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Old 02-23-2012, 10:14 PM   #31
geekmaster
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Ok, with testing on my kindles, I accidentally put an old data.tar.gz for a K4NT on my touch, which had the wrong partition size. I had already copied my data from the touch USB Drive by exporting it in diags.

So I booted to fastboot mode and erased (part of) the "data" partition, which is the USB Drive. I rebooted before it completed, because a damaged drive partition that cannot be mounted will be recreated from scratch, which also creates a new mntus.params.

Now it boots as a NEW kindle touch -- no Special Offers until I connect to Wifi. It now shows as not registered. Connecting to amazon should automatically register it. I will try now...

Yes... I connected to my Wifi network, and registered it by entering my amazon email and password, and it immediately restored my personal settings, including my Kindle name, and my purchased books, and my Special Offers.

So, that works well. MfgTool to set diags mode. Export USB drive and copy your contents to your host PC. MfgTool to fastboot mode. Yifanlu's fastboot tool (sudo fastboot erase data). Yifanlu also provided versions for Mac, and for Windows (running from a cygwin console window).

My testing shows that data.tar.gz gets installed even with a severely bricked kindle, and I display status messages on top of my frozen "Kindle Tree" startup screen, using the eips command.

So, if you cannot wait, do as I did (diags and fastboot). Or, I now have very simple data.tar.gz versions almost ready, that will "damage" selected partitions so that they will be set back to factory defaluts. You can reset partition 3 (/var/local on mmcblk0p3) to fix the "too many books" full partition problem. That will also fix a problem caused by installed a data.tar.gz intended for a different kindle model (like I did). Or you can reset partition 4 (the USB Drive) to rebuild it if you want to.

In my case, I was forced to use fastboot because I had a mntus.params calling a script that rebooted continuously in both main and diags mode.

So in most cases, you can recover from main or diags with a data.tar.gz, after making backup copies from diags, and use the "fastboot erase data" method only for severe boot loop problems.
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Old 02-24-2012, 01:57 AM   #32
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Will you provide some step-by-step instructions for fastboot mode? I dont understand what it is, how it works and what should I do to flash mmcblk0p1, which I suppose I have damaged, with backup.
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Old 02-24-2012, 02:11 AM   #33
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Originally Posted by murz_07 View Post
Will you provide some step-by-step instructions for fastboot mode? I dont understand what it is, how it works and what should I do to flash mmcblk0p1, which I suppose I have damaged, with backup.
I will provide instructions after I understand it better. Everything I have investigate "mostly" works, but I want a reliable solution.

Do not do anything in fastboot yet, except perhaps to erase "data". That unbricked my kindle once. Anything else done in fastboot might (probably will) make things worse. My touch is bricked now after a "small" change to the payload went bad. That payload is in /var/local and runs for both main and diags, so now only fastboot works.

Not sure what to do on the touch right now. Need sleep. I will have time to work on it in a couple of days again.

I had yifanlu's SSH manually installed on diags on my touch, using a RUNME.sh script. SSH started from the diags USBnet menu worked well (before I *really* bricked it this time)...

Because the k4nt already has SSH, which can be used to repair things. I should provide at least a safe "Touch-only" payload to launch RUNME.sh.

Last edited by geekmaster; 02-24-2012 at 05:46 AM.
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Old 02-24-2012, 04:08 AM   #34
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NEWS: I added an update (with more downloads) to the original post for this thread. I have a data.tar.gz with a "universal" payload, that supports all the kindles I have information for. I also provided a sample "proof of concept" RUNME.sh, and instructions on how to do a more useful RUNME.sh.

Read the first post and download the files. It should work on the Touch and the K4NT. With an appropriate RUNME.sh based on the description I gave, which calls and a modified version of yifanlu's touch usbnetwork installer files (to put stuff in /mnt/main or /mnt/diag), you can install SSH into touch diags, and it will work from the USBnet diag menu. This is leaving some of the work to you. I will be busy for awhile so I decided to post what I have now.

If you examine the mntus.params file inside data.tar.gz, you will see a comment that when the script is called while booting from main, it sometimes runs when the USB drive is not initialized and the size reported by disk tools is not correct. Exiting with an incorrect value can cause the USB drive to be completely erase. That is why mntus.params has added complexity to mimic how the startup scripts handle this condition.

