MobileRead Forums
Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Readers > Amazon Kindle > Kindle Developer's Corner
Reload this Page Serial Question

Notices

Reply
Page 1 of 2 1 2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 01-10-2013, 03:46 PM   #1
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Serial Question
Hello everyone,

So, during my attempt to port android to the kindle, I succeeded in destroying the little resistors/capacitors near the serial port on my paperwhite (don't solder with caffeine shakes )

When I shorted the pads and connected the PW to a terminal emulator, all I got was garbled text. I guess the kindle needed those little components. Anyone have any idea how to fix this/what those components were?

...now to try to fix the nuked system image another way...



-Lewis
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2013, 04:15 PM   #2
knc1
Going Viral
knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
knc1's Avatar
 
Posts: 17,212
Karma: 18210809
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Central Texas
Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA
Quote:
Originally Posted by lporter View Post
Hello everyone,

So, during my attempt to port android to the kindle, I succeeded in destroying the little resistors/capacitors near the serial port on my paperwhite (don't solder with caffeine shakes )

When I shorted the pads and connected the PW to a terminal emulator, all I got was garbled text. I guess the kindle needed those little components. Anyone have any idea how to fix this/what those components were?

...now to try to fix the nuked system image another way...



-Lewis
Which Kindle is this again? A K4?

Good photo of the damaged area of the circuit board please.

Somewhere here, I posted a link to a "HowTo" make a DIY hot air soldering tool - the thing you need for SMD parts.
knc1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 01-10-2013, 04:21 PM   #3
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Quote:
Originally Posted by knc1 View Post
Which Kindle is this again? A K4?

Good photo of the damaged area of the circuit board please.

Somewhere here, I posted a link to a "HowTo" make a DIY hot air soldering tool - the thing you need for SMD parts.
It's a kindle paperwhite.

I'll take a photo tomorrow. But to describe it simply, the components I've circled in blue have been taken off, leaving only the solder pads. What components are they? Decoupling capacitors?

http://imgur.com/2XrA0


Another question - I have bricked the paperwhite. It hangs at the kindle boot screen and I get nothing out of it USB-wise. The cause of this error is me flashing a non-booting system.img to it via fastboot. Any way to fix it without the serial connector?
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2013, 04:39 PM   #4
knc1
Going Viral
knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
knc1's Avatar
 
Posts: 17,212
Karma: 18210809
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Central Texas
Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA
You need the serial port connection.

I don't have my paperwhite open, so can't tell from that photo what the parts are.
Yes, I authored the thread, but I used "other people's pictures".

Trash characters will be either a poor ground connection, a mis-matched adapter, or wrong terminal configuration.
You do have a 1.8 volt, low voltage to USB adapter?
Check the ground connection.
settings: 115200 8N1

Keep the battery removed between tests - the battery could be discharge in only hours - depending on how the firmware is mis-behaving.

Let us know when you find out how to put the Kpw into "downloader mode" - -
We do not know the "magic key" combination for the Kpw.
knc1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2013, 04:51 PM   #5
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Okay, I'll experiment. One thing I have noticed is that there are test points on the underside of the kindle that correspond to the serial connection, so perhaps those components are not essential. More investigation is warranted.

Is there any idea at all what the "magic key" could be? Anything we've found in the source code etc?
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 01-10-2013, 06:27 PM   #6
geekmaster
Carpe diem, c'est la vie.
geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.geekmaster ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
geekmaster's Avatar
 
Posts: 6,433
Karma: 10773668
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Multiverse 6627A
Device: K1 to PW3
The components are 1K series resistors. You can solder to the other side of them (away from the board edge). I soldered fine enamel wire to them (taken from the coil in a dead CFL bulb). I taped that wire down for strain relief, then soldered my larger serial cable wires to the free end of the enamel wires.

What are you using for your 1.8v serial adapter?

Because the PW has no keys, there was speculation that the "magic key" may be internal jumper or test points.

Regarding the garbled text, it may be a grounding issue. Try leaving the USB cable attached between the kindle and the same computer as the USB serial adapter. Also, check out the "serial level shifter" thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=162775
Last edited by geekmaster; 01-10-2013 at 06:34 PM.
geekmaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2013, 05:08 AM   #7
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Quote:
Originally Posted by geekmaster View Post
The components are 1K series resistors. You can solder to the other side of them (away from the board edge). I soldered fine enamel wire to them (taken from the coil in a dead CFL bulb). I taped that wire down for strain relief, then soldered my larger serial cable wires to the free end of the enamel wires.

What are you using for your 1.8v serial adapter?

Because the PW has no keys, there was speculation that the "magic key" may be internal jumper or test points.

Regarding the garbled text, it may be a grounding issue. Try leaving the USB cable attached between the kindle and the same computer as the USB serial adapter. Also, check out the "serial level shifter" thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=162775
Ah, okay. That's nothing too awful to replace.I should have a fwe of them spare.

I'm using a USB to Serial adaptor with pin 4 of the FDTI chip soldered to the 1.8V Supply of the kindle to bring it to the correct level.

I'm know for a fact that that the 'magic key' is an internal jumper. I read the datasheet for the processor. There are two pins that have to be brought high to make the SoC enter USB download mode. Sadly, as the processor is BGA, it's very difficult to actually find a connection TO these pins.
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2013, 06:58 AM   #8
knc1
Going Viral
knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
knc1's Avatar
 
Posts: 17,212
Karma: 18210809
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Central Texas
Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA
Have you unsoldered the rfi shields?

