Serial debrick stuck on tree

[fluffi2000]

Hi forum members,

while I was in the US, my jailbroken german PW3 tried to make an OTA update. After the update it got stuck at the "boy under the tree" screen. I had this problem before and could recover the device by connecting to the serial port, launching the recovery menu and basically following this post. So i tried to do the same again, but simply nothing happens when I select "u" in the recovery menu (all the other steps work). I'd be very thankful if anyone could take the time to give me a hint on how to solve the problem!

I used this image: https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...te_5.9.5.1.bin

[knc1]

Please attach the serial terminal emulator's capture log that the directions had you create.

[fluffi2000]

I attached the logfile. Around line 950 is where I hit "u" to apply the update.
Thanks for your reply!

[knc1]

The exact, no variations allowed, order is:

1) Remove USB storage cable
2) Press and hold power button for 20 or more seconds
3) Release power button
4) At very first character on the serial port line, press and hold the 'Enter' key on your PuTTY keyboard
5) Release when you see the recovery menu
6) Connect Kindle USB cable to PC
7) Choose: E (or e IIRC)
8) Copy Amazon update image file from PC to top most visible level of Kindle USB storage
9) Copy the Amazon update image file from the Kindle USB storage to another name or place.
Now compare the two, or compare the md5sum of the two - they should match.
Repeat 8 and 9 until you get a read-back copy that matches the original. (Since you obviously expect USB storage to be flaky to have done what you did.)
10) Do the "Safely remove" dance on your PC
11) Disconnect Kindle USB cable from the PC (pause a few seconds while Kindle OS un-exports USB storage)
12) Press Q (or q IIRC)
The system may or may not exit to another menu at that point, if it does, choose "Exit"
If the Kindle has not rebooted by this point, do the "Press, hold 20, release" of the power button.

Note:
*) The Kindle storage access USB cable to PC was removed after safely transferring the file
*) The normal "cold start" reboot process will take care of testing (correcting as required) both user file systems and then will install the image file found on USB storage - it is scripted that way.
If the system appears to hang on the "tree while loading" display, it is trying to recover one of the file systems. This may take days, put on wall charger and wait.
*) At no time was: 3, 4, I, O, U, M, or D ever selected in the above steps.
Do the above, without any variation, changes, additions or deletions and it should all "just work".

If you did have to power it from a wall charger while it repaired the file system, assume the Amazon image file on USB storage was trashed in the process of recovering the file system.
That is: repeat all of the above again.

Note: You will see on the serial port a message from the system boot procedure when it discovers the Amazon image file and messages about what it does with it.
If the image file was trashed (or never correctly stored) you may or may not see any messages about the situation (notice in your log file you never saw those messages).

[fluffi2000]

Thank you for your elaborate reply - it's much appreciated! I finally found the time to go through the process. Although I followed all your steps precisely (see log + md5 sums attached) the situation is unfortunately still the same. It appears to me that the kindle never really recognizes the file, although it's still there when I go back to the recovery menu and export the usb storage. I tried the same procedure with

update_kindle_all_new_paperwhite_5.9.5.1.bin

,

update_kindle_all_new_paperwhite_5.8.7.bin

, and

update_PW3_5.7.4_initial.bin

.

It seems to always end in:

BOOTING DEFAULT.
IP-Config: no devices to˥kinit: Unable to mount root fs on device dev(179,1)
kinit: init not found!

Is there anything else I could try?

[knc1]

=== END ===
[  391.326493] imx2-wdt imx2-wdt.0: Device shutdown: Expect reboot!
[  391.333590] Restarting system.
Battery voltage: 3973 mV

Is the above restart the result of you pressing and holding the power button for 20 seconds or more?
It does not look like what I would expect if it was, it looks like a "warm restart" rather than a "cold restart (full reboot)".
It is only the "cold start" start-up code the can recognize an image file and load it, a "warm restart" does not.

An additional indication of failing to do a full "cold start" is if the file is still on USB storage afterwards.
The "cold start" code will always delete the image file.

[fluffi2000]

It's indeed a "warm reboot". I thought the press-20-seconds method would only be necessary in case it didn't restart by itself. Nevertheless, the result is exactly the same when I reboot by pressing the button for 20+ seconds.

However, the kindle already reboots after ~10s and at 20 seconds it's already at the

kinit: init not found!

warning. So maybe it's not a "cold start" after all? Is there another way to induce a cold boot? For instance, taking the battery out for a second or via uboot?

Also, when I previously ran the I or O options in the recovery menu prior to exporting the USB storage, windows asked me to format the storage. I did so (FAT32, default size) and, at least in windows, that works just fine. I guess that's just fine but I'm stating it here for the sake of completeness, anyway.

[knc1]

Well, for the sake of completeness, the Kindle expects a specific set of options, options which include some that is not supported by the Windows format routine.
That is why you should always let the Kindle's start-up routine detect and correct if required the file system.
I know, if "Windows said it, it has to be true and correct", well just pretend while reading this that my last name is: "Gates".

Now, attach your capture log from when you did the steps using the long press of the power button and I will highlight where the startup is NOT "exactly the same".
In your device's case, they are most certainly different.
OR
Just sell the touch screen display as a "used, working" spare part.