Destroyed Linux/partitions On Sl-c3200

[oniks]

A few days ago I had a new SL-C3200 delivered and tried my first openbsd installation on it.  I should have probably practiced on an i386 box or something first, because when it came to the disk partitioning steps I got confused and ended up doing something nasty to it.  

I can't really remember what I did, but basically I think I wiped out some crucial linux partition(s) leaving only what I think was an OpenBSD / and swap partitions.  Knowing I'd probably messed up, I figured I'd try to continue with the install - I was hoping to retrieve the binaries using the Planex GW-CF11X 802.11b card which I bought with the Zaurus, but the installer didn't seem to know about it, so I aborted the install, thinking I'd be able to start it all over again.

But now when I boot up, following the white "SHARP" screen, I get

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probing: cn0 com0 com1 com2
disk: hd0*
>> OpenBSD/zaurus BOOT 2.08
boot>
booting hd0a:/bsd: open hd0a:/bsd: No such file or directory
 failed(2). will try /obsd
boot>
booting hd0a:/bsd: open hd0a:/bsd: No such file or directory
 failed(2). will try /obsd

...This goes on for a while and eventually stops with

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Turning timeout off.
boot>
If I then type "reboot", I get

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Rebooting...
mount: Mounting /dev/hda1 on /hdd1 failed: Invalid argument
HDD1 Error!!
So I've discovered the reliance on linux the hard way  

Can anyone point me to instructions on how to get things back to a point where I can try installing OpenBSD again?

I've seen many references to a page which is said to have recovery instructions for SL-C3000 but the site doesn't seem to be working, and I cant find copies of it in archive.org or google's cache.

I'd be grateful for any help with this.

Cheers  

[Cresho]

HAHAAAH!!!  HEEHE!  excuse me.

Yes, you destroyed the partitions the zaurus needed to reboot.  Without the proper partition and proper "sys" files, you will have countless nights trying to recover it.  If you kindly can look at other threads with hdd 0, you will find a vast quantity of users like myself and you who totally screwed up there drive and people like me who recovered it.

[oniks]

HAHAAAH!!!  HEEHE!  excuse me.

Thanks for the welcome to this not-so-exclusive club.  

I've downloaded the zip from the "Restore the harddisk" section of the trisoft 3200 page.
So far I've managed to use fdisk to restore the partition table to what is suggested in the readme:

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/dev/hda1  Start 1  End 20  Blocks 10048+  id 83 System Linux

/dev/hda2  Start 21 End 40  Blocks 10080  id 83 System Linux

/dev/hda3  Start 41 End 11905 Blocks 5979960 id c System Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
but I'm not really following what files are meant to be copied onto those partitions but I've got to go now... drat!  Anyway it seems like I'm on the right track now, so thanks.

[Cresho]

after you created the prefferd partitions, you need to mount the drives.

dont forget to mount
mount /dev/hdc1 /hdd1
mount /dev/hdc2 /hdd2
mount /dev/hdc2 /hdd2

after mounting the drives...
create 2 directories.
mkdir .sys within the hdd1 and hdd2

do an ls within  hdd1 and hdd2 where you will find a .sys and a lost and found folder, if you see this, then you are ready

cp /mnt/cf/hdd1sys/* /hdd1/.sys
cp /mnt/cf/hdd2sys/* /hdd2/.sys
if the above did not work, cp files individually to the .sys directories
now your zaurus is ready for the sharprom installation if you have not done so.

[oniks]

now your zaurus is ready for the sharprom installation if you have not done so.
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I appreciate the clarification Cresho,

Looks like it's all the way it should be now, although I'm still getting an HDD error since I haven't done the NAND ROM restore. I've got to go and buy a bigger CF card for that (i've only got an old 128MB one - just a bit too small!).

Thanks again!

[coreilly]

oniks, fix it? this happened to me as well and i eventually worked through it using the trisoft c3200 files ... let us know how its going and if we can be any help

[Cresho]

now your zaurus is ready for the sharprom installation if you have not done so.
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I appreciate the clarification Cresho,

Looks like it's all the way it should be now, although I'm still getting an HDD error since I haven't done the NAND ROM restore. I've got to go and buy a bigger CF card for that (i've only got an old 128MB one - just a bit too small!).

Thanks again!
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sounds like you didnt do it right but lets see what happens.  This is not  a problem

[sambartle]

This seems like as good a place as any to ask this as a search didn't turn it up..

If i install OpenBSD and totally screw up my 3200.. i can recover it using the recovery tools that are on there (the japanese screen) as nothing can touch this as far as i can see? This seems to be what the OP here has done, and then used the HDD scripts to get the HDD back up..

Is the 3200 therefore practically un-killable in this sense since this menu cannot be overwritten no matter how much i destroy the rest of it?

If this is the case then OpenBSd is going on there ASAP as the linux ports all feel very very unfinished.

[mathemajikian]

I wouldnt say that the Z is unkillable. Where theres a will there is away. However, I cannot see anyway that you could put the Z in an unrepairable state by following the directions for installing ZBSD on your 3200. You will of course destroy the linux partitions on the internal hard drive but these are easly fixed using fdisk and the .sys files found at trisoft or on the cd's that come with your Z. I have formatted the internal hard drive and have erased everything off of /dev/mtdblock3 and /dev/mtdblock2 before and had no issues getting the Z back up and running. Infact, ZBSD only uses /dev/mtdblock2. I'm not sure if you can destroy the emergency linux installed on /dev/mtdblock1 since you cant really mount this device.  So aslong as this area /dev/mtdblock1 remains intact you should be able to repair your Z to a usable state.        

This seems like as good a place as any to ask this as a search didn't turn it up..

If i install OpenBSD and totally screw up my 3200.. i can recover it using the recovery tools that are on there (the japanese screen) as nothing can touch this as far as i can see? This seems to be what the OP here has done, and then used the HDD scripts to get the HDD back up..

Is the 3200 therefore practically un-killable in this sense since this menu cannot be overwritten no matter how much i destroy the rest of it?

If this is the case then OpenBSd is going on there ASAP as the linux ports all feel very very unfinished.
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