Now that there is a reliable way to run a payload while booting to diagnostics, you can use it to repair your damaged main partition that refuses to boot. Good luck, and please post useful RUNME.sh scripts back to this thread. Also post your results. Thanks.

The original post is growing rather large. Perhaps it needs to move to a wiki page.

Original post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=169645


Last edited by geekmaster; 02-24-2012 at 04:14 AM.
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Old 02-24-2012, 04:42 AM   #35
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Thats great!
But I still dont understand how to enable USBnetwork in diags mode. Can anybody make a step-by-step instruction for this?
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Old 02-24-2012, 05:27 AM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thomass
It would be better if you provide a sample RUNME.sh to recover mmcblk0p1 from a backup
I am extremely tired and busy, and I spent a lot of time that should have been used for more important projects, trying to debrick my touch. It got that way while testing unlikely corner cases, to prevent people from getting their usb drive erased...

All you need to do is boot from diags and do "dd if=/mnt/us/mmcblk0p1.img of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=1024" inside the "*** your stuff here ***" part of the sample recommended code in the post...
I can do it in a couple of days, but I thought people who KNOW how to do it (as I showed above in this PM) can make use of it now and do not need to wait a couple more days.

I agree it would be better, but there is only ONE of me and I have MANY things to do. What you ask is EXTREMELY easy compared to what I am doing now. I hoped others would do the easy stuff if I released what I did now...

Last edited by geekmaster; 02-24-2012 at 06:04 AM.
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Old 02-24-2012, 05:39 AM   #37
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There are many different things that need to be done for kindles bricked in different ways. You can use the sample RUNME.sh (especially the one shown in a code block in the message) to INSTALL yifanlu's touch usbnet. Because booting from diags makes diags the root partition, and the files in diags go in the same locations as in main, it should take a minimum amount of adjustment to make yifanlu's usbnet package install into the diags partiton. What I would do is just extract the files to the usb drive, and use RUNME.sh to copy them to the diags directories.

I posted this now so other people could do the easy stuff that I do not have time for now, like a RUNME.sh that installs yinfalu's usbnetwork SSH to diags, or a RUNME.sh that copies mmcblk0p1.img from the USB drive to /dev/mmcblk0p1. Partition images should be restored while booted from the OTHER partition, so be sure to boot with ENABLE_DIAGS when restoring the main partition. Writing a drive image to a drive that has open files is a very bad idea, which is WHY my RUNME.sh launcher that works from diags is important. Likewise, making a backup copy of a drive with open files can also result in a damaged image file. You should copy main while booted from diags, and copy diags while booting from main.

All you kindle developers need to take this diags RUNME.sh launcher that works on Touch and on K4NT, while booting from diags and while booting from main, and add more recovery features to it. We need a collection of different RUNME.sh files, with some kind or organizing and renaming method, so they do not get mixed up.

Please do NOT change mntusb.params inside the data.tar.gz. If you do, you will be in for unpleasant surprises. It has undergone a lot of testing before the diagnostic instrumentation was removed from it to simplify it. It was also tested after being stripped down to less than 10 percent of its previous size (it was originally a series of 3 stages of scripts). It is now easy to understand. But do not change it, unless you can supply missing drive sizes for kindle 1 or kindle 2...

This is just a small part of the kindle recovery / root shell / app installer / jailbreak package that I want US to develop. Not just yinfalu, or NiLuJe, or me and all the other developers alone. We need to get this organized into a team effort, like for OTHER tablet computers...

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Old 02-24-2012, 06:00 AM   #38
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Arrow Step-by-step instructions for creating a touch diags usbnet ssh installer package

The way I installed USBnet SSH into touch diags was this (on a working touch):

1) Install yinfalu's touch usbnetwork package on main.

2) On main, do "find / | grep dropbear", and copy everything found across to same directories in mounted mmcblk0p2. EDIT: I copied /var/local and /etc/dropbear.

3) Reboot to diags and go to USBnet menu (misc individual diagnostics / utilities / enable usbnet / exit). Then after about 20 seconds while dropbear comes up, you can SSH in from a host PC. After using USBnet, you can navigate diag menus and networking says up. Exporting the USB drive will not work again until you reboot to disable USBnet.

