac iPod owners who report successes?

Bye,
mage

is your iPod set up to update automatically? I couldn't get it to work until I did this (unable to disable FW disk mode as it was greyed out in iTunes)

Beforehand my iPod was set up to manually update songs and playlists. This means that you can't deselect FW disk use in iTunes as specified under step 6 (I think). So try changing your settings to automatically update songs and playlists and it may work.

HI , I tried last night on my 30gb (PC) and got nowhere.

I beleive my working knowledge of Linux is to blame. I d/l the Linux Boot Image, That worked fine, I mounted the Ipod that seemed to work fine although the last message in the list of scrolled text said something like...Can't determine write status but will assume write enabled. The Ipod switches to DO not Disconnect mode, so I assume its connected.

The when I try to backup my firmware first of all using the DD dev/sda1 line...it kicks back with no file or folder found.

If i try is with onlu sda instead of sda1 then it scrolls a whole lot of lines but fails to do anything.

I also would not know how to tell where I've actually got the US firmware installed on my system. ie. C:\ipod (IDE)

I have a Sata raid system D:\ I don't know if that will affect things but i tried SDA 1 - 9 and no file or folder was the message.

If someone has time I would love to see a Dummies guide to doing this...(Although ..Switch on PC... maybe a bit too much :)

Just working in Linux ...never done before...so all line commands are unknown...if it was DOS ..yup simple I know how to use dos and navigate in it but in Linuz...not a hope in hell.

Thanks

Wee G

:rolleyes:

GARY and all...STOP IT...you'll ruin it for everyone...There is a time and place to talk about what u r...and this is NOT it...have a look around and u will see.

anyone tried this application that ups the volume?

http://ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5161

:water

Yes, I helped him beta this on my XP laptop and very quickly ups the volume on every track on the ipod. Its a fair bit easier than changing the firmware. You would just need to re-run it each time you load new tracks (but it is clever enough only to change the new ones).

Originally posted by water
anyone tried this application that ups the volume?

http://ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5161

:water

Sheesh, forgot to add I will be using USB 2.0 in the first instance. Firewire will be an inevitable upgrade if the Linux hack is exclusive to it (Win XP Pro, AMD Athlon 2000+, 256mb, 60GB HD, 64 MB Nvidia GeForce, cheap ### mail order build) . F_U_C_* Apple for spoiling eurozone juke party...

Does ne1 know if there is an equivalent app for os x? Or can u do it w itunes...if so..how? Does it create distortion?

Thanks. So it is possible. However, from what I can gather the difference in volume is substantial. I've been surfing around for the last few hours picking up everything I can on this. Whenever Apple get their act together and deliver my unit I should be in a position to try everything.:confused:

Don't know about everyone else but I have given in and tried XPlay (not up to the challenge of flashing the firmware) and it works great...although I think it's pathetic that we have to purchase a utility to do what the software that came with it should have. Also I had problems getting EsspeN's util to work.

Has anyone tried v3.0 of bsodmikes cap removal?? It looks very complicated? Can you revert back to the old firmware easily aswell and how?

TNX

The beta prog does exactly the same as Xplay only for free. It won't let you choose a different volume for each track (but thats what mp3gain is for!). I'm rather anoyed I shelled out ?20 for Xplay now :-(

graeme

Originally posted by rickster2k
Which is better, the beta program or xplay adjustment (forgetting about the cost of xplay)

Its interesting how it swapped to london DST as soon as you dragged the songs over. My powerbook is set to 'Sri Lankan' local time, and even EECrive got it staying at US Pacific.

Just to let you know there has been an initial boo boo. I've been using the firmware supplied by 'UnixMonkey/Keaner' all along (other than for my EUimage). Today I got a US owner to show me their partition map and its 32mb. The problem is that in WINDOWS it comes up as 39MB (lol?) and thats where the USimage has come from (proof: they both compress to 3.2MB, if the US was any bigger it would have been bigger as a zip)

So, its pretty obvious now that Apple IS using two different firmware images - which total contradicts everything else we've come up with.

The only thing I did differently to everyone else is that my iPod stayed discharged (in pieces but this should not have an effect) for over 8hrs) and I think that the FIRST region your iPod is set to is written some where volatile.

Give it a shot and let me know. And that 40meg firmware is alright as thats what I used to uncap mine and EEcrives.

I still haven't got this utility to work.

When I hit the Update button, a new box appears that tells me "Changed volume for 0 mp3s". So for some reason it either can't see my mp3 files or it thinks it has already done its business.

I have compared my iPod's volume to another one and it certainly isn't any louder.

I am running Windows XP.

Any ideas anyone?

-Luke

Originally posted by bsodmike
Its interesting how it swapped to london DST as soon as you dragged the songs over. My powerbook is set to 'Sri Lankan' local time, and even EECrive got it staying at US Pacific.

Just to let you know there has been an initial boo boo. I've been using the firmware supplied by 'UnixMonkey/Keaner' all along (other than for my EUimage). Today I got a US owner to show me their partition map and its 32mb. The problem is that in WINDOWS it comes up as 39MB (lol?) and thats where the USimage has come from (proof: they both compress to 3.2MB, if the US was any bigger it would have been bigger as a zip)

So, its pretty obvious now that Apple IS using two different firmware images - which total contradicts everything else we've come up with.

The only thing I did differently to everyone else is that my iPod stayed discharged (in pieces but this should not have an effect) for over 8hrs) and I think that the FIRST region your iPod is set to is written some where volatile.

Give it a shot and let me know. And that 40meg firmware is alright as thats what I used to uncap mine and EEcrives.

I'm sorry to say that I'm still not convinced the whole procedure leads to an uncapped iPod. Today, I followed the new steps: cleaning the iPod, rebuilding the partition map and finally reloading the (US) firmware. The final step (having Updater doing a Restore) can be left out, but it doesn't make a difference.
I also tried the following: partitioning the drive with a 32MB first partition (4 sectors instead of 5). Then copying (using dd) the US Firmware in that partition (which stops after 32Mbytes). Works fine, but at the same low volume as ever.

Interestingly, however, if Updater is doing a Restore on this config, the partition map is reset to a config with a first partition of 39MB (5 sectors).

I'm almost sure that this whole operation will not lead to an uncapped iPod. The firmware probably checks the model number (as in the About box), which it also writes into the SysInfo file (even after a complete cleanup of the iPod as i did today).

Bye for now,
mage

Luke and some other ppl on this board that got 0 mp3's updated sent me their itTunesDb file.

I found out that ppl using MusicMatch my app dont work. Where the volume is its nothing so my prog dont find it.

Ive tried to do a fix for MM, but som far i havent succedded.

So as for now, this tool do NOT work with ppl using MM as their ipod software.

however,
New verison out!

Renamed it to EuPOD VolumeBoost 0.3.0 beta now.
THose of u using the other version should upgrade to this 1.

http://www.ringom.no/espen/ipod/