Bought Sl-5500 On Ebay - Can't Flash To 3.10 Rom

[tombraider]

Am having trouble flashing from the original Sharp ROM to Sharp 3.10 or 3.13.
The green and yellow lights have stayed on for 20 minutes...my other Zaurus never took this long.
Also, the original ROM version on this Z is now displayed in system information as __.__ .  When it boots up it says it's 2.78.

What can I do?  I can't get the Linknsys wireless card to work with this original ROM so I'm sunk.  This was supposed to be a Christmas gift for my son.  :-(

[Bill Essig]

Install OZ

EDIT: Portions of this quoted document have been edited by mystef for grammar and to abridge it.

Respects,
William Essig

Installation SL-5500 (Collie)

There are a number of steps required to perform a successful installation of OpenZaurus.

1) Download zImage file. rename it to "zImage"

2) Download *-image.jffs2 file, rename it to initrd.bin,

3) Place both files on your compactflash card

4) Flash (See steps below)

5) Pull out any Memory Cards and Reboot, have fun

Instructions:

http://openzaurus.org/official/unstable/3.5.1/sl5000,sl5500/

Download either the opie-image, gpe-image or the bootstrap jffs file, and rename it to initrd.bin Use the zImages as explained above.

opie-image contains the QT/Embedded based graphical system, gpe-image contains GNOME Palmtop Edition ( http://gpe.handhelds.org ), the bootstrap file is more for basing distributions upon and contains no graphical system.

Step1. Selecting a zImage file v The zImage file contains the Linux kernel used in OpenZaurus.

There are numerous choices of zImage and initrd files available for OpenZaurus.  (Bill essig Reccomends 32-32)
They will be named as follows:

zImage-[5000d|5500]-Xmemory-Ystorage.bin

Where X is the amount of RAM devoted to system memory, and Y (if applicable) is the amount of RAM devoted to storage space. X+Y should equal 64MB for SL5500 owners and 32MB for SL5000D owners.

Download the zImage from the "download" link above...

Step 2. Download the .jffs2

Step 3. Place both files on your compactflash card after renaming the .jffs2 to initrd.bin

You will need a compactflash card with atleast 16MB of space available.

Be sure to rename your: zImage-[5000d|5500]-Xmemory-Ystorage.bin

to just "zImage" and make sure your .jffs2 is named "initrd.bin". Transfer both files to your compactflash card. If you don't have a compactflash reader, you can copy the files to your Zaurus (via Qtopia Desktop, scp, ftp, or whatever method you use for file transfer) and move them onto the compactflash card.

Make sure your files are in the root directory of your flash card. For example, if you copied the files to your Zaurus they will be in /mnt/cf/Documents/Applications/octet-stream. They should be moved to /mnt/cf (use the file manager for this or use the console).

Step 4. Flash

Flashing is the process of replacing the basic information and programs on the Zaurus with new ones (in this case, the kernel and root filesystem). It will remove all files from your Zaurus except those on SD or CompactFlash. This means programs not installed on SD or CompactFlash will not run after the upgrade.

Note: Do NOT flash your Zaurus with a ext2 formatted CF card. Your CF card MUST be formatted as fat16 (mkfs.vfat -F 16 /dev/hda1). All CF cards come formatted as vfat when you buy them, so unless you have reformatted your CF card, there is nothing to worry about.

1) Make sure all your data is backed up!

2) Make sure that the AC adapter is connected to the Zaurus and is plugged in.

3) Move the switch below the battery compartment to "REPLACE BATTERY." Open the battery compartment lid. Make sure you DO NOT take the battery out.

4) Hold down the "C" and "D" keys on the Zaurus' keyboard and press the "FULL RESET" button located on the lower-right side of the battery compartment.

5) Both the power and mail lights on the Zaurus should light up once you let go. If they do not light up, try again - you didn't press the combination correctly. If they light up and then turn off after about a second, the zImage and initrd.bin files were not found. Make sure your card is formatted with vfat and the files are in the root of the flash card (not in any subdirectories).

6) Do not touch anything when the Zaurus is flashing! Do not unplug the power. The flash should take between 3 and 12 minutes for a standard CF card, longer if flashing from a microdrive.

7) After the green LED goes out, push the "FULL RESET" button in the lower-right side of the battery compartment.

Replace the battery compartment lid and slide the battery replacement switch to "NORMAL OPERATION."

9) Turn on the Zaurus.

Booting up OpenZaurus for the first time may take a while. So please be patient.

[tombraider]

Bill,

That's WAY too complicated for me.

I just spoke to a Sharp tech and he said that the unit is probably defective so I am going to try to return it to the Ebay seller.

I have had no trouble flashing my other Zaurus - this one also would not flash using a cf card....the green and yellow lights did not go on at all when I pressed the c and d keys and the hard reset button.  

Thanks for your response though. :-)

[Bill Essig]

Ok.

[offroadgeek]

Bill,

That's WAY too complicated for me.

I just spoke to a Sharp tech and he said that the unit is probably defective so I am going to try to return it to the Ebay seller.

I have had no trouble flashing my other Zaurus - this one also would not flash using a cf card....the green and yellow lights did not go on at all when I pressed the c and d keys and the hard reset button.  

Thanks for your response though. :-)

check out this how-to doc:
http://www.zaurususergroup.com/modules.php...ing%20The%20ROM

make sure you're following the steps correctly... though you probably already know the steps as you said that you've done this before on a previous zaurus.

sometimes it helps to keep the battery out for several minutes (5 - 10), and/or keep the unit plugged in for a couple hours, in case it's a battery issue.

good luck!

[tombraider]

Offroadgeek,

You may have a point about the battery because I had it plugged into the adapter all night long and the orange light is STILL blinking.  The orange light goes out on my old Zaurus after a few hours of charging.

I'll try switching batteries and leaving the battery out, etc., etc.  I bought from aguy who "says" he never changed the original ROM and didn't know that you could.  :-(

Thanks for the ideas.

[zbeckerd]

You probably know this but,  I have read over and over here that not all CF cards are created equal for flashing.  Also there is the issue of dos16 or dos32.  Lots of good info here but as with all things linux it either works or search and google your brains out.  I never really did want to learn how to use vi!  But not much choice if you want to  play.