HELP : Despair with flashing rom upgrades

[aleandre]

Dear all,

I bought an Iliad a week and a half ago second hand. The device came with firmware 2.9.5, so after a quick look I decided to connect with a wired connection to IDS.

I use a Belkin wired/wireless router with the Freebox from Orange having DHCP and NAT services. So, as far as I know the router is nothing more than an access point to a network managed (NAT+DHCP) by the Freebox.

When I first connected (with an ethernet cable connected the router) the Iliad to the Internet, before even entering an email address and a password for iDS, the device suddenly told me "Connecting to iDS" (stayed displayed 10 seconds) --> "Downloading and installing new firmware update..." (3 seconds) -> "Installing the update, reboot the device by pressing the power button to the left". That last message was displayed so fast I barely could read it !!! Furthermore, the device decided to reboot itself without waiting for me to follow that last instruction concerning the power button.

After this, the device would go into an infinite loop during the boot-up sequence, blanking the screen after 3 seconds, then coming back to the boot-up screen, then re-blanking, etc. The progress bar at the bottom would not move, and no activity could be detected from the LEDs associated with the network plugs.
I was starting to be worried. After 5 minutes, I decided to press the CONNECT button. The blanking of the screen stopped and the progress bar finally did start to move... Alas ! Arrived at 100%, nothing would happen all the same !!!! A reset done after another 5 minutes didn't change the situation.

I called iRex support and it was quickly agreed that the device should be sent to them for re-flash.

Today, a week after, I get my iLiad back with version 2.11 on it...
I connect the power plug to the hub, enter my iRex account details in the device (which, strangely, had NEVER connected to iDS before, according to the support staff, but then how did it start a download process the first time round ???), connect the network cable to the router.... ARRRRGHHH !!! I get into EXACTLY the same thing with the firmware update 2.12 !!!
This time I waited 30 minutes before doing a reset, by then completely convinced that the support staff didn't really look into what had caused the problem with the first update and that I once again end-up with a brick on my desk !!

So, here are the questions :

1/ What can I do to avoid sending the iLiad back for repair a second time ???? I didn't install whatever is needed for unbricking the device, but they sent it back to me with version 2.11, so it should theoritically be possible to re-flash from a CF.
However, when I do what AdamB suggested to get the developper package (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=unbrick), the iRex website doesn't show any MAC adress in the list to choose from !!!!

2/ Also, before the second failed attempt at upgrading the firmware myself, I couldn't get the MMC and CF slot to work with my 256/512/1 GB/2 GB SD cards and my 4 GB SanDisk UltraII CF cards.
Could this mean that my iLiad is faulty, although the service support didn't see it ?

3/ Or could this be that my network configuration is responsible ? I use several computers connected wirelessly to the access point, all getting their IP address from the Freebox without any problem and with great robustness all year round.

I hope somebody will know what to do, because at this rate, I start to really regret my investment !!

Sorry for the long account, I tried to be precise in describing what happened.

Thanks to anyone willing to help,

Regards,

aleandre.

[CommanderROR]

Hi!

I'm not sure whether I can help, but I'll give it a try.

First of all, have you registered your Iliad (with it's MAC address) at iRex? Since your Iliad does not show in the list (as you posted above) it seems likely that you have not correctly registered it with your personal IDS account.
Reflash from CF is also an idea, I'd recommend going through the procedure iRex recommends (download the package, enter the CF card with the reflash data into your Iliad, and so on, I've never needed to do this, so I can't give you exact instructions).
As far as I know you do not need to use the developer package to be able to reflash from CF.

Well, all the best luck to you...and post again if/when the problem has been resolved or if you have more questions.

UPDATE: I just realized that the reflash really only works for shell-access enabled Iliads...so that means you are probably out of luck since you can't reflash without shell access and can't get shell access package because your Iliad does not work...anyone got any other ideas?

[aleandre]

Thank you for your response, CommanderROR, but I have sent the iLiad back to iRex now, asking them to fix it, and THEN try to reflash it like I would do from iDS.

They are using a wired, serial connection to do the reflash, and I suspect that my unit has a problem with the network part. Let's see what they will have found.

[cfusco]

First of all, have you registered your Iliad (with it's MAC address) at iRex? Since your Iliad does not show in the list (as you posted above) it seems likely that you have not correctly registered it with your personal IDS account.

No, the absence of a mac address is not a sign of trouble. When you register a new account the mac address will not show up until you establish the first connection with the IDS.