PRS-T1 Is there hope?

[satbeginner]

Hello,

I am new here, because it is My First Sony.

Recently -as a gift from a friend , for parts- I got a white PRS-T1.
One minor glitch: It does not start anymore.

With the previous owner it just stopped.

I consider myself quite OK with computers, so I started working on this "challenge".

The past days I spent hours, even days, resetting, rebooting, etc. trying everything I could find on this forum (and others on the web) but no avail.

From the previous owner I understood it froze, and he confessed he already "tried some things".

He remembered he once had a serial connection (Serial Gadget) and a non working drive showing (in Windows) which he formatted........

Now my question is: Is there anything I could do to revive this reader?

Extra information:

When I reboot with HOME & MENU + power, it does look at the external micro SD card, but only briefly (LED blinks a few times) , at the beginning of the progress bar filling with black.

Also, when I do the reboot (HOME & MENU + power) without a micro SD card present it shows the progress bar. But in both cases the orange (on/off) LED keeps blinking.

When I now insert the SD card the SD light blinks briefly, but nothing else happens.

It appears there is still "live" in there, but not an awake form.

Is there maybe a special "boot-image" for the SD card out there that can be used to revive this reader??

( I tried the Rupor and other Resque cards, but maybe I missed the right one?)

I will try anything,

Regards,

Satbeginner

[satbeginner]

In my search I found this method for "unbricking" a PRS-500, so I wonder if there is a similar way for the PRS-T1?

Recovering From Catastrophic Failure (Unbricking)

If you manage to completely brick the device to where it cannot boot at all (remains at "Starting up..." page indefinitely), you will need to do the following to recover to the factory flash image.

1. Charge the device overnight to make sure it has enough power for the recovery process.

2. Use a paper clip or pin to depress the reset button in the small hole on the back of the unit. Turn the unit on.

3. Wait until the "Starting up..." page is displayed for a few seconds and you see the orange LED blinking. Just count like 3 to 4 sec. from the moment you see the LED blinking.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 ten times.

5. On the tenth reset let the Reader boot and after a few minutes the message "Firmware update is not finished correctly. Please execute firmware update again." will be displayed.

6. Connect the USB cable and the device will automatically go into recovery ("Updating firmware now...") mode.

7. Flash the device with the original PRS500 updater.

I found this here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Sony_Reader_hack

I am trying this with a PRS-T1 right now....

[uboot]

This won't work with your PRS-T1.



There is a special rescue image that can be put on SD card and booted from. It will give you a linux root shell over USB serial connection as well as access to internal flash memory via USB gadget driver.

Download rupor-rescue.7z from here: http://translate.google.com/translat...hp%3Ft%3D23354

Unzip into root folder of fat formated sd card and boot up the reader while keeping home+menu pressed until progress bar becomes 100%.

Now, you can connect to computer via USB and start messing around

I would try a manual factory reset first: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRST...#Factory_Reset

[AlexBell]

Thanks, uboot.

Do you have anything for a PRS-T2? Mine won't retrieve notes - I can make notes, but when I try to read them I get the error message

'The application Reader has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.'

Perhaps if there is a way to wipe it completely and reinstall the software it might work.

[uboot]

You already posted on this issue here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=206747

So, hard reset didn't work?

In order to fully restore the internal storage, you need a full backup. I don't have one as I don't have a T2.

[satbeginner]

Hello Uboot,

thanks for your response!
Is there a special way I need to format the micro SD card?
I have an 8GB micro SD, but when formatted under Windows or Ubuntu 9 live disk, after the reboot, it briefly "looks" at the SD card (SD light flashes, then stops) and continues to fill the progress bar to 100% and then stops. (Orange powerlight keeps slow blinking)

Is an 8GB card supported in the PRS-T1?

Is there a full backup of /dev/mmcblk2 available somewhere

I will try to partition my SDcard to a 2 GB and 6 GB, to use the first 2 GB, and then try again.

To make sure I do understand the reboot procedure:
To fully switch off the T1 I press reset AND power for 3-4 seconds,
I then release the power button,
then I release and press again the reset button, the orange power light stops blinking.

Then, with no USB cable inserted, I insert the SD card,
I press the MENU and HOME button simultaneously and briefly press the power button.
The screen flashes white and black, the SD light flashes and the progress bar slowly starts to fill.

Is this when it should read the SD card ?

Update: 2GB partition does not work either...

Thanks,

Satbeginner

[elcreative]

Formatting under Windows/Ubuntu... but as what - should be FAT32 and NTFS is a definite no-no...

[satbeginner]

@Elcreative

so just one partition, formatted as FAT32, and 8GB in size is OK?
In the root-dir is the folder "OS Firmware", in there is "files", and in there is the file "update.img"

I tried that extensively.... :-(

So I think the Windows format that was performed ruined this reader forever?

[uboot]

Single partition, fat32. It may be that the T1 doesn't like the card - try a different one then.

The root folder of the card must contain the OS Firmware folder. T1 looks for an update.img there

Completely power of the T1, keep Home+Menu pressed, power on, still keep Home+Menu pressed until progress bar reaches 100% percent.

Now, the status LED should flash orange.

The screen will still show opening book, that's normal, don't worry, there won't be any more output on the screen.

But again: the status LED should be flashing.

