Noob's guide to debricking through ATK :D

[Wibber]

yeah in my experience t doesn't make a difference if you use the leading 0x or not so that's unlikely to be the issue. the problem I had was if you enter the memory address before clicking to select MMC/SD it resets the address to 000000.

if you're not getting anything on screen it couldn't hurt to reflash the boot loader. I think Hawhill posted one. if no it I've got one at home I can email you when I get back (next month )

[twobob]

And crazy design decision like THAT, Wibber, are exactly why I would NEVER recommend this as the "1st choice" to the average user...

Thanks very much for showing your support.

[ChaosZeroX]

Originally Posted by hawhill

But I think it is also what's being used in Kubrick. So it will probably expose the same behaviour. I don't think that breaking the device via ATK is easily possible. Then, I'm skeptical why the poster was able to use "0x..." in the ATK input field - the "x" isn't a valid hex char and I think ATK wouldn't work in such a case. So I guess the error report misses some parts. Maybe they involved frying the USB port on either the Kindle or the Host, maybe it's just a bad USB cable. Don't know. Or it might simply not been put into USB downloader mode properly again. I'd suggest to hang on to Kubrick (to rule out other error possibilities) and try with other USB ports and cables.

I tried on my laptop with 2 different USB cables and ports each time with Kubrick, nothing. Both of these cables work fine with my tablet and phone.
It doesn't even get past waiting for device on flashing the kernel, just waits forever.

[twobob]

So.. errr... are you saying that you didn't put it in usbdownloader mode?
Or as you suggest ATK doesn't work? Or what?

k3flasher is the underlying tech that kubrick calls up and is tried and tested for working with k3's. Also you could at least get some more command line output assuming you are Linux oriented.

Other than that I'm out of ideas.

[hawhill]

Me too. I would suggest double-checking the procedure to get it into USB downloader mode. BTW: What does the screen show, and is the power LED on? Does it react to being plugged into a USB charger? What does the device manager of a PC show when plugged in?

[alban]

Hope this isn't double posting as I've mentioned this in the Kubrick thread but this is more relevant to ATK!
Bricked KK. Tried Kubrick boot CD - all parameters correct. ManyXs - get the 'much too quick partition flash' error and KK still dead.
New battery - charged.
Tried ATK - all correct drivers installed when I re-installed ATK with KK connected (ie both Windriver AND MX35 under 'Jungo' in Device Manager - prev only Windriver installed). ATK then recognised KK but when attempting flashing kernel get the 'Failed to initial' message with both 3.4 and 3.02vs of kernel.bin - many X's. Followed instructions in Noobs guide to debrick wiki to the letter.
Q is I'm not clued up at all with Linux and installing progs/command lines in it etc - is there any point in trying K3Flasher via Linux boot iso (how to install libusbx?) as it's based on ATK and that is stuck in this error?
Seems terminal to me. If so thanks guys for your efforts in any case.

[hawhill]

I don't know whether k3flasher will bring real improvements here. You could try it - just to get a different, potentially more verbose error message. My guess is it is in a constant-reboot-loop, an indication we have seen before in some cases. Not entirely sure what this causes, but my guess is on hardware error. (There is the possibility that the battery might not present the right status reporting, but I consider this a rather wild guess that is probably unjustified.)

PS: oh, by the way: the "initial" is a stage where the file you flash doesn't even play a role yet. In that stage, a "loader program" (it is distributed with the ATK) is sent to the kindle and the kindle is made to execute it. Kind of a staged boot-loader, after the very generic "USB downloader" boot loader that is stored in the hardware.

[alban]

Thanks Hawhill
So to be really noob - how do I install libusbx necessary for K3Flasher after I've run the Ubuntu boot iso CD?! Or can I install it via XP first? Their Readme file talks about 'Shell commands' which I don't really understand...

[knc1]

Originally Posted by hawhill

I don't know whether k3flasher will bring real improvements here. You could try it - just to get a different, potentially more verbose error message. My guess is it is in a constant-reboot-loop, an indication we have seen before in some cases. Not entirely sure what this causes, but my guess is on hardware error. (There is the possibility that the battery might not present the right status reporting, but I consider this a rather wild guess that is probably unjustified.)

PS: oh, by the way: the "initial" is a stage where the file you flash doesn't even play a role yet. In that stage, a "loader program" (it is distributed with the ATK) is sent to the kindle and the kindle is made to execute it. Kind of a staged boot-loader, after the very generic "USB downloader" boot loader that is stored in the hardware.

Most likely cause, based on the few symptoms I have been able to observe in person - -

fsck errors - and seems to be on mmcblk0p3 (an ext3 file system).

But that would (I assume here) be done in the initramfs image attached to the kernel - - -
A real big bag of worms to to change.

If that filesystem is unreadable or not present at boot time - the initramfs image will recreate it.
But lab126 does not seem to have handled the case of "present with large number of errors".

I think (I am guessing here) that the way out of the "boot loop" is to intentionally destroy the filesystem on mmcblk0p3 (write 16, 512 byte "blocks" if zeroes to it, then re-boot so a new fs gets built).

The above comments 95% based on a sometimes defective crystal ball. YMMV

[hawhill]

Ah, well, I was talking about another boot-loop in this case: a close loop directly after booting, only actually running code for about 2-10secs, then rebooting. It happens even in USB downloader mode - so it is not dependent on the contents of the flash at all. You're right of course, there are other boot loops. But in this case I mean that loop you only see through the USB downloader mode, the screen doesn't even flash in most cases.

alban: I bet that Kubrick lets you use a shell and it already brings a working k3flasher installation. That should do. In fact I never used kubrick myself, so I can't tell if it would show the k3flasher output for its main workflow right away - if so, you wouldn't even need a shell.

Note though, that this probably wouldn't help either. The device is probably dead for most practical purposes. Double check, try Kubrick and ATK, and if neither works, you can probably claim the device dead, sorry.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by hawhill

Ah, well, I was talking about another boot-loop in this case: a close loop directly after booting, only actually running code for about 2-10secs, then rebooting.

OH, that one - -

That is the one which fails to initialize the dynamic ram and then tries again.
After a certain number of tries, it will "fail" and shutdown the SoC.

Tag that one:
Hardware failure if a new, fully charged battery does not fix the problem, the USB cable and both USB sockets (the one on the Kindle and the one on the PC) are known to be good.

The good news:
You now have a good e-ink screen for sale.

[alban]

Haha! Actually I thought about getting a KK 3G with a broken screen and fitting my screen to it... Yep, think I'll call it bust.
Thanks guys for all the help - I'm sure there's lots of other grateful technophobes with resurrected Kindles due to you.

[thatworkshop]

Well, it's now official! My second kindle keyboard screen got scrambled all of a sudden!!! Here is how it looks like now:

Spoiler:

Do you guys, with your infinite wisdom, think this is a physical issue or can it be resolved by flashing, debricking firmware etc.? Let me know, or else I'm gonna throw myself outside of the window.

[twobob]

looks like a loose cable - or a cracked screen

Its toast IMHO

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by twobob

looks like a loose cable - or a cracked screen

Its toast IMHO

So no hope to get her up and running? Even with resuscitation?