Small debricking guide for “noobs”

[packerzrock]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Try making it always boot to fastboot mode (unless you use MfgTool to boot something else), but selecting "Install Fastboot Bundle" in the diags menu.

Seems silly but I don't see that option in Diags. The only way I can even get it into Diags is with MfgTool. I tried the "Home" button and rebooting option to get it to Fastboot but it just boots to Demo as normal.

If I get it to recognize at all as an HID in DevMan it is with the down arrow and reboot like I have found in one of your other posts.

On a side note, after I select kindle Diags and hit start the 2 items in HID turn into just one with a yellow exclamation point over the USB HID. That stays there until I reboot it out of Diags. Then it disappears and shows as a Generic Storege again. Sorry for the noobness of the questions.

EDIT: I just found the install Fastboot, I will try and then update you with results.

[knc1]

The yellow exclamation point means you don't have the driver loaded in windoze.
The device changes its USB identification with changes of mode (so that external devices can detect what mode it is in).

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by packerzrock

...
EDIT: I just found the install Fastboot, I will try and then update you with results.

Ahh... I just connected my K4 demo, and was about to report that it is in the Exit menu. You beat me to it!

Good luck on the "debricking"...

[packerzrock]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Ahh... I just connected my K4 demo, and was about to report that it is in the Exit menu. You beat me to it!

Good luck on the "debricking"...

You will have to let me know how yours goes, I got all the way through the Flash steps and telling it to reboot to Diags to copy the other files over but when it rebooted the screen is staying black. Not like it is off, just black even after manual reboot with the button.

I used all the 4.0.0 files like you suggested and the whole works. Not sure where to go from there being cannot see what is on the screen.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by packerzrock

You will have to let me know how yours goes, I got all the way through the Flash steps and telling it to reboot to Diags to copy the other files over but when it rebooted the screen is staying black. Not like it is off, just black even after manual reboot with the button.

I used all the 4.0.0 files like you suggested and the whole works. Not sure where to go from there being cannot see what is on the screen.

It is probably locked in fastboot mode. Use MfgTool to boot to diags. You can change the bootmode with either fastboot or "idme -d --bootmode diags"...

Or if you changed the bootmode to main with fastboot, you really need to boot to diags until you have completed all the other steps.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by silver18

New version is now out. I added more links to images, a description on how to flash diags_kernel and a note on packed images and on matching versions.

I did not look at your guide yet, but it should probably stop using the windows-dependent MfgTool (with driver issues) and start using the cross-platform command-line replacement tool (imx_usb_loader). See the simple debricking first post to find it.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by packerzrock

You will have to let me know how yours goes, I got all the way through the Flash steps and telling it to reboot to Diags to copy the other files over but when it rebooted the screen is staying black. Not like it is off, just black even after manual reboot with the button.

I used all the 4.0.0 files like you suggested and the whole works. Not sure where to go from there being cannot see what is on the screen.

I used the 4.0.0 images from mediafire. It worked. Before resetting to factory defaults, I noticed that it was already registered to the same fake name as the demo mode used. I deregistered it before resettting to factory defaults. After registering successfully, it seems to be a NON-special offer K4 (so far at least)...

But instead of screensavers, it just displays a blank screen when sleeping. Perhaps what somebody else posted about it the 4.0.0 images already containing a screensaver hack are correct, so it may have update problems until that is removed. I will try to update now...

EDIT: U006 firmware update error. Perhaps it is a pre-installed screensaver hack as somebody reported in another post. That would also explain why the screensaver is blank...

We really need a factory fresh virgin 4.0.0 like I thought we had. Apparently, I must not have gotten around to uploading my images, after we already have two (identical) sources for them.

[packerzrock]

OK, Finally got it to boot back to main, back to Demo of course but better than a black screen.

Will have to research a different way to flash the good Diags files being the one I flashed to it keeps getting me black screen every time I try going to Diags to copy the other files over. And of course I cannot see to get it to go to the Install Fastboot option IF it is actually going there.

[geekmaster]

Okay, as mentioned in another post, whoever provided the mediafire 4.0.0 had a screensaver hack installed.

I did this from diags SSH:

mnt /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/mmc
cd /mnt/mmc/screen_saver
mv 600x800 600x800_hack
mv 600x800_ 600x800
sync
reboot

And the incomplete failed update finished installing successfully. After manually removing the screensaver hack that was pre-installed in the 4.0.0 image (as shown above), my kindle is now updated to 4.1.0, and the screensavers work. However, it is still NOT a special offers kindle. Oh well...

Apparently at least some K4 demos are NOT special offers versions... Cool!

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by packerzrock

... Will have to research a different way to flash the good Diags files being the one I flashed to it keeps getting me black screen every time I try going to Diags to copy the other files over. ...

Huh? What K4 diags files did you flash? The K4 already has SSH preinstalled (even the K4 demos). Mine is working fine and I did not change the diags kernel or partition.

I only used fastboot to flash the main kernel, and diags ssh to dd the main partition, and then it worked as a normal kindle. I had to manually remove the screensaver hack before I could update to 4.1.0 firmware, but now all is well, and even after registering it still has no Special Offers. I currently have only ten of my kindles registered to my amazon account, including this one.

Did you *really* flash something on top of the diags partition? If so, what? Perhaps that is why your diags does not work anymore. You need to flash a good diags partition, such as what originally came on it. I backed mine up completely before doing anything to it, so I can make mine a demo unit again if I so choose.

[geekmaster]

To summarize some PMs exchanged with packerzrock between this and my previous post, it appears that the small debricking guide contains firmware URLs to K4 diags files not in the pastebin. Anyway, they appeared to not work in his case, so I PMed him a temporarily link to my demo K4 diags kernel and partition, so he can put it back the way it was. That way worked fine for me.

[silver18]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I did not look at your guide yet, but it should probably stop using the windows-dependent MfgTool (with driver issues) and start using the cross-platform command-line replacement tool (imx_usb_loader). See the simple debricking first post to find it.

I saw it, but I would like to try it before adding it to the guide.
The only problem with MfgTool is the driver thing?
Otherwise I could add this link to provide an alternative to MfgTool.

Originally Posted by geekmaster

...it appears that the small debricking guide contains firmware URLs to K4 diags files not in the pastebin.

The small debricking guide contains direct links ONLY to K5 images (those used by me).
It also contains the link to pastebin and to ixtab's download page.
So, no firmware URLs to K4 diags files...

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by silver18

The small debricking guide contains direct links ONLY to K5 images (those used by me).
It also contains the link to pastebin and to ixtab's download page.
So, no firmware URLs to K4 diags files...

The PMs were a little confusing, mentioning flashing K4 diags, and using ATK to debrick a K4.??? And apparently never using fastboot.

[packerzrock]

OK, figured out it is a driver issue where it is losing the connection to my K4NT after it tries switching to fastboot on my XP machine. I have a Win7 machine that stops and asks for drivers but the Kindle Fastboot driver file is not supported being it is Win7 64 bit.Any suggestions?

And thanks so much for all the help!

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by packerzrock

OK, figured out it is a driver issue where it is losing the connection to my K4NT after it tries switching to fastboot on my XP machine. I have a Win7 machine that stops and asks for drivers but the Kindle Fastboot driver file is not supported being it is Win7 64 bit.Any suggestions?

And thanks so much for all the help!

Reboot windows and select the "allow unsigned drivers" option. Others have reported success using that boot option.

Or run a 32-bit windows in a VM.