Firmware Update 1.60 for Casio MZX-series keyboards

Those who don't regularly visit the Casio Music Forums might have easily missed the news:
A firmware update (ver 1.60) has been released for the MZX-500 and MZX-300 in April.

Here's what it adds and how to minimize the risk to brick your keyboard with it.

The news came through casiomusicforums.com, and it's nice to see that Casio is still looking at improving their flagship keyboard (I have a long overdue review to publish on the MZX-500. Until I do, check this excellent review from Tim Praskins @ AZ Piano Reviews & News).

Changelog

As detailed on the Casio download page:

Version 1.50 >> Version 1.60
• Addition of Am to PLAY CHORD for PATTERN RECORDER recording
• Expanded maximum number of element measures that can be created with PATTERN SEQUENCER
• Support for copying between different elements with the PATTERN SEQUENCER Part Copy and Element Copy
• Support for selection of tones other than Drums for the Drum part and Percussion part with PATTERN SEQUENCER
• Addition of items to REGISTRATION FILTER
• Other improvements in function

[Note to MZX-300 users: I'm focusing on the model I have but just go to the update page for your model. However, keep in mind that the checksum values below are only valid for the MZX-500]

Once the MZ-X500_updater-160.zip update file is downloaded from Casio, the first thing to do is to check that the file is healthy.

The best way is to extract the file's MD5 hash and ensure it is identical to the values below:
MZ-X500_updater-160.zip should return:
8A87EF0A18FDB8C28E24ED36CDC6A1C8

The Update.bin file itself, once extracted from the zip should return:
79A83F9D4DE1B456447FD359A61AF5D6

There are many free tools for that. On Windows 10, this PowerShell script does the job perfectly. It can take a few seconds to produce the value as the files are quite large.

Once the file is verified, just follow the update procedure from the manual.


Reminder of the procedure:
The update.bin must be unzipped from MZ-X500_updater-160.zip and copied in the root of a FAT32-formatted USB drive. Try to use a good, at least  Class 10 memory.
Avoid using a cheap-and- slow USB key like some of us received with the MZX (bonus content from Ralph Maten).

On the MZX500 screen, go to System Settings >  Information > Enter
Touch "Execute" next to "Update Firmware",
and confirm Yes to the prompt "sure?"

The update takes about 30 minutes and will go through various long phases Verification, Writing, Updating NAND...be patient.

The keyboard will reboot at the end of the operation and the Information screen will confirm the new version.