Messages

1

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Unknown Baseband / No IMEI [SOLVED]

« on: June 28, 2018, 02:54:00 pm »

I have just got my baseband back by flashing the Baseband fix from http://x1grand.blogspot.com/2017/07/perman...ix-for-mtk.html using TWRP.

If you also want to give it a try install twrp  from here: http://x1grand.blogspot.com/2017/07/perman...ix-for-mtk.html. I just opened a root shell in android (Termux and then su) and installed via dd:

dd if=/mnt/m--external_sd/twrp-3.2.1-0-gempda.img of=/dev/block/platform/mtk-sdc.0/11230000.msdc0/by-name/recovery

Then boot into recovery by  holding ESC.

In TWRP select Install. Then select the downloaded Baseband 20fixer.zip. Then swipe to flash. Afterwards I wiped Dalvik. Don't know if this is really needed.

Mith

Took a bit of work to get to this point.

After (finally) having flashed the rooted android, installed magisk, installed termux, downloaded the twrp.img file and placed it in the SD cards root directory, I then found that I couldn't get any of the things to work.

Kept getting messages that it didn't recognize the directory/file name.

So I did some research, to figure out what was going on.

Everyone has been presuming far more basic knowledge of Linux than I have. I know absolutely _nothing_ about Linux.

I haven't a clue how to get a listing of the directory structure. Of how to determine just what my installation is calling things.

I could tell that, by comparing your command string with that at the Gemini Pda twrp site, that I needed to insert the proper name for the SD Card as it was labeled by my installation.

Thankfully, researching just what mnt stood for led me to the concept of having to mount things.

one site suggested /fdisk -l to get a list of what was already there in regard to mounted devise; no good.

Finally, out of sheer frustration, I just typed "mount" and hit enter. Voila! A whole humongous list of stuff suddenly appeared!

Scrolling through it, I spotted something that looked like it was supposed to relate to SD cards that was in a /mnt/ directory tree.

So I took a chance, that that was the label for the SD card I had installed in the Gemini's expansion slot.

Entered the whole dd etc., string, replacing your /mnt/ directory location with that from my data dump, and... it still choked.

But. It choked on the _destination_ end of things, not the _origin_ end of things.

So I went and compared your destination string with the destination string from the twrp page, and spotted that you had made a typo! it's supposed to be mtk-msdc.0 not mtk-sdc.0

Made the correction (and boy was I ever happy that I'd discovered the up arrow key caused previous lines of code to become active for editing again...)

Finally. Results.

I haven't actually rebooted into recovery yet. I'm kinda afraid to.

I can copy by rote with the best of them, but there's a certain basic knowledge required to determine what your specific computer is labelling a local variable that I didn't have. Thankfully, I lucked out, royally.

OK, I've powered down. Next step, recovery.

2

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Unknown Baseband / No IMEI [SOLVED]

« on: June 26, 2018, 03:19:18 am »

@mithrandir: Yes, I did have an NVRAM backup (and boy was I glad I'd done that before a previous problem!), but flashing it had no impact on this problem.

I'd already tried the new firmware, but that didn't solve the problem.

The suggestion from Erkan sounds like it has to be done from inside Linux?

At least I don't know of anyway of getting to a command line inside Android, and from what little I know of Linux that sure looks like a Linux command string. If so, not something I can attempt, since I'm currently running single boot Android.

I will admit to getting real tired of having to re-enter all my master passwords each time I try a new solution; high security passwords are a right pain to enter manually.

Doesn't help that everytime it starts from scratch it defaults to the UK keyboard; I've finally got it drilled into my thick skull that Fn+K=@

There are reasons I'm glad it's not just my Gemini having this problem; that makes it likelier that a solution will eventually be found.

I had a pretty good grasp of how to tweak the config.sys and autoexec.bat files with DOS, back in the day, and my COBOL card decks were a third the thickness of any of my classmates back when I was a CS major 1980-1982, before I flunked out of the required Calculus and Probability/Combinatorics classes, but it's been a long time since I've done anything major at this level of hardware/software interface. (And, yes, my COBOL programs _did_ do what we had been asked to accomplish, despite using only a third the code that everyone else used; my mind really did mesh with COBOL, which says some odd things about me.)

I've been running MS Windows machines because it met my needs, and my mind just doesn't seem up to grasping how Linux works at the command level; the terminology has no meaning to me, I mean, sudo? Where in the world did they get that term?

And finding a basic primer for Linux has, so far, been something I've been unsuccessful at.

