MrDohnuts

Yes that's where I'm at. The Jap update disk has the boot code I need to create the hybrid upgrade disk that will make your sat nav UK spec. In other news I converted a TomTom 520 to a 530 the other day using some hacked update code and I'm thinking this is the replacement unit of choice for the 350Z. It has @*!# hot satnav (with lane guidance etc), mp3 playback, line out, phone integration etc etc. And I think it can be made to fit nicely in the gap where the 350Z sat nav screen lives.

Afraid not, I don't have any disks at all. I'm just a poor IT security professional / software engineer. Average rate for IT security contracts in the UK is at least £400 a day. . . . come on now . . Do you still need a JDM disk? I had a feeling I was below average and this just confirms it :-) Yeah still need that JDM disk if anyone has one.

Afraid not, I don't have any disks at all. I'm just a poor IT security professional / software engineer.

As a side project if anyone has a broken UK spec DVD unit I would be interested in buying it. I can use this to explore the option of imaging the UK spec firmware chip directly and writing this to the Jap firmware chip. This method bypasses the need for CD's entirely.

OK I've just looked through the two EU update disks that I have received from Drude. They are surprisingly readable in a hex editor with no encryption what so ever. Now I need a copy of a Jap update disk. I plan to use the boot strap code on the Jap disk to make a hybrid CD that will force a firmware update from the EU disk data. The simple disk layout and lack of encryption makes me think this is quite feasible now, but I can't go further without the Jap disk so if anyone has one please make a copy and send it along, or make an ISO (not too big) and we can exchange it online. Thanks, Dan

Got the disks from Drude today! Unfortunately I got tired of not having sat nav so started ripping my car apart to fit a custom made car PC I'm building. I have the Nissan unit and required parts in the lab so I'll set it up and start testing as soon as I've analysed the CD's. Which is in about 5 minutes :-)

No joy in receiving the appropriate disks yet guys. Someone sent me a DVD in a jiffy bag but the disk was corrupt and I'm not sure who sent it :-)

Yeah I'm quite the nerd and teach Photoshop to photographers. I get them to take me on the occasional photo shoot at the weekend to improve my camera skills - always learning! I plan to come along to one of the Z meets so I can get some really good shots in the bag ...and put a face to some of the names on the forum.

The relevant files are not availible on Torrents, I actaully downloaded them anyway but no joy. Disk images would be fine, the update disks are plain old ISO CD roms so can be copied using Imageburn (freeware), then sent to me in a jiffy bag or uploaded to my FTP server - PM me for details. The map DVD is dual layer and around 8GB in size. This can also be copied using image burn and a blank dual-layer disk (about £1.20).

It's not as spot free as you'd think - Photoshop does a much better job of spot removal than reality does :-)

Yeah those wheels really do need a good scrub - something for the weekend.

I tried the power button on my Z for the first time last night - wow! It made the fuel gauge needle hit the floor :-)

I took my Jap 350Z for a little photo shoot yesterday - these cars are so photogenic that you don't really have to try :-) I've only had time to process one image so far - any feedback welcome. Hi res version on my Flickrpage, more to come!

Nothing to report I'm afraid - nobody has any of the disks I need to reverse engineer the software :-( I even asked my Nissan stealer while my car was in for a window repair but they wouldn't let me 'test' them in my laptop until I paid the £400 for the disks. So ....on to stage 2. I'm now on the lookout for a UK satnav so that I can remove the EEPROM chip, decode it then re-program the Japnav to think it's a UK model. Does anyone have a broken UK satnav I can buy or borrow - I only need it long enough to desolder the appropriate chip(s) and image them. Nothing on Ebay right now but I'm keeping a look out.

1st prize - and thanks very much indeed. I better phone them and see if I can get the code.

Yeah right It's got power running to it as it blinks an LED every 10 seconds. For the time being I'll just assume it's the Transformer button and use only when it's really necessary.

No.3 It's a Jap import. Transformer! That would totally rule :-) Engine imobilizer - that would make sense but I didn't receive any docs about from the dealer ...hmm I'm a little afraid of what might happen is the battery goes flat now.

I'm still getting used to my 350Z so don't slate me too much. I found this device in the drivers footwell and I have no idea what it is - can anyone shed some light on it?

I jumped in to my Z yesterday morning with a big smile on my face, it was my third day of ownership and I'm still ecstatic every time I open the front door and see it/her there. I set off and noticed that the performance was awful, I drove a few miles, tried the tip-tronic and still no change, it was driving like a dog. I arrived at my destination, got out the car and checked over the engine (though I have no idea what I'm doing in there). I even checked the exhausts to ensure none of the local kids had stuffed something in there. As I got back in the car to drive home I felt something scratch against my elbow. It was the f**king SNOW button. They seem to have placed this thing in the worse possible place. I turned it off and of course performance returned to it's normal insane mode. Am I the only one stupid enough to have made this mistake?

Sorry to be impatient but does anyone have the UK and/or JAP update CD?

Wessex in Cardiff? No, a garage called Sinclair Direct - who, at this point I can't really fault as they have been really professional. I'll report back on how they handle this incident though.

Damn, my car was delivered just yesterday and less than 24 hours later I'm hit with the passenger window fault First it didn't work at all, then it came down about halfway but wouldn't close. Thanks to whomever mentioned the technique of banging the door to 'unstick' then motor - that at least made it go back up! I've phoned the dealer who sold me the car and they said they would fix it under warranty - though I'm not sure how as I live in Essex and they are based in Cardiff.

Well the hardware looks to be universal, it's the EEPROM inside the nav system which determines it region and software configuration. This is normal as it's much less expensive to make a universal device then regionise it. The real question is how hard will be to reprogram or replace that EEPROM. This is by and large how we hack Xbox 360, by changing the DVD drive EEPROM to detect copied disks as legit - I digress. We won't know till I start hacking away at it. In a best case scenario the the Jap update disk can be rebuilt with the UK firmware files and then the device upgraded ...we'll see

If I get it working I'll be releasing it as open source freeware to anyone who wants it. Good Karma is all I'm after :-)

Hi Guys I've started reverse engineering the Jap Birdview satnav DVD and I'm having some success, I can edit the files on the dual layer DVD, re-write them and have it boot in my system without incident (which means the security is wide open). I can now go down 3 routes: 1. My preferred route is to hack the satnav update CD to turn the Jap savnav into a UK spec - I think this is quite doable as it's just a case of bypassing the region encoding routine to allow us to update the internal flash / PROM used to run the system. 2. If I can get hold of a UK DVD-ROM drive and a Jap drive I can decode the PROM's so we can turn the Jap drives into a UK version. This will be more difficult and time consuming but I'm certainly up for the challenge. Changing the region encoding of DVD drives is well documented on the net so this my be a good attack vector. 3. I can try splicing the UK map data into the Jap DVD layout. This will give us UK maps and routing but won't get rid of the Jap fonts - this isn't a very desirable solution from my point of view - although it's probably quite easy. At least we'll have a map of GB on out screens even if the routing is in the wrong language. What I need to begin work is the following: 1. UK CD-R satnav update disk (any 2000 - 2005 version) 2. Jap satnav update disk (any 2000 - 2005 version) 3. UK Birdview DVD-ROM. Doesn't matter if it's old (it's testing purposes) If anyone has any of the above and you're willing to copy / lend me the disks I'd be glad to hear from you. There is no certainty that any of the above will work, but I'm an experienced software developed with access to great lab facilities and I just love breaking stuff like this