Need Help Pls: Kindle Touch restart/reboot Malfunction

[falltree]

My KT was found reboot error days ago. I tried pressing power button for 30secs and it didn't work.
But with Mfgtool, it can be booted to diags or main mode, and I flashed 5.0 kernel, diags_kernel and mmcblk0p2 using Mfgtool fastboot, and put 5.0 mmcblk0p1 under KT root directory then Putty "dd if=/mnt/us/mmcblk0p1.img of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K" and "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0p3 bs=4K", and D,D,Q, under Diags menu, KT failed again, stuck in diags menu.(with Mfgtool boot to main still ok)

It seems my KT turn to brick everytime I press Restart under Menu or press reboot under Diags menu. I charged KT through wall power for 10+ hours before, could somebody tell me how am i supposed to do now? anything I missed during debrick my KT?

[twobob]

Kubrick?

[falltree]

Tried Kubrick live cd(usb stick) already, and it stopped after flashing img, because my KT won't reboot to diags

[brianinmaine]

You might want to say exactly what steps you took and where EXACTLY Kubrick stops working. The kubrick thread has many examples to read. I have confirmed Kubrick works on my device and seems the way to go. If this does not work for you, you might have faulty hardware, which would require a call to Amazon for assistance?

Good luck!

[falltree]

, Well, when I was running Kubrick, I followed the screen hints.
First step, disconnect KT then reconnect, it showed Device ready,
Second step, I pressed Next and it came to fastboot mode, then Next,
Third step, Flash diags, kernel, it said Flashing complete, my KT should reboot to diags, it's usally take 15 to 30 secs, then Next,
And Then, Kubrick waiting for USB network, where I should select N) U) Z) X) on the KT, but as my KT couldn't reboot, it remained the screen that when it got bricked. So that I can't open USB network, and the Kubrick got stuck in Waiting for USB network. The only thing to do is to press Cancel

[twobob]

hmmm......
That is an "interesting" situation.

I have no doubt Ixtab would like to hear of it.


AFAIK - you put the device into a certain "boot" mode whilst in fastboot - like diags for example, then reboot into it. So... I'm hazy on why it would fail to reboot into it.

perhaps my understanding of the process is flawed?
Definitely worth shoving that on the kubrick thread.

[ixtab]

Well... I never claimed that Kubrick could make all malfunctioning devices work again.

In this particular case, it seems like the device *can* boot an externally supplied loader (like fastboot, diags/main via imx_usb or mfgtool), but fails to boot on its own. In other words: It looks like the on-device boot loader is screwed up. This can only be fixed manually, and probably only through serial debricking. Don't ask me how though, I've never done anything like that.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Well... I never claimed that Kubrick could make all malfunctioning devices work again.

In this particular case, it seems like the device *can* boot an externally supplied loader (like fastboot, diags/main via imx_usb or mfgtool), but fails to boot on its own. In other words: It looks like the on-device boot loader is screwed up. This can only be fixed manually, and probably only through serial debricking. Don't ask me how though, I've never done anything like that.

The on-device boot loader is in hardware, write-protected, flash.

Very hard for the end-user to screw up, although they can if they try hard enough.
I would suspect a more general hardware failure than a corrupted u-boot image. (Unless the O.P. did something they are not admitting to now.)

I have never replaced the on-device u-boot image, only read about doing it (in Amazon's u-boot source code).

So, sorry, I can't be of any help with this one.

[twobob]

What those two said

If you did "kill" the uboot yourself, then speak up now.

Otherwise looks to be a hardware fail.

[falltree]

Thank for your kind response, guys.

I thought the built-in boot loader was damaged before and then I realize that maybe it's not, because when i boot KT up to main via mfgtool, and then select the restart item in the Menu-Setting-Menu-restart, it does seemed to restart and then stuck in the normal startup screen(the tree). Maybe that means the built-in boot loader still working?

If I select D) D) Q) in diags(boot to diags via mfgtool), the screen froze at diags main menu, not stuck in the normal startup screen. I think this is the reason we think about the built-in boot loader was screwed up, it seemed the restart process failed to start.

So these are some details I didn't describe, would it help?

[falltree]

Originally Posted by twobob

What those two said

If you did "kill" the uboot yourself, then speak up now.

Otherwise looks to be a hardware fail.

I did not do that to my KT, I don't even know how to access to boot loader on-device

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by falltree

Thank for your kind response, guys.

I thought the built-in boot loader was damaged before and then I realize that maybe it's not, because when i boot KT up to main via mfgtool, and then select the restart item in the Menu-Setting-Menu-restart, it does seemed to restart and then stuck in the normal startup screen(the tree). Maybe that means the built-in boot loader still working?

That screen is actually drawn *before* the reboot occurs - it's the last thing that the device does before actually rebooting.

