RB1 Navigation - Can I UNBLOCK the in-motion fuctions?

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the_titan

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Negative, as of yet... We hacked the REC navigation unit, which is also an Alpine and runs the same Navigation disc. That is the one installed in Chargers, Magnums, 300s and Grand Cherokees. I think the Commander has it, too.

Basically, the REC and RB1 units pull their firmware off the same NAV disc, but from a different folder, and use the same map data. What tells it to pull the new firmware off the disc and into its memory is as simple as whether the firmware number is higher than what is already in its memory. So for the REC unit, I just made a copy of the NAV disc onto my hard drive (I used the latest Rev AE) and went into the firmware file it was set to transfer into the REC upon first installation. The firmware version was 2.04.00. I went ahead and installed the new NAV disc and it did upload firmware v.2.04.00 into the REC. So this is where the hacking came in. Found the line where it tells the unit to disable functions when the vehicle's speed hits 15MPH and just wiped the line ;) Then it was as simple as changing the firmware version to 2.04.01 and burning a new DL DVD+R and sticking it into the unit. Seeing 2.04.01 and realizing it was running 2.04.00, it downloaded the new cracked firmware and all is happy for me. So yeah, I guess in theory it can be done for the RB1 in the same manner. Just going to have to get a bunch of people to help you decipher all that code and find the similar command line in the RB1's firmware folder on the NAV disc.
 

adamisadam

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ok, so, what's stopping you? =D>

Maybe you can do it and someone like me (and others too) will even give you a few bucks for your time!

I'll PM you.
 

the_titan

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It is not that simple for a number of reasons or I would have done it already. First off, nobody has ever been able to report any success in getting the RB1 to read recordable media and DL DVDRs are not cheap enough for me to just be messing around trying to get it to work. Until someone finds a recordable DVD media that works in the RB1, the whole project is dead in the water. Nothing can happen until that starting point. Go ahead and buy 20 different brands and start making copies of your NAV disc, let me know when you find one that actually works. It takes dozens of discs to experiment with the unit figuring out what does and does not work just in terms of code, assuming you have already isolated what method of burning discs and brand of discs work, if any do, and that's a lot of $$$.

So no, it is not just about time being money. Next, you can fry an RB1 with a disc of bad code, so testing on these is not something I am going to do on my own perfectly functional unit for everyone's gain when I don't even want to disable it on my RB1 much to begin with. The benefits do not outweigh the gain. If the code is not perfect when you upload it, it will freeze the unit since it will no longer have functional software to make it run until you can overwrite the bad code with the original, or a new tester. You're basically volunteering me to do all the work, be the guinea pig, and saying maybe we will give you a couple bucks...if it works. And when/if it doesn't and I wasted all that time, money, and fried an RB1, I am SOL. This is not one man's job and I am not the man for it. So like I said, put your own neck on the block, get together a bunch of people interested in it who have something to volunteer by way of dead RB1 units to test code on, media to test compatibility with, and money to fund it all. But it won't go anywhere until we have a proof positive method for burning to recordable DVD media that will actually read in the RB1. With the REC that was tricky enough and it came down to only certain brands actually working - HP, Fuji and Verbatim.
 
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