Select Boot for K4 and Touch

[murz_07]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

You (or *somebody*) can compile a u-boot that changes the in-memory copy of the idme bootmode var to "reset" or "fastboot" just before it is used to decide which kernel to load.

(If not me, then who? If not now, then when? <== The geekmaster motto)

Problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to do it.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by murz_07

Problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to do it.

I posted my "motto" to indicate that I plan to do it. I am busy studying stuff to answer another post first. Answering these things takes time, research, and sometimes development (scripts, compiles, etc.) as well. I spend a lot of time helping people on irc, and in private PMs. These all take significant amounts of my time, which slows down my research and development of NEW things... ;(

UPDATE: I took a little time out to do a FUN new thing. I posted a simple touchscreen support hack for scripts that I plan to add to my recovery script GUI support. This touchscreen code is provided in a simple text-mode "finger paint" script program here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170932

After all, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", as they say -- but then, I am not Jack.

[thatworkshop]

Alright, perseverance is the key to every problem in life. Eventually, I successfully debricked my KT again. I learned some more stuff and so I updated my previous post here accordingly.
Thanks geekmaster again.

Here is my 2nd RUNME.sh:

#!/bin/sh
mntroot rw
dd if=/mnt/us/bak/mmcblk0p1.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K
mntroot ro

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by cscat

Alright, perseverance is the key to every problem in life. Eventually, I successfully debricked my KT again. I learned some more stuff and so I updated my previous post here accordingly.
Thanks geekmaster again.

Here is my 2nd RUNME.sh:

#!/bin/sh
mntroot rw
dd if=/mnt/us/bak/mmcblk0p1.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K
mntroot ro

It is a lot easier to poke around in an SSH session and interactively fix the problem. No RUNME.sh needed. To that end, I give you this:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170929

P.S. You do not need to to the "mntroot rw" to write to the /dev/mmc* devices.

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

It is a lot easier to poke around in an SSH session and interactively fix the problem. No RUNME.sh needed. To that end, I give you this:https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170929

Oh yea man, I tried that first but for some reason fastmode doesn't work for me. It says driver can't be found so it can't be started from MfgTool. So the only option that I had was the good old diags mode...
Anyways, I guessed this would be helpful for those in same situation. I have Windows 7 (No Linux when I'm home )

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by cscat

Oh yea man, I tried that first but for some reason fastmode doesn't work for me. It says driver can't be found so it can't be started from MfgTool. So the only option that I had was the good old diags mode...
Anyways, I guessed this would be helpful for those in same situation. I have Windows 7 (No Linux when I'm home )

The point of that link is that I added the missing dropbear files to the Diags menu, already pre-installed in a diags partition image file that you can flash with fastboot, so you can use SSH from diags.

You can use RUNME.sh too, which may be easier for people afraid of the linux command line, but SSH is great if you want to repair or replace broken startup scripts, or just poke around "under the hood", so to speak.

[john_pb]

Originally Posted by cscat

Oh yea man, I tried that first but for some reason fastmode doesn't work for me. It says driver can't be found so it can't be started from MfgTool. So the only option that I had was the good old diags mode...

Same here, only fastboot seems to work within Mfg Tool (run in Win XP in VBox), at which point the KT disappears from the list of USB devices visible to the guest OS.

It does not subsequently show in my Linux host - as per my dmesg output here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=167908

Alas, your alternative method using a RUNME.sh with a dd command also has not worked for me. The Kindle just reboots back to the repair screen.

Following Geekmaster's suggestion, I have charged the device for a couple of hours using an iPad charger (which works very well with my wife's Kindle Touch).

I must be doing something wrong, that's for sure.

Might have to give it up for a while and go down to the beach for a swim. ;-)

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by captainjack

Thank you so much! I used the KindleSelectBoot tools , and debricked my KT! U r really awesome!

Thank you for thanking me! I want positive feedback like this so I know that my efforts are appreciated enough to encourage a continuing investment of my valuable and limited time.

[bluefire1128]

I have updated my KT to 5.0.4
First,I found the usbnetwork(simple_usbnet_1.1) can't work now,when I insert usb cable into my computer,the KT restart after a few secends,and my computer can't be operated until I pull out the cable;

second,I want to update KT to 5.0.3,how I can do it?

the last question,who can give me a consle application used in KT

I am a newer for Kindle,Thanks for everyone's help

[lightstrike]

Hi cscat and geekmaster,

thanks for the scripts. I managed to recover my Kindle Touch. It was previously stuck at the Kindle Home Screen for a week plus until I chanced on this forum.

I would like to ask a few questions now that my Kindle is back on track.