I have a copy of The UNIX Primer that was published while I was in school, but it really bears no resemblance to modern Linux; it's all back in the teletype/VDT days of mainframes and dumb terminals; I have vivid memories of a teletype catching on fire while I was using it when the building had a power surge occur. I also have a copy of Linux: The Complete Reference Sixth Edition, but it was published in 2008, and only covers up through kernel 2.6, but I should still give it another try. But it seems like all the Linux references out there are for sysadmins and programmers, not end users who are in charge of their home computer network. Everything presumes a far greater knowledge base than I have.

But all of that has nothing to do with our current problem, does it now? Except to show just how out of date my knowledge is.

~~~~

3

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Unknown Baseband / No IMEI [SOLVED]

« on: June 22, 2018, 03:35:40 pm »

This sounds like the problem I'm having, just using different terminology to describe it. I can't make a cell connection because the system no longer recognizes that there is a SIM card installed. System information says there is nothing in card 1 or card 2, even though the SIM card it was happy with previously is still there.

SIM (card 1) no longer being detected

When you say "modem", are you meaning the cell phone functionality provided via the SIM card?

I also have GSM Baseband version: Unknown
IMEI (Slot1) IMEI SV (Slot1) IMEI (Slot2) IMEI SV (Slot2) all unknown.

But I think all of that is due to it no longer recognizing the presence of a SIM card. I'm not certain of that, since I didn't actually look at their status prior to installing the SIM card the first time around, so what I have written down in my records reflects their information when there is a recognized SIM card present.

4

Gemini PDA - Hardware / SIM (card 1) no longer being detected (shifted to "Unknown Baseband / no EMEI" as it's the same problem)

« on: June 21, 2018, 08:01:03 pm »

As detailed elsewhere, I did some stupid stuff such that the Gemini wasn't successfully booting, but instead doing a constant cycle of boot attempts and nothing showing on the screen.

That's been taken care of.

However, it appears that somehow in all of that it's stopped detecting the SIM in the card 1 slot. I have taken it out and checked it in my old phone, which I kept hold of just in case of something happening to make the Gemini non-functional... and the SIM works just fine.

I've completely reflashed using the 10 May 2018 firmware, no joy. Going into recovery mode and checking everything it allowed me to check resulted in it saying everything was just fine.

When it gets to the part of setup where it asks you to install the SIM card, and that once it's installed it may take a little to activate? Um, let's say two hours and it still hasn't activated. I've tried removing the card and cycling the system and only reinstalling it during setup, made no difference. Taking the lessons of Windows to heart, I've tried this several times, just in case...

What's bothersome is that it's the same card that it worked fine with previously, and the card still works in my old LG Optimus L70, so it has to be something with device drivers or the Android equivalent, I'd guess; of course, given my record so far in figuring out what's going on, I'm probably way off base on that.

Removing the battery and letting all capacitors drain to insure a complete refresh of hardware detection doesn't seem to be an option, as I haven't a clue how to get at the battery in the first place.

Any suggestions?

****
This has been shifted over to Unknown Baseband / no EMEI (solved) as it is the very same thing, we've determined.

5

Gemini PDA - Android / Android update - Beware!

« on: June 21, 2018, 01:41:42 pm »

Why, pray tell, is it that the latest flashtool firmware update isn't accessible via the firmware page on the Planet Computers website, but only accessible via the link earlier in this thread?

The link takes you to a page that you cannot otherwise access; it isn't part of the visible linked directory structure of the support site!

So, not knowing about this problem, after finally getting my Gemini working again and installing the single boot system with the old firmware, I installed the over the air update; which didn't brick me, except I think that's why it isn't detecting my SIM card.

O, yes, the over the air update was still there, contrary to what is mentioned earlier in this thread.

Now I'm downloading the updated firmware that isn't mentioned on their firmware page, and we'll see if that takes care of my SIM card being detected.

*sigh*

And, yes, I did test the SIM card on my old phone just to make sure it was working, and the SIM card is just fine. And it worked with the Gemini previously.

****

Ah. So the "new" update is not to be used, even that provided by the new link. Which begs the question as to why that link is still listed and good...

Installing the old firmware hasn't taken care of my Gemini now not detecting my SIM card.

6

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Restoring PMT?

« on: June 21, 2018, 11:55:25 am »

I had the same problem and restoring the NVRAM solved it. I also initially thought that my Gemini wouldn't turn on, but it was actually stuck on a blank screen. Took a few tries to time it right but eventually rebooted into recovery mode and restored.

Glad I checked back.

The first time I'd tried the NVRAM restore as described elsewhere, it didn't work, I'd gotten the same message. Based upon your response, I gave it a couple of additional attempts, and this time it worked.

