Does FW dumps contain menu language options? - Firmware Dumping - CHDK Forum

Does FW dumps contain menu language options?

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Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« on: 05 / August / 2013, 10:23:57 »
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Hi,
Is it possible to add additional/new languages to a (Canon G9 FW1.00I) camera by replacing/upgrading the firmware? Does it apply to stock/dumped original FW and/or CHDK FWs?

I stumbled on this forum while trying to find out if it is possible to add additional languages to my camera's menu options. I have got an older Canon G9 (FW 1.00I) that was bought in Japan. It is only possible to select Japanese or English as language. I have not recieved a clear answer from either Canon Sweden, Canon UK or any of the authorized repair centers I have contacted if it is possible to add Swedish language to the camera by installing a European FW or by other means. I'm willing to install a G9 FW dump if that would also contain the language setting options.

FYI: one of the techicians said that it is possible that the language options are programmed in an chip on the main logic board of the camera and that it would not help to install a new firmware but he wasn't sure...

Best Regards,
Carl

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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #1 on: 05 / August / 2013, 13:09:56 »
(superseded)
« Last Edit: 05 / August / 2013, 17:07:21 by srsa_4c »

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Offline a1ex

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #2 on: 05 / August / 2013, 14:10:25 »
On DSLR, it's as simple as calling LimitLangJapan or LimitLangOther.

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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #3 on: 05 / August / 2013, 17:25:38 »
On DSLR, it's as simple as calling LimitLangJapan or LimitLangOther.
Thanks for the hint.

Turns out this is a permanent (well, not really) setting in the flash. Too bad there's no documentation.

The a470 firmware has one related event procedure: SetLangMenuType, which takes one argument. Unfortunately, there's no GetLangMenuType. I don't know how dangerous would be to set this, as it's a similar 'sticky' setting such as SetFactoryMode...

@carl.nakamura.7
Can you please make a firmware dump? Use the below Canon Basic script to dump the whole flash. You can find instructions on card preparation and other details here: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Canon_Basic/Card_Setup

Code: [Select]
dim f,a,startadr=0,romsize
 
private sub Initialize()
UI.CreatePublic()
a=LCDMsg_Create()
LCDMsg_SetStr(a,"Running")
System.Create()
 
if memcmp(0xFFC00004,"gaonisoy",8) = 0 then
startadr = 0xFFC00000
LCDMsg_SetStr(a,"FFC00000")
else
if memcmp(0xFF810004,"gaonisoy",8) = 0 then
startadr = 0xFF800000
LCDMsg_SetStr(a,"FF800000")
else
LCDMsg_SetStr(a,"start not found!")
Wait(1000)
end if
end if
 
if startadr <> 0 then
romsize = 0xFFFFFFFC - startadr
f=Fopen_Fut("A/ROM.BIN","w")
Fwrite_Fut(startadr,romsize,1,f)
Fclose_Fut(f)
LCDMsg_SetStr(a,"done")
end if
end sub

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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #4 on: 07 / August / 2013, 16:11:13 »
... after some research.

SetLangMenuType does adjust a setting in flash, which appears to be connected to this country-related restriction. It adjusts a single byte: its value appears to be 1 in a Japanese camera, and 0 in a European one (this is based on the ixus110 fw dumps I have).

I actually tried to execute this on some of my cameras. The setting in flash gets changed, but there is no influence on the language menu. So, it's useless by itself.

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Offline reyalp

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #5 on: 07 / August / 2013, 16:21:29 »
The language setting itself should be a "flash param" http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Params

Unknown whether you can override this to a language not visible in the menu. Attempting this might be risky, if the camera discovers it's invalid early in the startup, you might not be able to recover.

http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=5660.msg55221#msg55221 may be useful if you end up corrupting params but can still boot.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #6 on: 08 / August / 2013, 18:45:14 »
Observations on the a3200.
The language setting is flash param 8, its length is the usual 16 bytes.
There is a function which checks the 5th byte of this parameter, I think that could be the check for the restricted menu.
The bytes of the param are as follows:
English language selected:
01 00 01 00 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
German language selected:
01 01 01 00 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
back to English:
01 00 01 00 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
Not sure how this is connected to the previously mentioned flash setting (which is not a 'param').

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Offline reyalp

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #7 on: 08 / August / 2013, 21:22:10 »
On D10 the language menu is a grid with 9 (edit miscounted first time) rows and 3 columns. They appear to be numbered top to bottom, right to left:

english
00 00 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
german
00 01 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
french
00 02 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
dutch
00 03 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
danish
00 04 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
finnish
00 05 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
swedish (first language in second column of menu)
00 09 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff
japanese (last language in the menu, final cell is blank)
00 19 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 03 04 15 ff ff ff ff

edit:
a540 uses param #9, and is similar but not identical. There are only 8 rows:
english:
01 00 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
german:
01 01 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
japanese:
01 16 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

If I change video to PAL, the first digit changes to 2. NTSC is 1

On D10, first digit 0 = NTSC, 1 = PAL
« Last Edit: 08 / August / 2013, 21:34:24 by reyalp »
Don't forget what the H stands for.

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Offline Ant

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Re: Does FW dumps contain menu language options?
« Reply #8 on: 30 / August / 2016, 07:25:37 »
I successfully switched to "restricted" language on my japanese EOS M3 using GetParameterData() and SetParameterData().

Also I found more languages in ROM than it shown in menu. Maybe there are various regional language sets...
« Last Edit: 30 / August / 2016, 11:17:10 by Ant »

 

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