MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - DR800 Bricked my newly acquired DR800SG :(

lacol · 01-17-2011, 01:15 PM

I apologize in advance for the long post, but I want to be sure to include all possible information that may be of use.

Two weeks ago I finally managed to get my hands on a DR800SG. During this time I played with it heavily, testing many of the custom software that can be found on this site. I crashed it a few times, but in all cases, the insertion of an SD card with the RC3 firmware uncompressed to it and a simple reset always managed to restore the device to a workable state.

A few days ago I thought I had found the final configuration that suited my needs: dr800+ v2b with uds.dr1000 from the RC3 of the DR1000S firmware, plus rxvt terminal emulator, and .CBZ viewer. Note that in rxvt, I never ran any other command than cd, ls, cat and exit, commands that should not modify the file system in any way. Since my current configuration was the result of a somewhat "unclean" sequence of installations/deinstallations, I wanted a final "clean" install. So I pulled out the 1 GB microSD card that was in the device (the device was turned off), and replaced it with a 2 GB card (known to be good, I had used it many times before to restore RC3 firmware) that I had prepared the same way as many times before (formatted in PC in FAT16, uncompressed RC3 from the same zip file I had used many times before), inserted the new card, turned the device on. A message appeared telling me that new firmware was available, did I want the restart the device ? Tapped "restart" with the stylus, device rebooted, backgroup image with concentric circles appeared after a few seconds with a message box in the upper right corner saying "installing new firmware". Note that the device was not plugged in to the USB cable, and that the battery was showing 100% charge. So after about a minute, the device seems to reboot, the display turns blank, the indicator light turns solid green, and then... nothing.

Fifteen minutes later, still nothing. Mostly blank screen, on wich the shadowy remains of the last display screen could barely be seen, solid green indicator light. By this time I knew something had gone wrong, and I chanced to reset the device. Slid the power switch to the left a few seconds, until the indicator light turned off, released the switch; indicator light turns on solid green again, and the display shows absolutely no activity whatsoever. After another fifteen minutes I started to worry.

I pulled out the 2 GB microSd card and inserted it in my PC the examine it. File system showed that the "update" folder in "system" had been deleted. Furthermore, the hidden ".adobe-digital-editions" folder had been created, as well as the files "global.db" in root folder and "dr.ini" in "system" folder, but nothing else.

I then left the 2 GB card untouched (I still have it intact) and prepared another card, one of the 1 GB cards I had used many times successfully before) for firmware update. I then unplugged the battery and left it unplugged for fifteen minutes. I inserted the new 1 GB card and plugged in the battery. Indicator light turned on solid orange this time, and nothing else happened. No activity or apparent change in the display, nothing. After a few minutes I proceeded to reset the device the way I had done it before. Indicator light turned on solid green, and then nothing. Unplugged the battery again, but plugged in only the USB cable this time: indicator light turned on solid orange, and nothing. Reset the device: indicator light turned on solid green, and nothing else.

I removed the 1 GB card and examined it on my PC: nothing had changed. It's as if the card hadn't been accessed at all. I unplugged USB and battery and tried to restart the device without the microSD card: same behavior: solid orange after pluggin in power (battery and/or USB cable), and then solid green after either a single flick of the power switch, or a device reset. In desperation, I left the device unplugged and the battery removed for 24 hours, and tried again to revive it with the different methods I've described above, without success.

Whether or not there is a microSD card inserted (either blank or with the RC3 firmware uncompressed on it) or no card at all, behavior is always the same: First solid orange indicator light at power up (either by plugging in the battery, or the USB cable, or both), and then solid green indicator light after either a single flick of the power switch, or a several seconds reset flick. And the display never exhibits any kind of activity at all: no blanking or darkening, no flicker, nothing. As I write this, it still shows the same ghostly remains of the last screen it ever displayed. And when a microSD card is present, it's contents aren't modified in any way, shape or form.

Additionnal information: I've repeated the tests above with the USB cable plugged in either in the computer or the wall charger that came with the device, and that I'd used before to charge the battery when the device was still operational, so I know the charger is good. I've also thorougly tested all my microSD cards, all are perfect. I redownloaded the RC3 firmware from irex's site and did a byte-for-byte comparison with what I had previously used: everything is 100% identical. Also, before this crash, the device had never shown the slightest sign of instability.

So finally, my question is: Am I screwed ? Is there anything that anyone of you could think of that I haven't tried to try to revive my DR800SG ? Or am I now hopelessly stuck with a very expensive paperweight ? Irex's support site clearly claim that there is no way to permanently "brick" one of their devices by performing a simple firmware update. Guess I found one.

I doubt very much that this could be a hardware problem. The fact that the crash happened precisely after a firmware reinstallation would just be too much of a coincidence, especially since my device never exhibited the slightest sign of instability before.

I read that the old iliad models could be configured to boot from the OS on their external memory card. Could this be possible with the DR800SG as well ? Is there some kind of undocumented feature of these devices that can restore them to their original manufacturing state ?

Any hint or advice would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to ask any question I haven't answered in the post above or suggest any test or procedure that you feel may be of use. Thank you in advance. Right now, my DR800SG is sitting, dead, with its battery removed for fear that the continuously lit indicator light will drain it completely.

