BOOX Palma help please?

[loislolalane]

Hello,

Two nights ago I picked up my Palma after it had been sitting for a few weeks. I hit the power button and it powered up, but the screen froze after I tried to adjust the screen brightness. I rebooted it and, when it came back on, the screen wouldn’t respond to touch and it started to power cycle after a minute. My Palma still power cycles every minute. It continuously turned itself off and on, while getting quite hot, until the battery died.

The next day I booted it into recover mode and was able to do a factory reset. It still power cycled, so that didn’t fix the issue. I was able to mount it to a computer, but that causes the screen to freeze. At no time does touchscreen capability restore. I went searching online for firmware files, hoping to be able to manually push new firmware or even try to repair the old firmware. No dice.

At this point, I have reached out to customer service and had them tell me they need me to use the device for them to help me, which I can’t do because the screen doesn’t respond to touch.

Does anyone have ideas of what I can do to try to get this working? I’m sure it’s a firmware issue because the hardware seems to be fine.

[Renate]

So the screen was all normal in recovery?
Does it ever get to a normal Android screen?
Did you have ADB enabled? Can you see it over USB?

[loislolalane]

Originally Posted by Renate

So the screen was all normal in recovery?
Does it ever get to a normal Android screen?
Did you have ADB enabled? Can you see it over USB?

The screen was fine in recovery. I had to use the buttons to navigate, because that’s what the instructions told me to do. Recovery mode doesn’t have a touchscreen ability.

I’m unsure what you mean by “normal Android screen.” It powers on to the homescreen, powers off to the off screen, and cycles between those two things until the battery runs out.

I don’t know what ADB is so I don’t think I have it enabled.

I can see it over USB.

[Renate]

Occam's razor says that the simplest answer is the best answer.
Maybe the power button is stuck on?
When it cycles do you ever see that little dialog-ette with Power off & Restart?

[loislolalane]

Originally Posted by Renate

Occam's razor says that the simplest answer is the best answer.
Maybe the power button is stuck on?
When it cycles do you ever see that little dialog-ette with Power off & Restart?

The button isn’t stuck. I don’t see that little dialog box unless I press the power button and it doesn’t come up while it’s power cycling. I’m also able to use the power button when putting the device into recovery mode, which requires five distinct presses of the power button. It’s functioning as it should.

[Renate]

Then is it power-offing on thinking that the battery is low?
How much time do you have to interact before it shuts down?
Does it mention low battery?

Have you tried to do Settings > About > Build number and click it 7 times?

[loislolalane]

Originally Posted by Renate

Then is it power-offing on thinking that the battery is low?
How much time do you have to interact before it shuts down?
Does it mention low battery?

Have you tried to do Settings > About > Build number and click it 7 times?

It power cycles every 60 seconds or so. The battery isn’t low when it happens. I can’t use any of the menus on the device because the touchscreen does not register touch.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by loislolalane

It power cycles every 60 seconds or so.

I didn't say that the battery was low, I was asking if it thought that it was low.
When it goes from semi-normal home screen to power down does it say anything?

Do you have an OTG adapter and a USB mouse?
Can you get any action out of that?
If so, try to enable ADB.

[loislolalane]

Originally Posted by Renate

I didn't say that the battery was low, I was asking if it thought that it was low.
When it goes from semi-normal home screen to power down does it say anything?

Do you have an OTG adapter and a USB mouse?
Can you get any action out of that?
If so, try to enable ADB.

No there isn’t any sort of message displayed, low battery or otherwise. The screen flashes and shuts off as it would if I had intentionally shut it off. Then the standard power up screen comes on as it would if I powered it on intentionally.

I don’t have an OTG adapter but I do have a USB mouse. I can get an OTG cord. Can you tell me what the process of enabling ADB will allow me to do? Or provide me some resources where I can learn more? I’m a pretty quick study, I just never thought I’d have to fix a BOOX device, so I know nothing about how to do it.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by loislolalane

I don’t have an OTG adapter but I do have a USB mouse.

We don't know why it's decided to shutdown.
It could be a conscious decision by the Android subsystem.
We can stop that while keeping the underlying *nix-ish OS running.
Maybe we can discover something that way.

Are you on the latest software?
Does recovery give you an offer to update (with a local file)?

Model:  Palma
Finger: Onyx/Palma/Palma:11/2023-11-24_18-57_3.5_bf9002fb4b/43561:user/dev-keys
Link:   http://firmware-us-volc.boox.com/85b1def9e1f86f3a3be143210cf1b322/update.upx
Size:   1,524,678,325
MD5:    85b1def9e1f86f3a3be143210cf1b322

It might only take a decrypted file.

[loislolalane]

Originally Posted by Renate

We don't know why it's decided to shutdown.
It could be a conscious decision by the Android subsystem.
We can stop that while keeping the underlying *nix-ish OS running.
Maybe we can discover something that way.

Are you on the latest software?
Does recovery give you an offer to update (with a local file)?

Model:  Palma
Finger: Onyx/Palma/Palma:11/2023-11-24_18-57_3.5_bf9002fb4b/43561:user/dev-keys
Link:   http://firmware-us-volc.boox.com/85b1def9e1f86f3a3be143210cf1b322/update.upx
Size:   1,524,678,325
MD5:    85b1def9e1f86f3a3be143210cf1b322

It might only take a decrypted file.

I am honestly not even sure if I’m on the most recent firmware. I believe there was an update in November that I did, but I don’t use it that much. I’m looking into getting an OTG cord and how ADB works.

[Renate]

The decryption codes for Palma updates have been posted.
So you can decrypt the update above for Magisk rooting.
https://github.com/Hagb/decryptBooxUpdateUpx