Now, you can release Home+Menu. If you released it earlier and LED isn't flashing - press reset switch and start from the beginning.



Now, with the T1 booted into recovery mode and status LED flashing, you may connect to the computer via USB. If you have Windows, it should discover a new device. The driver is provided with rupor-rescue.7z. Point Windows driver installer there. (gserial.inf)


After that, a Window may pop up, that a new drive has to be formated - DON'T FORMAT! It's your internal flash memory.

It can be accessed via Minitool Partition Manager or under Linux via fdisk, dd, etc. But don't mess around with that now!! Try to log into the reader as described here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRST...covery_Console

If that succeeds, press enter, enter username 'root' and you should find yourself at a linux command prompt.

Now, enter the following commands and press enter after each line

fdisk /dev/mmcblk2
u
p
q

Finally, copy the text output of the fdisk p command and post it here.

You can power off the reader by entering 'poweroff' a the command line.

[satbeginner]

Hi Uboot,

I did what you said, step-by-step.
I removed all partitions on my microSD card using ubuntu live cd. (parted)
formatted the card under Windows (Vista),
Downloaded the Rupor-Resque.7z from the Russian site,
unzipped it with WinRar (under Windows Vista)

FYI the update.img on the microSD is shown as 25.0 MB (26.214.400 bytes)

I stopped the reader by pressing both RESET and POWER 3-4 seconds,
I released both buttons and pressed the RESET again, this stopped the orange blinking in the power button. (No led's are lit or blinking now)

I placed the card in the reader ,
pressed both HOME and MENU (button 3 and 5) and -while holding these- pressed briefly the power button.
The orange light (power) started blinking and the screen flashes black & white,
now the progress bar starts to fill from left to right.
Also the orange LED next to the microSD flashes briefly.
After the progress bar reaches the end, I wait a few more seconds and release both HOME and MENU.
The orange power light is still blinking,
After the power-on I never saw any activity at the microSD LED,
and when I plug it in a USB port of the Windows machine it comes up with one new device.
For the driver I point it at the gserial.inf found in the Rupor-Resque,
and it installs a Gadget Serial, but with an error-code (10) cannot start device.

You must know, the previous owner tried to do all this this himself, and formatted the suggested drive under his Windows!!!!

Maybe the device can be booted from a microSD, when it has a bootpartition like the normal internal memory has? (had maybe, in this case..)

Thanks again for you help, you must know I am willing to try anything with this T1, since it is considered lost anyway.. :-)

I read a suggestion somewhere (can not remember where) to 'clone' the device by making a dump from a working T1 and put this on SD.
Then boot from this SD and then transfer all the partitions back to the internal memory.

I am willing to try this, but have no access to a full memory dump of a working T1.

Thanks again for your help,

Satbeginner

[uboot]

SOUNDS VERY GOOD

That means, recovery mode is working

I doubt that you have to restore all partitions. Most partitions are read-only and should not be broken.

But the main problem is: root file system, boot loader, kernel and initrd are not stored in a regular partitions but at raw offsets within the first 25MB of the internal flash partition.

If you destroy anything within these 25MB, you won't be able to boot into recovery mode via external sd card anymore. The device cannot be recovered. Game over.


So, please, before you start messing around with the internal flash memory, log into recovery console first and execute the commands in my last post. This will just print out the partition table.

I'd like to see if anything is damaged there before I give you more instructions...


Now, regarding the serial gadget driver... It is possible that Windows refuses to install it because it is not signed. I have no experience with Vista, but Win7 can be configured to not allow unsigned hardware drivers. You may have to change this.

If you have a linux machine, the driver is onboard allready.

You may install Linux into a Virtual Machine under Windows via Virtualbox and give the Virtual Machine access to the PRS T1 USB device.

[satbeginner]

Hi Uboot,

glad you're still optimistic!!

I am working on my older Win-XP machine right now to see if I can get the Gadget Serial working.
That's what I need to access the machine via a terminal connection, right?
I understand that recovery has this serial Gadget build in, so that would be step 1.

Keep you posted.

Satbeginner

[satbeginner]

Hello Uboot,

(more) bad news.

My Vista machine was showing an internal modem as COM2, and when that device popped up, I tried to install the Gadget Serial.inf .

Since I never rebooted the machine I kept on working with this device, assuming it was the T1.

So when I deleted the device and looked for changes it never was the T1 showing a new device, it was always the second serial popping up when I went for "Look for changed/new devices"...

I found this because my trusted XP laptop also never showed a new device. :-(
I tried both machines (both Vista & XP) freshly booted, but no go.

Is there a plan B??

Thanks for your patience,

Satbeginner

[uboot]

Yes, it's a terminal connection. It can be done via Putty, but there may be a Windows command line tool as well...

Does the second serial pop up also if the T1 is not connected?

If not - it _is_ the T1 The serial gadget driver will install a (virtual) COM port...

[satbeginner]

Hey Uboot,

no, there is no new device showing when I connect the T1.
And yes, the second COM shows, even when the T1 is not connected.

I noticed this when using the XP machine, this is how I found out about my wrong assumption with the Vista machine.

Now I tried to connect to three machines:
- freshly booted Vista, on different USB ports, no new device
- freshly booted XP, on diferent USB ports, no new device
- laptop with ubuntu live CD, no new device

So, is this when plan "B" kicks in?

Un saludo,

Satbeginner