Topic: Firmware Problem on JB3

[T.J.]

hey guys. i am leaving for moe.down today and last night i may have killed a JB3. i first did a disc cleanup of the JB3 and then a Format All to clean up things before i went to moe.down. note, this was the first time i had ever Formated the hard drive. i reboot and everything is fine until the JB3 freezes. Now when it starts up the screen flashes "firmware problem" and won't let me exit the rescue mode. i have tried everything upgrading/downgrading firmware, restarts, clean disk, format all, and reload OS. nothing has worked i can't find any more info on how to fix this problem. please help...i leave in about 8 hours
thanks in advance,
t.j.

[sleepypedro]

reflash the firmware and it'll rescusitate.

[Chad817]

are you unable to flash the firmware?  I had a similar problem the other day and it turned out to be a firewire issue.  I was stuck with the same message and couldn't fix the firmware, until I switched to usb. 

[T.J.]

are you unable to flash the firmware?  I had a similar problem the other day and it turned out to be a firewire issue.  I was stuck with the same message and couldn't fix the firmware, until I switched to usb. 

chad i checked your thead out, but you never really said what you did to revitalize your jb3. this really sucks. luckily i made it though moe.down with one jb3 and no problems. i only use a USB connection b/c i have don't have a firewire port on my cpu. the computer won't recognize the jb3 to reinstall the firmware. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this is frustrating.

[F.O.Bean]

are you unable to flash the firmware?  I had a similar problem the other day and it turned out to be a firewire issue.  I was stuck with the same message and couldn't fix the firmware, until I switched to usb. 

chad i checked your thead out, but you never really said what you did to revitalize your jb3. this really sucks. luckily i made it though moe.down with one jb3 and no problems. i only use a USB connection b/c i have don't have a firewire port on my cpu. the computer won't recognize the jb3 to reinstall the firmware. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this is frustrating.

dood, this has happened many times to me, relax!

d/l the 1.40.06 firmware here: oh and this is for XP, if you have anything older, just go to the creative site, select supposrt, and find the jb3 under 'zen' :

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download.asp

then once that 1.40.06 firmware is d/l'd, i dunno if you have to reset the jb3, or just have the jb3 connected and just start the new firmware? but it shouldnt be tricky, JUST MAKE SURE YOU AHVE THE FIRMWARE ON YOUR HARDDRIVE BEFORE DOING THIS

and as a backup, i always have 1.32.02 in case the jb3 getsw finicky and wont let me jump from whatever firmware it defaults to once you try this, so i can go 1.32.02>1.40.06 if i absolutely have to, so d/l them both just to be safe!

the rest is self explanatory and just follow the firmware directiosn when installing

good luck, wish i would have seen this BEFORE moedown

[Chad817]

are you unable to flash the firmware?  I had a similar problem the other day and it turned out to be a firewire issue.  I was stuck with the same message and couldn't fix the firmware, until I switched to usb. 

chad i checked your thead out, but you never really said what you did to revitalize your jb3. this really sucks. luckily i made it though moe.down with one jb3 and no problems. i only use a USB connection b/c i have don't have a firewire port on my cpu. the computer won't recognize the jb3 to reinstall the firmware. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this is frustrating.

hey man.  the solution to my problem was pretty simple.  It was just a matter of using the usb connection instead of firewire.  For some reason, every time I tried to change the firmware via firewire I got an error.  Bought a usb cable (a cheapo one made for the psp actually since I couldn't find mine), and everything was gravy. 

That doesn't sound like it will help you though, if your PC isn't even recognizing the jb3.  Have you tried starting from scratch and reinstalling the drivers and everything on your pc? different usb port? etc..

[T.J.]

just to update and search for more suggestions: i still haven't gotten this JB3 up and running.
every time i startup the JB3 it will flash "firmware problem" and automatically enter rescue mode. like i have said before i have tried all three options in rescue mode. i only have a USB port to connect the JB3 to my computer. when i connect the JB3 via USB the creative playcenter automatically starts up with the small box in the bottom right corner of my somputer screen saying the JB3 is connected. after the inital start up, the playcenter states the JB3 is NOT connected. from this point i restart the JB3 using option #4 in the rescue mode. after the restart, sometimes my computer will recognize the JB3, other times i will have to redo the reset process until the JB3 is recognized. The three firmware upgrades i have on my computers hard drive are:
JB3PCFW_1_10_06      JB3PCFW_1_20_06      JB3_PCFW_US_1_40_06 
i have attempted to to reinstall all three of these onto the JB3 with option #3 in the rescue mode (Reload OS). when the JB3 prompts me to "install firmware now" i get nowhere. but i am determined to revitalize this JB3 and return it to working order

reflash the firmware and it'll rescusitate.

what does this mean and how do i try it? i really wish my CPU had a firewire port to try reinstalling w/ another type of connection.

