i've been reading more and more on my xteink x4 lately— mostly poetry books— and i decided today, after finishing The Crown Ain't Worth Much, that i should probably get around to updating this thing, which was on version 1.2.0, from the day i got the device and then flashed it with crosspoint.
unfortunately, there's a bug in 1.2.0 that makes over-the-air and manual (file-based and without internet) impossible. talk about unlucky lol....
so i had to install the crosspoint unlocker tool (it's like the web-based crosspoint flasher, but more advanced) and follow some steps for 1.2.0 in there, according to this github issue comment. but the steps weren't in my version!
i decided to try downgrading the unlocker tool to a couple versions back, and that worked??? i don't know why it was removed from the unlocker at all. but anyway, there's the step for 1.2.0 okay.
the unlocker tool directs me to download and flash a patched firmware release (i went with the one named trythisone_first.bin), which works. yay! progress. (i was preparing myself for another failure after like 3 or 4 failed firmware upgrades before i discovered the bug.)
then i have to flash ANOTHER patched firmware release (this one), which i don't know if that was necessary but that also worked.
and lastly, with the original latest firmware.bin file on my microSD card (downloaded and transferred before the problems) i was finally able to click Check Updates, which allowed me to select the firmware.bin file from the directory listing, and ta-da! my tiny e-reader is up to date :)
obviously i'm not gonna complain about free software being worked on by people for fun and no profit. this shit rocks and i love crosspoint and my little e-reader. but my only wish is for all of this to be documented better. i get it, writing documentation sucks, but i'd appreciate some bullet points.
either way, if anyone else has this issue, i hope this half-assed blog post helps even a little bit.