Some Background on what I did to recover the Kindle

I did two things before the kindle came back. The first is that I treid flashing the "mmcblk0p1.img" from the Gitbrew Kindle Touch "Forensic" Images. I did that using the runme.sh scripts where I inserted the following lines in geekmaster's sample runme.sh scripts on the first page. I inserted the following lines after this line "mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/main"

dd if=/mnt/us/mmcblk0p1.img of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0p3 bs=4K

I did Magic Reboot when MfgTool was in Diag Mode.

Nothing happened and I was returned to the Diag Mode Screen on my Kindle
It all happened very fast like under a sec. Hence I do not think this image was flashed. Correct me if I am wrong.

After that I ran cscat runme.sh script as detailed below.

Surprisingly, the Kindle came back. I checked my Kindle Firmware version and it is Firmware Version 5.0.0(1370280073)

Question1: From what you have seen in my description, is the firmware running now a forensic one or one that is originally in my Kindle?

Question 2: I see that there is now a Firmware Version 5.0.4. If I were to update this on my Kindle Touch, can I increase the stability of my Kindle?

Question 3: If I were to upgrade to 5.0.4, can I still use cscat's method of factory reset? I see some of the other methods mentioned by geekmaster and I am not too keen to try them if my Kindle bricked again.

Question 4: My Kindle bricked after I transferred some files using Calibre to it. I am running version 0.8.41 of Calibre. Any chance that this might be the cause?

Thanks once again for all your help. I am not an experienced Linux user so having you all write these instructions are a great help.

Originally Posted by cscat

A.
Yoohoo! My Kindle is back on her feet!!! Wow!

My advice to those who have bricked their device OR the brickers of future generation is to not give up at all. I tried I think more than 50 times rebooting and trying different combinations of RUNME.sh files and in different modes (main and diag) and this is the way I (read geekmaster) debricked my holy Kindle which had dust on it (not used for months in shelve ):

1. In MfgTool, select diags mode
2. MAGIC REBOOT which is {push reset button + Magic button as our geekmaster said}
3. In USB folder, copy data.tar.gz and this RUNME.sh:

#!/bin/sh
mntroot rw
/usr/sbin/factory_reset
echo "Goddamn! Geekmaster is Awesome man!" > /mnt/us/holycrap.txt

4. Then do MAGIC REBOOT still in diags mode.
5. Now you should have holycrap.txt file on the USB of Kindle.
6. Push Stop button of MfgTool and select main mode and push Start.
7. The do MAGIC REBOOT again.

UPDATE: You might have to boot in main mode one more time (repeat steps 6 and 7).

Guess what? Your little gorgeous Katie is back home!

Geekmaster: You deserve a BIG HUG from me and the whole community. Just wanted to say your time and effort will not be avoid and sometime some where in future, it will do good for you. Thanks man.



Also, is this image from a 5.0.0 version of Touch firmware?

EDIT: One headache in working out this debricking procedure is that novice end users don't know when to go in main mode and when in diag mode, when to push start button and when to stop, things like that just add to the frustration of it... I suggest adding one "just give me something that works" step-by-step instruction (like my 7 steps) that just does the job in the original post.

B.
If this didn't work for you, here's my 2nd RUNME.sh that I used to happily recover when my KT bricked in a very strange way for second time!

#!/bin/sh
mntroot rw
dd if=/mnt/us/bak/mmcblk0p1.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K
mntroot ro

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by lightstrike

Hi cscat and geekmaster,

thanks for the scripts. I managed to recover my Kindle Touch. It was previously stuck at the Kindle Home Screen for a week plus until I chanced on this forum.

Hi and thanks for all the kind words. Oh and welcome to the family of MR.
I'm so glad you got your Kindle back. We all owe geekmaster and he has saved us multiple hundreds of bucks! So give karma to him for his Awesomeness!

I try to answer your questions my friend:

1. I leave this to geekmaster but I guess forensic one is 5.0.0 so if you hadn't updated your device before it bricked, it'd be the forensic one.

2. Personally, I don't jump to updates headfirst... according to this thread, there's no actual motivation for me to update to 5.0.4. Mine is 5.0.3 and I like it better than 5.0.0 (except I had to replace a jar file to remedy a software glitch). All in all, if you can't grab a hold of 5.0.3, my best suggestion for you would be to stick with 5.0.0 for now.

3. Yes you can.

4. It could be because of running out of space. Do you have lots of books (and hence a big collection database)?

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by cscat

Hi and thanks for all the kind words. Oh and welcome to the family of MR.
I'm so glad you got your Kindle back. We all owe geekmaster and he has saved us multiple hundreds of bucks! So give karma to him for his Awesomeness!

The gitbrew forensic image is 5.0.0.

Too many books can brick a kindle 4 (mini) or 5 (touch) because the collections database is stored on /var/local (mmcblk0p3) which is only 30MB and the system bricks if it is full. One (good) solution is to copy the collections db to /mnt/mmc and replace the one in /var/local with a symlink pointing at the copy on /mnt/mmc. The system will then use the copy on the (much larger than 30MB) USB drive and STOP filling the tiny /var/local partition. There is info about the collections database file name and its location in various forum posts, but I am too tired right now or I would look it up for you. Anybody here care to post its name and location?