If so, we need board photographs clear enough to read part numbers.
knc1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2013, 09:37 PM   #9
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Update: Got serial to work. Tried the level converter, that didn't work for me. Used an arduino to read the serial - that works perfectly. Maybe my converter is dodgy. Stuck a socket on the chassis of my kindle so I can use the serial port all the time.

I have a question - If I have access to the serial port, is my kindle basically unbrickable? I ask this because I am doing all sorts of flashing to try to get android to boot and I don't want to toast my device.
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2013, 10:16 PM   #10
knc1
Going Viral
knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.knc1 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
knc1's Avatar
 
Posts: 17,212
Karma: 18210809
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Central Texas
Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA
Quote:
Originally Posted by lporter View Post
Update: Got serial to work. Tried the level converter, that didn't work for me. Used an arduino to read the serial - that works perfectly. Maybe my converter is dodgy. Stuck a socket on the chassis of my kindle so I can use the serial port all the time.

I have a question - If I have access to the serial port, is my kindle basically unbrickable? I ask this because I am doing all sorts of flashing to try to get android to boot and I don't want to toast my device.
Network boot the experimental kernel and use a network mounted file system.

No other method is safe on an embedded device.

With the serial port connection - you should be able to do the above using u-boot - - either the installed one or a modified one.
knc1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2013, 02:30 AM   #11
eureka
but forgot what it's like
eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.eureka ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 741
Karma: 2345678
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: north (by northwest)
Device: Kindle Touch
Quote:
Originally Posted by lporter View Post
I have a question - If I have access to the serial port, is my kindle basically unbrickable? I ask this because I am doing all sorts of flashing to try to get android to boot and I don't want to toast my device.
Bootloader (U-Boot) is written on separate boot partition. It's not a partition defined in the MBR, it's a bit "low-level", hardware-defined eMMC partition. It's not accessible from stock Kindle Linux, but it's recognized in recent kernels. It could be overwritten from fastboot mode, though. My investigations on this subject are here.

It means that with access to serial port you can completely erase /dev/mmcblk0 and still have no worries: just get to U-Boot prompt through serial connection, enable fastboot mode, flash MBR, diags kernel and diags partition with SSH, load diags, SSH to it and dd main partition image to it's partition. (OK, maybe you'll should worry a little, because I didn't try this scenario, but I honestly don't see any problems there.)

However, if you'll somehow erase that boot partition (and, therefore, delete U-Boot), you'll be out of luck, because there will be nothing to answer to serial connection.
Last edited by eureka; 01-12-2013 at 02:45 AM. Reason: fix spelling
eureka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2013, 07:24 AM   #12
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Just wondering because I've never seen this before - Has anyone noticed what appears to be a secondary recovery menu in the kindle?

On the serial output, it says this:
Quote:
Press [ENTER] for recovery menu... 0 /
INFO:!!! Checking MBR /dev/mmcblk0 !!!!
INFOartition 2, start sector is 782336
INFOartition 3, start sector is 913408
INFOartition 4, start sector is 1044480
INFO:maximizing partition 2863104 sectors
INFO:*** Partition table verified for /dev/mmcblk0 ***
INFO:Loaded module /lib/modules/arcotg_udc_yoshime.ko (22912 bytes)
INFO:Loaded module /lib/modules/g_file_storage.ko recovery_mode=1 (36308 bytes)
Charge: 10% [######:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::]


Menu
====
3. Load MMC0 over USB storage
4. Erase MMC0
I. Initialize Partition Table (fdisk) and format FAT
O. Format and overwrite FAT partition
E. Export FAT partition
U. Update using update*.bin file on FAT partition
M. Update using update*.bin file on FAT partition of second MMC port
D. dmesg / kernel printk ring buffer.
Q. quit
And on the kindle, it simply says "RECOVERY MODE" in nice smooth text and shows a line drawing of a kindle. This is probably very old news, but I've never seen it mentioned.
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2013, 08:11 AM   #13
lporter
Member
lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.lporter can successfully navigate the Paris bus system.
 
Posts: 19
Karma: 36674
Join Date: Jan 2013
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
Update: Got MFGtool to recognise kindle! Excellent. Time to see if I can flash the freescale android sample to it.
lporter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2014, 11:54 PM   #14
garyaj
Junior Member
garyaj began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 1
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: kindle paperwhite 1
Quote:
Originally Posted by lporter View Post
Update: Got serial to work. Tried the level converter, that didn't work for me. Used an arduino to read the serial - that works perfectly.
Can you explain what leads/pins and sketches you used on the Arduino? I can't get past the garbage display.

Thx
garyaj is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-27-2014, 04:29 PM   #15
bulsa
Enthusiast
bulsa began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 28
Karma: 13
Join Date: Apr 2014
Device: Kindle PW
Quote:
Originally Posted by lporter View Post
I'm using a USB to Serial adaptor with pin 4 of the FDTI chip soldered to the 1.8V Supply of the kindle to bring it to the correct level.
Could somebody tell me (or better yet, post a photo), where on the kindle you found that 1.8V supply? That would be great!
bulsa is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Page 1 of 2 1 2

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Are you trying a Kindle Serial? tomsem Amazon Kindle 5 10-10-2012 11:37 PM
Kindle 3 Serial Number question macfrugal Amazon Kindle 13 04-10-2011 10:51 PM
New Kindle 3 Serial Question CyberpunkDad Amazon Kindle 3 11-19-2010 08:21 PM
Serial Stories katekindle Introduce Yourself 4 06-26-2010 02:32 AM
New Novel as Serial plumboz Writers' Corner 7 06-25-2010 10:04 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:09 AM.

Contact Us - FAQ - Guidelines - Privacy - Top

MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.