4) Take those files that were copied across, and put them in a "usbnet.tar.gz" file (or whatever you name it), then copy that to the USB drive along with a RUNME.sh that installs it similar to how yifanlu's installer did it. You can add my data.tar.gz to launch the RUNME.sh from diags, when needed for debricking the main partition.

5) Publish that usbnet.tar.gz and RUNME.sh file to this thread, so others can easily install the SSH that you just packages...

It is not that hard. I could probably have done it faster that I wrote about it, but my kindle touch is bricked right now (from trying to test weird and unusual corner cases, so I could create well tested code). So please make a diags SSH installer, and a diags mmcblk0p1 backup and restore package. Those are the most important right now... EDIT: My touch is repaired now, and I have an mmcblk0p2.img with SSH already pre-installed, that could be flashed to mmc with fastboot. The "Enable USBnet" menu starts SSH now, just like on the K4NT.

Last edited by geekmaster; 02-29-2012 at 08:50 AM.
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Old 02-24-2012, 08:10 AM   #39
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Oh boy, this looks bad... Why couldn't I have waited... I rebooted in fastboot mode, and used yifan's fastboot tool for Mac OS X with the "sudo fastboot erase data" command as you suggested, which returned success, followed by "fastboot setvar bootmode main". Hard reset, it blinked twice, and now a new phenomenon, an all-black screen. Yikes. I left it overnight and no change. Additional hard resets cause 2 flashes and then return to black, and it does not mount even an inaccessible USB drive. It appears to not be in fastboot mode, since the tool can't communicate with it anymore. I *can* get it into HID mode, and the MfgTool can communicate the Diags image and cause a reboot, but again just to a black screen.

One more thing that's relevant is that I cancelled halfway through the first time I tried "fastboot erase data", because it was taking minutes (the second, successful time took over 5 minutes). I hope that doesn't mean I've corrupted something.

Again, I'm so appreciative of your hard work geekmaster, and I'm willing to accept that this time I've messed it up for good, maybe in a unique way. But if you have any ideas for things I can try, I'd love to hear them.
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Old 02-24-2012, 08:15 AM   #40
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When I used the data.tar.gz on the wiki page to run a RUNME.sh Kindle bricked.

I just used your data.tar.gz and sample RUNME.sh and Kindle recovered.
Thanks
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Old 02-24-2012, 10:11 AM   #41
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And what if I can not boot in main mode so i cant do step 1 and 2?
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Old 02-24-2012, 10:47 AM   #42
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And what if I can not boot in main mode so i cant do step 1 and 2?
Those instructions where for how *I* installed SSH, and others with a *working* kindle touch can too. The later steps tell how to create in installation package for *diags* mode to publish here for others like you to use when you cannot goot to main mode.

I cannot easily do that right now because MY kindle touch will not boot to main *or* diags mode right now, and I will not have time to fix it for a couple of days.
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Old 02-24-2012, 11:10 AM   #43
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Oh boy, this looks bad... Why couldn't I have waited... I rebooted in fastboot mode, and used yifan's fastboot tool for Mac OS X with the "sudo fastboot erase data" command as you suggested, which returned success, followed by "fastboot setvar bootmode main". Hard reset, it blinked twice, and now a new phenomenon, an all-black screen. Yikes. I left it overnight and no change. Additional hard resets cause 2 flashes and then return to black, and it does not mount even an inaccessible USB drive. It appears to not be in fastboot mode, since the tool can't communicate with it anymore. I *can* get it into HID mode, and the MfgTool can communicate the Diags image and cause a reboot, but again just to a black screen.
...
So far my experimental attempts at recovery are not making things better for MY kindle touch. My plans are to connect ti its internal serial port so that I can see the startup messages and find out what the problem is with it. When I solve my problem it should help you too.

Be careful with fastboot. It is very powerful and can damage your kindle beyond what we know how to repair at this time. Do not do this now, but even completely erasing the MMC should be recoverable because that is how android is installed on other devices. I want an image of a complete MMC chip before I try that on my kindle...

The instructions I am providing are of an experimental nature. I am still investigating this stuff and posting what I found to help those who understand enough to not make things worse, and who do not wish to for a complete finished solution.

