Author Topic: Another Dead 5500 ? Plz. Help!  (Read 4285 times)

fump

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Another Dead 5500 ? Plz. Help!
« on: December 07, 2006, 05:46:35 pm »
Hello
some weeks ago i got a SL-5500G from a friend. the device didn't boot anymore. I tried to flash it with the newest Sharp ROM. Flashing worked but after the Sharp image at boot i ended up with the following error:

Code: [Select]
INIT: version 2.78 booting
e2fsck 1.19, 13-Jul-2000 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
Couldn't find ext2 superblock, trying backup blocks...

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with alternate superblock:
   e2fsck -b 8193

ext2fs_check_if_mount: No such file or directory while determinating whether /dev/mtdblock1 is mounted.
e2fsck Invalid argument while trying to open /dev/mtdblock1

*** An error occured during
*** the file system check.
*** Dropping you to a shell;
*** the system will reboot
*** when you leave the shell.
/etc/passwd: root password garbled
Give root password for maintence (or type Control-D for normal startup):


I tried to recover the filesystem but got an error from fsck all the time
So i decided to flash the newest OpenZaurus release. Again flashing went well but now i couldn't see any boot screen at all. The only thing that happens after reset is the battery led lights up. Later i flashed nearly every distribution i could find and also tried to reflash the sharp rom - result is everytime the same: no boot.
After some investigation i found information about the diag menu. Here is a short summary about what i found out with the help of this menu:

- when flashed OZ and looked in the checksums with pressing "v" the ROM C.S. is red
- when flashed Sharp ROM checksums look all good
- CF card is ok
- battery is ok
- you can get into a extended menu by pressing "Fn"+ ".:"
- here you have some more flash options like full flash erase, parameter erase or erase factory default, but nothing helped
- flashing works because the checksums and the version number of the diag menu is changing

I also found this  thread which sounds like the same problem but solution is not working for me.

Could it be a bootloader or a filesystem issue? Is there a possibility to flash a new bootloader or is there a distribution out that writes a whole new filesystem into the ROM?

If you have any clue then please answer an help me getting the Z back to life.

lardman

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Another Dead 5500 ? Plz. Help!
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2006, 07:15:43 am »
Quote
Is there a possibility to flash a new bootloader or is there a distribution out that writes a whole new filesystem into the ROM?

Flashing the Sharp OSPACK file re-writes the entire 'ROM' including the bootloader.

Quote
e2fsck 1.19, 13-Jul-2000 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
Couldn't find ext2 superblock, trying backup blocks...

The Sharp images use cramfs, why is it running fsck.ext2 I wonder...?


Si
C750 OZ3.5.4 (GPE, 2.6.x kernel)
SL5500 OZ3.5.4 (Opie)
Nokia 770
Serial GPS, WCF-12, Socket Ethernet & BT, Ratoc USB
WinXP, Mandriva

daemon1

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Another Dead 5500 ? Plz. Help!
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2006, 06:42:58 am »
Im in the exact same boat!

I had the bad block mtdblock error and followed the steps in the other post which you linked to..

took my 5500 out of the drawer after a year and a half after discovering other ppl are experiencing the same probs as me..

Managed to get the original Ospack from zaurususergroup.org and now have the flashing options in the maintenance menu...

wiped all of flash with all the options, but when i try to reflash with newer Ospack or openzaurus or tkcrom, it just doesn't work anymore... it starts the flash with the two lights, but then goes off after 2 seconds... seems my bootloader is totally stuffed!

How can i get it back to work again?
C3000 - Debian EABI - Kernel 2.6.23 of Angstrom

fump

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Another Dead 5500 ? Plz. Help!
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2006, 03:12:04 pm »
daemon:

While experimenting with flash erase i stuck with the same problem.

Just get the latest ospack and rename the file on CF card to "ROMIMAGE" then flashing works again. (If this won't solve the problem try to download an early romimage file of a sl-5000 and flash it). After that flashing also works with OSPACK file and initrd. And don't forget to format the CF card.

@all:

When i look at the bootflag in the diag menu there is only "----" written. Is this right or what should be written there?
Is there a possibility to make a raw image of the whole memory of a working Zaurus (with dd f. ex.) and could this than be flashed ? If this would work can anyone send me such an image or a link?
« Last Edit: December 11, 2006, 03:20:02 pm by fump »