Boox Palma bricked! Any advice appreciated!

[kobokindle64]

Hi All,

I was using my Boox Palma and it froze while suddenly. Now it is stuck on displaying the last screen (web browser). All buttons are unresponsive. It's been like this for a week now.

I have tried long pressing the power button. I have tried pressing power button for 7-8 secs then pressing it 5 times in a row (Boox advised this to attempt to get it to go into bootloader). I have tried charging it etc.

The only thing that happens is that backlight occasionally turns on after randomly pressing the power button but this is intermittent. I have tried various button combos (volume+power etc).

Boox have advised to send it back to them. However the device has my emails / whatsapp etc on there so I am not keen at all to return it with my data on it.

Any advice at all on how I can unbrick it would be appreciated.
Many thanks

[ottischwenk]

What happens when it is connected to the power supply?

[kobokindle64]

Hi there

When I plug it in there is no response. It does seem to be detected by my Mac when I plug it in (there is a connection sound on the computer) but I can’t see it anywhere in the device finder. I have not tried it with windows yet.

[Renate]

I can tell you that the power button gymnastics (X5) is really hard to get right.
I've tried to do it on my Poke5 recently when I bricked it.
I couldn't get the timing right until I wired up the internal UART (console) and I could watch what and when it was expecting.

So the screen has never changed from the last browser page? Never erased?

Have you connected it to your laptop to see if anything presents itself over USB?
Did you have ADB enabled? MTP (file transfer)? Any signs of life over USB?
Do a really long power press (> 15 seconds) while connected.
Use Windows, if you're getting bongs, there is something there.
You can use my UsbLog.exe (on my website) to monitor connections.

I'm thinking that your BSR (Boox Super Refresh) died and that possibly the non-display parts are working ok.

[kobokindle64]

Thanks so much for the reply.

1. I plugged it into my windows computer. Get a bong and then after long pressing the power button, I can see the Palma as a device. I can navigate the internal storage. no change on device itself.

2. Re: Usblog.exe on your website - I can't seem to find that specific application.


Any further advice would be appreciated?

A good outcome here would be being confident to send my device back without any personal data (mainly email/whatsapp). Can I delete this via the internal storage access I have?

[kobokindle64]

Or even somehow format the device? I have seen the com.whatapps folder in android/media, but it is empty.

Many thanks again

[Renate]

Originally Posted by kobokindle64

I can't seem to find that specific application.

Sorry, that's on the Windows page, go up, then down.
http://www.temblast.com/windows.htm

Yeah, it's live, you should have no problem wiping it.

Did you have ADB enabled? That would make life very easy.
Heck, you could even screen grab.
It will make it easy to get to fastboot where you can do a wipe.
If not it will take a bit of trickiness to get to recovery and then fastboot.

If you haven't experience with ADB and fastboot, now is the time to learn.
You can practice on another device (without harming anything).

[kobokindle64]

Hi there,
Thanks for the reply.

I think I don't have it enabled ( I never did so in the phone). When I connect the phone and use the adb devices command, nothing shows. Unless I am mistaken?

Is there still a way to at least wipe the phone without adb enabled?

[Renate]

This is not that very different from the scenario where somebody breaks the screen on their cell phone.
If the ADB were already enabled, it's a piece of cake. Without it, you're running blind.
AFAIK, there is no video output over USB Type C on this.

Run my UsbLog.exe so you can watch what's happening.
You can also run https://ftdichip.com/utilities/#MicrosoftUSBView at the same time.
If you see something, you can copy/paste the right pane (redact your serial number).

You've got buttons, so use them.
Long power press while holding the VolUp or VolDn button, release power.
You're looking for 18d1/d00d or anything different.
If you get "adb devices" to work but it says "unauthorized" you're probably in recovery.
From there you can press VolDn a specific number of times, then power to get to fastboot.

[kobokindle64]

Super thank you so much.

I can now get it to show with adb devices, but as you say it's "unauthorised".

I can't anything on the internet re: what the menu should look like, and hence how many VolDns I need to use to get to fastboot. Any suggestions here?

Once in fastboot what would you suggest? I think your original thought re: the BSR being broken is correct. In this case I think I will need to wipe the phone and return to Boox. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this at the stage I am at? Or anything else I can try to try and fix the display.

Many thanks again

[kobokindle64]

Here is the USBView output

Device Descriptor:
bcdUSB: 0x0210
bDeviceClass: 0x00
bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
bMaxPacketSize0: 0x40 (64)
idVendor: 0x18D1
idProduct: 0xD001
bcdDevice: 0x0419
iManufacturer: 0x01
0x0409: "ONYX"
iProduct: 0x02
0x0409: "Palma"
iSerialNumber: 0x03
0x0409: "XXXXXXXX"
bNumConfigurations: 0x01

ConnectionStatus: DeviceConnected
Current Config Value: 0x01
Device Bus Speed: High
Device Address: 0x06
Open Pipes: 2

Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress: 0x01 OUT
Transfer Type: Bulk
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 (512)
bInterval: 0x00

Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress: 0x81 IN
Transfer Type: Bulk
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 (512)
bInterval: 0x00

Configuration Descriptor:
wTotalLength: 0x0020
bNumInterfaces: 0x01
bConfigurationValue: 0x01
iConfiguration: 0x04
0x0409: "adb"
bmAttributes: 0x80 (Bus Powered )
MaxPower: 0xFA (500 Ma)

Interface Descriptor:
bInterfaceNumber: 0x00
bAlternateSetting: 0x00
bNumEndpoints: 0x02
bInterfaceClass: 0xFF
bInterfaceSubClass: 0x42
bInterfaceProtocol: 0x01
iInterface: 0x05
0x0409: "ADB Interface"

Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress: 0x01 OUT
Transfer Type: Bulk
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 (512)
bInterval: 0x00

Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress: 0x81 IN
Transfer Type: Bulk
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 (512)
bInterval: 0x00

[Renate]

Ok, start fresh, go to recovery, look for unauthorized.
Click VolDn once, then Power once. Wait
You should see 18d1/d00d in UsbView and UsbLog

fastboot -w

You can also go directly to wipe from recovery with 5X VolDn, then Power.
But that's also a bit unsure doing blind.

[kobokindle64]

Thanks again for the quick reply.

Can't seem to get this working and I wonder if it's because I am not starting in the right menu item. In terms of "starting fresh" how do I do this without inadvertently selecting the wrong menu item. Can I just long press the power button to turn the device off?

[kobokindle64]

Apologies ignore the previous message - long press seems to turn it off.

However still having issues.

I can see 18d1/d001 and unauthorised.

When I do VolDn once and power, it seems to just disconnect the device.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[kobokindle64]

well the phone is definitely working - I can take a screenshot and find it. it's asking me to update the firmware!

Is there any way to navigate if the touchscreen is broken? Perhaps I could turn on USB Debugging etc?