Ok.... I managed to do something stupid. I was trying to install Opera 7.3 C-series patch from the ZUG downloads. It ended up putting the Z in portrait mode, so I tried to uninstall. The Z sat there in portrait saying "please wait". Well... I thought it was hung, so I punched the reset button. Now my Cacko b1 install brings up the splash screen, thinks for awhile, and then goes back to text mode doing the "bootup countdown". It never quits doing this.

How do I attempt to undo the damage? Particulars:
Cacko 3kb1
hda3 formatted ext3
aborted "Opera 7.3 c-series" uninstall

potentially additional stupid thing done:
tried to reinstall cacko3kb1 from SD. So now the rc.rofilesys is probably back to thinking hda3 is vfat.

I have never reformatted hda3 to ext3 but I have experienced the infinite reboot. To fix it i used the card_update_3000111.exe from the sharp support site. I think that file has the ability to fix your partitions back to the stock form. Reflash back to sharp rom with that file, and then do the update to cacko. Then get the latest tetsu kernel and you should be set.

Ok... restoring my C3000 to stock was quite the edjumacation. Having gone through that I think I could have solved my original problems just using the DB boot, fdisk, and mkfs. That's how I finally got the stock rom to boot, as it was just as unhappy as the 3kb1 rom.

That said, I finally have a stock machine localized to English (Thanks Trisoft!)

However, I'm back to attempting to get Cacko 3kb1 installed. I downloaded, after a lot of searching and frustration with Japanese character webpages, a file called zImage_v18a_c3000.bin in an attempt to install the Tetsu special kernel. However, every time I put this file (renamed as zImage.bin) on my CF and reflash the kernel, the system fails to boot. All I get is a slight "flashover" (i.e. LCD is birght, then dims) of the LCD and then it remains blank.

So... did I download the correct image?
Am I waiting long enough for the kernel to do it's work?

I'm so happy to have my Z booting again, but I really want the "chatty" boot mode of the Tetsu kernel back.

Its good to hear that you are back up and running. cacko for the c3k comes with kernel 17a (as per the release notes). if you want to upgrade the kernel to 18a (or 18b) you need to flash to cacko first, then install the kernel. if you installed the kernel first, cacko would overwrite it with 17a. you also need to rename it to simply zImage NOT zImage.bin. And you need to use the updater.sh from tetsu's site. (renamed to updater.sh). dont forget about installing the kernel modules for the kernel you choose (available as an IPK from tetsu's site). when back into qtopia issue a uname -a in the terminal to verify that all is well.