01-17-2011, 01:15 PM	#1
lacol Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: dr1000s (dead), dr800sg	Bricked my newly acquired DR800SG :( I apologize in advance for the long post, but I want to be sure to include all possible information that may be of use. Two weeks ago I finally managed to get my hands on a DR800SG. During this time I played with it heavily, testing many of the custom software that can be found on this site. I crashed it a few times, but in all cases, the insertion of an SD card with the RC3 firmware uncompressed to it and a simple reset always managed to restore the device to a workable state. A few days ago I thought I had found the final configuration that suited my needs: dr800+ v2b with uds.dr1000 from the RC3 of the DR1000S firmware, plus rxvt terminal emulator, and .CBZ viewer. Note that in rxvt, I never ran any other command than cd, ls, cat and exit, commands that should not modify the file system in any way. Since my current configuration was the result of a somewhat "unclean" sequence of installations/deinstallations, I wanted a final "clean" install. So I pulled out the 1 GB microSD card that was in the device (the device was turned off), and replaced it with a 2 GB card (known to be good, I had used it many times before to restore RC3 firmware) that I had prepared the same way as many times before (formatted in PC in FAT16, uncompressed RC3 from the same zip file I had used many times before), inserted the new card, turned the device on. A message appeared telling me that new firmware was available, did I want the restart the device ? Tapped "restart" with the stylus, device rebooted, backgroup image with concentric circles appeared after a few seconds with a message box in the upper right corner saying "installing new firmware". Note that the device was not plugged in to the USB cable, and that the battery was showing 100% charge. So after about a minute, the device seems to reboot, the display turns blank, the indicator light turns solid green, and then... nothing. Fifteen minutes later, still nothing. Mostly blank screen, on wich the shadowy remains of the last display screen could barely be seen, solid green indicator light. By this time I knew something had gone wrong, and I chanced to reset the device. Slid the power switch to the left a few seconds, until the indicator light turned off, released the switch; indicator light turns on solid green again, and the display shows absolutely no activity whatsoever. After another fifteen minutes I started to worry. I pulled out the 2 GB microSd card and inserted it in my PC the examine it. File system showed that the "update" folder in "system" had been deleted. Furthermore, the hidden ".adobe-digital-editions" folder had been created, as well as the files "global.db" in root folder and "dr.ini" in "system" folder, but nothing else. I then left the 2 GB card untouched (I still have it intact) and prepared another card, one of the 1 GB cards I had used many times successfully before) for firmware update. I then unplugged the battery and left it unplugged for fifteen minutes. I inserted the new 1 GB card and plugged in the battery. Indicator light turned on solid orange this time, and nothing else happened. No activity or apparent change in the display, nothing. After a few minutes I proceeded to reset the device the way I had done it before. Indicator light turned on solid green, and then nothing. Unplugged the battery again, but plugged in only the USB cable this time: indicator light turned on solid orange, and nothing. Reset the device: indicator light turned on solid green, and nothing else. I removed the 1 GB card and examined it on my PC: nothing had changed. It's as if the card hadn't been accessed at all. I unplugged USB and battery and tried to restart the device without the microSD card: same behavior: solid orange after pluggin in power (battery and/or USB cable), and then solid green after either a single flick of the power switch, or a device reset. In desperation, I left the device unplugged and the battery removed for 24 hours, and tried again to revive it with the different methods I've described above, without success. Whether or not there is a microSD card inserted (either blank or with the RC3 firmware uncompressed on it) or no card at all, behavior is always the same: First solid orange indicator light at power up (either by plugging in the battery, or the USB cable, or both), and then solid green indicator light after either a single flick of the power switch, or a several seconds reset flick. And the display never exhibits any kind of activity at all: no blanking or darkening, no flicker, nothing. As I write this, it still shows the same ghostly remains of the last screen it ever displayed. And when a microSD card is present, it's contents aren't modified in any way, shape or form. Additionnal information: I've repeated the tests above with the USB cable plugged in either in the computer or the wall charger that came with the device, and that I'd used before to charge the battery when the device was still operational, so I know the charger is good. I've also thorougly tested all my microSD cards, all are perfect. I redownloaded the RC3 firmware from irex's site and did a byte-for-byte comparison with what I had previously used: everything is 100% identical. Also, before this crash, the device had never shown the slightest sign of instability. So finally, my question is: Am I screwed ? Is there anything that anyone of you could think of that I haven't tried to try to revive my DR800SG ? Or am I now hopelessly stuck with a very expensive paperweight ? Irex's support site clearly claim that there is no way to permanently "brick" one of their devices by performing a simple firmware update. Guess I found one. I doubt very much that this could be a hardware problem. The fact that the crash happened precisely after a firmware reinstallation would just be too much of a coincidence, especially since my device never exhibited the slightest sign of instability before. I read that the old iliad models could be configured to boot from the OS on their external memory card. Could this be possible with the DR800SG as well ? Is there some kind of undocumented feature of these devices that can restore them to their original manufacturing state ? Any hint or advice would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to ask any question I haven't answered in the post above or suggest any test or procedure that you feel may be of use. Thank you in advance. Right now, my DR800SG is sitting, dead, with its battery removed for fear that the continuously lit indicator light will drain it completely.