If I select D) D) Q) in diags(boot to diags via mfgtool), the screen froze at diags main menu, not stuck in the normal startup screen. I think this is the reason we think about the built-in boot loader was screwed up, it seemed the restart process failed to start.

Again, the devices tries to reboot, but since it fails, what you see is the last thing that was on the screen before that - in this case, the diags menu.

One last straw that you could try is to use the "idme" command to set the next bootmode while in diags, i.e.: boot into diags, enable usbnetwork, connect via SSH, and issue "idme -d --bootmode main; reboot". But I'm rather pessimistic that it will make a difference.

And finally, you could boot into fastboot mode, and try to overwrite the bootloader "partition" with a freshly compiled u-boot. Instructions for compiling it are here. However, THIS COULD WELL MAKE THINGS EVEN WORSE, and possibly completely brick the device - as far as I know, nobody has ever ventured there. But If you have nothing to lose and are ok to act as a guinea pig, then go for it and report back...

usage: fastboot [ <option> ] <command>

commands:
  getvar <variable>                        display a bootloader or idme variable
  setvar <variable> <value>                sets an idme variable
  download <filename>                      download data to memory for use with 
                                             future commands
  verify <partition> [ <filename> ]        verify downloaded data. required if 
                                             bootloader is secure
  flash <partition> [ <filename> ]         flash downloaded data
  eraseall                                 wipe the entire flash memory
  erase <partition>                        erase a flash partition
  check <partition>                        crc32 hash test the flash memory
  boot [ <filename> ]                      boot downloaded data
  continue                                 exit fastboot and return to 
                                             bootloader
  reboot                                   reboot the device
  powerdown                                shuts down the device
  pass                                     sets LED to green
  fail                                     sets LED to red

variables:
  version-bootloader                       (read only) version string for the 
                                             bootloader
  version                                  (read only) version of fastboot 
                                             protocol supported
  product                                  (read only) name of the product
  serialno                                 (read only) fastboot serial number
  secure                                   (read only) if "yes" boot images 
                                             must be signed
  serial                                   (read write) serial number
  accel                                    (read write) accelerometer 
                                             calibration data
  mac                                      (read write) MAC address
  sec                                      (read write) manufacturing code
  pcbsn                                    (read write) PCB serial number
  bootmode                                 (read write) diags, fastboot, 
                                             factory, reset, or main (default)
  postmode                                 (read write) slow, factory, or 
                                             normal (default)

partitions:
  bootloader                               bootloader, 376KiB
  prod                                     overlaps bootloader, 120KiB
  bist                                     bist, 256KiB
  userdata                                 userdata, 5KiB
  userpartition                            userpartition
  mbr                                      master boot record
  kernel                                   primary kernel
  diags_kernel                             diags kernel
  system                                   main system (root) partition
  diags                                    secondary system (diags) partition
  data                                     user data

options:
  -s <serial number>                       specify device serial number
  -i <vendor id>                           specify a custom USB vendor id

[falltree]

Thanks, ixtab, you're right, "idme -d --bootmode main;reboot" made no difference.

So that overwrite on-device boot loader is the only choice if I want to save my half-bricked KT. But the thing is I am totally unfamiliar with linux, all I know is simple command like ls, cd, etc.

That link leads me to some source code files, I downloaded the Kindle_src_5.0.0_1370280073.tar.gz for KT, and there is a uboot_2009.08.tar.gz file in the zip file, but it's not a .img file. For what I know if boot into fastboot mode, the bootloader is a partition like kernel and diags, don't I need to input command like "fastboot.exe flash bootloader uboot.img" ? or just input "fashboot.exe flash bootloader uboot_2009.08.tar.gz"?

The u-boot wiki lists some linux commands for reference, I'm not sure if I can deal with it when it needs to do something more or less. Appreciate if I've been given more instructions on that

[knc1]

DO NOT DO THE "ERASEALL"
Regardless of how temping it might be.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by falltree

Thanks, ixtab, you're right, "idme -d --bootmode main;reboot" made no difference.

So that overwrite on-device boot loader is the only choice if I want to save my half-bricked KT. But the thing is I am totally unfamiliar with linux, all I know is simple command like ls, cd, etc.

That link leads me to some source code files, I downloaded the Kindle_src_5.0.0_1370280073.tar.gz for KT, and there is a uboot_2009.08.tar.gz file in the zip file, but it's not a .img file. For what I know if boot into fastboot mode, the bootloader is a partition like kernel and diags, don't I need to input command like "fastboot.exe flash bootloader uboot.img" ? or just input "fashboot.exe flash bootloader uboot_2009.08.tar.gz"?

The u-boot wiki lists some linux commands for reference, I'm not sure if I can deal with it when it needs to do something more or less. Appreciate if I've been given more instructions on that

You need to compile the u-boot binary first. See the link to the instructions that I posted earlier... Or wait for some kind soul to do that for you.

That said, before you - possibly - completely toast the device: have you thought about sending it back to Amazon and getting a replacement?