And perhaps somebody can write a RUNME.sh to copy and symlink the collections database would be nice too, but be careful to check for one already on /mnt/us. You do not want to kill it by copying a symlink on top of it if somebody runs this more than once. Better to check that you are copying a file and not a symlink, and not to overwrite an existing file. In other words, just be careful so you do not trash a collections database. Thanks...

And for people comfortable with SSH and linux commands, there is an even easier way to repair a bricked kindle touch (or k4nt): https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170929

Yeah, my karma has been stuck around a half million for far too long -- how long until you folks can double it to a million karma points?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Yeah, my karma has been stuck around a half million for far too long -- how long until you folks can double it to a million karma points?

Being a newbie here, I still remember reading those directions...

Its a 'give some to get some' system -
After the intial receipt of karma, you have to give some to others before yours can be increased.
So your usual primary karma-givers are probably being blocked from pushing you past a 1/2 million.
Unless someone hack's the karma system. Who here would do something like that?

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

Being a newbie here, I still remember reading those directions...

Its a 'give some to get some' system -
After the intial receipt of karma, you have to give some to others before yours can be increased.
So your usual primary karma-givers are probably being blocked from pushing you past a 1/2 million.
Unless someone hack's the karma system. Who here would do something like that?

That's not the case here. When I first joined mobileread, I sent messages to the mobileread site operators with suggestions on how to prevent karma inflation and stop karma-gamers, and they said they are considering implementing some of these suggestions. I am not part of the group of multi-million karma-gamers who spend much of their time trading karma (the ones with too many "thanks for the K" messages in their profile). But I have received large karma donations from karma-rich old-timers for some of my better posts.

In my case, every time I see a post that contributes something useful by a karma-deficient author, I set their karma to 2600. 2600 is the name of a famous "hacker quarterly" magazine, and the frequency used by the first product sold by Apple Computer's "two Steves" (a bluebox used to hack the telephone system to make free long distance calls). Their first blue box is now in a museum. Most of their units were reportedly sold to "the mob" for placing untraceable phone calls. There is a picture of it here: http://www.computerhistory.org/highlights/stevejobs/

To me, 2600 is a badge of accomplishment, to encourage more accomplishments, and 26x what beginners start with around here. 2600 is also near the limit of what I can bestow upon others. Because we can only contribute a fraction of our own karma, most people can only donate a few karma points. My karma has been growing steadily, but proportional to the total, even with the last 50,000 points I am still stuck at "around a half million".

To get my karma up to one million, I need at least 100,000 "karma 10" people to each give me their maximum contribution, or somebody with a LOT more than me to just bump me to 1,000,000 like I bump others to 2600. The system will not let me add karma to those I have already given it to, so I keep looking for new "2600-worthy" posts. If you see karmas suddenly jump to the 2600 range, you know who to "blame"... If my donations are contributing to "karma inflation" which reduces overall karma value, sorry about that...

I could add a PayPal Donate button, but that would just encourage me to buy more stuff to add to my huge collection of stuff still in the original boxes that I plan to play with "some day", and my house is paid for (no mortgage) and I have too many vehicles (and I rarely drive, sitting at my wall of LCD panels up to 20 hours per day). I have six quad-core computers and a 20Mbps internet connection, and I already have 9 kindles, after buying my first one not many months ago. I cannot think of anything I want that I do not already have too much of, except time... If you can tell me how to clone myself and link all my cloned minds together (so I have more time to create more stuff faster), I will be eternally in your debt.

So karma is the only thing we all have that I "need", thank you very much.

Actually, you CAN donate some of your time to me by helping me do things on my (unpublished) TO DO list. I have been looking for an apprentice for decades, but the three young apprentices that I had over past decades were ripped away from me when they got girlfriends. I want a new apprentice that I can trust with my lifetime of hard-earned knowledge and experience.

P.S. There is another thing I have been waiting for my entire life, and I am still waiting for it. I want a bio-powered computer implant with direct neural interface (and now I want it to have Internet access too). If you know where I can get one that I can afford to buy, please let me know.

[Deathknight]

Well, I used ixtab's data.tar.gz jailbreak. It bricked my Kindle. Amazon sent me a replacement one, but I tried the jailbreak on that one too. So now I have two bricked Kindle Touch's, with one I need to send back I tried the one with pictures & instructions, but my Kindle Touch isn't showing up a HID device, so I can't flash the diags on to it, it also means it's showing up as "Kindle Internal Storage", which MfgTool won't work correctly with. So, I'm hoping that someone could tell me how to get the Kindle to show up as a HID device. Any help is appreciated.