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Nikon LS-2000 firmware upgrade/downgrade
Hello everybody
I apoligise for any possible mistakes in this message. I own a Nikon LS-2000 scanner. When I purchased it, the firmware version was 1.2, and the quality of the scanned images was absolutely stunning. Since the new 1.3 firmware was available on Nikon's website, I decided to upgrade the scanner, mainly because one of the features of the new firmware was the speed improvement of the scanning operation. And it's true, with the 1.3 the scan of a slide takes less then half the time it used to take with the old firmware... but... unfortunately also the quality of the scan is less than half the one it used to be ! I've read every possible faq, I've tried every possible setting of the Nikon scan software, enabled/disabled colour managing options dozens and dozens of times, but with no success. Now I would like to downgrade my LS-2000 to the old firmware 1.2. I have downloaded the program to write the 1.2 firmware in the scanner, but it obviously checks the version of the scanner's firmware and aborts saying that it doesn't need to be updated. Can anyone please help me ? Has anyone had the same problem ? Thank you in advance for your attention and best wishes for Happy Xmas Mirko ilmagnificoREPLACETHISWITHATzapoREPLACETHISWITHDOT net |
#2
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"Mirko" wrote in message ... Hello everybody I apoligise for any possible mistakes in this message. I own a Nikon LS-2000 scanner. When I purchased it, the firmware version was 1.2, and the quality of the scanned images was absolutely stunning. Since the new 1.3 firmware was available on Nikon's website, I decided to upgrade the scanner, mainly because one of the features of the new firmware was the speed improvement of the scanning operation. And it's true, with the 1.3 the scan of a slide takes less then half the time it used to take with the old firmware... but... unfortunately also the quality of the scan is less than half the one it used to be ! I've read every possible faq, I've tried every possible setting of the Nikon scan software, enabled/disabled colour managing options dozens and dozens of times, but with no success. Now I would like to downgrade my LS-2000 to the old firmware 1.2. I have downloaded the program to write the 1.2 firmware in the scanner, but it obviously checks the version of the scanner's firmware and aborts saying that it doesn't need to be updated. Can anyone please help me ? Has anyone had the same problem ? Thank you in advance for your attention and best wishes for Happy Xmas I've had this same problem, and have basically given up on my LS-2000. I don't need to try and express the level of frustration/anger I feel about this... |
#3
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Hi...
Mark M wrote: "Mirko" wrote in message ... Hello everybody I apoligise for any possible mistakes in this message. I own a Nikon LS-2000 scanner. When I purchased it, the firmware version was 1.2, and the quality of the scanned images was absolutely stunning. Since the new 1.3 firmware was available on Nikon's website, I decided to upgrade the scanner, mainly because one of the features of the new firmware was the speed improvement of the scanning operation. And it's true, with the 1.3 the scan of a slide takes less then half the time it used to take with the old firmware... but... unfortunately also the quality of the scan is less than half the one it used to be ! I've read every possible faq, I've tried every possible setting of the Nikon scan software, enabled/disabled colour managing options dozens and dozens of times, but with no success. Now I would like to downgrade my LS-2000 to the old firmware 1.2. I have downloaded the program to write the 1.2 firmware in the scanner, but it obviously checks the version of the scanner's firmware and aborts saying that it doesn't need to be updated. Can anyone please help me ? Has anyone had the same problem ? Thank you in advance for your attention and best wishes for Happy Xmas I've had this same problem, and have basically given up on my LS-2000. I don't need to try and express the level of frustration/anger I feel about this... Just a thought... I don't have one (wish I did! but perhaps if sufficient numbers of you are disappointed you just may be able to complain en masse and have Nikon release a copy that doesn't check prior version? The best of the holiday to you and to yours. Ken |
#5
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I'm not sure where the LS-2000 gets the version information but could you
"fool" the scanner into thinking that 1.2 is really 1.4 and has a newer date than the faulty 1.3 version? try poking around the firmware file with a binary/hex editor or even a text editor and see if you can see a date/version number... There are several shareware programs at www.download.com that will edit hex (hexidecimal) and binary files. Best of luck, Mark |
#6
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"Mirko" wrote in message ... Hello everybody I apoligise for any possible mistakes in this message. I own a Nikon LS-2000 scanner. When I purchased it, the firmware version was 1.2, and the quality of the scanned images was absolutely stunning. Since the new 1.3 firmware was available on Nikon's website, I decided to upgrade the scanner, mainly because one of the features of the new firmware was the speed improvement of the scanning operation. And it's true, with the 1.3 the scan of a slide takes less then half the time it used to take with the old firmware... but... unfortunately also the quality of the scan is less than half the one it used to be ! I've read every possible faq, I've tried every possible setting of the Nikon scan software, enabled/disabled colour managing options dozens and dozens of times, but with no success. Now I would like to downgrade my LS-2000 to the old firmware 1.2. I have downloaded the program to write the 1.2 firmware in the scanner, but it obviously checks the version of the scanner's firmware and aborts saying that it doesn't need to be updated. Can anyone please help me ? Has anyone had the same problem ? Thank you in advance for your attention and best wishes for Happy Xmas Mirko ilmagnificoREPLACETHISWITHATzapoREPLACETHISWITHDOT net Don't have any information to help you but will be interested in anything that comes up. I have the same scanner with 1.3 but as I brought it 2nd hand I cannot compere it to the old firmware. Do you have any more information regarding this problem I would like to hear about it Shane |
