PRS-T1 sd-rescue vs restore flash: which more complete?

[multiprose]

what's the difference between the two besides its avenue of installation? which is more complete?
why isn't there 4 "sd-rescue" zips for each firmware like the "restore installs"?
does a successful restore using the sd-rescue make the specific restore install obsolete? or vice versa?

[retro]

I was hoping to hear an answer for this too. Anybody??

When I decided to try to put my T1 back to the original configuration, the process seemed more confusing than the hack. I ended up doing a hard reset, and it was back to factory settings, including the sample books which I had deleted. I have wondered if 'things' were left behind that should be cleaned up. So, does anybody have the answer to the differences?

[multiprose]

i think i figured it out after some testing. you don't need the recovery set if you do the sd-rescue. the recovery set was made for those who did not want to use the extra step of deploying an sd card to restore the settings and those who merely changed their mind about rooting their device. sd-rescue does complete restore.

[uboot]

Both variants will completely wipe the data and the system partition and the result is exactly the same: an unrooted virgin.

But sd recovery will flash an old firmware while restore sets have been adapted to newer ones.

But for a full factory reset you need to reformat the reader partition additionally.

[camperbc]

Originally Posted by uboot

But for a full factory reset you need to reformat the reader partition additionally.

Hi Uboot,

Is the above procedure different from the "hard reset" detailed on Sony's website? If so, would this be something I could try, to solve the inability to shut down? If this is indeed a different procedure, how would I go about doing it? (keeping in mind that I am not exactly a computer geek!)

Thanks,
Glen

PS: I can't recall if I have yet mentioned on the other thread that when I try to re-root, the reader hangs at "opening book". If I could just get past this problem I would be back in business, as the battery drain issue seems to have somehow remedied itself. (by either the SD rescue or hard reset) I am currently shutting the reader down using the reset button.

[uboot]

There are 3 places we have to deal with:

/data partition - contains user data, installed apps, settings, not directly accessible without root
/system partition
reader partition - the drive that is exposed via usb for media storage, also refered as internal sdcard, /mnt/sdcard


Sony hard reset will erase user data and format reader partition, but if system partition is broken, which can happen easily on a rooted device, it will not be fixed via hard reset.

sd recovery and restore set will completely restore data and system partition but will leave reader partition as it is.

So, to completely reset everything, you have to do both.

[camperbc]

Hi Uboot,

I have done all of the above, as you suggested, but it did not solve the problem of the lack of shut-down. Also, I am curious as to how the latest firmware update stayed on the reader after performing the sd recovery/restore set/hard reset. Would you not have thought that this would have reverted the reader right back to the original firmware? Indeed, if the firmware did not go back to original, it begs the question what else didn't reset to square one! I am still hoping this is not a hardware issue, and we can wave a magic wand to get things back to normal for once and for all.

Thanks for your assistance!

Glen

[uboot]

welll, if firmware version remains unchanged after sd recovery, then sd recovery did not finish properly! have you followed the exact steps in the wiki?

[camperbc]

Hi Uboot,

I double and triple checked everything step by step in the wiki, was very precise with the procedures, yet the firmware still shows as the latest update. So... this may well be why I still have these issues? I wonder what can possibly be done to remedy it at this point? I hate to think I may have to actually bite the bullet, cave in and return it!

Glen

[uboot]

you could flash the enable adb package. it will put a new boot ramdisk on the device.

but it is still hard to believe for me that sd recovery was successfull on your device.

did the progress bar turn empty, indicating that sd recovery has finished?

when powering on after sd recovery - did the reader ask for initial settings like language, etc.?

[camperbc]

Originally Posted by uboot

"you could flash the enable adb package. it will put a new boot ramdisk on the device."

I haven't got the foggiest idea what this means. I would love to try it though, if you could guide me through it. (step by step)

"but it is still hard to believe for me that sd recovery was successful on your device.

did the progress bar turn empty, indicating that sd recovery has finished?"