[F.O.Bean]

TJ, if ya wanna trust me to put the firmware on there, lemme know, if it doesnt work, your jb3 may be shot

but id gladly play around w/ it and get it running

[fuzn]

I got that message when my jb3's harddrive was getting flaky. Pissed me off to be outside of one the best shows ever, and having it give me that message in the car. I just replaced it with a spare one, and now it's perfect.

[T.J.]

TJ, if ya wanna trust me to put the firmware on there, lemme know, if it doesnt work, your jb3 may be shot

but id gladly play around w/ it and get it running

bean, i may take you up on that offer. you have a firewire port on your computer and i don't, which may bring this thing back from the dead. FWIW this was a refurb i bought directly from creative...bastards

[F.O.Bean]

TJ, if ya wanna trust me to put the firmware on there, lemme know, if it doesnt work, your jb3 may be shot

but id gladly play around w/ it and get it running

bean, i may take you up on that offer. you have a firewire port on your computer and i don't, which may bring this thing back from the dead. FWIW this was a refurb i bought directly from creative...bastards

I have both usb 2.0 AND firewire ports bud, just lemme know

[T.J.]

TJ, if ya wanna trust me to put the firmware on there, lemme know, if it doesnt work, your jb3 may be shot

but id gladly play around w/ it and get it running

bean, i may take you up on that offer. you have a firewire port on your computer and i don't, which may bring this thing back from the dead. FWIW this was a refurb i bought directly from creative...bastards

I have both usb 2.0 AND firewire ports bud, just lemme know

are you definitely going to the Roseland for moe. both nights after thanksgiving? if so maybe i can send it out to you and you can return it to me there. besides, i think i owe you a couple TLG and RAQ disks

[F.O.Bean]

TJ, if ya wanna trust me to put the firmware on there, lemme know, if it doesnt work, your jb3 may be shot

but id gladly play around w/ it and get it running

bean, i may take you up on that offer. you have a firewire port on your computer and i don't, which may bring this thing back from the dead. FWIW this was a refurb i bought directly from creative...bastards

I have both usb 2.0 AND firewire ports bud, just lemme know

are you definitely going to the Roseland for moe. both nights after thanksgiving? if so maybe i can send it out to you and you can return it to me there. besides, i think i owe you a couple TLG and RAQ disks

yep, def coming to those shows, i already have both nites tickets so i better be there

send it to me, if i can fix it, i will def have it there either way

[hitch]

just to update and search for more suggestions: i still haven't gotten this JB3 up and running.
every time i startup the JB3 it will flash "firmware problem" and automatically enter rescue mode. like i have said before i have tried all three options in rescue mode. i only have a USB port to connect the JB3 to my computer. when i connect the JB3 via USB the creative playcenter automatically starts up with the small box in the bottom right corner of my somputer screen saying the JB3 is connected. after the inital start up, the playcenter states the JB3 is NOT connected. from this point i restart the JB3 using option #4 in the rescue mode. after the restart, sometimes my computer will recognize the JB3, other times i will have to redo the reset process until the JB3 is recognized. The three firmware upgrades i have on my computers hard drive are:
JB3PCFW_1_10_06      JB3PCFW_1_20_06      JB3_PCFW_US_1_40_06 
i have attempted to to reinstall all three of these onto the JB3 with option #3 in the rescue mode (Reload OS). when the JB3 prompts me to "install firmware now" i get nowhere. but i am determined to revitalize this JB3 and return it to working order

reflash the firmware and it'll rescusitate.

what does this mean and how do i try it? i really wish my CPU had a firewire port to try reinstalling w/ another type of connection.

I had the exact same trouble as you. I replaced the HDD in the jb3 (mine died), and was met with the dreaded firmware error/resue mode screens, and I couldn't update the firmware! I tried everything on my Windows XP SP2 machine, including firewire AND usb, and every firmware imaginable. Bumpkus.

I decided to go to a Windows 2000 SP4 machine with firewire, and the firmware updated with no problems! Go figure.I guess some jb3's like usb 1.1, some firewire, and some jb3s hate certain flavours of XP (or software?) no matter what you use 

Hope you get yours working soon.

[F.O.Bean]

TJ-Your jb3 appears to be golden now, only took me 5 mins to reload the OS via 1394