#7
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I did it ! Your suggestion was right, I was already trying to debug the
program to find where it tests the firmware version, but with no success. Instead, as you say, I found where it has the version number stored, tricked it and make it install the old firmware ! And now my scanner is a brand new LS-2000 with 1.21 firmware version :-)) Thank you very much Ciao ciao Mirko "Mark Durrenberger" ha scritto nel messaggio ... I'm not sure where the LS-2000 gets the version information but could you "fool" the scanner into thinking that 1.2 is really 1.4 and has a newer date than the faulty 1.3 version? try poking around the firmware file with a binary/hex editor or even a text editor and see if you can see a date/version number... There are several shareware programs at www.download.com that will edit hex (hexidecimal) and binary files. Best of luck, Mark |
#8
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Genius at your service ;-) (Humble too :-)
Glad it worked. Tell us where the firmware info is stored so if any of us need to try this out we'll know how to go about it... Also what program(s) did you use to edit the firmware file. Thanks, Mark |
#9
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"Mirko" wrote in message .. . I did it ! Your suggestion was right, I was already trying to debug the program to find where it tests the firmware version, but with no success. Instead, as you say, I found where it has the version number stored, tricked it and make it install the old firmware ! And now my scanner is a brand new LS-2000 with 1.21 firmware version :-)) Thank you very much Ciao ciao Mirko Could you please give some details about what you did to accomplish this? I would very much like to do the same, and would appreciate it very much--as my LS2000 has never been the same since the change. Also...what operating system are you running? Thank you for any info. -Mark M |
#10
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Hello folks
Now that I have enough time, I'll explain the solution and how I got to it, on my PC which runs with Windows 98SE. Here is the whole mental/practical process, don't fall asleep in the middle of it :-) Debugging the 1.21 firmware install program was a mess. The program interacts with external functions that fetch firmware information from the hardware, using calls in protected mode, etc. Thus I tried looking for a place in the program itself, where the version number is stored. I tried scanning the program for the couple of bytes 01 15 (hex values equivalent to 1 and 21 in decimal), but nothing. Then for 15 01, again nothing found. Then for 01 21, nothing. Then for 21 01, nothing. Then I noticed something : the firmware install programs have all the same length, 190k, and at glance the first part looks the same for all of them. In fact they consist of two parts : a first one which the installs the firmware, and a second one which is the firmware itself. Then I thought "what if I compare the firmware 1.21 install program with the 1.31 one ?". So I did : from an MSDos command window I used the "fc" command to compare the two versions. The result of a compare is a long list of different bytes, which are contiguos, because of course the "second parts" of the two files are different, but... But the list of mismatches begins with a 000117B7: 02 03 Mmmmmm interesting... Let's try and compare the 1.12 program with the 1.31... Here's the very first 2 differences between them : 000117B7: 01 03 000117B8: 02 01 Elementary my dear Watson !!!! Is it really so easy ??? Yes it is ! Don't ask me why at the beginning I didn't scan the program also for 01 02 01 because I wouldn't know what to say. At this point I immediatly hex-edited the 1.21 installation program (I use a free hex editor called XVI32) and changed the bytes 000117B7: 02 000117B8: 01 into 000117B7: 09 000117B8: 09 to make it think it's a 1.99 version. Then I took a deep breath and launched it : the program window said something like "Do you want to update the firmware to version 1.99 ?"... I took another deep breath and clicked on yes : ....update successful !! Then I opened Nikonscan and checked the window title bar : it said the firmware version was 1.21 !!! This means that the 02 01 at the address 000117B7 must be just a value in the first part of the installer that is used to check if the firmare has to be updated, but it's not part of the firmware itself. Thus, if you change it to 09 09 you don't trick the firmware but only the installer ! I tried the above method both with 1.12 and 1.21 firmware installers and they worked. To complete the restore, I have unistalled the Nikonscan 3.x and reinstalled the ole-n-good 2.2. Now the quality of the scanning is back to the original one, apart from the dust that in the meanwhile, since when I updated it with the 1.31 (years ago), has invaded the scanner ! Next step is to clean the scanner lenses/ccd. Wish me luck because I'm doing it myself : I've asked an authorized Nikon service point for the cost of the operation but here in Italy the prices for these kind of things tend to be pretty (*u*king) high ! By the way if you have suggestions about the cleaning, please contribute. I've found some websites that explain how to do it, but if someone has tried it and wants to share informations, I'm all ears. Thanks to you all, have a Happy New Year and... th-th-that's al folks (for now) Mirko "Mark M" ha scritto nel messaggio news:snPHb.24699$J77.7839@fed1read07... "Mirko" wrote in message .. . I did it ! Your suggestion was right, I was already trying to debug the program to find where it tests the firmware version, but with no success. Instead, as you say, I found where it has the version number stored, tricked it and make it install the old firmware ! And now my scanner is a brand new LS-2000 with 1.21 firmware version :-)) Thank you very much Ciao ciao Mirko Could you please give some details about what you did to accomplish this? I would very much like to do the same, and would appreciate it very much--as my LS2000 has never been the same since the change. Also...what operating system are you running? Thank you for any info. -Mark M |
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