Thankfully I'd also come across the information posted concerning using the esc key and the silver button to enter recovery mode, so I knew how to do that once the flashing was complete.

The multi-colored globes are in orbit as I type.  

Whoo! It says "Welcome"; I'm in!

I had been attempting to creating a new version of the SP flashtool from the source code, but the make.exe is internally coded to ask for the Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0 directory tree, and I don't have that old a version; changing the make.bat didn't do any good since some of the calls are inside the .exe

Anyway, now to go through the entire setup process again; this time I'll make sure to back up afterwards.

7

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Restoring PMT?

« on: June 18, 2018, 03:37:54 pm »

I'm an idiot.

I seem to have somehow succeeded in corrupting/deleting the PMT, which I presume is the Partition Management Table. Probably by using the format function of the flash tool.

So, my Gemini won't turn on, or at least nothing appears on the screen. It's a near-complete brick. Near-complete, in that it's still detectable via the USB cable, so at some level it is still functioning.

When attached by the USB cable Windows does recognize a "MediaTek USB Port (COM 5)", but it keeps detecting/undetecting it. Keeps giving that upwards series of notes to indicate finding it, then a bit later the descending sequence of notes to indicate dropping the connection; this matches what displays in the Bluetooth and other devices section of the Settings interface.

The flash tool, when attempting to flash, give the following error message: "Failed to get PMT info". Which is why I think it's the PMT. I've attached a screenshot of the flash software's status and that message.

What I've been able to track down online all indicates restoring from a recovery.img file.

I don't have a recovery image.

Is there any way of obtaining a recovery image from Planet Computers, or some other source, and installing it? Given that all x27 Gemini start out identical, after all, a generic recovery image should be possible.

I do have a NVRAM0 backup. So that stuff should be reinstallable afterwards, using the instructions I found elsewhere in these forums.

Or does anyone have an idiot proof explanation of how to use the manual format option with the flash software to recreate the PMT such that the flash software will then successfully flash the standard firmware?

Help!

8

Gemini PDA - Android / New firmware update released

« on: June 14, 2018, 09:07:16 am »

Can confirm.. for rooted/dual-boot linux, I get "error: partition table not match".

I know it's still early stages, but I do hope an update path becomes available for rooted or dual-boot phones. Even a manual process would be fine, as long as we don't have have to "factory reset" each time.

For now, I'll "wait and see".

Yes.

I have dual boot Android/Linux (not rooted), and that is the message I got.

If dual boot was an unauthorized hack, this would be understandable, but as it was a major selling point, it does not reflect well upon them that their Android Firmware Update does not allow for a dual boot partition table.

Since the installation software for the dual boot system requires you to set the size of the Android/Linux partitions on-the-fly a firmware update that requires a specific partition size rather than a properly identified partition of at least X size is not going to work.

Since I don't believe that you have to reinstall your various apps after applying an update, it can't be a complete overwrite of the partition. That would argue that it modifies the partition contents selectively, since it wouldn't be possible to retain already installed third party apps otherwise. If it can selectively modify the partition contents, it should not require a set partition size, just a partition that is sufficiently large and properly labelled such that it knows it is the appropriate partition.

"Should" and "actually possible", of course, may not be the same thing at all. Given that firmware updates are manufacturer specific, I suspect that the standard practice of validating a device for a firmware upgrade is to check it against a template physically describing the device. Such a description would include where the firmware resides. If there is a dedicated chip for the firmware, this would not be a problem. But, if the firmware resides on the same physical media as the OS, it is possible that it would actually require a specific partition table structure for the OS to confirm that it is a compatible device. Given that the installation process for the dual boot Android/Linux allows you to set your partitions to pretty much whatever size you desire so long as they are large enough for the respective OSes to install, there is no "standard" partition table for a dual boot system when you include size of the partitions as part of the description, and thus if the Android OS actually requires a defined partition table, including size of partitions, for a firmware upgrade, and it isn't possible to provide that interactively during the firmware upgrade process, we're SOL. Unless there is a means to apply the firmware update via another OS which would allow for a variable partition structure in the target device.

Um, is that a logical analysis? Am I off-base in my chain of reasoning? And does it reflect reality? I have to admit to working in a vacuum in regard to how the Android OS operates, and how firmware updates are vetted prior to installation, and how they are actually installed after passing that vetting process.

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