Eventually, I hope to provide a solution for even a completely erase MMC, but that solution has NOT been developed yet. I am hoping others who CAN help me complete this project assist me in this research and development. I thing a total recovery tool is a GOOD and useful thing to have.

Like I said before, each kindle is a unique problem that may require a unique solution. RUNME.sh is powerful investigation and discovery tool too, so you can see what is wrong with YOUR kindle. I have a long and complicated RUNME.sh that dumps a LOT of debug information to a LOG file on the USB Drive, but it was not ready for publishing yet when I released the simple "display only" version. I would like to avoid fastboot if I can, due to its risky options. I want to make everything as simple and safe as possible, by automating stuff and hiding dangerous options so that they cannot easily be selected.

Summary: If you cannot do your own research and development using the tools I have provided so far, please wait for a more complete solution. Developers with UNBRICKED kindles, please build a RUNME.sh that can install yifanlu's usbnetwork package onto a bricked kindle with a bootable diags partition. I will try to find some time to finish that AFTER I unbrick my own kindle touch using the serial port.

Thanks.

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Old 02-24-2012, 12:03 PM   #44
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Thanks geekmaster, happy to hear that there is still hope even in the heretofore unimagined new land of fuckedness my Kindle has arrived at. I knew it was dangerous to mess around with fastboot, but I am 1) impatient, 2) curious to learn things, and 3) able to afford a new Kindle. I'm just enjoying the journey - hopefully with the bonus at the end of my Touch coming alive.

I realized that since MfgTool still works for me, there are a *few* more moves I can try, namely the Main profile and Fastboot profile as well as Diags profile. By some unreconstructable series of steps, I even got the tree screen up at one point, though no usb drive, but then the next thing I tried put it back to black. (I also saw the tree screen with the amazon logo at one point, though I have no idea how I did that) So I probably will keep messing with it, but not anything too extreme, while I eagerly await any progress you may make.
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Old 02-24-2012, 12:38 PM   #45
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Thanks geekmaster, happy to hear that there is still hope even in the heretofore unimagined new land of fuckedness my Kindle has arrived at. I knew it was dangerous to mess around with fastboot, but I am 1) impatient, 2) curious to learn things, and 3) able to afford a new Kindle. I'm just enjoying the journey - hopefully with the bonus at the end of my Touch coming alive.

I realized that since MfgTool still works for me, there are a *few* more moves I can try, namely the Main profile and Fastboot profile as well as Diags profile. By some unreconstructable series of steps, I even got the tree screen up at one point, though no usb drive, but then the next thing I tried put it back to black. (I also saw the tree screen with the amazon logo at one point, though I have no idea how I did that) So I probably will keep messing with it, but not anything too extreme, while I eagerly await any progress you may make.
If you want to explore, I suggest making custom u-boot images from the gpl source code. They contain mmc_read and mmc_write functions that hide all the complexity of reading and writing mmc (ECC error correction, bad block detection and remapping, write wear levelling, and all that stuff you must do when talking directly to the mmc chip). Just use the mmc_read and write functions inside u-boot that make it easy. Then you can read and write anywhere you want, and u-boot can communicate with a host PC using either USB Downloader (HID / Recovery) protocol, or using fastboot protocol over USB. I want to do that someday myself. You can load and boot an entire operating system direct to RAM from USB without even touching the MMC, if you want. That would be a nice way to test code with no danger of bricking the device. You did say you want to *learn*, right?

I plan to start by slightly modifying existing methods, like adding features to fastboot code in both u-boot and in the fastboot tool. Or I could add features to USB downloader mode. I want a remote console (like the serial port console) that runs over USB. If I do not care about installing future updates of amazon software on my kindle, I could repartition the MMC to have an extra partition just for a 3rd boot partition. It could even boot to QEMU and then boot an x86 operating system like DOS, and run DOS games. Not that I plan to, but it would be a fun experiment... Anyway, first I want a solid recovery tool, then I want to add rooting and jailbreaking to it, then package management and installation, then complete control such as booting different operating systems. We could even boot directly to a loop mounted image in a file on the USB Drive. Many things are possible (but not necessarily practical). You are only limited by your imagination and the amount of time you are willing to invest, but it would be a great learning experience.

Last edited by geekmaster; 02-24-2012 at 12:45 PM.
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