RNS-510 Custom Boot Screens

[bluey]

I'm confused.

Thought I'd try John's suggested method at top of thread, a few error messages, few reboots, then this:


Rebooted with <SETUP>+<MIC>+<EJECT>, RNS-510 won't boot, has error message that it wants the SWL disc, insert disc then this:


I chickened out and cancelled, because there had been so many error messages getting that far and I didn't want to end up with a bricked RNS-510.

Maybe it would work if I tried again?

My RNS-510 does not have setup menu enabled. So I presume the correct steps to follow are per FJ Steve + edits:

Setup, Eject and Star, forces the unit to go into a FW downgrade mode when next you insert a FW disc. To do this right....
1. open car, leave keys in pocket.
1a. start up the RNS by pushing the volume button in, wait for boot to finish?
1b. force downgrade mode by pressing all at once <SETUP>+<EJECT>+<MIC>
1c. wait...??will reboot automatically or needs to be restarted menually
2. start up the RNS by pushing the volume button in, wait for boot to finish?
3. Press all at once <LEFT ARROW>+<RIGHT ARROW>+<info>
4. Unit will go thru a reset stage, and will (after a few minutes) re-start.
4a. Unit reports something...
5. Insert your .iso disc that you have made from this thread.
6. Unit may report "Unable to read CD/DVD", BUT, let it go......it should go through a firmware install process.


Does that sound correct??

[kamold]

The second message was the approval to load.
If you ok that it will load the custom image. You just chickened out

[bluey]

So had another go:

1. open car, leave keys in pocket.
1a. start up the RNS by pushing the volume button in, didn't wait for boot to finish
1b. force downgrade mode by pressing all at once <SETUP>+<EJECT>+<MIC> - held for 5 seconds
1c. wait...??will reboot automatically or needs to be restarted manually (can't remember)
2. start up the RNS by pushing the volume button in, wait for boot to finish
3. Press all at once <LEFT ARROW>+<RIGHT ARROW>+<MIC> - held 5 seconds
4. Unit will go thru a reset stage, and will (after a few minutes) re-start like normal
5. Insert your .iso disc that you have made from this thread.
6. Unit reports "CD/DVD Error. Please check CD/DVD", BUT, let it go......it goes through a firmware install process.
Splash screen with red bars:
"THE SYSTEM IS NOT ABLE TO START UP"
"PLEASE INSERT SWL-CD" (which is already in, so it is happy)

"NETDATA BOOTLOGO UPDATER" has progress bar, completes

Unit restarts with old splash screen.
Black screen with message.
Message changes.

Then "SOFTWARE LOADING VERSION (010101)" as per screen grab earlier post.

Black screen with message.

"SOFTWARE LOADING ERROR (....)" SWL ERROR

....nothing has been changed reboot.


So, it looks like the CD reads happily and there is some software conflict, perhaps because the software on the RNS-510 is fairly new??

[kamold]

Media read error.

Try to burn again at slowest possible speed. Use a different brand of media and or a different burner.

Burn using xpcdburner using track at once recording.

[jords]

I have just done mine, here's the exact steps I did.

1. open car, leave keys in pocket.
2. start up the RNS by pushing the volume button in, waited for boot to finish, ejected a DVD I had in it.
3. Press all at once <SETUP>+<EJECT>+<MIC> - Unit should reboot after a few seconds, if not force by <LEFT ARROW>+<RIGHT ARROW>+<MIC> (only need to press them, not hold them in).
After reboot, splash screen with red bars:
"THE SYSTEM IS NOT ABLE TO START UP"
"PLEASE INSERT SWL-CD"
5. Insert your .iso disc that you have made from this thread.
6. Select OK when prompted and it should complete in a few minutes.

[bluey]

Apparently, the unit is a bit picky about how the ISO is burnt. Success at last.

So definitely, burn .iso image using xpcdburner select track at once recording, suggest slow burn speed (eg 4x). DVD-RW is reported to work by developer netdata. I used the same brand blank CD-R I tried before, which now works with no problems using the TAO burn.

1. open car, leave keys in pocket.
2. start up the RNS by pushing the power/volume button in, don't have to wait for boot to finish
3. Press all at once <SETUP>+<EJECT>+<MIC> to set software loading mode, unit didn't seem to want to reboot by itself, so press power/volume button
After reboot, splash screen with red bars:
"THE SYSTEM IS NOT ABLE TO START UP"
"PLEASE INSERT SWL-CD"
5. Insert your .iso disc that you have made from this thread (using track at once recording)
6. Select OK when prompted and it should complete in a few minutes.

netdata says the software doesn't attempt to change any part of the firmware, so there is no risk of bricking the unit.

[tom89]

Just put one of these on my GTI this arvo, thanks for the DIY. Ive seen it come up a couple of times but am I right in saying that the boot screen isn't shown every time the unit is turned on with either the key or the power on/off/volume button? I get the idea that it takes a while for the unit to power down..

[kamold]

Yeah they have a 'fast boot' mode that skips the full startup sequence if the car has only been switched off for like 30 mins or something. So overnight you get the full boot sequence which lets you see your custom image.
It is configurable via VCDS to force a full boot every time, but no idea why you would want that....if you really want to see the boot logo again, you can reboot it with the three finger salute...

[tom89]

Ah ok, good to hear it confirmed. Thanks mate.

[lowery]

Having successfully upgraded to FW 4020, I decided to change that bland startuo logo.
I read all of this thread and tried one of JohnC's iso files first without success.
I tried again after allowing "downgrade", but again no success.
I tried CDs and DVDs burnt as low as 2X, but no success.
I tried using CDs and DVDs burnt with downloaded netdata iso images, but no success!
I mostly get a screen showing a progress bar that takes about 3-4 minutes, the old logo then flashes up on the screen usually followed by an SWL error screen that ejects the disk and says that the original firmware will be displayed after restart.
Should I give up or try something else?

[kamold]

Sounding like a broken record, but use cdburnerxp at slowest speed using track at once recording.
Use a different brand of media.
Use a dvdr.
One of those should work.

[lowery]

Sorry, Kamold, I left that bit out.
I burnt all my disks using Nero, which I used successfully to burn the FW and Map images, or CDBurnerXP V4.4 at 2X onto both CD and DVD.
The fact is that the unit seems to accept the disks and even displays a loading progress bar that lasts for about 4 minutes.
If I ever get this done it will have been a quite expensive logo change!

[kamold]

Please try the instructions I had exactly the same situation.

[FJ Steve]

Please try the instructions I had exactly the same situation.

Yep...been there done that.

I have used (successfully) imgburn for FW and Map discs.

xpcdburner (track at once, 1x) is perfect for these splash screen modifications.

[lowery]

Today I tried again to replace my logo using exactly the same method and disk (a CD-R burnt at 2X by cdburnerxp that I tried to use yesterday without success) and all went through without a hitch.
No "CD/DVD Error. Please check CD/DVD" message.
No Splash screen with red bars saying "The system is not able to start up" or "Please insert SWL-CD"
No "Netbdata bootlogo updata" progress bar.
No "software loading error (.......)"
Just a black screen for many minutes, a flash on screen of the new logo; and finally a message that Fw upgrade is complete, remove the disk and reboot.
The only difference that I am aware of between yesterday and today is that the temperature has increased from 14C to about 20C in my gararge!
Clearly Mr VDO-Seimens did not wish to encourage us mere mortals to embark on this process!