new M3 user w/firmware headache...anyone got any aspirin?

My M3 arrived a few days ago, pretty nice, wrong color (ordered blk)...but still nice :D

I initially encountered issues mounting the device on my linux box, centOS 4.4 (at work).
So I proceeded to upgrade the firmware to 2.003.4, and found that the "<>" button was now unresponsive.
I then tried downgrading to 2.003.3, tried both soft/hard resets...same thing.

I am now back to 2.001.3 (which came on the player originally), and life is good.
No longer have a problem, I am able to transfer music and can live with the earlier firmware.
The earlier mounting issues were resolved by using a newer distro, opensuse 10.2 (at home).

After this ordeal, I am left wondering whether I will ever be able to upgrade the firmware later?

Was I wrong in jumping from 2.001.3 to 2.003.4?
Anyone else experience this issue w/the unresponsive "<>" button?

thanks for listening :D
manny

So far I have used T2.003.2 that came loaded on my M3, T2.001.3, T2.003.3 and T2.003.4, on all versions the <> button has worked the same without problem.
That said it's usage is quite inconsistant, it will skip through tracks while playing music, it will open some menu entries but not others and it is used in some settings like EQ but has no usage when playing video.

this is my findings

more stable way of updating firmware/resource file
- plug in player to USB
- delete 'SETTIGS.DAT' from SYSTEM folder
- copy resource file into root directory
- do not unplug USB, but depress the ENTER button(for M6), PLAY button(for M3). This will force the player to go on reset, so firmware will be updated properly without corrupting the 'SETTIGS.DAT' file.