Yes.

"when powering on after sd recovery - did the reader ask for initial settings like language, etc.?"

Yes.

Thanks,
Glen

[uboot]

Download this zip file, extract it and flash it by running the included batch file while the reader is connected via usb:

http://projects.mobileread.com/reade...enable-adb.zip

Instructions on how to connect to the reader via adb can be found here: http://translate.google.com/translat...hp%3Ft%3D21458

[camperbc]

Hi Uboot,

I downloaded the above adb package and ran it as you instructed, but unfortunately when I started up the reader it froze again at "opening reader", just as it did when I tried to re-root yesterday. So I had to perform the SD rescue again for it to get past the "opening reader" stage. Oh, and I checked the firmware version yet again; still shows the latest one... go figure! I guess it's back to the drawing board. Seems like I am stuck in a vicious circle.

Glen

[j0534ng31]

Originally Posted by camperbc

Hi Uboot,

I downloaded the above adb package and ran it as you instructed, but unfortunately when I started up the reader it froze again at "opening reader", just as it did when I tried to re-root yesterday. So I had to perform the SD rescue again for it to get past the "opening reader" stage. Oh, and I checked the firmware version yet again; still shows the latest one... go figure! I guess it's back to the drawing board. Seems like I am stuck in a vicious circle.

Glen

I would try (in this exact order) to:

1- Repeat the SD recovery: To have a clean 'system' & 'data' partitions

2- Sony Hard Reset: To format the 'reader' partition (You can also do it with the format and factory reset options that you can find in settings)

3- Reinstall the Sony original upgrade to the latest firmware: To put again the new kernel with its corresponding releases of binaries in the 'system' and 'data' partitions.

4- Test the 'reset'/'shutdown' option again

[uboot]

I found a better way to restore to factory default.

Porkupan's root set does flash both - system and data partition.

But flashing data partition is not necessary and is a possible cause for errors.

The factory reset done by Sony just formats the data partition which will be then will be automatically populated with default data on next boot.

A modified version of do_update.sh looks like

#!/bin/sh

PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
DATA=/tmp/data 
SYSTEM=/tmp/system 

echo Starting $0 `date`

#mkdir -p ${DATA}
mkdir -p ${SYSTEM}

for IMAGE in mmcblk2p9 mmcblk2p10
do
   if [ -f ${UPDATE_MP}/tmp/${IMAGE}.img ]
   then
      echo "Updating ${IMAGE}"
      dd if=${UPDATE_MP}/tmp/${IMAGE}.img of=/dev/${IMAGE} bs=1024 conv=notrunc
   fi
done

#mount /dev/mmcblk2p9 ${DATA}
mount -o ro /dev/mmcblk2p10 ${SYSTEM}

#ls -R ${DATA}
#echo
#echo "---------------------"
#echo
ls -R ${SYSTEM}

#umount ${DATA}
umount ${SYSTEM}

echo 
echo Formating data partition...
mkfs.ext4 -L data -m 0 -j /dev/mmcblk2p9

echo Done $0 `date`

All you need to do is take one of porkupans recovery sets, goto ./sdcard/tmp and
- replace do_update.sh
- in checksum file:replace md5 checksum of do_update.sh with new one (8d61e257c885686b62079f3341814268) and remove line with mmcblk2p9 checksum
- delete mmcblk2p9.img



What is left still left for a complete factory reset is formating the READER partition. But this cannot be done with do_update.sh because it resides on that partition.

But you should be able to format reader partition yourself via Settings/Initialization


Another way to achieve this is a modified SD recovery image which does
- reflash system partition
- format data partition instead of flashing it
- format reader partition


And: we must not forget adb which is untouched by the above steps.


Also, Sony Firmware update not only updates system partion, but also the Linux Kernel Image!

But the kernel is untouched by recovery sets.

So, you cannot easily go back to an older firmware via recovery.

This can only be achieved with original Sony Update package.