Downgrade firmware. How?

I have just bought a WD TV Live which works fine in its condition right out of the box. So before I jump to upgrade I need following question answered. If there is a problem:

How do I downgrad?

Where do I find the basic FW?

Find nowhere the answer to these questions.

Thx for helping out.

no way to that is easy… i’m stuck with my 2nd (after RMA’ing the first-you think i wouldve learned a lesson and NOT upgrade the second one) useless wd tv box due to “upgrading” the firmware. worked equisitely out of the box though i must say. i’d love a resolution but i’ve given up and thrown it in a box somewhere.

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Its very easy to downgrade the firmware and it has been mentioned on this forum.

You can get the firmware from here. You have to register and sign in but as it is another WDTV forum you may find this to your benefit.

http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showforum=70

The technical bit is that you have to update one of the included files to fool the WDTV into believing that it is a newer firmware otherwise it will not receive the downgrade.

Google ‘WDTV Live downgrade firmware’ for more details.

Sorry, but I followed (nearly) every link resulting from your URL but I can find the HowTo but nowhere the Firmware itself!

Why does WD not make all versions downloadable? Nearly every other company does that. 

I am not going to upgrade if I cannot reliable downgrade. Too many bad experiences. It is a reason for me to return the device back to the retailer.

mac_gebruiker wrote:

Sorry, but I followed (nearly) every link resulting from your URL but I can find the HowTo but nowhere the Firmware itself!

 

 

Why does WD not make all versions downloadable? Nearly every other company does that. 

 

 

 

I am not going to upgrade if I cannot reliable downgrade. Too many bad experiences. It is a reason for me to return the device back to the retailer.

 

 

    • *> Presumably they don’t make them available because the old versions are obsolete and outdated (and might even be in violation of contracts made with youtube so they would open them selves up to lawsuits if they did make them available)>

I recently  downgraded the firmware of my WD TV Live Media player. The firmware 1.01.24 doesn’t work with iso-files verry well so I decided to downgrade the firmware to 1.01.17.

Follow the next steps:

  1. download the old firmware:  http://www.wdc.com/global/webtracking/index.asp?id=1092&url=http://download.wdc.com/wdtv/wdtvlive_1.01.17.zip

1.Use USB FLASH KEY from 64mb upto 2GB. I recommend upto 2GB but you could also use bigger ones but they using different adressing model

this could be issue for some models.

2.Format the USB FLASH key to FAT16 or FAT32 filesystem don’t be lazzy and DON’T use NFTS for this case 1)

use USB FORMATER 2)or any others formatting tools.

3.Go to WDTV menu System→About there is version notice it you will need this number later.

4.Unpack firmware package to USB FLASH KEY to root directory there have to be 2 files WDTV.BIN and WDTV.VER.

5.Open with notepad or any textplain3) editor and change version in WDTV.VER to higher then you have in WDTV now if you dont change this new firmware will not detected as new one.Save the file.

6.De-attach all USB devices from WDTV unplug power supply wait 5-10sec plug-in USB prepared USB FLASH KEY and plug-in power supply.

7.Wait and dont reboot WDTV durring flashing process

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Thanks.

mac_gebruiker wrote:

Sorry, but I followed (nearly) every link resulting from your URL but I can find the HowTo but nowhere the Firmware itself!

 

 

Why does WD not make all versions downloadable? Nearly every other company does that. 

 

 

 

I am not going to upgrade if I cannot reliable downgrade. Too many bad experiences. It is a reason for me to return the device back to the retailer.

 

 

All the firmware is on the site I mentioned and is pinned under Important Topics’ at the top.

http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showforum=70

WD TV LIVE HD Firmware OFFICIAL 1.01.00

http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showtopic=7256

WD TV LIVE HD Firmware OFFICIAL 1.01.11 , Download it here…

http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showtopic=8723

WD TV LIVE HD Firmware OFFICIAL 1.01.17 , Download it here…

http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showtopic=10965

etc.

I said that you could only download it if you registered and signed in to the site. The download button does not appear unless you sign in.

You’re right. At first I did not see it until I realized one has to be logged in. Can find them all now. Thanks.

R0nald wrote:

I recently  downgraded the firmware of my WD TV Live Media player. The firmware 1.01.24 doesn’t work with iso-files verry well so I decided to downgrade the firmware to 1.01.17.

 

Follow the next steps:

 

  1. download the old firmware:  http://www.wdc.com/global/webtracking/index.asp?id=1092&url=http://download.wdc.com/wdtv/wdtvlive_1.01.17.zip

 

1.Use USB FLASH KEY from 64mb upto 2GB. I recommend upto 2GB but you could also use bigger ones but they using different adressing model

this could be issue for some models.

 

2.Format the USB FLASH key to FAT16 or FAT32 filesystem don’t be lazzy and DON’T use NFTS for this case 1)

use USB FORMATER 2)or any others formatting tools.

 

3.Go to WDTV menu System→About there is version notice it you will need this number later.

 

4.Unpack firmware package to USB FLASH KEY to root directory there have to be 2 files WDTV.BIN and WDTV.VER.

 

5.Open with notepad or any textplain3) editor and change version in WDTV.VER to higher then you have in WDTV now if you dont change this new firmware will not detected as new one.Save the file.

 

6.De-attach all USB devices from WDTV unplug power supply wait 5-10sec plug-in USB prepared USB FLASH KEY and plug-in power supply.

 

7.Wait and dont reboot WDTV durring flashing process

 

 

Your link does not work as it stands and is not directly clickable.

I think this is the direct address for the official download

http://download.wdc.com/wdtv/wdtvlive_1.01.17.zip

In fact there are 4 files included in the upgrade and the .bin, .fff and .ver files all need to be copied to the root of a USB flash drive which contains only these files and nothing else. Remove any drives etc from the other USB port

The 4 files in the firmware package are:

release notes file in pdf

wdtvlive.bin file

wdtvlive.ver file

wdtivlive.fff file

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Just open all files in notepad only one actually opens up the just edit the number.